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2 hours ago, IBM said:

An Austin K2 registered in 1948.  

How can you tell?  The reason I ask is that my Dad's motorbike, which I have seen only in photos from 1954 or 55, was CST 5xx (I don't have the exact number to hand). 

In the absence of a year ID as part of the number, how do you pin down a plate to a specific year?

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8 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

How can you tell?  The reason I ask is that my Dad's motorbike, which I have seen only in photos from 1954 or 55, was CST 5xx (I don't have the exact number to hand). 

In the absence of a year ID as part of the number, how do you pin down a plate to a specific year?

I have always been interested in all road transport since I was a young boy including registration numbers and I have a book to confirm what I don't know which I have to check for older vehicles.

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2 minutes ago, IBM said:

I have always been interested in all road transport since I was a young boy including registration numbers and I have a book to confirm what I don't know which I have to check for older vehicles.

Cheers, IBM.  Does your book tell you that CST xxx was 1948, but CST xxy was  1949?  That's what I am getting at - how you can be so precise.  Not querying or arguing - just curious. 

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3 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Cheers, IBM.  Does your book tell you that CST xxx was 1948, but CST xxy was  1949?  That's what I am getting at - how you can be so precise.  Not querying or arguing - just curious. 

CST 1 was registered July 1947 and DST1 was February 1949 so you can estimate the year.  Not a lot of vehicles registered then!  That's as close as I can get and even the DVLA have no records for that time as they have been destroyed.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/11/2018 at 8:54 AM, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

SD.jpg

A beautiful Highland Leyland bus a Datsun 120y in the drivway the white one is a Rover SD1 not a car that I liked but others thought they were great, I know a man who had a 2 litre then bought a 3.5 litre V8 Vitesse which he still has!  The photo is between 1978 and 1982, note all the green grass up the hill.

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48 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

IBM...Could you please get the details of an Austin 8 which I think was my father's first car bought in Inverness.

The number plate was AST 564.     ?

AST started in January 1939 and BST in August 1944 so I would guess 1942ish :smile:

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Thanks IBM. That's about dead right.

How did I remember the number  on the plate? Well, some things are indelibly printed on our minds because they mean so much to us and, since I was  born in 1938, that plate must have intrigued me  greatly as I looked upon this shining wonder of transport with something akin to awe.(Dad used to keep it very clean and  highly polished-- all done inside the garage he rented on Grant street  just before the Black Bridge.)

It was good on gas (petrol) but the top speed was not significant.  :tongue: I remember once, on our way down to England,   a queue was forming behind us and I asked him to speed up and he said nothing much. I was only a wee boy  and I suppose could be ignored with ease. I think my desire for more speed  could have been  as much for a thrill than for accommodating the probably frustrated following drivers.... although I admit that I felt for them.

But Dad moved on too. He had a Ford Prefect, then a  car with silver flutes along the sides of the bonnet (IBM what was the name of that car was it a Vauxhall? I remember the name Viva also in our house. Connection?

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57 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

But Dad moved on too. He had a Ford Prefect, then a  car with silver flutes along the sides of the bonnet (IBM what was the name of that car was it a Vauxhall? I remember the name Viva also in our house. Connection?

Scarlet the Viva was introduced in the 60's, I think the car might be a Vauxhall Cresta or a Vauxhall Velox

vauxhall-cresta-07.jpg

Vauxhall Velox.jpg

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Nope. Neither of these , IBM. These two cars are more rounded altogether and .more stylish. The one Dad had was a stronger looking vehicle and possibly had a more flat back as much as anything. Also, whereas these flutes that you show are very curved and seem to sink into the front bonnets of these cars, our one had very straight and streamlined ones on the outer edges of the bonnet. Also I don't recall the metal strips on the side doors,  not like that on ours.

Can you show the Cresta and the Velox perhaps? No need to go out of your way to find them, however, We are just reminiscing. Oh joy?:ponder:

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34 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

Oh dear. I'm afraid these last three don't square with my memory. They also don't have bonnet flutes  on their sides. The bonnets did not havethe lights at a level above them either.

Another make perhaps?

Scarlet try on google british cars of the 50's and you might see a picture to refresh that old memory of yours :wink:

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Snorbens. Hullo!. The one on the left is coming much closer  and is very close to the one I remember. But my memory is now my worst enemy. Thank you very much for your efforts. What year? Dunno,  but in the 1940's I Presume. I mean I was old enough to be allowed to drive it and I must have been between 17 and 18 , that being between 1955 and 1956. Flutes on these vehicles are fine and fit the bill.

Top speed of this car likely to be between 80=-85 mph Max. I know, at the urgings of the two nut-case farmers I was with for me  to go faster and faster, I ….obliged and noted that I was doing about 75 in a country road near Forfar which was faster than I had ever driven before so  we were having a good  time. Ha Ha.

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Hi Scarlet - I have to say that, to my eyes, an awful lot of the cars from the 40s look like those Vauxhalls, so I'm not sure if we are making progress.

One last throw of the dice - the two pictures immediately below are of a 1949 Vauxhall Velox. I've been thinking of this all along, because the first family car that we had, in about 1961, was an old one of these.

1949-01.jpg.9d673b80249743cf10d47bbed6001b1e.jpg      1949-02.jpg.b5a15a65da4689d583e28459cb5fb9a9.jpg

We quickly moved onto a more modern car ? - a 1953 Velox like the one below.  But this is similar to cars that IBM pictured earlier.

  1953.jpg.89ce1959defc619a394cc76d9341201e.jpg

Veloxes had big 6-cylinder engines. The two that we had could romp up Drumossie Brae.  MInd you, I see that 0-60 took 21 or 22 seconds!   Vauxhall also produced a model called the Wyvern - same body as the Veloxes, but with a 4-cylinder engine.

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Assuming you mean Second Row's picture, I'm pretty sure that's a 1930's Vauxhall 14-6 - like the 1935 one below.   One of the main differences between it and the 1940s model is the way doors open.  From the position of the door handles, the 1930s one has "suicide doors" in the back - i.e. doors which are hinged at the back, and would thus fly open if you opened them when the car was in motion.  It looks to me as though the 1940s Vauxhalls have suicide doors on the front and convential doors on the back (though I don't remember that on my father's car).

625283020_193514-6.jpg.cda23191329d9a4fbfa0d24783322a5f.jpg

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Apologies for drifting away from the original post, but now you've got me puzzling as to the particular model my Dad had.

I've had a look online and at first I thought it may have been this black one, but the fins go right up to the top of the radiator.

The chrome embellishments on the side of the bonnet are the same as in my photo.

Also has the sunshine roof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MACKENZIE - VAUXHALL DX - 1937.JPG

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Well gents this one has me beat apart from the fact that we think it is a Vauxall but from which decade?  As I am a bit younger :wink: I am using that as my excuse.  When Scarlet was using the term flutes on the side of the bonnet I was not sure what he meant I would have called them vents and when he said flat back I was thinking flat boot :lol: I have heard the description suicide doors and I remember a Riley my father had with them on the front.  On the fins on the radiator it could be the that the bigger engine had a bigger radiator or it could be a more luxurious model had a different radiator. 

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This last one,  2nd Row,  -- no.

But the one you posted above is as close as I can remember. Looking really good!  It has the sloping back I think and  the flutes are in the right places without extra embellishments. Yep, I'll go for that. You would not be able to estimate the year manufactured and the  mileage on it though -- or would you?

See what we can do when we all pull together. :tongue: 

We should call ourselves the Caley Cute Car Team. Or, better still, The Cute Caley Carriage team respecting the ancient lineage of these vehicles.

I  now remember that Dad also had a light green  Ford Prefect for a short time. That was a really cute car as well.

Brings back memories of a slower time doesn't it? You know, we have all the mod cons now but a very crowded and fast  pace of life. These days were simpler & less complicated and we all appreciated what we had and could afford to a much higher degree as I recall.

 

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