Whats Available ?

 

One thing that spoils a lot of layouts for me is the wrong aged vehicles being used on the roadways.  With a little modellers licence you can get away with the vehicle being vintage compared to the layout period as it could always be said it was a preservation project but some layouts I have seen purport to be set in the 1940's and have trains correct for that period yet have vehicles on them that  in real life were not even invented until the 1980's.

So this particular question is for the 1950's and what car models are there available in 4mm scale that would have been seen on the road in the period 1950 to 1960 ?

Hi Richard,

There are a few:

Start here:

Oxford Diecast - Leading Supplier of Diecast Model Vehicles

http://www.hornby.com/armstrongsidley/category.html

http://www.traffic-modelcars.com/tri-ang/minic-parts.htm

fotopic.net

… and a few more esoteric sites.

It's surprising which car types were available in the 1950s.
Relatively modern in appearance (i.e. without running boards!).

Rover 75 & 90 for example.

 

Thanks DD.

The Minic series still being available was something of a revelation as I had not heard of these for many a year - a bit more expensive than when they were first issued I think

There are quite a few around but you still have to do your research to find out when they were actually on the road.

It would be good if they could do something like Bachmann do with their "era" system.  On the other hand, it might be fun trying to guess the Motor Show they were launched at ………………..:roll::roll:

I started work in 1951 ,and at that time can recall most private cars were pre war ,possibly due to the shortage of petrol they would not have been used much until petrol became more readily available. They were nearly all black in colour. There were also loads of ex military vans lorrys etc sold of as war surplus ,and used by greengrocers ,builders , etc . The company i started work with "Strand electric."  used 10cwt ford vans .but also ran Bedford lorrys for the works, and signs departments. there were also lots of ex wd motor bikes and plenty of sidecars (chairs).  second hand london taxi's were available for about £50 ,as seen in poirot films,,students clubbed together and bought those ,they would be painted in pastel shades ,with paintings of flowers on the panels . the owners were mostly what to day may be called Hippys ,but there was another name for them ,which i can't remember. Another great car was the ford pilot ,ex staff cars i think.

It was common to see three wheel cars. BSA  was one . later came the little three wheelers meshersmitt and hienkal,Not sure of the spelling here.

Hi John . I remembered it over dinner they were called Bohemians . I don't think that was an accurate descripition of the type ,but they were generally referred to as such.  In those days at new years eve there was a ball at the royal albert hall.. Known as the Chelsea arts ball. That would be full of them,in Fancy dress , from the arc lamp position in the gallery , what i saw a  wizard doing to Poccahontis ,is best not mentioned.

Back to the cars , i recall wolesely hornets .Riley elf's .ford 8's,10's  austin a 30 ,/40/50 .Austin sheerline ,austin Princess.cant remember the models of the Vauxhalls ,but they had a distinctive groove along the bonnet edges . I did at one time drive an ex army ambulance  which had been altered to carry a generator , used on film location work.it had sash cords to operate wooden arms as inidicaters when turning. Some ex army lorries were in use as coalmans lorries . My pals dad went to an auction and bought a 7maybe 10  tonner for his greengrocery business ,when he got it home it had about 10 motor bikes in the back .  I dont know what would have happened about the log book in those days,but i think he resprayed them and sold them on.

so really any old army vehicles in another colour or khaki with an advert on the side would be appropriate.

Standard Vanguard
Jowett Javelyn
Wolseleys (Police used them too) ?? 4/40s
Austin Metropolitan
Humber Hawk

and, as Reg says, many pre-war.

Wonderful days Reg.  I too remember seeing mostly pre-war cars and ex military vehicles.  After the war, there weren't that many cars available - people couldn't afford them and petrol went back on ration during the Suez crisis - in the mid 50's I think…….:roll:

Surely the Wolsley Hornets and Riley Elfs were later ?  Wolsley was an up-market car often used by the Police and the Riley I remember was the Pathfinder with a vinyl roof covering.

Vauxhalls did have those chrome grooves along the bonnet edges and were not named but had numbers - Vauxhall 14 etc. etc. before the Wyvern, Velux and Cresta came in.

My Dad had a Singer Le Mans soft top and I remember him bringing the plugs into the cooker to warm and dry them on cold mornings when the car wouldn't start.  He was still in the army and his "staff" car was a Standard Vanguard or sometimes a Morris "Shooting Brake".

The Ford V8 Pilot was a super car but a pig to start in winter because it was only a 6 volt system trying to turn a big 8 cylinder engine.  I also remember the windscreen wipers almost stopped if you accelerated heavily because they ran off the inlet manifold vacuum.

Others marques I remember were Jowett - the "Javelin" was the car and the "Bradford" was the van. Sunbeam Talbot made a nice looking sports tourer. Alvis and Allard were around but I think they were pre-war models.  Triumph made both mortorcycles and cars.  The Triumph Dolomite, Mayflower and Renown were ones I remember from the early 50's.  As a student (and into marriage), I had a Triumph Roadster - the "Bergerac" car.  That was built in 1949.  Do you remember the Austin Atlantic ?  A very snazzy convertable built for the US market but a financial disaster for Austin.

Motorcyles were far more common - they were cheaper both to buy and to run.  Norton, Triumph, BSA, Ariel, Matchless and Vellocette immediately spring to mind.

Beat me to it DD - you posted as I wrote !!!

Austin Metropolitan was that convertable - not the Altlantic.oops:

Forgot the Humber too - there was the Snipe and Super Snipe as well as the Hawk.

Then there was the Ford Popular and Prefect.

All before my time, Peter.

I've bought two vehicles today for Much Wittering (N).

A Jowett Javelyn and a Morris 1000 Van.
Both 1950's.
Oxford Diecast.