-
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
Is This Your Motor?
- Thread starter www.midlandspubs.co.uk
- Start date
The overtaking car still looks a bit like a Morris 10 or 12 to me. I used to be able to recognise them, from childhood, and can still sort of visualise them. It's the face - the relationship of headlights to radiator and bumper- which rings bells for me. The clincher would be the radiator grill and whether there are vertical decorative strips on it which we can't see on these images. Have to say I don't see "Rover" there, Pete, but who knows?
(I DO have the back-end of a likely Rover though, parked a few yards further on from the Austin and photographed on the same occasion - below. There's also the rear of a Standard Flying 12 - of the type which which I recall travelling in on several occasions - but the image quality is really grim and so I won't post that one).
Chris
(I DO have the back-end of a likely Rover though, parked a few yards further on from the Austin and photographed on the same occasion - below. There's also the rear of a Standard Flying 12 - of the type which which I recall travelling in on several occasions - but the image quality is really grim and so I won't post that one).
Chris
Lloyd
master brummie
I do remember the Rovers with their spare wheels in the boot lid- you didn't have to unpack all the luggage if you had a puncture on your way to holidays!
Johnfromstaffs
Johnfromstaffs
The possible Morris is really not clear enough to my eyes to decide yes or no. Sorry.
Thanks for your interest in this. This is the last one in the series taken at the same time. The convertible behind the little boy. My immediate thought was a Ford Prefect convertible - I have seen one or two and remember them well. That was because of the chromium-plated boot hinges and the boot lid itself which look right and also the apparent headlamp position. But the mudwings are wrong - not continously rounded; and the wheels may be wrong as well - they might even be wire. It's the distinctive mudwings which is the main identifying feature, I think. Haven't found anything online which fits the bill, so far.
Should really appreciate any thoughts. Thanks
Chris
Should really appreciate any thoughts. Thanks
Chris
Richard Dye
master brummie
I think you did well Eric!First car I ever bought for my own use BNP14, a non-runner the company took part exchange, £5 to buy £5 for a second hand engine £5 for a respray £3 for odds and ends, on the road for £18, kept it for two years and sold for £65.
Johnfromstaffs
Johnfromstaffs
You are almost absolutely right. This is a prewar Ford Prefect E93A Drophead Coupé, on the long wheelbase chassis which was introduced in 1937 to replace the slightly smaller barrel shaped Ten Model C. There were two types of open 10hp Fords built between 1937 and 1939, the Tourer, which had a curved top to the doors and windows in the hood behind the front seats, and this one, of which only 667 were built. The prewar cars were known as “Ten” and not Prefect until the introduction of the E93A models in late 1938, the distinguishing factor being the grille with horizontal louvres, and the one piece rear hinged bonnet. The previous 7W Ten had three vertical louvres, and a two piece centre hinged bonnet. The headlamps, as shown, were still separate, the larger front wings with integrated headlamps did not appear until 1949. There were no postwar ragtops, only four door saloons on this chassis.
The 7W Ten, 1937. http://www.simoncars.co.uk/ford/prefect07w.html
The car in question.
Picture taken from here: - https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_732065-Ford-Prefect-Drophead-Coupe-E93A-1938.html
Last edited:
Johnfromstaffs
Johnfromstaffs
Well, he wasn’t wrong was he?
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
Johnfromstaffs
Johnfromstaffs
This is the Tourer.
Thanks for that, John and Pete.. You sound pretty convinced, John, and I am too (well, up to about 98 percent!) The only slight reservation I have is the design of the mud wings. That range of Fords seem always to have had perfectly rounded wings, rather than the ones possessed by this coupe where their contour, front and rear, includes a sharpish angle. I haven't been able to replicate the latter for definite in any coupe images I've seen. And it certainly wasn't on the Prefect saloon of the time. (I have several photos of our own, a 1939 model photographed here in 1943 or 1944 with me perched on the running board, and they all confirm that roundness). Nevertheless, I'm sure you are right.
(I have been trying to refine these identifications as part of an online article I have written about the Parish Hall in Streetly. Thanks to your help and that of one or two others, I'll now amend that to provide identifications and to acknowledge the assistance generously given by members of this knowledgeable Forum!)
Chris
(I have been trying to refine these identifications as part of an online article I have written about the Parish Hall in Streetly. Thanks to your help and that of one or two others, I'll now amend that to provide identifications and to acknowledge the assistance generously given by members of this knowledgeable Forum!)
Chris
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
UP IN SMOKE
in 1980 my sister moved to sturmer to be in charge of a care home. we went to visit her one weekend, all around the home was out buldings be being nosy had to have a look inside them. in one i saw through a window was about 6 -1950s ford pops and loads of spare parts wheels tyres rads seats wings doors and more covered in straw and hay i was gob smacked, out side the doors was a tree it had grown blocking the way in , so no one had been in there for years. i asked around, no one knew any thing about them all they knew was the sheds belonged to the home. 3 months later i went down to see sis again,and was horified the shed had been burned down by something or someone. every thing had gone up in flames all gone except for a chassis of one of the cars and a load scrap.
in 1980 my sister moved to sturmer to be in charge of a care home. we went to visit her one weekend, all around the home was out buldings be being nosy had to have a look inside them. in one i saw through a window was about 6 -1950s ford pops and loads of spare parts wheels tyres rads seats wings doors and more covered in straw and hay i was gob smacked, out side the doors was a tree it had grown blocking the way in , so no one had been in there for years. i asked around, no one knew any thing about them all they knew was the sheds belonged to the home. 3 months later i went down to see sis again,and was horified the shed had been burned down by something or someone. every thing had gone up in flames all gone except for a chassis of one of the cars and a load scrap.
Eric Gibson
master brummie
I think also that it is the Ford coupe , the rear bumper is typical Ford and the 'pram hood' with the fittings that are on the exterior are pretty rare on cars from that era, I only know of Lagonda and AC that had that and their body lines are entirely different. I think the crease look on the wings is maybe just shadow.
KRO Brummie
proper brummie kid
Are you sure it's Aston, Martin ?
Richard Dye
master brummie
The town of Aston.
Johnfromstaffs
Johnfromstaffs
Having taken a further look, I was of the same opinion. Another point of identification is the pressed crease in the body starting just under the lower fixing for the landau iron, and running down to the boot lid. It seems to be a feature of the Ford Coupés and would have to have been incorporated in the press tooling for that panel. I remain steadfast in the opinion that the car is a Ford Prefect Drophead Coupé.
Shown below is the only (I think) similarly sized and price bracketed Brit coupé, a Phase 1 Hillman Minx, which is quite different enough that it can’t be the subject vehicle. The rear hinged door on the Hillman clinches it. The 1948+ Phase 2 Minx coupé with integral headlights still retains the suicide doors.
Attachments
Last edited:
Johnfromstaffs
Johnfromstaffs
Nice! But, not the Drophead Coupé. That had straight tops to the doors and a different configuration of the hood.
From the above: - In addition to saloon and drop-head coupe versions of the Prefect, Ford offered a "sports tourer", also a two-door soft-top but with cutaway top edges to the doors, a chrome windscreen surround, and sidescreens rather than the framed wind-up windows found in the car shown above. The tourer only had a simple folding hood, whereas the drop-head coupe had a smart three-position roof, similar to that on the Austin 10/4 Cabriolet. Buyers in Australia had their own version of the tourer.
Hence I am still convinced that the picture on Page 17 is a Prefect Drophead Coupé. Only 667 of these were built.
1939 Ford E93A Prefect Drop-head Coupe, after a crash.
An almost new and badly damaged Ford Prefect E93A drophead coupe in 1939.
www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
From the above: - In addition to saloon and drop-head coupe versions of the Prefect, Ford offered a "sports tourer", also a two-door soft-top but with cutaway top edges to the doors, a chrome windscreen surround, and sidescreens rather than the framed wind-up windows found in the car shown above. The tourer only had a simple folding hood, whereas the drop-head coupe had a smart three-position roof, similar to that on the Austin 10/4 Cabriolet. Buyers in Australia had their own version of the tourer.
Hence I am still convinced that the picture on Page 17 is a Prefect Drophead Coupé. Only 667 of these were built.
Last edited:
Our first car was a black consul like this one
Eric Gibson
master brummie
I wonder what the one pictured had in the boot.
Out in the sticks Brummy
master brummie
Just because you can doesn't mean you should
Bill Basset
Brummie babby
Chris have you any idea where in Foley Road this photo was taken? I lived in Foley Road West from 1982 to 2016, 5 houses down from Wood Lane towards the Chester Road. From the lie of the land I can almost convince myself that the two gentlemen are standing on the pavement outside my house.
Sorry to disappoint you, Bill, but the scene is definitely what is now called Foley Road East. It is just about on the brow of the hill, short of the Church, and outside a building which used to stand there – the Parish Hall. So we are looking down the hill towards the junction with the Chester Road.
(I have a number of associated images which prove this beyond doubt – let me know if you want me to point you towards them).
Chris
(The original image:
(I have a number of associated images which prove this beyond doubt – let me know if you want me to point you towards them).
Chris
(The original image:
Bill Basset
Brummie babby
Chris, thank you for the rapid response. My initial thought, with the road dropping away, suggested near the church, towards the Chester Road. However, the road from my house also dropped away towards Wood Lane so I just had to ask.
The Streetview scene you have uploaded, looks spot on for the 1941 scene.
Have you any idea when Foley Road was designated East and West? The house numbers have always remained consecutive over the two roads.
The Streetview scene you have uploaded, looks spot on for the 1941 scene.
Have you any idea when Foley Road was designated East and West? The house numbers have always remained consecutive over the two roads.
Richard Dye
master brummie
We have been watching “Bangers and Cash” and did not realize that Ford made so many higher performance production cars in Europe.
Bill Basset
Brummie babby
Back in late 1978 I ordered a new Ford Escort 1600 Sport from Mottershed & Smith, Soho Road Handsworth . That was the performance Escort below the RS2000. No sooner had I placed the order, the Ford workforce went on one of their longest ever strikes. After a 6 months delay I cancelled the order and bought an Alfa Romeo Alfasud 1.5 from Hawthorn Garage in Streetly.
The 1970’s the decade of strikes.
The 1970’s the decade of strikes.