How it was....
Author
Discussion

P50

Original Poster:

1,034 posts

192 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
What a wonderful collection of shots from the 60's. I love the properly battered E Type coupe in it's original dull cellulose finish (oh how I dislike modern two pack on classic).

Every car had a proper private plate! Even the council estate was clean tidy and almost fragrant. The children are playing outside carefree. London is free of meddling road furniture, speed cameras and those f--king speed bumps. But not the bd traffic wardens!

The scrap yard has cars that seem in perfectly good restorable condition! The KR200 is magnificent with the dude wearing the bowler jumping in and driving off.. I checked the reg and the KR's dead.

Being a confirmed luddite I am utterly unwavering in my opinion that the world was a better place. Perhaps I'm looking through rose tinted glasses but life seemed so much more positive then. The UK just looks so much more civilised. I'm not spotting too many rotund types emblazoned with their teams name on a garish shirt.

They did not know that by the early 70's industrial unrest would bring the country to its knees... The Beatles and Stones were usurped by Glam and Prog Rock. The fuel crisis would have I suspect seen that E Type been driven in to the ground as juicy motors were bad news...

Anyone one got a Tardis going cheap..?!


Footnote. Virtually every car is British. Not hard to work out why the UK's gone skint.....

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/...

Edited by P50 on Saturday 23 March 08:35


Edited by P50 on Saturday 23 March 08:38

VetteG

3,236 posts

273 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Not a submarine on the Scammell but part of a Tunnel Boring Machine.

G

Mistron

103 posts

195 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Ibelieve the acchitectural model being studied / assembled in the open air for some reason, is for the centre of Cumbernauld. A 'carbuncle' as Prince Charles descries these new towns. Looking at these photos, it hasn't improved with age!

Travis Mcgee

314 posts

222 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
thanks P50. This was a lovely trip down memory lane. Couldn't agree more with your sentiments. The world was a different place back then. If I had a time machine, I think I would set it to take me back to the 60's

woodytype S

691 posts

266 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
What a great snapshot of 64,I remember it well as I live in Norwich.

craigjm

21,381 posts

229 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Some great pics there. The crashed cars bring a shiver though because in those days crashes like that must have hurt!

ClassicMotorNut

2,438 posts

167 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Thanks for the pics, everything looks much nicer in those pics than it does now.

driverrob

4,847 posts

232 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Something that struck me was the drab, dull colours of all the cars.

craigjm

21,381 posts

229 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
ClassicMotorNut said:
Thanks for the pics, everything looks much nicer in those pics than it does now.
Personally I think a lot of that is rose tinted glasses. Life was much harder in 1964

Pothole

34,367 posts

311 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
P50 said:
What a wonderful collection of shots from the 60's. I love the properly battered E Type coupe in it's original dull cellulose finish (oh how I dislike modern two pack on classic).

Every car had a proper private plate! Even the council estate was clean tidy and almost fragrant. The children are playing outside carefree. London is free of meddling road furniture, speed cameras and those f--king speed bumps. But not the bd traffic wardens!

The scrap yard has cars that seem in perfectly good restorable condition! The KR200 is magnificent with the dude wearing the bowler jumping in and driving off.. I checked the reg and the KR's dead.

Being a confirmed luddite I am utterly unwavering in my opinion that the world was a better place. Perhaps I'm looking through rose tinted glasses but life seemed so much more positive then. The UK just looks so much more civilised. I'm not spotting too many rotund types emblazoned with their teams name on a garish shirt.

They did not know that by the early 70's industrial unrest would bring the country to its knees... The Beatles and Stones were usurped by Glam and Prog Rock. The fuel crisis would have I suspect seen that E Type been driven in to the ground as juicy motors were bad news...

Anyone one got a Tardis going cheap..?!


Footnote. Virtually every car is British. Not hard to work out why the UK's gone skint.....

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/...

Edited by P50 on Saturday 23 March 08:35


Edited by P50 on Saturday 23 March 08:38
Blimey are your rosy-tints welded to your head? As a confirmed Luddite you should be linking us to pictures of horses and carts, of course. Also, you appear to have already answered your footnote:

"They did not know that by the early 70's industrial unrest would bring the country to its knees..."

nicanary

11,275 posts

175 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
craigjm said:
Personally I think a lot of that is rose tinted glasses. Life was much harder in 1964
But we didn't expect as much from it. The world's a greedy place now, hence the credit collapse.

I was a 14 year-old in Norwich when they were taken. The "side street" looks like Elm Hill to me, and the department store "Curls" was taken over by Debenhams.

Pothole

34,367 posts

311 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Interesting to note:

  • few pictures of traffic are without a Morris Minor of some kind (and that traveller in the scrappy looked in fine condition - even the ash was in good nick!)
  • Volkswagens appear to be the most popular 'foreign' models.
  • There was a theatre/cinema on Oxford Street!
  • The 'tidal flow', with lights, on Albert Bridge.

Flying Phil

1,735 posts

174 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
VetteG said:
Not a submarine on the Scammell but part of a Tunnel Boring Machine.

G
I'm not sure that it is part of a TBM, or a submarine.......It does look like a dockyard in the background though. Part of a cylindrical pressure or storage container?

The Motorist

105 posts

174 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Nice little thread,regardless of whether we were better off or not.

Love the chap in the bowler hat shot. That would be a Smart today I guess.

4rephill

5,165 posts

207 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Shouldn't the "Norwich Traffic 1964" (27th picture down), really be titled: "Norwich Traffic 1964 - Cyclist about to pile into the back of a lorry!" biggrin

V8 FOU

3,023 posts

176 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Yes, great times. Smog, people dying in their 40's and 50's , black and white telly with 2 chanels, only good thing was Pirate Radio.
No decent coffee either.

craigjm

21,381 posts

229 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
The Motorist said:
Nice little thread,regardless of whether we were better off or not.

Love the chap in the bowler hat shot. That would be a Smart today I guess.
Yeah the Schmit pics are great

ClaphamGT3

12,223 posts

272 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Definitely Elm Hill

The thing that always amazes me is how quickly cars wore out back then. The E Type was max 3 years old but looks knackered and the cars in th scrap yard were mostly under 5 years old.

P50

Original Poster:

1,034 posts

192 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
ClaphamGT3 said:
Definitely Elm Hill

The thing that always amazes me is how quickly cars wore out back then. The E Type was max 3 years old but looks knackered and the cars in th scrap yard were mostly under 5 years old.
The cars didn't have a chance. No galvanisation of the metal. Basic non phosphate primer. Finished with a thin coat of cellulose colour or two. The best some cars got was the ubiquitous undersealing which didn't stop the likes of the doors,boot,bonnet, arches and sills blowing out after a few fierce winters.

Coupled to the fact that the sealing was generally poor so that at least one area leaked on a saloon (on a TR or MG the water easily got in round the basic hoods) it was game over from day one. Oh and you had the built in rust traps like the back wings on a TR4/5/6 or Big Healey which destroyed the door shuts etc.

Resprays were regular until the whole heap was scrapped when everything else wore out and failed. Alfa's were known for self destructing bodily long before the fantastic running gear was tired.

Such a shame so much incredible metal was crushed.

Here is a prime example of what happens when 60's Italian meets UK climate! Quick T cut and job's a good'n!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alfa-Romeo-1964-Giulia-S...



Edited by P50 on Saturday 23 March 13:54

Skyedriver

23,320 posts

311 months

Saturday 23rd March 2013
quotequote all
Norwich Side Street, Whats the car to the left, Vauxhall? 1964

Wyvern I think