Americans at the Motor Show, part 2

Geoff Carverhill continues his visits to the Earls Court Motor Shows during the Sixties, with photographs from the Steve Miles Collection and the files of Autocar.

As with any of the previous Motor Shows at Earl’s Court during the Sixties, visitors entering the 1966 show by the main Warwick Road entrance would be subject to an immediate shot of American-style glitz and glamour as Pontiac and Oldsmobile stands 135 and 134 showed their latest offerings. There were many more new models on offer for 1967, with American left-hand-drive outnumbering the right-hand-drive Canadian versions for the first time since the late Fifties, especially in the GM camp.

As new models became available so the importance of a right-hand-drive car became less important; buyers just wanted an authentic American car, so American-built lefthand-drive models proliferated. Steve Miles’ photographs capture the unique atmosphere of the London Motor Shows, not just the cars, but the enthusiastic schoolboys and wide-eyed dreamers trying to get a peek inside the latest Chevrolet or Plymouth – they are all here.

The Camaro was launched in September 1966, and this SS350 model got some envious looks from punters on the Chevrolet stand. Behind Chevrolet were the Buick and Cadillac exhibits on stand 137. The front-wheel-drive ’66 Oldsmobile Toronado was launched at the 1965 show. For 1967, it was Cadillac’s turn with the front-drive Eldorado. Built on the Toronado platform, the Fleetwood Eldorado utilised the Toronado body shell but had every conceivable Fleetwood convenience feature as standard. During the Sixties, Lendrum& Hartman gained an enviable celebrity client list for their cars. Radio and television personalities Sid James and Tony Hancock both drove Cadillac and Oldsmobile cars respectively – supplied by Lendrum& Hartman. In 1963, Lendrum & Hartman were selling around 2000 cars a year, and this trend continued into the mid- and late-Sixties. Rock guitarist Jeff Beck, on getting his first hit with The Yardbirds bucked the trend of his contemporaries, by not investing in a flat or a house, but instead “went straight out and bought a ’63 split-window Corvette”. Singer Dusty Springfield had a Buick Riviera, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton famously had a special order Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham that was wrecked by a disgruntled chauffeur in Brighton, and it was a Chevrolet Impala that was used by Decca Records to make sure their new chart hit-makers The Small Faces got to gigs on time. But it was the Ford Lincoln Mercury dealer Simpson’s of Wembley that tapped into the world of film and television during the Sixties, as well as into the pop world, with a great deal of success. Lincoln Continentals were supplied by them to Goon Show comedian Peter Sellers and The Who guitarist Pete Townshend. Simpson’s also supplied American cars for films – the Morecambe& Wise movie, which featured a ’66 Ford Thunderbird Convertible. Wherever an American car was needed, film companies would rent them from Simpson’s.