CHRISTMAS 1960 HORSE GUARDS PARADE, LONDON
A famous central London landmark turned into free parking for Christmas shoppers’ cars? It would never happen today. Still, that’s a tasty collection of classics…
In today’s topsy-turvy world of congestion charges, ANPR cameras and counter-terrorism concrete barriers, this chilly-looking London scene seems only slightly less believable than the idea of cordoning off the London Eye on Boxing Day so that chimps from Regent’s Zoo can clamber all over it playing Christmas carols on violins.
The cars here are not only parking for free, but at no less prestigious a backdrop than Horse Guards Parade, just off Whitehall, home to Trooping the Colour.
In December 1960, the only trooping was being done by the occupants of these cars marching towards West End shops, restaurants and theatres, buttoning up their overcoats as they went. Or they could have jumped on to a bus (probably a London Transport AEC Regent RT) or into a taxi (almost certainly an Austin FX3 or one of the new FX4s).
Some would visit bustling toy shops loaded with British-made Tri-ang, Matchbox, Corgi and Hornby transport models, and lethal chemistry sets well capable of causing a nasty explosion and covering Uncle Horace in a variety of mysterious substances.
Kids could be silenced with the top-selling TV Comic Annual featuring Lenny the Lion and a carefully forgotten elephant, with a name so politically incorrect that we dare not even hint at it today.
Anyway, to a wonderful selection of cars. On the front row, far left, we have a Ford 100E, alongside a Morris Minor Traveller, presumably with a slightly paranoid owner who didn’t like taking any chances, if the AA and RAC badges are anything to go by.
Then there’s a base model Ford 105E Anglia sporting a smaller front grille and much less chrome than its better-selling Deluxe sisters, and next to that a London-registered VW Beetle. Note the ‘sit-up-and-beg’ Ford Popular 103E, with steamed up windows and no demister.
We’ve never seen a Morris Oxford Series IV in anything other than a two-tone colour scheme like the car on the far left of the second row. That left-hand drive Beetle parked next to it would have been a rarity, too.
One of a surprisingly small number of prestige cars here is the magnificent Cadillac, between the F-type Vauxhall Victor and the early Ford Consul MkII. We reckon it’s a 1956-on Sedan de Ville, its glamour slightly diminished by the very British-looking roof rack. Also in that row are an Austin A35 (dwarfed by an early Jaguar MkVII), a Standard Pennant and a Ford Consul.
Dating the photo as 1960 is a Mini van, introduced that year and just about visible in the distance next to a Ford 100E. The Morris Oxford Series V, partly obscured by the Cadillac, is a rare car today, as is the Standard Companion, seen nearest to us on the first row facing sideways.
This impromptu car park didn’t just happen – it was part of a carefully orchestrated Pink Zone scheme to try to alleviate London congestion at Christmas, which legendary transport minister, Ernest Marples, christened ‘thrombosis’. His soothing ointment was to create a much larger version of the scheme, which had originally operated in 1959.
Running from 28 November, this meant 20 temporary car parks, with Lords Cricket Ground among the locations. There were also waiting and loading restrictions in many streets and junctions.
The 1960 scheme met with some success and was repeated in 1961, though not after that, apparently due to how much revenue was lost.
Ironically, Horse Guards Parade was used as parking for some years by senior civil servants, who bared their teeth when cabinet ministers proposed banning this on security grounds. The politicians initially backed down, but cars were finally banned in 1997 – even for Christmas!