10 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

Holiday Traffic Jams (1968)

 

[RedRuby]

Now if I was stuck in a traffic jam that's the one I would chose just to get a look at all those cars.

[spraybeater]

Holiday Traffic Jams (1968)

 

Nice one Martin! remember that year very well, made my first trip to Holland in

August that year with my first mini, we used the AA route map which tried to

keep us out of the main bottle necks, if I remember rightly 860mls one way from

just north of Glasgow via Dover/Calais and it was an 850cc Super De Lux 2up with

all our gear for 2weeks camping. I remember one of the scary bits was in Eindhoven

at 5pm when the Philips factory shift finished had never seen so many bicycles at one

time  .

[Cooperman]

Things to notice are that almost all the cars are British and although in B & W, the range of colours is vast.

Cars then had more character and style compared to the very standard shape these days.

In 1968 my then wife & I had an 850 Mini with an MG1100 engine and a Mk.1 Cortina GT. Happy days!

[mab01uk]

 

Another great film and cars of the 1960's but in colour, it reminds me of trips in my dad's 1965 Mk3 Ford Zephyr during that era!
(The Mk4 Zephyr/Zodiacs seen in the film date it to earliest 1966 and not c 1964 as stated in the youtube title).

[spraybeater]

 

Another great film and cars of the 1960's but in colour, it reminds me of trips in my dad's 1965 Mk3 Ford Zephyr during that era!
(The Mk4 Zephyr/Zodiacs seen in the film date it to earliest 1966 and not c 1964 as stated in the youtube title).

Thats quite interesting, the first car shown in that film the Vauxhall  Victor 101 estate, on the

trip to Holland I was in convoy with my future father in law with one of them, having the previous

week just finished rebuilding the engine, and respraying the body.

[Cooperman]

Fantastic and it seems like yesterday to me.

The Victor is, I think, an FB Estate and I recall servicing on the 1963 RAC Rally in one.

Such a variety of British cars.

[panky]

That's great  I think I saw three foreign cars in total - and push bikes with saddle bags

[Cooperman]

In 1968 I did a rally in a Porsche 911 for the first time. It was amazing as virtually every other car on the event was a Ford or a BMC plus a few Imps. It was a Welsh Championship round and we came second to a Mk.1 Lotus-Cortina driven by the then Welsh Champion. We were the only 'foreign' car to finish in the top 20.

 

I bought a new SAAB 96V4 in early 1969 and people thought it unusual that I had not bought a Ford, or a Vauxhall, or a Rover, or a Triumph. The big difference with the SAAB was that it was reliable and I did 33,000 miles in 15 months, the only thing which went wrong was a wiper spindle nut which allowed a wiper arm to come loose. My previous car was a Cortina GT Mk.1 which was quick, but did require a fair bit of servicing and repair (FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily).

 

There were quite a few VW Beetles around and they never went wrong, but they were very slow and sounded like a Suffolk Colt lawn mower.

 

The surprising thing to those who were not there is the completely different styles for the different makes. These days, for best aerodynamics, all cars look the same and although it helps with fuel economy, it does make things dull which, one might suppose, is why old classics are so popular now.

 

The national speed limit in 1968 was a nominal 70 mph. The motorways were improving journey times and it was possible, for example, for me to leave for a destination a fair way off and be sure of arriving at a set time with no major hold-ups. I could cruise my SAAB at a steady 80 to 85 mph all day long with no electronic enforcement or unmarked police cars. It truly was a golden age for driving. Things have not changed for the better.

[spraybeater]

Fantastic and it seems like yesterday to me.

The Victor is, I think, an FB Estate and I recall servicing on the 1963 RAC Rally in one.

Such a variety of British cars.

As you say the the Victor was an FB the 101 was the later model ( fingers worked quicker than the brain when

posting)

[teateedinc]

Oh we have plenty of freaking traffic...its just looking vs. posting. Look at the number of members with less than 20-30 posts.