The Way We Were – it’s hotting up in Henley-on-Thames in 1962
What a simply splendid day for messing about on the river at Henley. And there’s a right royal regatta of classics to appreciate as well…
Oh, those lazy, hazy days of summer, boating on the river. Henley-on-Thames, an especially posh part of a pretty posh county, looks especially inviting on this high summer’s day and it’s not just the prospect of a punt from J Hooper or a refreshing pint at the Little White Hart Hotel that is luring us in. This view of Thameside, taken from the 1786-built Henley Bridge carrying the A4130 over the river from Oxfordshire to Berkshire, is packed with classics, some of them rather older and humbler than we’d expect from such a salubrious part of the world. They must belong to the tourists, then…
We’ll presume that the stately grey Vanden Plas 3-Litre belongs to a local resident who has maybe popped into the Little White Hart Hotel bar for a quick lunchtime gin and tonic. This big Farina was the more luxurious version of the Austin Westminster, and packed in even more wood and leather. It’s a contrast to the significantly more basic Morris Eight Cabriolet passing by, where the main point of note is the Art Deco-ish waterfall grille introduced with the 1938 revamp of this pre-war vehicle. Production continued through until 1948, so this is probably a post-war example but still long-in-the-tooth for the Sixties. And why isn’t its roof back on such a lovely day? Its more imposing shadow is a Vauxhall PA Velox or Cresta – we’ll hazard a guess at the former, since the two-tone colour scheme only includes the roof rather than the flanks as well. The straight grille pinpoints it as being the original S, made from 1957 to 1959. Is that a 1940s Austin 8HP, the big (small) rival to the Morris 8, following it? Sadly, the vagueness of 1960s film stock makes accurate identification impossible, as it does for the upright machine just turning the corner behind it. We’re inclined to think that it’s a Forties Ford Anglia E04A, judging by the frontal aspect, but if you think differently, do please let us know.
Even though it’s concealed by the blue quayside hoarding for the hotel, there’s no mistaking the curves of a pale green Austin A30 surveying the river. Its closest companion is a Singer Gazelle MkII, MkIIA or MkIII, before the era of rollover rear fins was ushered in. Next comes a second-generation Standard Vanguard eclipsing a pale blue Ford Anglia and sporty little red number that, by its size, might well be a new MG Midget or its badge-engineered Austin-Healey Sprite variant. We bet its occupants have gone off for a punt… and been braver than those in the Morris Eight because they’ve left the roof back even when absent. Other identifiable cars in the row include an Austin Cambridge A55 MkII and a massive Humber Hawk MkI or MkII (or their more upmarket Super Snipe MkI sibling), which is doing a very good job of almost totally obscuring the Mini at the end. Beyond the sign, only the rear end of a grey Standard 8 or 10 can be accurately identified.
As for the cream-coloured minibus in the centre of everything, the distinctive droopy split-windscreen suggests a Perkins diesel-powered Trojan. And yes, it is the same Trojan firm that later turned its hand to Heinkel bubblecars when it found itself in straitened times, before its 1965 demise.
Today, this scene is still much the same – albeit without the interesting cars. The building on the far-left is now brilliant white and, rather appropriately, a prestige paint showroom, while the part of the Little White Hart Hotel under the three tall gables is a Jaeger store. And, we don’t mean the vehicle instrumentation manufacturer but the upmarket clothing retailer. Shame…
Many thanks to Neal Bircher for his invaluable identification help with this article.
‘Some of the cars are rather older and humbler than we’d expect from such a salubrious part of the world’ HENLEY RESIDENTS VS TOURISTS