Practical Motorist & Motor Cyclist

[seth]

As mentioned in the grin thread a few days ago I've blagged a whole bunch of these magazines, dating from '54 though to the sixties. I find I have to read them with a BBC voice of the period in my mind. Anyhow I thought I'd compile a thread with the odd gem be it scan or written as I come across them.

 

March '55 is the first I've picked up. Some of the main features include "Fluid Flywheel Gland Packing" (for owners of the Lanchester 14), How to make a wall mounted battery charger and unbelievably "Remettalling the Bearings - Although Most Modern Cars are fitted with Easily Renewed Thin-shell Bearings it is Sometimes Necessary for Them to be Re-metalled and the Suggestions Given in This Article Will Assist the Owner-driver in the task."

 

Here's a word from the editor:

 

"The suggestion that testing stations should be established throughout the country where the police could conduct tests of cars suspected of being in unsound mechanical condition is as impracticable as the suggestion that cars above a certain age should be refused a licence. The age of a car has nothing to do with its mechanical condition."

 

He rants elsewhere that "Is it not time , therefore that the driving test was abolished......Like so many other experiments which have been introduced in the name of road safety, it has failed, and an examination of the accident statistics show that the test has made no impact on the accident problem."

 

Have a hint from a reader. "My motorcycle headlamp recently began to lose its silvering and as a temporary expedient I cut sheets of cigarette silver paper to the correct size and glued them to the reflector. This temporary cure proved so successful that I have since retained it. J.L Marsh (Morecambe)"

 

More to come as/when I can be bothered.

[CreepingJesus]

From time to time, people tell me I'm of the wrong generation. Could it be because I find bodges like that perfectly acceptable, and most rational beings find them absolutely abhorrent?

Keep them coming, there's guaranteed bodger's gold in there!

[wuvvum]

The reflectors on the Innocenti's headlights are largely made of chrome tape now. They passed the MoT like this and they're actually bloody good - better than the Saab and the Justy, anyway.

[garethj]

I think we need more of this!

 

What did the practical motorist use before filler and chicken wire was invented btw?

[Vin]

These are lovely things to read. I got a bundle given to me by a family friend last year. They were going to be thrown out.

 

I spent a Saturday evening putting them all back together.

 

In the letters page of one of the issues there is correspondence and pictures from a reader in Norfolk who has converted his pre-war Fiat 1100 to 'sliding door' access From the picture it looked a lovely job though.

 

Also the classifieds are great, especially in the back, with the yards listing what they have got in for breaking, or the readers 'wanted' section, particularly the unusual requests such as - 'need information on how to fit a tow hitch to a Citroen Light 15, for my window cleaning round in Doncaster' etc.

 

I also have an issue where it shows you how to build your own caravan

 

They are great. I'm going to get them out to re-read them

[keef]

I thought I'd compile a thread with the odd gem be it scan or written as I come across them.

 

Great idea!

 

Will keep my eye on it for ADO8, ADO44, ADO16 or ADO17 related items.

[seth]

 

Some editorial from May '55

 

"Another correspondent thinks that periodical examination of vehicles by Government-sponsored testing stations would be beneficial because knowledge that an examination was likely would cause many repairs to be effected which are now allowed to lapse. He thinks that many accidents are the results of defective vehicles, but cannot be classified as such because it is impossible to establish after an accident with extensive damage what the pre-accident condition of the vehicle was. Exactly, and one therefore has not a right to presume that because vehicles are involved in an accident they are unroadworthy. Merely to think that defective vehicles are causes of accidents without any tangible proof will not do."

 

Yay! Body Repairs with Glass Fibre!

 

"Repairing Rusted through doors. The interior trim is removed and the rusted through portion is backed with stout cardboard, hardboard or similar material. Once again loose rust and paint is cleaned off and a "dough" is made up of chopped-up fibreglass mat (easily cut with scissors) and resin. This dough should be of a fairly stiff consistency and is spread with a palette knife or similar tool over the rusted portion."

 

Or just cover your rusty sills with rubber.

 

 

[Station]

Wow, they had those vortex things in the 50's!

[seth]

 

 

[keef]

Do you think if I filled in the Halfords slip ........

[seth]

"Parking Outside Pubs

 

If a febrile female whose letter some misguided editor published in a national newspaper has her way every motorist whose car is found outside a public hose would be prosecuted, on the automatic conclusion that when he comes out he will be drunk! I fear, however, that such a scheme will not commend itself to the authorities, for by the same argument a man who parks his car outside a bank would automatically be considered as partaking in a smash-and-grab raid. Alternatively, what would any good lady say if I parked my car outside her house? Would it be concluded that-er-well, never mind!"

[seth]

Quite chuffed to come across this small item in the Accessory Review of the November '55 issue.

 

 

as I have one! Picked it up off Ebay a couple of years ago as a curio for a for a few pounds.

 

 

Better not let the wife find you ordering one of these.

 

 

"Buy BIMBO for yourself today"

[seth]

I hope this "distinctly average motorist" didn't have a Bimbo in his trouser pocket while he polished the Jag or it would have got covered in scratches!

 

[michiel]

He probably got some scantily clad ladies to polish it while chasing them around the car.

 

Nice scans & watch by the way!

[Pillock]

"

 

Three-speed breast drill?

[seth]

Its May 1957. This is a bit racy!

 

 

Less racy but quite Frisky.

 

 

For Michel

 

 

And finally I have absolutely no idea how this Gefarator is supposed to work and provide you with so much better mpg. I think it uses magictm

 

[hennabm]

This is similar to some old magazines I have from the same era called Do It Yourself.

In one issue of 1962 it tells you how to pass the 7 year test

 

 

 

 

In another one there is an advert for the "new" Surform - which can be used to trim wood, plastic and asbestos panels

[Guest]

Quite chuffed to come across this small item in the Accessory Review of the November '55 issue.

 

 

as I have one! Picked it up off Ebay a couple of years ago as a curio for a for a few pounds.

 

 

 

I really want one of those now.

 

*Checks eBay*

[messerschmitt owner]

I saw the bodyshell of that prototype Frisky last month.

 

Also, I have a four foot high pile of these mags, Car, Autocar, Motor, Practical Motorist, Practical Motorcyle (sic) all from the 1950s and 60s, including lots of Motor Show Numbers - price £45 the lot - collected from Gloucester!

[michiel]

Iron bars to stop cars from going in? What a waste of money!