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Memories : Essence Of The 50s And 60s

Smudger said:
I had a Triumph 2000 in the 70`s. A very powerful car but like most British made cars was not always reliable. The overdrive solenoid would often stop working, & you had to be very careful putting the car in reverse otherwise the gear stick would come adrift but was fairly easy to slot back in. It`s no wonder the British car industry slowly died.:(
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Smudger said:
I had a Triumph 2000 in the 70`s. A very powerful car but like most British made cars was not always reliable. The overdrive solenoid would often stop working, & you had to be very careful putting the car in reverse otherwise the gear stick would come adrift but was fairly easy to slot back in. It`s no wonder the British car industry slowly died.:(
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Smudger , during the 60's I was apprentice to a foreman Manxman , the year 1966 he dove a Wolesley 16/60 it was that years model reg GOB708D two tone body, lower body dark brown upper light brown. When going to and from work I felt like royalty ,it had a very nice dashboard also . When he told me he was going to trade it in for a Triumph 2000 I was gutted his ideal dream for the Triumph, was all white with a blue roof . He ended up with a lemon one DUE106C , it was o'k but I hadn't got that regal feeling when being chauffeured about
 
Hi, seems I haven’t written in for 6 years. :(
Hubby tells me he bought an A40 Somerset in 1954 from Lisles Garage which he thinks wasn’t far from the City centre? Some years later I went shopping with him at Christmas time, everything was locked in the boot but still got broken into, so had to buy the same things again! Not good for our moral but trying to look on the bright side... hope it was good for trade. :)

Paxtongirl
 
It is lovely to read all these memories, please keep them coming. First car was a 1948 Standard Vanguard , 3speed column change, umbrella handbrake, bench front seat, water lined cylinders four of them with only three working and a dodgy exhaust system. With our friends down from Birmingham, we visited a scrapyard at Yealmpton while on our way to Bigbury, invested in all the bits for a repair and in the yard having paid a pound for them, we installed a new exhaust system and drove merrily on our way on the lane to Bigbury there was a loud explosion and we were back to square one, baked bean tins and asbestos bandage were brought to bear next day and from then on everything was fine, a bit throaty and plenty of fumes in the car.
Bob
 
My dad was driving my mum, sister, and gran down the Bristol Road one 1950s Sunday afternoon in his van when my sister laughingly pointed to a wheel rolling alongside. My dad did not laugh because he realised it was a wheel off his van and gently braked until the left front slowly lowered and scraped along the road. After some thought he went back along the road and found three of the wheel nuts, put the wheel back on and drove back home.
There is a pic of the van on the forum here ...
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/old-car-snaps.22355/post-449576
 
Yes Bob, fixed plenty of my many old bangers exhausts using a combination off old oil tin cans cut into strips, Gum Gum exhaust paste and old wire to tighten them together.
The young kids today don't know there born.
 
I remember driving a Mini on the M6 in the 60s, the petrol pump stopped working (located inside the rear subframe) ended up using the windscreen washer bottle to pump petrol to the carb to get us home. Didn't do the seals much good in the washer pump though. Wouldn't fancy lying underneath a car on the M6 hard shoulder nowadays. John
 
Hi, first time I’ve written in. My dear wife (She isn't all that expensive really) :worried: :grinning: sent a note to this thread last Monday, after I’d rambled on to her about my old Austin motor car.
And thank you very much oldMohawk for website showing the Lisles Garage, very pleased. Also interesting reading from Eric Gibson, Phil and Radiorails. I can remember it had white painted pillars between big plate-glass windows and confident it is the right garage.
This motor brings back so many memories including using it for work at Wright & Platt Patternmakers in Irving Street, though I can’t see it mentioned in the Irving Street forum, or by searching in Factories?
If it isn’t listed, would someone kindly say the best place to post and perhaps I can give it the heading: Wood & Metal Patternmakers? In the 50’s I knew a lot of people here, the Foundry entrance was between the houses.
Apologies for going way out of topic!
(Paxtongirl’s Other Half).
We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas
:) :)
 
From Christmas Day 1958 through to Christmas Day 1972, the big Variety Show on BBC was "Christmas Night with the Stars". These were the stars appearing in the first programme in 1958: Ted Ray, Jimmy Edwards, Jack Warner, Charlie Chester, Charlie Drake, Vera Lynn, Billy Cotton and his band, the Beverley Sisters, Tony Hancock, and Perry Como. The show was introduced by David Nixon (the one with the bald head who did magic tricks). What a wonderful line-up and I can remember all of them. Dave.
 
farmerdave said:
From Christmas Day 1958 through to Christmas Day 1972, the big Variety Show on BBC was "Christmas Night with the Stars". These were the stars appearing in the first programme in 1958: Ted Ray, Jimmy Edwards, Jack Warner, Charlie Chester, Charlie Drake, Vera Lynn, Billy Cotton and his band, the Beverley Sisters, Tony Hancock, and Perry Como. The show was introduced by David Nixon (the one with the bald head who did magic tricks). What a wonderful line-up and I can remember all of them. Dave.
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FarmerDave so do I
 
Williamstreeter said:
I visited Uncle Holly and then on to Father Christmas had my photo took with FC , that was at Lewis's 1953 mislaid the photo in the late 90's
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Yes I remember Uncle Holly in Lewis’s ,well worth the hike up all those stairs with my mum to see the grotto, uncle Holly and dear old Santa , happy days and didn’t even mind the que——- but maybe my mum did ,bless her
 
Jeannie said:
Yes I remember Uncle Holly in Lewis’s ,well worth the hike up all those stairs with my mum to see the grotto, uncle Holly and dear old Santa , happy days and didn’t even mind the que——- but maybe my mum did ,bless her
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This was posted before somewhere on the forum. My wife visiting Santa at Lewis'IMG_20180322_0001.jpg
 
farmerdave said:
From Christmas Day 1958 through to Christmas Day 1972, the big Variety Show on BBC was "Christmas Night with the Stars". These were the stars appearing in the first programme in 1958: Ted Ray, Jimmy Edwards, Jack Warner, Charlie Chester, Charlie Drake, Vera Lynn, Billy Cotton and his band, the Beverley Sisters, Tony Hancock, and Perry Como. The show was introduced by David Nixon (the one with the bald head who did magic tricks). What a wonderful line-up and I can remember all of them. Dave.
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What, no Norman Wisdom Dave ? I bet the Television Toppers or the Tiller Girls would've been on there too !
 
farmerdave said:
You are correct. the Television Toppers were on Christmas Night with the Stars 1958. No sign of Norman Wisdom however. Dave.
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There was a repeated documentary on BBC4 the other day all about Norman Wisdom. It was very good and one of the features was a concert given in Romania by Norman, Tony Hawkes and Sir Tim Rice to promote a song, written by Sir Tim and sung by Norman and Tony, in order for Tony Hawkes to win a bet. The bet was for him to have a top twenty record in the charts in any country in the world. So he teamed up with Norman and Sir Tim and the record reached no 19. Norman was adored in Romania.
 
Radiorails said:
I can understand why Norman Wisdom was appreciated in Romania. Slapstik easily crosses language barriers.
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Some years back i remember reading about Norman Wisdom. Apparently he was quite a bully to those that he worked with. (fake news? ) He was also big in Albania!
 
Smudger said:
Some years back i remember reading about Norman Wisdom. Apparently he was quite a bully to those that he worked with. (fake news? ) He was also big in Albania!
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You are right and it was Albania and not Romania as I said in my earlier post, sorry about the misinformation. As for being a bit of a bully, I find that hard to believe. He suffered from bullying and parental abuse as a child himself.
 
The Norman Wisdom film "On the Beat" (1962) had Birmingham-born Raymond Huntley as one of its cast members. He was born on April 23rd 1904 in Kings Norton. He made dozens of film and TV appearances usually appearing as a businessman, lawyer, military officer or member of the upper class. A short biography is in the link below. Whoops, just noticed that there is a very old BHF thread (2008) to Raymond Huntley. Dave.
https://radiosoundsfamiliar.com/familiar-faces-raymond-huntley.php
 
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maypolebaz said:
Brilliant ! I'd never seen that before.
I've just googled Norman, he had a hell of a life in his early days.
Imagine, he was an Army boxing champion in India.
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Too be honest I could take him or leave him, Mr Grimsdale has only a limited credence with me . I'm not surprised he was a big hit in Albania/ Romania . Easily pleased I'd say
 
farmerdave said:
The Norman Wisdom film "On the Beat" (1962) had Birmingham-born Raymond Huntley as one of its cast members. He was born on April 23rd 1904 in Kings Norton. He made dozens of film and TV appearances usually appearing as a businessman, lawyer, military officer or member of the upper class. A short biography is in the link below. Dave.
https://radiosoundsfamiliar.com/familiar-faces-raymond-huntley.php
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Farmerdave did you know also that Raymond Huntley was instigative years ago of getting Bram Stoker's Dracula onto the stage in this country
 
Normans screen girlfriend, Lana Morris, was lovely. Actually my fiancée and subsequent wife had the same hair style at the time. :D
 
Your absolutely right about Norman Wisdom being big in Albania.
Apparantly when the country was a very strict communist regime they would strictly vet anything from the western world, and Normans escapades with Mr Grimshaw was seen as showing the population what life was like in the wicked outside world. The worker, Norman, being bullied by the upper class and boss Mr Grimshaw.
I visited there in 2010 and a lot of the population even then had heard of him.
In I think the 1970s he visited Tirana the capital and was mobbed like a hero. He appeared at the national football stadium to a heroes welcome.
 
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