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We married that year, (1974) I took on a mortgage of £59.25 per month. My old Mum said “How ever are you going to manage to pay that?” We still live in the house, best bargain I ever made, apart from ‘er indoors!

#1110 sorry Steve, but that’s not a Commer, it’s from BMC, Type FG, and was at various times labelled as Austin, Morris or Leyland. On the truck type you could see that the doors to the cab were angled inwards giving the cab an odd shape, which was why they got the nickname “threepenny bit”...

11.33% Savings Certificates!!

I don’t know why, but that row of shops just exhibits total Birminghamness. You expect to see a JOJ roar past any second.

Plus a black P4 Rover, and a VW Beetle with a sunroof. Agreed late ‘62 earliest but probably add a year at least.

Following the worsening of my father’s eyesight, and mother driving the various automatic cars, my father bought a Chrysler two litre, with the view of it being drivable by mother and big enough to cope with the caravan, a Sprite Major. I have to say that I never liked it, and when my dad died...

#986 A Chrysler 2 litre with a RRW Coventry plate, in a car park with some BMC motors, and a Renault 5 for Nicole, (or Papa). The Chrysler may have been a pre-registered or company vehicle, they weren’t exactly flying off the shelves as they weren’t very desirable, and didn’t take that long to...

#967 The 1965 Bedford CA Mk3 in the picture is, I am fairly sure, just a bog standard van. There is no roof extension, ruling out a camper van, and the interior is quite dark, suggesting no extra windows behind the front doors. The flashy aluminium grille was added for the Mk3, and probably the...

#963 It looks like a Fiat 124 Special, or Special T, judging by the script under the light cluster, I think.

Marrowfat Lane? The place where hollow bones were cracked apart to extract the stuff presumably. It would seem to be another one of those disappeared trades by which the poorest managed to scrape a living, if my speculation is right. A bit whiffy on a warm day? Maybe not as bad as the tannery...

The reason why! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_Fairburn_2-6-4T

#927 A car park full of porridge, but something interesting on the top right. Problem is, I don’t know what it is.

Located in Stafford, the BRC was part of the Hall Engineering group at the time when I knew both the Lichfield Road location, and the HEL factory in Harlescott, Shrewsbury. If my memory is correct “BRC Fabric” was a welded mesh of steel bars which, sunk in the concrete when it was poured...

I have to avoid that failing, not you! There seems to be a difference in the “quality” of the buildings, the Handsworth picture (907) looking somewhat down the scale from the standard of the decorative brickwork in #908.

#908 The Triumph in the picture is a 2000/2500, not a Dolomite. I am well acquainted with the difference because Dad had a 2000 and Mum a Dolomite 1850 Auto, not at the same time though.

Did the bloke who designed the Strathallen do gasometers as a sideline, or was it the other way round?

Pleas don’t expect any identification of the cars in #890. Haven’t a clue. The Triumphs outside the Strathallen are the big ones, 2000 or 2500. Between them and the Mk2 Jag are a Cresta and an XJ6. Obviously the sales director giving the managers a pep talk. In #884, the car on the left is a...

#862 On the left, the rumps of a Hillman Hunter and a Triumph Vitesse leave the scene. A Mk1 Ford Capri with a bent bumper, a Bedford van based on the early Viva, and if the 1971 date of the photo is right, an almost new Jaguar XJ6, not only a new car, but a new design first seen in 1968. It...

#843 The cars standing in front of this wall are what “Motor Sport”, which was delivered every month to home, would have described as “grey porridge”. If anyone really wants a breakdown, please advise, or perhaps drive a car like these! Given the choice, the Mini on the very right looks about...

That looks like the interior of Olympia. Done a few shows there, but not in flares and platforms! I have no stats to prove this, but I think the NEC did Earl’s Court and Olympia no favours at all. It got up the noses of a few Londoners, which is always good!