Eye-catching black and whites

[busmansholiday]

20 hours ago, Joey spud said:

I found this image on a local transport group and it caught my eye as it just down the road from me in Church Street Hoo.

It's 1963 and a motorbike and sidecar has just crashed through the front window of the shop on the left and  the shop owner is seen standing talking to the bus driver.

Fast forward nearly fifty years and the two shops on the left have recently been converted to houses and opposite out of shot is a brilliant coffee shop/bar that I often frequent.

And i used to ride on that same bus when Maidstone and District Bus Company had the contract to run us Oiks from the nearby villages to the Comprehensive School at Hoo in the early eighties although by then it had been painted a pale green and cream colour.

 

Not B&W but...

[lesapandre]

2 hours ago, Andrew353w said:

From my encyclopaedic knowledge of the North Circular Road I think this might be the east-bound (clock-wise) A406 near Brent Park (home of IKEA) although comparison with GoogleMaps is inconclusive. The McDonalds next door to IKEA was clearly a pub some time ago & I wonder if the fencing on the right borders it. The houses in the background appear to have been demolished to build flats further back from the road at some point. 

Of course, I could be completely wrong........ 

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. 😂

[Remspoor]

[J W Pepper]

[martc]

Back a bit, back a bit, crunch, woah!!

[lesapandre]

Every car should have a built in public address system...

Love the revolving number plate for when you need to be incognito...

Love the fluffed lines...

But it does have a reversing camera.

[Rusty Pelican]

4 hours ago, J W Pepper said:

loco  built 09 1950 and withdrawn 03 1967 

[J W Pepper]

7 minutes ago, Rusty Pelican said:

loco  built 09 1950 and withdrawn 03 1967 

How did you find that out? 

[Rusty Pelican]

3 minutes ago, J W Pepper said:

How did you find that out? 

BR have a full database , just put the number in and up it pops , go to quick search for any you see and the histories there 
https://www.brdatabase.info/locomotives.php?loconum=44689

[J W Pepper]

2 minutes ago, Rusty Pelican said:

BR have a full database , just put the number in and up it pops , go to quick search for any you see and the histories there 
https://www.brdatabase.info/locomotives.php?loconum=44689

Thanks, interesting to know

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Every car should have a built in public address system...

Love the revolving number plate for when you need to be incognito...

Love the fluffed lines...

But it does have a reversing camera.

That's F. A. B.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Every car should have a built in public address system...

Love the revolving number plate for when you need to be incognito...

Love the fluffed lines...

But it does have a reversing camera.

That's F. A. B.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Every car should have a built in public address system...

Love the revolving number plate for when you need to be incognito...

Love the fluffed lines...

But it does have a reversing camera.

That's F. A. B.

[Remspoor]

[martc]

Manchester Central Public Library was officially opened on the 17th of July 1934, by King George V.

[sheffcortinacentre]

On 5/17/2022 at 10:48 PM, High Jetter said:

That's F. A. B.

Eh,what could you repeat that?

[High Jetter]

Fully Advised and Briefed. Didn't you watch it?

[somewhatfoolish]

On 5/15/2022 at 7:31 PM, martc said:

Mr Wardell, who ran 'Wardell's', a haberdashery shop, in Cottingham had one of these, in maroon, when I was a wee lad. I saw it daily and, even though I realised it was a bit special even as a youngster, it became just another car due to its constant presence in my life. No idea how a haberdasher in an East Yorkshire village could afford one.

 

On 5/15/2022 at 8:11 PM, georgeinabz said:

Jim Shaw, (the JS) of JS Allan menswears in Rosemount had one around that time Bill Allan had a lovely red XJC coupe

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk
 

Clearly being in the rag trade was as lucrative as being a heavyweight boxer. 🙂

[Remspoor]

[Remspoor]

[Remspoor]

[lesapandre]

On 5/19/2022 at 7:16 PM, Remspoor said:

SL 90 was 54 bhp...not 90! But these Vivas were hugely popular - sold in big numbers - 309,000 in three years. Spawned HA van made up to 1982.

Viva was averaging 100,000 sales a year. By comparison the A40 Farina took nine years to sell 342,000. Though the most market  damage must have been to the Rootes Imp which sold 120,000 in three years and was probably a lot less profitable per-unit.

I have never driven one - neat little things but there must be a handful left.

[lisbon_road]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

SL 90 was 54 bhp...not 90! But these Vivas were hugely popular - sold in big numbers - 309,000 in three years. Spawned HA van made up to 1982.

Viva was averaging 100,000 sales a year. By comparison the A40 Farina took nine years to sell 342,000. Though the most market  damage must have been to the Rootes Imp which sold 120,000 in three years and was probably a lot less profitable per-unit.

I have never driven one - neat little things but there must be a handful left.

I think that the lack of success of the A40 Farina, such an innovative car, is a whole other story.  There are a few HA Viva cars left: I believe that they and most of the HBs were surprisingly well made as Vauxhall were trying to shed their reputation for rusty cars that dated perhaps to their first unitary cars and most of the stuff they made in the 50s.  Standards slipped though and most of the later HA vans certainly could rust.  I don't think anyone knows what the '90' meant - how about VX4/90 which was applied to at least four completely different ranges of car!

[sheffcortinacentre]

Most of the ha cars did bad for front wings & gearbox mount routing out of chassis rails & subsequent gearbox/propshaft ejection.

[High Jetter]

HA 90 could do 90mph? 4/90 had a significance but can't recall it due to the black stuff atm. A40 was ahead of it's time, with the opening rear.

[Remspoor]

I had a Viva HA as a first car (well it was my second car as the first one I was too young to drive it on a public highway). So back to the Viva.

It was a nice light car to drive. Great turning circle, a boot larger than the Mk1 Cortina. All syncro gearbox, with a very short stubby gear knob. All 4 gears could be found in a 4 inch square. There were some cheap design features. Like the welds at the rear were covered over with metal trims. These rotted out very quickly. The front spring was just that a traverse spring.  Publicity said that this was for better road holding. The rear was certainly a  more advanced design.IMHO it was a better car that the (comparable in size) Anglia or the A35. I had a deluxe with the optional servo and front disc brakes. The stopping power on that was great. I feel that these went rusty at the same rate of it's competitors.

I would agree with Lisbon-road the 90 was a marketing badge. The HA 90 had a sightly improved BHP and torque figs over the other versions.

Not all A40s had a opening boot and glass area. That was an expensive option called the Countryman. Plus all versions still had cable operated rear brakes because it was based on the A30/35. Plus only syncro on the top 3 gears too. It was not that magical.

[adw1977]

10 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

 Not all A40s had a opening boot and glass area. That was an expensive option called the Countryman. Plus all versions still had cable operated rear brakes because it was based on the A30/35. Plus only syncro on the top 3 gears too. It was not that magical.

The Countryman was only about 3% more expensive than the saloon:

(October 1966 prices in £ s d, right column is total price including tax)

[High Jetter]

I was nearly 6 then, they looked so modern compared to older stuff around. Next door had a Herald though, loved the shape of the rear.

[busmansholiday]

We had HA vans at work until they were replaced by Marina and Metro vans in about 1983. They were quite spritely and easy to drive, certainly better than their replacements.

[Remspoor]

11 hours ago, adw1977 said:

The Countryman was only about 3% more expensive than the saloon:

(October 1966 prices in £ s d, right column is total price including tax)

By 1966 the A40 was way out of date. And that increase was a fair bit of of a persons wage. The price of the car in relation to wages should be factored in too. The Viva was cheaper too.