Memories are Made of This: Mack's Car

The only Summer holiday I can recall from my pre-school / Ryebank days was a week in the Glyn Valley (Glyn Ceiriog) around 1954 of which there do not appear to any obvious photos though this may be one. (Barry and Roger are wearing Ryebank uniform so it must be before September 1955). I think that was the only holiday we had other than days out and brief visits to The Imps (about which more later). One has to bear in mind Dad only got two weeks holiday a year and worked Saturdays (until in the mid '50s it changed to Saturday mornings) and many Sundays. Holiday time was therefore for getting decorating done!

The car is Mack's Standard Vanguard. Mack was the husband of Dad's late sister, Agnes, and lived with his other sister Anuty Denny, in Hilary Avenue, Roby. On occasions we would borrow his car for important journeys. day trips or, in this case, the holiday. It was in this car that GB was to learn to drive in later years.

The cars which went up and down our road in the early fifties were mostly black and usually of the sit-up-and-beg type. The 'sit-up-and-beg' Ford Popular was built in England between 1953 and 1959 as a budget alternative to the Ford Anglia and Ford Prefect. Based on the pre-war Anglia it was very basic with a vacuum powered wiper (at the top of the windscreen), no heater, vinyl trim and very little chrome. Over 150,000 Populars were made. This car proved successful because there were no clean late-model used cars available in postwar Britain due to the six-year halt in production caused by the War. This problem was compounded by stringent export quotas that made obtaining a new car in the late 1940s and early 50s difficult. In addition covenants forbade new-car buyers from selling for up to three years after delivery. Unless the purchaser could pay the extra £100 or so for an Anglia 100E, Austin A30 or Morris Minor the choice was the Popular or a pre-war car.

In 1953 the Ford Prefect underwent a radical change in design and from then on the classic 'sit-up-and-beg' shape was gradually phased out as various models followed the design of the new Fords and became more modern and streamlined. Here are some more cars from the 50s.