1) There were circa 2.5 million cars on the road in 1952. 2) Only one in twenty Britons had access to a car. 3) Some British car marques of 1952 that are no longer with us: Armstrong Siddeley, Austin, Hillman, Humber, Jowett, Morris, Singer, Standard, Sunbeam-Talbot, Triumph, Riley and Wolseley.
When the Anglia and Prefect 100E made their bow at the 1953 Paris Motor Show, they marked a major development for Ford of Great Britain.
Forty one years ago, production ended of one of the great post-war British sports cars. One US motoring journalist wrote, ‘I didn’t think they’d ever make cars like that again, but the Triumph TR8 reminds me why I fell in love with cars in the first place’. Countless other enthusiasts feel the same way.
Many readers would have seen photos of Vauxhall’s remarkable heritage vehicle or had the pleasure of seeing the exhibits in the metal. So the news that Gaydon is to be the home of the collection is indeed welcome.
When the Rootes Group unveiled the Humber Sceptre in 1963, they modestly proclaimed “Never before has there been a car so superbly equipped…with such performance…at so modest a price.”
Dennis Waterman was a part of the lives of several generations of Britons. For some, he will be the Triumph Stag driving former Detective-Inspector Gerry Standing of New Tricks.
Many of us are old enough to remember when a family picnic tended to involve egg and cress sandwiches, explosive bottles of R Whites lemonade and an overheating Morris 1100 De Luxe just outside of Weymouth.
Some aspects of 1990s life now appear impossibly distant – Eurotrash on Channel 4, doomed BBC soap Eldorado and the Ford Probe. Here was a car heavily promoted by Ford, including the obligatory pompous advertisement.
The year is 1957, and the venue is the internal launch party for the Edsel. There Robert McNamara, the General Manager of the Ford division, tells the advertising guru Fairfax Cone that the company is already planning its demise even before the first customers took delivery. It did not augur well for the new marque.
There is a strong case for suggesting the Dyane is one of the finest family cars of its generation. Here is a Citroën that offers all of the 2CV’s virtues – but with the bonus of a tailgate.