[Mgs] Origin of speckled hen?

[paul.hunt1 at blueyonder.co.uk (Paul Hunt)]

'Speckled' from either a show car painted in gold fleck and (not 
surprisingly) never sold, or a factory runabout spattered with paint spots 
depending to which account you read.  Any number of references to this - 
http://www.google.co.uk/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=old+speckled+un

Difficult to see a reason why a car would have been called a 'speckled hen', 
and when naming a beer for the 50th anniversary it would have made no sense 
to anyone else to call it 'Old Speckled 'Un'.

----- Original Message ----- 
> I've never heard "Old Speckled One" before.  Every
> reference to this car I've read refers to it as
> "Old Specked Hen."