Remember Some Of The Funny Old Vehicles?

[PeterR 10]

When we were kids, my dad had one of these. There was enough room in the back for my brother and I as nippers. My poor mom always said that she spent more time pushing it than she did riding in it.

 

One of my colleagues at work had a Bond Minicar, used to see a lot around in the early sixties. My first car was same as the black one on the right of pic, a Ford Popular 103E

[PeterR 10]

My first car was a Frisky Sports(I kid you not) and that had a 750 JAP engine in it with a fibre glass body and it could beat anything on the road from standstill.

 

I still have my 1957 abc book of cars showing a Frisky Sport. It has a Villiers 325cc 2 stroke engine. JAP engines must have been fitted in later models??

[PeterR 10]

If my memory serves me right wasn't there a 3 wheel van by Jowett called the Bradford in the early 50's. Also a sporty!!!!! Berkley that you had to lift the hood,pardon me, bonnet to kick start the Villiers motorcycle engine.

 

My 1959 abc book of cars shows the Berkley. I was 15 and desperately wanted one! The book says it was powered by a 492cc Excelsior engine, but manufacturers often changed suppliers along the way so may have fitted the Villiers later.

Edited October 21, 2012 by PeterR

[old tup 30]

Around 1960 I bought my first motor it was a 1935 Morris 8 and it was in a reet owd state,it cost the princely sum of £25 which I paid to Mr Monfredi the ice cream chappie!.It had frog eyed headlamps on a side mudguard running board,it had wire wheels rusty of course,holes in the mudguards paint was flat due to years of neglect.Our old boy got me the use of a large heated garage at Neepsend power station were I set about smartening the car up.I riveted aluminium to the underside of the wings filled with cataloy,rubbed smooth and hand painted with a black shellac .New rubbers were cut out of floor matting and glued on,each wire wheel sandpapered and painted likewise,the flat paint was restored to a nice shine with industrial Brasso finished with Johnstons one step wax.Inside I shampood the roof lining,the seats a red leather like material I did with saddle soap,the brake lights were seized due to a brass switch verdigree which I cleaned up and restored,the back window had a roller blind which was fixed.Mechanicaly the engine was sound but the petrol tank had condensation in it making the car conk out every 200miles or so this was easily fixed by unscewing the bowl in the carb and wiping with a rag.It took a month to fix up the car and I hit the road,everywhere the girlfriend and I went a crowd would look the car over it looked pretty good,after 18months I sold it for £150 the only car I never lost money on!.

[hillsbro 32]

Probably an Invicar designed by Bert Greeves of motorcycle fame.

Yes - available in any colour you wanted as long as it was duck-egg blue. A photo is here. See also here

[michael p 10]

I remember my Dad had a van called a Trogan in the mid 50s to 1960. It was chain driven and had to be crank started, we went all over in it, broke down once on the Blackpool front at night, we had to sleep in it till daylight. I have a pic of it with me and my sister in front of it but dont know how to put it on here!!!

[jmdee 10]

How about the Scootacar. There was a dealer on Penistone Rd. by Hillfoot Bridge.

[bullerboY 10]

Hi Tup,would that have been Matt ?

[Falls 10]

If my memory serves me right wasn't there a 3 wheel van by Jowett called the Bradford in the early 50's. Also a sporty!!!!! Berkley that you had to lift the hood,pardon me, bonnet to kick start the Villiers motorcycle engine.

 

Hi,

 

There was a van called a Bradford Jowett but it had four wheels and came in one colour:grey.

 

From what I remember, it had a flat two cylinder engine (The Jowett Javelin car had a flat-four engine like present-day Subaru's). You started the engine by pressing a very large (to a small kid) button in the middle of the dashboard. Can't remember how many gears it had but must likely only three.

 

The seats were fixed directly to the floor as this was higher than you would normally get back then, in even a car. Jowett went out of business in the early 1950's.

 

I used to get regular rides in a Bradford van: usually from the Wicker to Ranmoor. I remember it was always a struggle to climb up Broad Lane, even when it was empty.

 

All a long time ago

 

Regards

[old tup 30]

Hi Tup,would that have been Matt ?

Hi Bullerboy not sure I didn,t know them only met them one time it was a long time ago!.

[dennisgwild 10]

Do remember lots of different makes who made only a few models whereas today this is the opposite------I remember quite a few shooting brakes (now a sort of estate) and one I still recall in the 60,s was a Humber Hawk with a bright green paintwork and a wood trim---

Edited October 22, 2012 by dennisgwild
spelling

[hillsbro 32]

How about the Scootacar. There was a dealer on Penistone Rd. by Hillfoot Bridge.

The Scootacar looked a bit more like a car than did the Ner-a-car..