Driving North in 1939

[mab01uk]

20 years before the arrival of the Mini but thought this may be of interest anyway..........

Driving north from London to Grantham along the Great North Road before the days of the Motorways.
The date is 1939 and a Barrage Balloon otherwise known as a 'Blimp' can be seen hovering above central London setting the period. War has been declared but this period was known as 'the phoney war' because the war had not yet started in earnest. It was still far-away.. The blackout was soon to follow and Britain was soon to be plunged into full scale war changing the country and the people drastically and irrevocably..

beautiful olde-worlde English villages and classic British cars abound in this archive gem of days gone by:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=66f_1323270856

[graham in aus]

Fascinating view of a time past, makes you realise how few 30's cars you see at shows and things, some of them weren't hanging around either, saw the morgan 3 wheeler, and so many pushbikes!

Stamford still looks a lot like that!

Cheers

Graham

[Old English White]

Very interesting and in COLOUR

I'd forgotton all those HUGE telegraph poles!

I think the three wheeler was perhaps more likely a BSA?

A great find!

[Pandora]

black and white curb stones still seem like a good idea. wonder why they went out of favour?

[LDR209H]

They used to have the 3-lane markings on the A299 from the end of the M2 dan to Margate until the 80's if memory serves me right,the middle one being nicknamed 'suicide lane' !!

[66S]

20 years before the arrival of the Mini but thought this may be of interest anyway.......... and classic British cars abound in this archive gem of days gone by:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=66f_1323270856

Quite a few American cars too, they are the ones that look 10 years later !!

Al

[mab01uk]

Driving through London in the 1950's.......streets look very clean and tidy but no Mini's about yet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhuBZEZ ... re=related

[36inter]

There used to be a lot of that three lane system on the A38 around Bristol, it was leathal, so many head on accidents, can't remember exactly when they changed it, in the 70's I think but it all went to 2 lane in a hurry.

[fixed-head]

Please take me back there!! It looks fantastic, what a shame all that peace and tranquility was about to be shattered by that nutter with a silly hair style in Germany!! The destruction of our beautiful Cities and the loss of life is beyond belief!!!

And then the planners and developers of the 1960's and 70's started doing their bit, they were actually worse than the Luftwaffe in terms of what they destroyed!! Sorry, I can't watch an old film without thinking of the stupidity of what has been demolished and lost forever!

It's a car forum, so here's the bit about cars, the old cars in the film were giving it some 'welly' as mentioned, of course you can't drive an old car like that these days because the modern cars can 'pull-up' so quickly, you have to drive the old cars now as if your brakes don't work, that way you shouldn't ever run into the back of a modern motor. The trouble is, if the modern motor is behind you they get all hot under the collar!!

In 1939 all the cars stopped a the same 'not very impressive' rate, so were less likely to crash into each other, hence they were all driving a lot faster.

Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed the film!!

[guru_1071]

In 1939 all the cars stopped a the same 'not very impressive' rate,

i guess you have never driven a rolls royce or a derby bentley with the mechancially servo assisted brakes!


they can pull up sharp very quick - there is an mot tester at my local station who can confirm that, we had to extract him from under the dash, still clutching his tapley meter

[Old English White]

Among cheaper cars Austin still relied on cable or rod brakes but Triumph, Morris and MG for example had quite decent hydraulic systems well before the war so variety still ruled. Maintenance was sometimes a bit patchy though

[fixed-head]

Yes, but that is a quality, performance car with the very best brakes available at the time and well maintained for a modern day MOT, trust me, the lesser cars have poor brakes (for driving in 2012) and in hot weather and on hilly terrain they become pretty much useless if you drive too enthusiastically!!!

Most old cars are a joy to drive, especially the big engined one's, you have to 'nurse' them through the gears, 'roll' with them on the bends and just generally take lots of extra care. They are miles more comfortable than modern cars, better stronger springs for modern day bumpy roads and even the seats have metal springs to protect your bottom from the craters in the road.

Best time to drive an 'oldie', 4:30am midsummer morning, lots of daylight, no other traffic with better brakes than you!! That's when you can really drive 'em!!!! Or even better, go back to prewar years with Dr. Who, just like the 'driving north' film!!!!