• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

Status
Not open for further replies.
I have heard of plus 4s and plus 2s but plus 8s is a new one to me.
I think his jacket is a sports jacket rather than a suit jacket. Plus 4s, I am sure, never would have been regarded as suitable business wear. I have a recollection that I might have seen tweed jackets like that with epaulettes at some time in my youth but they would have been regarded as very oldfashioned.
With the help of Google I found the following information.
Our 'plus fours man' seems to have his trousers fastened somewhat lower than 4 inches below his knees... :)
 
Rr you never can tell , perhaps the chap in the pic was up from the country , or he had be on the outskirts of Brum on a shoot or somesuch
true,i live in the sticks.i am a part-time gamekeeper.most of my friends wear that type of attire. +4s etc when on a days activity....I draw the line at that though:( I will stick to green camo.:cool:
 
Last edited:
With the help of Google I found the following information.
Our 'plus fours man' seems to have his trousers fastened somewhat lower than 4 inches below his knees... :)
could be spats he has on.1579680797889.pngor might just like sticking his trousers in his socks:grinning:like these plonkers
 
The jacket with epaulettes was basically of Scottish origin, called an Argyle, as a kilt jacket it had shiny metal buttons as a hunting jacket it had normal buttons, but very rarely were there epaulettes when it was supplied as part of a suit. Apparently the name derives from knickerbockers which were tucked in at the knee, with plus twos, being 2inches below the knee, plus fours 4inches, plus sixes 6inches and plus eights 8inches below the knee. Plus 2s usually looked more like knickerbockers, strapped below the knee with no overhang. In actual fact he does not look very neat, the jacket is straining and the plus fours are extremely baggy, but I notice he is wearing Argyle socks as was the fashion with plus fours etc.. Actually he looks like Hitler who needs to slim. Can anyone enlarge the section of photo two below the bus coming in from the left, it looks like a woman leaning into a car.

Bob
 
he
oldMohawk said:

First time I've seen a bloke wearing 'plus fours' in a city centre pic. He's striding along in a determined manner ... perhaps a meeting made him late for some afternoon golf. There is a hint that he is wearing the customary 'argyle socks' but resolution is not high enough to be sure. On a closer look he might be wearing 'plus eights

could have been a fan of Louis Armstrong he wore that kind of getup
1579691612635.png
 
.............. Can anyone enlarge the section of photo two below the bus coming in from the left, it looks like a woman leaning into a car.

Bob
It does Bob, but I think it is camera illusion.
The bus is probably one of the new 1935/6 Daimlers. The other two, outside the Council House, (l to r) appear to be one of the Morris Commercials of 1933 and an AEC Regent (piano front) of 1931.
 
My father was employed as a chauffeur/valet in Solihull c 1929 and was always into the latest fashions and had the audacity to go to his employers tailor to order a pair of Oxford Bags. So this story losely fits the subject !
He was called in by the employer who said his tailor had advised him of Dads action , and he thought" Well bang goes my job and the roof over my head ".
To his suprise the boss went to say that he was aware of Dads up coming birthday and that he and his wife would like to buy him a blazer and the tailor had been advised accordingly.
My father also wore plus fours but that isn't him in the picture!
 
Well its raining in High Street in 1938, they are on the way home, maybe wondering why someone is taking their photo when they are wearing those raincoats !
index.php
i think the one on the right is camera shy
 
They do not look like conventional raincoats, rather like the much later plastic 'macs which, which when compared to a real raincoat, was not a fashionable, but convenient garment. The umbrellas have designs, rather than being plain black, so I wonder if it was a photo destined to become an advertisement for the rain wear and umbrellas?
 
They do not look like conventional raincoats, rather like the much later plastic 'macs which, which when compared to a real raincoat, was not a fashionable, but convenient garment. The umbrellas have designs, rather than being plain black, so I wonder if it was a photo destined to become an advertisement for the rain wear and umbrellas?
more like my poncho than raincoats. ....I think the one on the right is saying" room for one more inside"
 
They were rather similar to the capes that cyclists wore, they were made of a mackintosh type material and were waterproof, both my mother and my grandmother had one and they were still around and popular in the late forties.
Bob
 
A beautiful motor but going back to the subject photo there appears to possibly be a bar of some kind across the middle of the radiator and that doesn't look very "Rolls Royce". OldBrummie
I think the bar you mention is just a shadow, enlarging the photo doesn't then show a bar.
 
I think the bar you mention is just a shadow, enlarging the photo doesn't then show a bar.

As has already been said the car is a Morris and that certainly is a bar, they used to be referred to as 'badge bars', this car has its horn mounted on the bar but some had many badges, AA RAC and a variety of car club badges.
 
As has already been said the car is a Morris and that certainly is a bar, they used to be referred to as 'badge bars', this car has its horn mounted on the bar but some had many badges, AA RAC and a variety of car club badges.
No still no bar in the photo wether it's been said before or not, wether it's a Rolls or a Morris is immaterial. I am referring to post 2775 incidentally.
 
No still no bar in the photo wether it's been said before or not, wether it's a Rolls or a Morris is immaterial. I am referring to post 2775 incidentally.
We were talking at cross subjects there, your 2775 is of course a Rolls Royce and doesn't have a badge bar.
 
We were talking at cross subjects there, your 2775 is of course a Rolls Royce and doesn't have a badge bar.
To avoid any doubt I am quite sure that Lloyd 'nailed it' as a Morris. My Rolls-Royce and Cadillac were only 'maybes', tentative steps towards the right answer. As an aside, my aunt did own a 1936 R-R and it had both RAC and AA badges but I can't remember now how they were fitted. (It was quite amusing to receive a patrolman's salute, despite not having a valid membership!)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top