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Birmingham in 1950s

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maggs said:
Liz, there were other colour car's in the fifties. My boyfriend's family had a cream Anglia in 1957.
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Hello Maggs yes i see their all so nice, not many people who lived in my street had cars, and the few that were there were all black,
these on here are great,
 
I believe the Austin Metropolitan was, like the long forgotten Austin Atlantic convertible , an attempt to break into the American car market . It was all about the Balance of Payments back then.
The Metropolitan was one of the first British made cars to have a built in radio.I' ve heard them called Nash Metropolitans. Could that be their American name ?
 
The Austin Metropolitan was built in Birmingham in the 1950s, and they were exported to the USA and other countries. They were marketed in the US by Nash, an American car company. They were aimed at college students, being a cheap small car.
I only ever remember seeing them in 'two tone' colour schemes, blue and white, yellow and white etc. They had a steering column gear change and a bench seat.
Peter
 
May have appealed more to families as a second car. Automatic transmission might have made it a winner. Hard to beat the Bug in those days...better quality and more endearing.
 
Lot of nostalgia for 50s cars, but lets be honest. Most were a chore to drive compared with modern cars. Or is it just what we have got used to ?

I wonder if reps covered the sort of mileage they do today, I often do 2 or 3 hundred miles a day, wouldnt fancy it in a Consul with a 3 speed box, or a Cambridge though.
 
col h said:
Lot of nostalgia for 50s cars, but lets be honest. Most were a chore to drive compared with modern cars. Or is it just what we have got used to ?

I wonder if reps covered the sort of mileage they do today, I often do 2 or 3 hundred miles a day, wouldnt fancy it in a Consul with a 3 speed box, or a Cambridge though.
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You could of always got a train instead back in the 1950's providing you did so before Dr Beeching got his hands on them.
View attachment 59583
 
I don't know if I've mentioned this before, in some other post, but there was something different about 'colour' in the 1950's ... I've thought a lot about this, over the years, and can only assume that it was due to faded paintwork. Paint was scarce during the war, and by the mid-fifties there was still a lot of faded paintwork about, probably lingering on from the 1930's. Everything was a bit washed-out ... and that's how I remember the fifties, accidentaly pastel!

Similarly, clothing was rather drab still, especially during the winter ... grey and depressingly monochrome, except for the occasional flash of colour, from a scarf, hat, or something similar. Old woolens were still being unravelled to knit-up for other garments; clothing hand-me-downs altered and re-tailored for younger children; shabby shoes cobblered to last another year etc. Yet, in my memory, it was all rather comforting; I remember being almost affronted by the bolder, brasher colours that began to emerge in the late fifties, early sixties ... I was a bit suspicious of where it would all end!
 
View attachment 59624And did we all have one of these
LKS1752.jpg
 
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Cheers Alf.
I have hundreds of pics of 40's, 50's & 60's cars but I don't have a scanner. How sed is that?
chocks
 
We didn't have one of those kitchen dressers. Our tiny kitchen had a floor to ceiling cupboard and the mangle turned into a table.
My teenage years were in the late 40's into the 50's. I loved it, I got my first job, bought my own clothes, managed on ten bob a week after my mom took most of my wages.
Sundays at the Odeon New Street, for the 4 'o clock film, Monday and Thursday nights at ICI youth club where we bopped and flirted , and finished up in the British Restaurant in Perry Barr for a cup of coffee for very few pennies. Saturday we always managed to find a dance to go to.
My Mom worked during the war and again after my sister was born in 1947 she worked at ICI on a part time basis. She looked after a friend's child in the morning and the friend looked after my sister in the afternoon, I would collect her when I got home from school, I'd light the fire in winter and we would be off playing in the summer. Imagine what would be made of that now, the Social Wokers would be having appoplexy.
In 1957 I married the love of my life, still got him.
 
I think the numerous responses to this thread show that the 1950s are certainly NOT the forgotten decade! :)

Yes, the cars were good-looking and performed well (for the period). But the coaches, on which many of us travelled to holiday destinations or on more mundane journeys, were beautiful as well as functional. Pictured below are two 1950s coaches (an early and a late example), now lovingly restored and preserved at The Transport Museum (Wythall, Worcestershire) by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Trust.
[1] ORB277: a 1950 Daimler CVD6 with 35-seat Duple coach body. It was originally owned by Tailby and George (Blue Bus Services, Willington, Derbyshire). [Courtesy of Dave Burrin at fotopic.]

[2] VVP911: a 1958 Bedford SB3 with 41-seat Duple coach body. Since this picture was taken, it has been restored to the dark green and cream livery of its original owner: Sandwell Motor Company (Handsworth). [Courtesy of Robert Hodgson at fotopic.]​
 
Alf i think most people had one, and sometimes changed the colour if they decorated,which was nowhere near as often as we do now,Col h, i think sometimes it did seem there were just black and white, with occasional splashes of grey or beige,lol but if you look on here there was lots of colours,Di Poppitt it sounds like you had great fun, and as you say mom's always found a way of making the best of things, great times
 
Thylacine said:
I think the numerous responses to this thread show that the 1950s are certainly NOT the forgotten decade! :)

Yes, the cars were good-looking and performed well (for the period). But the coaches, on which many of us travelled to holiday destinations or on more mundane journeys, were beautiful as well as functional. Pictured below are two 1950s coaches (an early and a late example), now lovingly restored and preserved at The Transport Museum (Wythall, Worcestershire) by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Trust.
[1] ORB277: a 1950 Daimler CVD6 with 35-seat Duple coach body. It was originally owned by Tailby and George (Blue Bus Services, Willington, Derbyshire). [Courtesy of Dave Burrin at fotopic.]

[2] VVP911: a 1958 Bedford SB3 with 41-seat Duple coach body. Since this picture was taken, it has been restored to the dark green and cream livery of its original owner: Sandwell Motor Company (Handsworth). [Courtesy of Robert Hodgson at fotopic.]​
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I remember the seats on the coaches, lovely material, not plastic, always smelt really nice,
 
I got in an old coach that was stored at one of the old Jaguar factories in coventry a few years ago, the smell of the seats instantly takes you back soesnt it ?

Distinctive smell, cant think of anything similar.
 
Elizabeth Redmond said:
I remember the seats on the coaches, lovely material, not plastic, always smelt really nice,
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It was a sort of cut moquette and if you were a lad in short trousers it left a red rash on the back of your legs. Was I glad to get into long trouser

https://www.flickr.com/photos/32113849@N05/3441777709/ Just take a look and dream. The photo is copywrited so I have only put the link.

My favourite style of coach from the 1950s and this one was Aston Villas team coach ( transport that is )
 
The subject of Moquette could start another thread! I see London Transport have designed a Moquette Dress range for the (mostly) female fashionable anorak... lol

Hope they are fragrant and don't leave too much of a rash! lol lol lol
 
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Love the photo's of those old coaches, we used to go on day trips to Blackpool on them and sometimes we would go with the ICI apprentices football team to one of their away matches.
Thanks too for the bubble car photo, they really were something. My husbands cousin had one, I remember the first time I saw his up close, I wondered whatever was happening when he almost took the front of the car off to get in. There don't seem to be many survivors, I think we have only one here in Camsbs, I saw it not too long ago looking good.
 
Hadn't they used to call them charabancs, not sure if that is spelt correctly.
 
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