Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Morning all,

What environment did your old motor encounter, when it first went into service? What toons were popular on the wireless, or programmes on the TV? Who was Prime Minister at the time?

I like to try and picture how things were at the time of a vehicle first being driven.

The Moggy dates to 1952, so I'll do some digging on that one's background shortly.

RJ
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[nickarp2000]

Here's a few snippets from the year my car was born.
Manufactured in June 1958 and first registered on the road on November 9th that same year.

Work on the M1 Starts
London Planetarium opens
Gatwick Airport is opened
1st Carry on film is released (Carry on Sergeant)
1st Parking meters were installed
State opening of Parliament is broadcast for the 1st time
Christmas Island was transferred from the UK to Australia

Disasters.
Munich air disaster, 23 people lost their lives including much of the Manchester United Team. Buzbies Babes.
Racial riots in Notting Hill London

On the TV:-
BBC...
The Black and White Minstrel Show
Grandstand
Blue Peter
Quatermass and the Pit

ITV...
Ivanhoe
Oh Boy!
The invisible man
The Larkins

Nick
MG Magnette ZB Varitone 1958

[peter scott]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G85e2IU2Ky0




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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Rootes75]

My 1937 Ford 7W's colour is 'Coronation Blue' brought in for the coronation of that year.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Keith D]

In 1950 the Austin A40 was the top selling car in Australia and my little girl was one of them!

Keith

[Rick]

For the MM:

1952.

Other cars launched in 1952 included the A40 Somerset, the Riley RME & RMF, and the R-Type Bentley.

One week after the Minor was registered, a BOAC Comet 1 flew the first commercial, passenger-carrying, jet airliner flight. The same year saw the prototype Sea Vixen, also a De Havilland design, break up at the Farnborough airshow.

Well-known films that made their debut in '52 include Singin' in the Rain, Moulin Rouge, The Sound Barrier, and Red Planet Mars.

Winston Churchill was (again) P.M.

Humphrey Bogart won an Oscar for The African Queen.

Food rationing was still in place in the UK.

The average male worker earnt £9 per week (working an average of 42 hrs).

The average UK house cost £1,891.

Added: the MM's first owner was a Mr Arthur Bone, of 85 Hatch Lane, Old Basing. There's a house there still, somewhat modernised, but whether this is the same building or not as was there in '52, I don't know ... the link won't post properly unfortunately:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2658227,-1.0369097,3a,75y,28.28h,90.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swRqxMbnqqkdQs6PaxSm-YA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

RJ
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[Ashley]

My Bentley arrived in 1951, so much the same as Rick's MM. But we should add that the Brit film industry was at its peak, the Korean War was under way and the Trevor Howard, Jean Simmonds film the Clouded Yellow was made. Highly recommended for lovers of thrillers who enjoy travelogue films full of old cars and motorbikes.

Fashions covered women tastefully, they probably never looked more elegant than at that time, though the Dockers were considered (and were) disreputable.

The country was beginning to prosper, our aircraft industry was massive and its products exciting, our motor industry was still doing extremely well and for most, life was comfortable and affordable. Only the traditional industries were failing so Coal, steel, ships etc.

[Phil - Nottingham]

Peter Scott's post for Jan 1939 would suit our Dec 1 1938 Rover 16 our oldest car.

Our newest Rover 3.5 Litre is 16 Jan 1973 just before VAT came in so new car prices dropped as the 10% Car Tax and 10% VAT output was less than the old Purchase Tax but more relevant the UK joined the EEC (Common Market as was) Petrol prices almost doubled by the end of the year to over 50p (a gallon)
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Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[BigJohn]

In 1974 when my Escort was registered, Lord Lucan disappeared and the first McDonalds in London opened....

In 1976 when my Manta was registered, EMI signed the Sex Pistols, and Harold Wilson resigned........

I don't think any of the items are linked.

[Ellis]

The oldest of my vehicles, the Land Rover Series 1 86", was built and registered in 1954 and some of the notable events of that year were :

1. Meat rationing came to an end.
2. Maiden flight if the English Electric Lightning.
3.Roger Bannister became the first to break the four minute mile.
4.JRR Tolkien's first two volumes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy were published - Brotherhood of the Ring and The Two Towers.
5. Annie Lennox and I were born! Not together you understand........
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[goneps]

[Keith D]

My 1926 Chrysler was born in Detroit, USA when.......

Land in Broadway and Wall Street sold for a record $7 per square inch - Bessie Coleman died after falling 2000 feet from an aeroplane - Al Capone's headquarters in Chicago was attacked by gangsters - A hurricane devastates Miami, Florida

Meanwhile the Chrysler reaches Australia to be fitted with a body, where....

Stanley Bruce is PM - 26 people were killed in the Murulla railway accident - Jack Brabham and Joan Sutherland were born.

Happy days!!

Keith

[Keith D]

When my Austin Seven left the maternity hospital at Longbridge, Birmingham in 1932..........

The first broadcast from the new Broadcasting House took place - The Dartmoor prison mutiny occurred - Submarine HMS M2 sinks with a loss of the entire crew (50 hands) - First Mars Bar produced in Slough - First experimental TV Broadcast by BBC - Jane first appears in the Daily Mirror - King George V broadcasts the first Christmas message - Captain WE Johns' first Biggles stories appear - Alma Cogan and Petula Clark are born

A busy year!

Keith

[mikeC]

My Saxon left the factory in early May 1914; that month the House of Lords in the UK rejected women's suffrage, the US Congress established Mother's Day, the greyhound Bus Company was formed, and Rene Thomas won the Indianapolis 500. We all know what happened later in the same year...

Coincidentally,my Austin also dates from May, this time 1931; the Empire State Building was opened, as was Whipsnade Zoo, and Glen Kidston (Bentley Boy and famous aviator) was killed.

My Lancia dates from late 1953; during that year the BBC first used a TV detector van, Josef Stalin died, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climb Mount Everest, Elizabeth was crowned Queen of England, and Alberto Ascari won the Formula One WDC.

[Rdover]

In 1912 there was no radio, no TV, electricity was not available everywhere, WW1 was not even on the horizon, women knew their place (but didn't like it) and cars were only just becoming commonplace.
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Richard