Southport Promenade,

Southport has occupied a role as Blackpool’s respectable little sister since it began to grow strongly after the arrival of the railway in 1848. It sprouted one of the longest piers in Europe (1340m before later damage) in 1860 and gained electric trams in 1901. The council reclaimed a chunk of beach in the Twenties, fencing off the marine lake we see here. This is the Lower Promenade and you can still park here, though the foreground of the picture has disappeared under the new Ramada Plaza.

Front and centre

Right down at the front is a Hillman Minx Series 2, then a Ford Anglia EO4A and then a Triumph Roadster, looking a little claustrophobic with its hood up. Behind that is a Morris Oxford MO, then a Standard Ten and two Austin ‘Counties’ models – an A70 Hereford and an A40 Devon. Someone who liked to be different has parked their Jowett Javelin next, after which we can spot a Ford Consul MKI making a lunge for the barrier. Highlights further back in the line include a jazzy Vauxhall E-series Velox and a later miniamerican from Luton, the F-type Victor with its wraparound windscreen.

In the right-hand row we start with an Austin A55 Cambridge, then find one of those immediately post-war Austin Twelves, then an A40 Devon van looking bigger than it really is. Beyond that is a Consul MKII and then a Bedford CA, one of two in shot, this one in natty two-tone (or possibly tri-tone) paint with a minibus configuration. Beyond that we can see the nose of another Minx and a couple of Forties models – a small Austin and a Wolseley Ten – before that excitingly large saloon. Is it a Humber Pullman? If only Auntie Jean in the white cardigan and heels hadn’t wandered in front of its nose at the crucial moment.

‘Southport pier was once one of the longest in Europe at ’