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Cars in the postwar period

mallyb2 said:
I used to drive an Austin van fitted with sliding doors.I used to drive with the door slid open(more pose value).The problem wasn't the door jamming open,it was that every time I braked,the door would SLAM shut with terrific force.Remember in those days,(1960-61)we used to give a lot of hand signals (no, not that kind!),it's a wonder there wasn't a load of one-armed drivers around,....Mal
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Was it one of these Mal, there were a lot about in the 1960's badged either as an Austin or a Morris.
 
motorman-mike said:
Was it one of these Mal, there were a lot about in the 1960's badged either as an Austin or a Morris.
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It wasn't one of those,it was a smaller vehicle,I think now,after having my memory jogged by some of the contrIbuters,it was a J4.Funny thing,though,the vehicle you have illustrated was the first type of vehicle I ever drove.I was,at that time(1959) employed as a 'van boy' on a retail bread round doing door to door deliveries(remember them?)and the driver used to let me move the van up the street to the next customer.All very illegal,of course,but things were a lot more lax then.I remember it had a 'crash' gearbox,I even learned to double-declutch in it.Of course,I had been practising driving for years in my head,it was my great ambition at the time to be a driver.I eventually spent over 40 years as a tanker driver,had plenty of good times,and a few bad ones.....Mal.
 
john it hasnt got sliding doors ?:) that is a J4 i posted the original J type van:) there was a j2 from 56 to 67 ? in the light vans then you get onto light trucks like FE and FG with suicide doors? lol The J4 was replaced in 1974 by the front engined Sherpa van, which utilised the rear panel work of the J4 virtually unchanged:)
 
I wonder if kids these days ever dream of being a lorry or bus driver? In the fifties they were my hero's. I wanted nothing more than a pair of overalls which smelt of diesel and a Leyland Octopus flat bed. Or perhaps a red bus with BMMO on the front.I thought them superior to Walsall Corporation offerings.
Looking at the newer grandkids they all want to be super heros. Climbing up the sides of buildings whilst fighting aliens always struck me as a risky occupation. But then being a driver on the last bus out of the city can have its moments. Better go I am begining to ramble.
 
I always thought the 'Midland Red' more glamourus than the Birmingham City buses,but I think it was because they always seemed to drive much faster than the city buses.It was a rare treat to go on a Midland Red,as the fares were higher than the city buses,but as kids we sometimes delayed our parents so that we would miss the city bus,and have to use the Midland Red.I used to love the old FEDD'S(front entrance double decker,they were such rattley old things by the mid '50's,and the other extreme were the new buses with,wonder of wonders,folding rear doors....Mal.
 
I rode FEDDs with the full width upper front seat and stairway strangely at the front. Yes by the 50s they were old and rattley but still a nice ride with fabric seating. Mucklows Hill was a real grind for a FEDD...interesting sounds (maybe alarming) came from the drive line and steam from the rad cap. The one I was on made it though. It was a different age and most of us did not have much but what would we not give to re-live some of those experiences...one more time.
 
Hi. Otherhalf. You are right it is a J4, but some of them had sliding doors, heres a photo of an FG I drove for Lawrence Bros. of Ladywell Walk, as you say with suicide doors,used to be called the threepenny bit cab, this one had a 4 litre six cylinder petrol engine, and went like the clappers, my brother was with me the day of the photo, thats him on top, think he is trying to tell me its 2 o,clock or something.
 
john70 said:
heres a photo of an FG I drove for Lawrence Bros. of Ladywell Walk, as you say with suicide doors,used to be called the threepenny bit cab
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I sometimes drove one for Midland Red, a stores lorry delivering parts to garages all over the system. Nice in the summer, you could have the doors open for fresh air! That was the idea of the design, you could open the door without worry of passing traffic. Just remember to look before you jump out!
 
John I used to drive an FG at TASCOS Dairies in Stirchley they had a few of em but 4cyl used to tie the suicide doors back cause we were in and out of the cab so often:rolleyes:
 
Cor blimey old Riley.
out and about on Sunday i heard the gearbox/back axle drone of a very nicely turned out motor,thought i,d share with you.
i know it,s a Riley i think it,s a kestrel?
regards Derek.
 
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In July 1961 hubby's first car was a 1947 Austin 10 taken outside his home in St Agatha's Road Ward End.

He took his test and passed first time in this car. :thumbsup:

Doesn't he look young :D
 
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