This is Part 12 in the ongoing "Original Photos of British Cars 1950s - 1960s" series, where in-period photographs of cars designed and/or built in the UK are gathered together. Many of the cars are, as you'd expect, photographed on British roads and driveways, but a number are also shown overseas. A huge percentage of Britain's automotive output was sold abroad in the 1950s and into the 1960s simply to help prop up an economy battered by the ravages of WW2, when rationing was still fresh in people's memories and many people who were fortunate enough to be able to own and run a car, made do with outdated models while many of the shiny new examples headed straight for the docks and export to distant lands.
Several of the cars shown are in photos sent to me by followers of the Old Classic Car site and RU-vid channel, so as always I send my thanks to these kind contributors.
If you like old British cars, shown "back in the day" when they were (in the main) common sights and typically worthy but essentially unremarkable, then this collection - and the instalments that have come before - is for you. At the time no-one thought they'd be referred to as "classic cars" in years to come, they were usually bought to serve a purpose, and sold on when they became obsolete or beyond economical repair. Here in the UK the new "Ten Year Test" (now known as the MOT) was introduced in 1960, and that saw swathes of aged and often decrepid cars wiped from the motoring landscape in a short space of time, leading to scenes that would have been commonplace just a couple of years earlier being swiftly consigned to the history books. The dumping of old cars as a result of the new compulsory roadworthiness tests became a real problem for council authorities up and down the land, and scrapyard owners had never been busier I'm sure. These old photos are, in the vast majority of cases, the only surviving record of many such cars before they vanished for good.
Classic British cars in this instalment include example(s) of a rare Rover-based Marauder, various Austins and Morrises, Vauxhall Victor & Velox, Singer Gazelle, Ford Anglia 105E, Standard 8, Austin-Healey Sprite Mk1, Riley RM, MG Magnette and more.
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Thanks, RJ.
#cars #classiccars #british
6 мар 2023
