lesapandre

West Acton tube

Inter-War Tudor-bethan...they kept the Morris and Austins in garage courts round the back...

Back on the tube...North Ealing. This is about 1901 and was the terminus for a time until the line was extended.

Part of a 30's development right on the A40. Integral to the complex was a petrol filling station - all the infrastructure has gone but the attendants booth survives as a shop.

Some interesting transport architecture up here. Park Royal with it's 30's tube station designed by Day, Welch & Lander in an Art Deco/Streamline Moderne style influenced by the Underground's principal architect Charles Holden and opened in 1931. Pevsner included it in his 1951 Buildings of England.

I'm taking as my guide for this occasional series the old County of Middlesex - I even have my 1951 Pevsner with me...but areas further out were all part of this local car-ecology - so Rootes and Bedford at Dunstable, Vauxhall at Luton as well as anything in Hertfordshire. The arc of light-industry that ringed London to the North in the 20's -60's.

Sunbeam, Talbot, Daimler, Rootes, Bentley, Vanden Plas etc all had works up here...

I'm off to NW London this morning - Metroland. Let's see if I can spot any remains of the once very extensive north London car industry on my travels. As you can see - people are rushing to work again..

Human nature does not really change - just the objects and means by which that nature is expressed...

Maybe the 'insurance' is for the item in transit - it may also be a data collection scam to get card details. Some more on the DPD stuff: https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/dont-get-caught-out-by-this-dpd-text-scam-aHNAf7z5UPNA#:~:text=The text appears to be,small fee for 'redelivery'. So instead of the 'we missed you' way of gathering data they do it the other way round - as you arrange for a 'collection'. Possibly the fake site asks for insurance to get the card details? But whatever way round - its a scam. It's the data they are after - no one will ever collect the item.

Looking online this is the scam apparently. They also never refer to the item by name as these 'offers' are sent out in large numbers. So they say is "this" still for sale etc. What totally time-wasting horrible people - what a way to spend your time. Web seems full of grifters these days. " If you accept, they tell you to pay a 50 quid insurance for DPD that will be refunded once the items are delivered, but the DPD site they send is a fake one and you lose 50 quid"

Yes I thought so too...somewhere up near Wembley. If you are interested in the ecology of N. London this is a great read about the A40. When Metroland was built the most desirable houses were ON the main arteries. Forget the Stelvio Pass - one of the great motoring experiences is the Circular on a weekend evening going east in the summer just as the lights are coming on in London and all the Mercedes are doing 80 on the overpasses and between the lights... you need to be driving a big Mercedes too mind for the Metroland Grand Prix. 😂

My advice re:security is to use physical means (no not threatening passers by)...but a big bit of thick chain. My Landcruiser here which has been nicked before is now chained to a lamp post via the chassis. You could even have an attachment welded on. Nothing will stop a concerted attempt but anything is useful. Those things that enclose the steering wheel are good too I believe.

Similar underfloor arrangement to the Mk1 Renault Master except the engine is upright. The master has a sloping front 'snout' though because the gearbox is set in front of the engine driving the front wheels.

Was this to get the filler neck off the rear panel and onto the vehicle wing to improve crash protection in a rear-end shunt - avoiding severing the filler neck and spilling fuel? This may have been to satisfy legislation or achieve commonality in fuel-tank types across the Chrysler range? The 'rear low' fuel filler is a common Rootes design feature - seen on the 1957 Audax Minxs for example.