Eye-catching black and whites

[artdjones]

[artdjones]

[ETCHY]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Another BMC tragic lost cause - they had a VW Polo sized hatchback car in the 60's - the A40 Farina - but did nothing to develop it or replace it with something similar.  Whilst all the attention has been on the Mini these actually sold quite well - 342,000 sold 1958 - 1968. Pity. (This one looks like the booted version - cleverly they did both in the same shape).

They must have been fairly cheap to build (they used carried-over A35 parts) and were able to go head to head with the Ford Anglia and HA Viva - and were a viable alternative to the Hillman Imp - for those who did not want fwd or like the Issigonis type of thing in a simple run-around car.

When you add in the 847,491 Morris Minors  built 1956-71 that is a massive small conventional car market that British Leyland abandoned in the 1970's - the Marina was supposed to fill the gap but it was a bigger car. And hey presto in walked Escort.

Over 1M conventionally engineered cars sold in 10 years with most of the development cost paid years before - just where did all the money go? Well my own theory is they charged too little for their cars overall not just the Mini, were not ruthless enough in pruning their range and paid far to big a dividend to shareholders as some sort of macho-pride - ran out of development money and the rest is history...

 

100% agree the A40  Farina was in many ways the first supermini. Oddly it's been overlooked for many years by the classic car types who go all gooey over a 105e Anglia or  Morris Minor.

Bringing a car out with a 2 box shape in 1958 really was well ahead of its time, ok the hatch is split in 2 pieces  similar to a Range Rover but an opening back end & folding back seat (the back seat folded even in the conventional boot lid one), was well ahead of the game.

It was always as if BMC were slightly ashamed of it & just didn't figure out what they had (a familiar theme with BMC unfortunately).

I like the 1100 but for all the clever Issigonis touches & front wheel drive/hydrolastic, it's a booted saloon. Look at the shape &  versatility of the A40 & it's not too far off the swathes of small hatchbacks that came later in the 1970's.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, martc said:

OL13 is still with us - it's a blue Benz Comfortable. The DVLA says the year of manufacture was 1952 but they were originally from the 1890's. It could be a replica on a test run hence the trade plates, however there's a very 30's look to the picture. perhaps a mystery for lightbulbfan to sort out?

BO9026 cannot be found; looks like a Crossley to me. The prevalence of BO numbers suggests this is Cardiff.

OLxxxx was issued from July 1923 to November 1924, BO was issued from 1904 to August 1925, so I suspect its from about that time

perhaps the Benz was a fresh 20 year old Barn find or import or such and so was only then just registered 

 

as a side note OL13 wore the plate EU4 for about 3 months back in 2012 for some reason, this made me wonder if it had an MOT then

indeed it did where curiously its date of first registration comes back as 1st of January  1899

but as a side note I would not look too much into the year of manufacture/date of first registration on the DVLA database or the MOT database for such early vehicles they are often somewhat erroneous due to a number of reasons

but I know on the MOT database at time of MOT someone can put in their own details, so the 1st of January 1899 bit might actually be accurate (the MOT database is from the DVSA, which in turn gets vehicle data from the DVLA, but also gets vehicle data from whatever the MOT man feeds into the DVSA computer)

 

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

30 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Look at that Popular, one of the very early ones with 12” wheels with old style hubcaps.

 

[lesapandre]

26 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

100% agree the A40  Farina was in many ways the first supermini. Oddly it's been overlooked for many years by the classic car types who go all gooey over a 105e Anglia or  Morris Minor.

Bringing a car out with a 2 box shape in 1958 really was well ahead of its time, ok the hatch is split in 2 pieces  similar to a Range Rover but an opening back end & folding back seat (the back seat folded even in the conventional boot lid one), was well ahead of the game.

It was always as if BMC were slightly ashamed of it & just didn't figure out what they had (a familiar theme with BMC unfortunately).

I like the 1100 but for all the clever Issigonis touches & front wheel drive/hydrolastic, it's a booted saloon. Look at the shape &  versatility of the A40 & it's not too far off the swathes of small hatchbacks that came later in the 1970's.

I think it's  sheer modernity that put people off taking it into the classic 'fold' - it's not really a charming 'old car' but something quite modern.  With the detailing tidied up it could be a 70's car. Quite nice inside with a wood-effect dash. Quite plain and simple but why not? They were even rallied I think. A bit of an orphan car.

[artdjones]

22 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

Look at that Popular, one of the very early ones with 12” wheels with old style hubcaps.

Yes,and a stop fitted to the carb,so that it wouldn't put out more than 40 hp.

[JeeExEll]

[JeeExEll]

[JeeExEll]

Three spotlights.  Not two.

[JeeExEll]

[NorfolkNWeigh]

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

I think it's  sheer modernity that put people off taking it into the classic 'fold' - it's not really a charming 'old car' but something quite modern.  With the detailing tidied up it could be a 70's car. Quite nice inside with a wood-effect dash. Quite plain and simple but why not? They were even rallied I think. A bit of an orphan car.

Modern is of course a relative term. IVe had 2 A40s , an early saloon complete with rod operated rear brakes which I bought in 1984 to teach the now MrsN how to drive- that didn’t go well and I sold it to my Dad who ran it for a couple of years. As his other car was ( and still is) a S1 Land Rover it seemed modern to him.

The second was 1965 Countryman with a 1275 in it, that did feel modern and even compared to my brand new XR3i felt nippy and handled well. I made good money out of that one , sold in an ad in Practical  Classics in 1986. So was considered a classic* even then.

 

As for competition, here’s Stirling’s sister withe Xoe, the car that was the first Practical Classics cover and project car, in 1980 or whenever.

 I 

[busmansholiday]

3 hours ago, artdjones said:

Those trolleybus pics of Cardiff are superb, this one though, I've got in full technicolour as their Alexander bodied Bristol VRs weren't delivered until 1979 and it's in the later orange livery rather than the old crimson.

Pedantic mode off.

 

[sheffcortinacentre]

8 hours ago, artdjones said:

That looks like a 79-81 Trans am  outside waring & gillow

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[Remspoor]

19 hours ago, Andrew353w said:

As has already been stated, this is Rolle Quay, in Barnstaple. The narrow gauge Lynton & Barnstaple railway ran along here and the twin-hipped roof on the left was the railway's yard, in Pilton. I was born in Barnstaple, so I know the area well. 

I have family living in the area. My mother's funeral was in late Feb and I only just managed to get back to Spain before Lockdown here.

 

[artdjones]

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[lesapandre]

14 minutes ago, artdjones said:

What strikes me about this set of photos is how much commercial 'churn' there is in everyday life. Most of the named stores and chains have gone and a good number of the car brands too.

The photo is 1975 by the cinema adverts - that's 45 years of change. 

[busmansholiday]

18 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Cardiff's trolleybuses finished in January 1970. If you want to see them, and the chod that was running around then, there's a couple of good and short videos on YouTube.

[artdjones]

1 minute ago, busmansholiday said:

Cardiff's trolleybuses finished in January 1970. If you want to see them, and the chod that was running around then, there's a couple of good and short videos on YouTube.

This must have been not long before the end as Ely Bridge was replaced at that time.That's the temporary Bailey bridge that was used while the work was going on.