How about a 'period' classics pictures thread
Discussion
This thread gets better and better. I have some Hednesford Raceway snaps somewhere, and a mildly interesting story to tell about it. My dad had a fledgling Plant Hire business in the early 1960's. He was investing in new plant. Here is a Dinkum Digger at CB airfield in 1960:
He hired several machines to the company that was improving Hednesford Raceway. In the end the company owed him over £3K and went bust conveniently at the end of the refurb. £3K was a fortune for a small company in 1960 and was the cause of him having to take on a new investing partner. Our family loved stock car racing at the time, going to Brandon Stadium in Coventry a lot. Dad steadfastly refused to ever go to Hednesford again. He never did. Here he is a few years earlier around 1955 demonstrating a power wheelbarrow. It never caught on:
Here with his new Vauxhall Victor (and me) circa 1959:
Victor on the Isle of Wight ferry that year:
And finally as I know you like females in the picture, my mom in period clothing with Victor in car park. Dig those sunglasses!
He hired several machines to the company that was improving Hednesford Raceway. In the end the company owed him over £3K and went bust conveniently at the end of the refurb. £3K was a fortune for a small company in 1960 and was the cause of him having to take on a new investing partner. Our family loved stock car racing at the time, going to Brandon Stadium in Coventry a lot. Dad steadfastly refused to ever go to Hednesford again. He never did. Here he is a few years earlier around 1955 demonstrating a power wheelbarrow. It never caught on:
Here with his new Vauxhall Victor (and me) circa 1959:
Victor on the Isle of Wight ferry that year:
And finally as I know you like females in the picture, my mom in period clothing with Victor in car park. Dig those sunglasses!
Edited by manorcom on Saturday 10th October 15:05
manorcom said:
This thread gets better and better. I have some Hednesford Raceway snaps somewhere, and a mildly interesting story to tell about it. My dad had a fledgling Plant Hire business in the early 1960's. He was investing in new plant. Here is a Dinkum Digger at CB airfield in 1960:
Cracking pics. Did you have any JCBs? 3Cs look rather more modern than that thing, did your old man prefer them or was it an availability/waiting list thing?
iSore said:
sun.and.rain said:
Edit, is this a recent pic?
1969!Edited by sun.and.rain on Saturday 10th October 14:57
Stunning collections of old pics in this thread recently, so interesting. Many thx to those posting them, I really enjoy seeing them. I have a few, not many, mostly period pics of 70s Fords and Rovers and people with bad haircuts. Will post some up when I find them (currently preparing for a house-move!).
Edited by sun.and.rain on Saturday 10th October 16:22
Contrary to popular belief JCB's were not necessarily the best in the early 1960's. The Dinkum Digger, if memory serves me, was a better performer. Just look at JCB's prior to the 3C, introduced in 1963, they looked equally "Heath Robinson". The Dinkum (later Whitlock) was a very good machine in its day. Joe Bamford was much better at self promotion. Sort of the Henry Ford of the construction equipment world. Met him several times, a great interesting guy, ruthless at business. He deserves his success. Here is dads pitch at the 1959 Stonely Show.:
Me with the new Ford Thames service van in 1963 (number 12 in the fleet):
A couple of years earlier Dad swapped the Victor (which went to his second in command) and bought this Armstrong Siddeley Saphire Automatic. Dad loved this motor. Outside our new house in Castle Bromwich Winter 1961:
A better shot at the Airfield:
The observant among you will notice that the Armstrong has the same registration as the Victor. 187 KHA. Dad had bought the Armstrong from a lady in Sutton Coldfield. I remember going with him to view it. It was on blocks with the wheels removed and covered in Vaseline. He bought it for a song. Later when driving it around he was approached by unsavory characters. It turned out the car had belonged to a doctor who had been imprisoned for illegal abortions. Needless to say the reg was changed.
Me with the new Ford Thames service van in 1963 (number 12 in the fleet):
A couple of years earlier Dad swapped the Victor (which went to his second in command) and bought this Armstrong Siddeley Saphire Automatic. Dad loved this motor. Outside our new house in Castle Bromwich Winter 1961:
A better shot at the Airfield:
The observant among you will notice that the Armstrong has the same registration as the Victor. 187 KHA. Dad had bought the Armstrong from a lady in Sutton Coldfield. I remember going with him to view it. It was on blocks with the wheels removed and covered in Vaseline. He bought it for a song. Later when driving it around he was approached by unsavory characters. It turned out the car had belonged to a doctor who had been imprisoned for illegal abortions. Needless to say the reg was changed.
sun.and.rain said:
P5bNij do you have any background info on any of the cars in your post above or maybe who owned them?
Love the Ogle Mini, and the Countach pic is a bit surreal. Amazing to see one parked on the street.
I could look at these pics for hours picking out details. That AC428 is so rare, can just imagine what it would sound like on startup.
Love the Ogle Mini, and the Countach pic is a bit surreal. Amazing to see one parked on the street.
I could look at these pics for hours picking out details. That AC428 is so rare, can just imagine what it would sound like on startup.
sun.and.rain said:
sun.and.rain said:
P5bNij do you have any background info on any of the cars in your post above or maybe who owned them?
Love the Ogle Mini, and the Countach pic is a bit surreal. Amazing to see one parked on the street.
I could look at these pics for hours picking out details. That AC428 is so rare, can just imagine what it would sound like on startup.
Love the Ogle Mini, and the Countach pic is a bit surreal. Amazing to see one parked on the street.
I could look at these pics for hours picking out details. That AC428 is so rare, can just imagine what it would sound like on startup.
I could look at the pics for hours on end too - I was dead chuffed when my mate emailed them all to me the other week so I could indulge myself all over again... given half a chance I'd love the Bentley S3 Flying Spur I posted last week... or the Chinese Eye Continental.... or the Monteverdi.... or.... or....
Edited by P5BNij on Saturday 10th October 17:23
Edited by P5BNij on Saturday 10th October 17:25
P5BNij said:
... As a nipper I used to see stuff like this parked up in London when we used to visit our grandparents in Barnes and Hammersmith; Rollers here, Bentleys there and odd stuff like the Ogle or 'old banger' Aston Martins in Kensington and Chelsea, which I would gaze at in awe. Harold Radford's showroom was a few hundred yards up the road from my Nan's flat in Hammersmith and you could see some fantastic coachbuilt Minis in the windows or parked outside on the kerb.
Whereabouts in Hammersmith were you? Coincidentally my Granny and Dad grew up in Shortlands (now the site of the Novatel) while Mum and her family were from Barnes on the Castelnau estate. Used to get taken to various pubs as a kid like The Rutland and Blue Anchor and have walked over Hammersmith Bridge more times than I care to remember! MarshPhantom said:
P5BNij said:
Lovely stuff manorcom 
Some more London street scenes from the '60s and '70s...
Last time I tried to check any old motors on the DVLA site I couldn't get it to work.
Must have been a lovely site sat behind that R-Type...!
Any way to check if this is still registered, sure I followed it up the M11 not long ago.Some more London street scenes from the '60s and '70s...
Last time I tried to check any old motors on the DVLA site I couldn't get it to work.
Must have been a lovely site sat behind that R-Type...!
Edited by P5BNij on Saturday 10th October 20:01
RichB said:
P5BNij said:
... As a nipper I used to see stuff like this parked up in London when we used to visit our grandparents in Barnes and Hammersmith; Rollers here, Bentleys there and odd stuff like the Ogle or 'old banger' Aston Martins in Kensington and Chelsea, which I would gaze at in awe. Harold Radford's showroom was a few hundred yards up the road from my Nan's flat in Hammersmith and you could see some fantastic coachbuilt Minis in the windows or parked outside on the kerb.
Whereabouts in Hammersmith were you? Coincidentally my Granny and Dad grew up in Shortlands (now the site of the Novatel) while Mum and her family were from Barnes on the Castelnau estate. Used to get taken to various pubs as a kid like The Rutland and Blue Anchor and have walked over Hammersmith Bridge more times than I care to remember! Nan's brother George lived in the next block of flats (Cromwell Mansions) and occasionally drove the Mayor of Hammersmith around in an old Daimler, meanwhile over in Barnes Grandad went partially blind and had to give up driving, his new missus / my step-Gran promptly took over driving duties, starting with an ex-GPO Moggy Minor van working her way through the '60s with various cars until they bought a brand new Mk1 Granada Estate in the early '70s. Grandad had started his own recording business based in his front room at Nassau Road which he'd converted into a small studio, I can remember (step) Gran loading the Granada up with huge boxes of tapes and reel to reel tape machines to deliver them to other local studios, including Olympic in Church Road. Happy days!
Dad had bought the Armstrong from a lady in Sutton Coldfield. I remember going with him to view it. It was on blocks with the wheels removed and covered in Vaseline. He bought it for a song.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My first job was working on the pumps at a garage in Lichfield.
Every Wednesday a man from Shenstone would come in to fill his Armstrong up. He had a yappy dog and the interior was covered with it's white hairs. The car hadn't been washed or polished for years. It was a sad looking and bad smelling car.
One day he was side swiped & the Armstrong needed 2 new doors. I was sent to Coventry to fetch the doors & his car was repaired.
He came to collect it but refused to sign the satisfactory note saying he was not happy with the repairs. He wanted the whole car's paint to match the fresh paint on the new doors. So we had to spend a couple of days polishing it trying to get a reasonable finish on the faded paint. Eventually he was happy. We even vacuumed the interior & got rid of the dog hairs for him.
P5BNij said:
Stuff and (Clive Dunn lived five doors away)...
How funny, Mum & Dad got married in Hammersmith Town Hall next road along from Cromwell Ave. But also Mum always told the story that as a kid she'd been on the same estate as Buster Merryfield (Uncle on Fools & Horses) and she once whacked him over the head with one of her porcelain dolls because he used to annoy her. Small world! Anyway yes, growing up in London in the late 50s early 60s I remember many very nice cars just parked up on the side of the road. That Bentley Continental in one of the pics on this thread looks very familiar 
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