Between the fun in the Mud, and the great event put on by Dave Houser, I
had a few minutes to go through the odd books put on a "bargin table" by
Ron Embling owner of Brit Books. His stand was dry and under the grandstand.
I picked up a gem for $10, called British cars of 1949-1950. I knew of many
of the cars, and I know this is not news to the Brits on this list, but I
thought it might be interesting to some to list the cars produced in
Britain in mid century. Comments are mine.
Allard, the car with Ford V8s was a neat two seater, but the saloon is
weird looking
Alvis, neat traditional looking sedan and drophead coupe
Armstong Siddeley, great looking saloon and coupe in traditional style
Aston Martin, no comment needed
Austin A90 Atlantic Convertible strange modern looking
Bentley no comment needed
Bristol Great looking
Citroen ? its in the book, were they made in Britain after the war for
anytime?
Daimler Big traditional look, the choice of George VI
Ford, the small Anglia, and the larger V8 Pilot
FrazerNash, great looking sportscar
Healey (before Austin) neat drophead coupe.
Hillman, I remember these in the U.S. in the 50's
H.R.G. traditional T type look, but not as pretty two seater
Humber very plain looking
Invicta Grat looking "black Prince coupe
Jaguar 120 roadster and greatlookin saloon and coupe
Jensen, large saloon traditional look
Jowett Javelin saloon looks like 41 Ford
Lanchester saloon nothing to write home about in style
Lagonda neat saloon with airstream looking front
Lea Francis, cross between traditional and modern style
Lloyd, a tiny roadster
MG, no comment needed (TC and YA shown)
Morgan no comment needed
Morris : Minor is great, the "Six" looks plain, the Oxford, typical 50's
British
Riley: Beautiful 2 1/2 litre Convertible
Rolls Royce no comment needed
Rover have seen them in period TV mysteries, police inspector usually
drives one
Singer, saloons not interesting, "nine" roadster is in a way
Standard : forget it
Vanguard same as above
Sunbeam Talbot strange looking saloon, but I like it
Triumph "1800 "Saloon and Roadster I love them What was the name of the
British series set on the isle of Jersey? Bergerack or somethig, he drove
an 1800
Vauxhall nothing interesting
Wolseley in 1950 not the most beautiful. but it was MOWOG
That makes 36 makes in a small country, Truly amazing, and sad that so few
survived. We now live in the world of cosolidation, least common
denominator, and the loss of individual taste, no matter how strange that
taste was. Too bad.
Mike
Armstrong Siddeley-
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