Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Uncle Alec]

There's a Lancia Aprilia on eBay at the moment :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1938-Lancia-Aprilia-Ardennes-/281523108870?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

Could someone educate me as to why it is obviously French market orientated, but RHD.

[D4B]

does this help....

http://www.bmiht.co.uk/nick-baldwin/nicks-writings/did-you-know/

[Uncle Alec]

It does indeed. Many thanks.

[goneps]

Intriguing article, D4B. One theory concerning the US that I heard a long time ago is that, while they generally drove on the left in the early days of the horseless carriage when gear lever and handbrake were commonly mounted outside the body on the right, when those controls moved to the centre of the car the authorities considered their citizens, most of whom would be right-handed, too inept to operate them with the left hand. Thus the change to left-hand drive and driving on the right.

Richard

[Bitumen Boy]

Interesting article. Now as I heard it somewhere along the line, the following paragraph from the article is essentially correct;

[Peter_L]

Some parts of Canada continued to drive on the left until shortly after the Second World War.
The territory controlled by the French (from Quebec to Louisiana) drove on the right, but the territory occupied by the English (British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland) kept left.

British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces switched to the right in the 1920s in order to conform with the rest of Canada and the USA. Newfoundland drove on the left until 1947, and joined Canada in 1949.

Italy had a beautiful system, they drove on the left in some of the big cities and on the right in the country.

Austria and the English Channel Islands drove on the left until the German occupations. The Channel Islands went back to the left after the war.

[norustplease]

Sweden drove on the left until 1966, even though its home grown cars were built as LHD, probably with a view to the likes of Volvo gaining most of their revenue from exports to countries in which the rule of the road was drive on the right. Only when the Amazon began to be exported to the UK and some commonwealth countries did they they set up RHD production lines.
I have read that prior to 66, a mixture of RHD and LHD cars were sold on the home market, and LHD US cars were particularly popular.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV