Eye-catching black and whites

[D.E]

An 1892 Panhard in 1913.

[lesapandre]

19 minutes ago, D.E said:

Cowley? It's either in the Pressed Steel body shop - or the Morris Motors works?

Though it could be CKD Australia? Only one bloke fitting bootlids - and the guys in the foreground not on the line.

It's for early 'split screen' cars.

Very clean and tidy work environment compared to say the line at Jaguar.

[D.E]

33 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Cowley? It's either in the Pressed Steel body shop - or the Morris Motors works?

Though it could be CKD Australia? Only one bloke fitting bootlids - and the guys in the foreground not on the line.

It's for early 'split screen' cars.

Very clean and tidy work environment compared to say the line at Jaguar.

The desciption under which this one is filed wasn't really helpful, just "Morris factory". Which could be several places, I guess.

[D.E]

Amsterdam, 1969

[D.E]

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, D.E said:

What's the long spline tho?

[lesapandre]

39 minutes ago, D.E said:

Jaguar Browns Lane plant 1961. Odd photo but possibly an early 'export' E-Type off the line going for its road test (at the time all Jaguar cars were road tested on the local roads before dispatch).

Shows what a ramshackle arrangement Brown's Lane was - awkwardly moving bodyshells arrived from Pressed Steel on a folk lift to get them into the works. 

MK9 cars to left in last year of production shortly to give way to the bloated MK10.

The Browns Lane plant was not a purpose-built car factory but was constructed as a Second World War shadow factory run by Daimler. In 1951 it was leased by Jaguar and remained the company's home until 2005 - now all gone.

That view will either be a housing estate or industrial units.

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, D.E said:

I don't care if you have made it small this lot still won't fit under that body.

[sheffcortinacentre]

2 hours ago, D.E said:

Amsterdam, 1969

We're gonna need bigger bait

[lesapandre]

[lesapandre]

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

 

[Asimo]

On 31/05/2025 at 22:42, Richard_FM said:

£299 to upgrade from a Mk2 (base) to an XJ6 (base).  What a wonderful world!

[Remspoor]

20 hours ago, D.E said:

The desciption under which this one is filed wasn't really helpful, just "Morris factory". Which could be several places, I guess.

The Chassis in the foreground is LHD. Maybe it was in NL or Belguim?  https://collectie.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl/collectie/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=molenaar amersfoort&page=1&sort=order_i_relevantie asc

[Remspoor]

[D.E]

14 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

The Chassis in the foreground is LHD. Maybe it was in NL or Belguim?  https://collectie.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl/collectie/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=molenaar amersfoort&page=1&sort=order_i_relevantie asc

Could be!

[sheffcortinacentre]

9 hours ago, lesapandre said:

No details 

[lesapandre]

3 hours ago, D.E said:

Could be!

I think that is the Dutch Morris importer J.J. Molenaar with a local assembly CKD Morris 1000.

I think the previous Morris pictures are the same place.

[lesapandre]

[Metal Guru]

13 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

£1315. That’s an expensive car for 1959 or even earlier. The XJ6 in the previous post was listed as £1797 and that must have been 10 years later. (XJ6 was launched in 1968).

[Andrew353w]

"In five seconds this versatile vehicle can be transformed"...... A somewhat optimistic piece of advertiser's flannel, I expect! As a child my parents had numerous Cortina estates & folding the seats down took a LOT longer than 5 seconds!

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

4 minutes ago, Andrew353w said:

"In five seconds this versatile vehicle can be transformed"...... A somewhat optimistic piece of advertiser's flannel, I expect! As a child my parents had numerous Cortina estates & folding the seats down took a LOT longer than 5 seconds!

Going by how long it used to take me and the girlfriend to transform her mother's Maxi to a double bed.

I'd say they had time to do Hospital corners on the bed clothing within the five minutes!

😀

[D.E]

9 hours ago, lesapandre said:

I think that is the Dutch Morris importer J.J. Molenaar with a local assembly CKD Morris 1000.

I think the previous Morris pictures are the same place.

It would have been their location in Amersfoort, then.

[lesapandre]

9 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

£1315. That’s an expensive car for 1959 or even earlier. The XJ6 in the previous post was listed as £1797 and that must have been 10 years later. (XJ6 was launched in 1968).

It's also significantly more than the range-topping A105 saloon at £1109. I wonder if they actually sold any.

The A90/95 range was Austin's first big unibody car - though sales were not stellar overall. Liked to rust too.

The 'it turns into bed' was a marketing obsession of the BLMC sales pitch for the Maxi. The car had many other more important virtues.

[artdjones]

26 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

It's also significantly more than the range-topping A105 saloon at £1109. I wonder if they actually sold any.

The A90/95 range was Austin's first big unibody car - though sales were not stellar overall. Liked to rust too.

The 'it turns into bed' was a marketing obsession of the BLMC sales pitch for the Maxi. The car had many other more important virtues.

I think the Renault 16 did the same thing, and as it was close competition for the Maxi, it was probably something at the forefront of the marketers mind. Also, people were much more used to roughing it then. It was a selling point of the Saab93-96, too, although with them you had to buy some cheap wooden accessories to make it work.

[Andrew353w]

33 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

The 'it turns into bed' was a marketing obsession of the BLMC sales pitch for the Maxi. The car had many other more important virtues.

Yes, it seemed that this was a big thing in the 1960s. Early Skodas, both the Octavias and 1000MBs all had seating that converted to a bed and was heavily promoted in their advertising. It's almost as if they expected the car to break down and that you'd be stranded overnight! A road test for the Wartburg Knight estate (the "Tourist") from the 1970s  mentions that the rear space with the back seats folded down was over 6 feet; "enough for 2 people to sleep in comfort"......  

[Andrew353w]

5 minutes ago, artdjones said:

I think the Renault 16 did the same thing, and as it was close competition for the Maxi, it was probably something at the forefront of the marketers mind. Also, people were much more used to roughing it then. It was a selling point of the Saab93-96, too, although with them you had to buy some cheap wooden accessories to make it work.

That looks like an IKEA instruction leaflet from the present day!

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

15 minutes ago, Andrew353w said:

Yes, it seemed that this was a big thing in the 1960s. Early Skodas, both the Octavias and 1000MBs all had seating that converted to a bed and was heavily promoted in their advertising. It's almost as if they expected the car to break down and that you'd be stranded overnight! A road test for the Wartburg Knight estate (the "Tourist") from the 1970s  mentions that the rear space with the back seats folded down was over 6 feet; "enough for 2 people to sleep in comfort"......  

The bed in my father's Skoda 110LS was very comfy.

when we couldn't get the Maxi which had a radio cassette 

[Westbay]

If you're going on a trip involving  an overnight stop - where do you put the luggage once the bed is 'up' ?  🤔

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

20 minutes ago, Westbay said:

If you're going on a trip involving  an overnight stop - where do you put the luggage once the bed is 'up' ?  🤔

In the case of the Maxi or the 110LS the luggage stayed in the luggage compartment which wasn't a part of the Bed.