Back to that Future

1960 had it all

Glad that I shuffled through a pile of old books at a car boot sale the other day which turned up what is, a pamphlet. I paid a pound, but it would have cost you 7s 6d in 1960, so despite being ripped off, it is worth every single penny.

This pocket book is perfect bound with glue and I have to be careful not to crack the old spine, so there will be some shonky pictures, but never mind. What we have here is a rather marvellous snapshot of a time when everyone realised that motor cars were one of the most important inventions of the nineteenth century, that transformed lives so remarkably in the twentieth.

This wonderful little pamphlet/book was written by Dudley Noble, who to my shame I’d not heard of, until now. He seems to have been an exemplary PR man responsible for some impressive stunts in the early days of Rover. I am going to get his biography now, not least because he did the first high profile Blue Train race in 1930. Before that he was around at the dawn of automotive time, testing motorcycles and volunteering to drive vehicles in the First World War for the Army Service Corps. At the time the Army had no drivers or vehicles, but I get the impression he was being very modest about his contribution to the war effort as he motored around France and mentioned that he was at Ypres in September 1914.

Learning to drive and teaching people how to do it properly became a priority during wartime. The great thing about old Dudley is that in 1910 he simply walked into his local council offices, paid five shillings and left with a driving licence. At the same time Stanley Roberts was a 21 year old with an idea. He was keen to break the cycle where you bought a car, the five bob licence and then more by luck than judgement sussed out how to drive. Stanley Roberts knew there was an art or at least a knack to it (this book contains top driving tips and even helpful diagrams) and had begun being paid to turn coachmen into chaffeuers. The British School of Motoring was born.

It was interesting to read that Roberts and his company was instrumental in developing modified cars to help disabled ex-servicemen learn to drive. Overall a great story distilled into a pamphlet with a foreword by the Rt Honourable Ernest Marples, the then Minister for Transport. Along with Barbara Castle one of the most notorious and influential in modern history, but at least he had driving licence and commissioned a cool Mini Cooper hatchback back in the day.

It might seem to be the credible position to blame Marples for commissioning the Beeching Report which ripped the heart out of the rail network. In retrospect, everyone was abandoning the train to take control of their lives, with the help of BSM, to avoid delays, British Rail sandwiches and enjoy proper A to B journeys, without needing a taxi or bus for last few miles. Anyway there’s a picture of Marples at the Used Car Show, not something I knew ever existed.

The other pictures in the book are historical and contemporary. Lots of four wheeled beauties we know and several that disappeared forever including Vulcan, Belsize, Eric-Campbell and Calcott. It is also possible to go full pelt into the Jaguar rebrand, something which has occurred before. SS cars, previously Swallow Sidecars became Jag for obvious reasons after the end of the second world war. The rather striking SS1 from 1932 which inspired the company’s recent ill advised right on, Type 00 revamp which may never see the light of day. At least the SS would never burst into flames or need a comfort stop after a few hundred miles.

Going through the years to 1960 brings us the Mini Minor/Austin Seven, Triumph Herald, Vauxhall Victor, Ford Anglia, Aston Martin DB4 and Sunbeam Alpine. Shall travel back and buy one or two of these?

I won’t go down the DB4 route as you’ll need £400K plus, or even POA (whatever that really is) in some cases, although quite a few people have given up building Zagato recreations and those are, well from £25,000.

Anyway, here’s a Sunbeam Alpine that I picked purely because it is from 1960 and which seems to be in France via Car and Classic. A pricey £16,000. There are Brit ones for £7,995, but I like the idea of left hand drive. Third owner, seemed very tidy, not a lot of detail. Four Slogs for that one.

Mini? Perranwell Garage have a 1960 Austin De Luxe which was restored in 2019 to what seems to be a very high standard. Nice Speedwell colour and yours for £24,995. These do look great and it’s very usable and everyone loves them. Expensive? Yes, but it will cost you more than that to get this sort of perfection. Five Slogs then…

To find a 1960 Vauxhall Victor is a job and half, so we end up in Alicante to find a recently welded example that belonged to the seller’s father in law. Found via Dyler.com it looked honestly repaired and that’s a strong three Slogs in the possibly mistaken belief that it isn’t remotely rusty.

And finally, one of the best things about 1960 is that they knew exactly what a woman was.

We are bombarded with the affirmative, celebratory, very patronising stuff from the likes of Autocar, doing their Great Women awards. Anyone who has worked in the car business knows that women never needed a pat on the back they just got on with doing their jobs as well as and quite often better than their colleagues. By way of high profile example both Pat Moss and Christabel Carlisle were just a couple of racers who didn’t get any special treatment, competed head to head with blokes and were full on racing celebrities of the day. As my good friend Hilton commented when I bored him with all this, “I bet Pat Moss didn’t spend all day organising Teams meetings.” Well no, because in 1960 she was the overall winner of the Leige- Rome-Leige Rally in an Austin Healey 3000.

Which brings me to the final picture. The Managing Director and Chairman of the British School of Motoring was a rather substantial and capable woman, who needed no special help, patronising award, or anything else. Denise McCann got on with the tough job of running the nation’s largest driving school.

See you next time.

Please note that all images are copyright of the selling garage, no recommendation is made for any vehicle featured and ideally it is best to go and check for yourself.

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