1966 BMC press photos around Suffolk

[trigger]

Whilst at my car meet on Saturday someone asked me if i knew anyone interested in a pile of old black and white photos he found in his loft that he was going to chuck away, of course i jumped at the chance of having them and spent the evening scanning them all.

 

From what i can make out all the photos are taken here in sunny Suffolk in 1966 which is usual for BMC at the time i would imagine?, I wonder if they were to used by local dealers or something?. They all have "Quote negative *** and The British Motor Corporation Ltd, Longbridge, Birmingham" on the back.

 

Lavenham?

 

 

 

 

Kersey with the famous ford across the road.

 

 

 

 

 

Possibly Ipswich police station?

 

 

 

 

Not sure on these, maybe Southwold?.

 

 

 

 

 

Debenham village

 

 

 

 

Thorpeness windmill

 

 

[trigger]

Lavenham again i think

 

 

 

 

No idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Datsuncog]

Those are fantastic.

 

An era when charming olde-worlde English cosiness was enough to provoke car sales, through extolling traditional, solid values and pretty young things with shiny hair. A era when marketing small cars didn't necessarily involve edgy directors, moody shots of urban decay and a pumpin' grimecore soundtrack.

 

I'm sure ARO would be interested too - any idea on the backstory of the box of photos, or were they already there in the attic whenever blokey moved in?

[3VOM]

What is going on with the Farina A40 and Mini Countryman plates? They both appear to be missing a letter or was that format valid at one time? They are XX 999X where I'd expect XXX 999X.

[Spottedlaurel]

What a great batch of photos, of obvious interest to me as well for being local. I don't recall seeing them before, you'd expect them to have been used in publications like East Anglian Magazine - I have quite a few of them from this era and don't remember them from that but I'll take another look at some point.

 

Interesting to see a few of them on Ipswich 'PV', 'DX' and 'RT' plates as the factory-registered cars.

 

I got a photo of a 1960s BMC product in Debenham just last weekend:

 

 

The places they chose haven't changed much, as to be hoped/expected.

[Stanky]

The possibly Southwold ones - the river looks too wide, Are they not the Orwell near where the Butt and Oyser is? With Nacton shores in the background? Could be further long towards Shotley though possibly?

 

EDIT - Also, the 'no idea' ones - are they Woodbridge by any chance? its been years since i have been there though!

 

EDIT² No, its Orfordness lighthouse in the background so Orford village looking out towards the sea, over the river Alde. £5 says so.

 

Great pics though!

[Vantman]

Thanks for sharing Trigger,pure nostalgia for me having worked for a BMC dealer in the 1960s.

[trigger]

I've since found out the police station is the County hall in Ipswich when it was still East Suffolk police and a couple of other people have said the tall ships are likely to be Pin Mill too

[Uncle Jimmy]

Fantastic! Orl birds were fit in the 60's!

[Squire_Dawson]

These types of locations had been favoured since pre-war times. No wonder the cars were half-timber. The A 40 is a really smart design and a nice conventional alternative to the FWD Issigonis stuff. I always found it odd that the Mini Countryman had 'van' rear windows with rounded edges when it would look better if the doors were similar to the Morris Travellers.

[egg]

About £70-80k of mini vans there if you had them like that today...

 

Thanks Trigger.

[lesapandre]

Earlier BMC testing in W. Germany:

 

[SiC]

 

"I can't possibly drive through that puddle! Its brand new and I haven't had it ziebarted yet!"

[tobyd]

I wondered if the no-idea ones were down at Shotley Gate marina? Not sure about either the lighthouse in the distance or opposite shore. The long stretch of land on the right looks a bit reminiscent though?

[trigger]

Apparently some are Pin Mill and the others are Orford, the lighthouse is Orfordness..

[RRT22R]

BMCs finest and Sunny Suffolk. Two of my favourite things.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Kersey, Suffolk.

 

 

[Felly Magic]

Bloomin eck Triggles. Top photos there.

[lesapandre]

Looking at the size and shape of the A40 - BMC had a Golf type 2-box car really but they did not know it would be the next big thing in cars. FWD in a cleaned up A40 shape it would have been a hit?

[flat4alfa]

Looking at the size and shape of the A40 - BMC had a Golf type 2-box car really but they did not know it would be the next big thing in cars. FWD in a cleaned up A40 shape it would have been a hit?

 

It was on the cards, as shown the ADO16 proto from 1963

 

 

ADO16 was family line replacement for A40 Farina

[Felly Magic]

Hang on a mo, these photos could have been taken last week going by big chunks of Suffolk being stuck in time long past LOL

[carlo]

I'm amazed by these, surely very valuable historical BMC images?

 

Many thanks for sharing.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Looking at the size and shape of the A40 - BMC had a Golf type 2-box car really but they did not know it would be the next big thing in cars. FWD in a cleaned up A40 shape it would have been a hit?

 

no, no, no the golf is an A40 type 2-box car