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I’ve been trying to ration myself on the number of these I do, but this one just popped into my head, and as it’s less than three minutes in length I thought maybe you’d forgive another visit into the ‘30s. Harry Roy, Minnie, and when she lost it!

Spot on! Song of course made famous by Fats Waller, but he didn’t have a Brummy milk truck.

Arf a mo’ Those of us who grew up in the 60s may recall Jack Jackson’s record programme that, iirc, came on after Saturday Club on the Light Prog. There was much more to JJ than that. He ran a pretty good band in the 30s, resident for several years at the Dorchester Hotel. If you’re wondering...

Maybe a Snipe...

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19288/lot/474/ The only Humber with a grille like that is the 12, which would fit the date, but the design of the boot looks wrong. There was a variant with a larger boot, called the Humber 12 Vogue, but again not quite right.

We lost our car at the Royal Show. It was a white Cavalier! Not only were there hundreds of others, but we were in the wrong field.

Thank you. In the early 1970s I had a Lancia Fulvia which needed an MoT so I booked it in, and left it with my dear old Dad to take while I went to work in his Austin 1800. Phone call at work, “your heap of Italian junk’s failed, but I have sorted it. It will go back for retest tomorrow.” The...

Considering that the 1938 car must have been at least a dozen years old and had seen out WW2 it is in excellent order, but that bald tyre must indicate either penury or shortages in supply.

I needed my books!

One expects to encounter lots of Austins in Brum, with “the Orstin” being just down the road. These two give the car spotter a bit of a problem though. Just enough of the post war car behind is concealed to make it hard to say whether this is an A40 Devon, or an A70 Hereford, but it is surely...

Well played, Sir!

Sorry about the time I have taken in responding to your question about front bumpers, but the wife, the greenhouse and the belated garden work caught up, and she who must be........ The front bumper may have been fitted by the owner, or requested from the factory knowing that he had a foreign...

After last week’s extravaganza from the pit orchestra of the Coventry Hippodrome, who seemed at times to be in danger of total collapse, although they never quite fell into the pit, this time an outfit with so many musicians that they could drown out each other’s clangers. Loius Levy and the...

ROA, 12/54 to 3/55 Birmingham commercial vehicle plate on a Hillman Husky estate. HOM, 11/47 to 2/48 Birmingham plate on a Humber Super Snipe. A Fordson (or Thames) 10cwt van shows us its back. There was a name change in the early 50s. These vans were in production from 1938 until 1956, a few...

Pete, I think you might be more likely to find a gramophone than an engine! Stan and Ollie must have been very good for the Ford sales figures, thinking of the quantity of Model Ts they destroyed in the films.

The Gough St cars are a 1935-37 Morris Eight, ( Cambridgeshire Aug 1936} a 1953 - 56 Austin A30, (West Sussex, Jan 1953) and an early 50s Morris Minor. The Fords are a 1953 - 59 Popular, (actually Worcs Jan 1956) and a 1956-8 Consul Mk2. (The Consul has a Croydon plate, but I can’t work out...

The car is undoubtedly a Riley, the OG number plate started in April 1930, and ran until April 1931. As the number is 6698, I would place the car’s birth at Jan 1931, and the model as a Nine Monaco saloon, but with slightly less certainty. The taxi is a mystery, (maybe a Citroën) my knowledge of...

Happy? In 6min 34secs you might be!

I lived in something similar for almost the entire 1950s. Dad went to work, and Mum ran the shop, while my brother and I concentrated on growing up. The shop was slightly more than a front room and possibly could not have supported a family, but on top of Dad’s money provided a pleasant life...

It’s a nice, relaxing Sunday morning, and I’m sitting here awaiting the cricket commentary so it seems time for another visit to songs ancient and modern. Ancient: American (nearly) society bands have always fascinated me so how about Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians in 1928, Coquette...