MARCH 1984 DAVENTRY ROAD, COVENTRY, WEST MIDLANDS
This fascinating collection of nowclassic cars includes many that would have been built locally
Clever use of camera makes it appear that the cars in this scene are all over the place, but it’s actually the main Daventry road in Coventry with a side road to the shops. The date is 3 March and people are doing their shopping or driving through, singing loudly along to Wham! on local radio station Mercia Sound.
What a car selection, and where to start on reporting interesting finds?
The lower right of the photo merely presents us with a selection of rear lights, beginning with a Triumph Dolomite (look at those panel gaps!) then one of the stars of the entire line-up and a real rarity today – a Vauxhall Cavalier Sportshatch MKI – a deeply stylish two-litre that certainly gave the Ford Capri a run for its pennies. Maybe the Sportshatch didn’t quite match the Ford’s sales but it was a superb package in looks, handling and dynamics. Then we have a Cavalier MKII, the car that really did cement Vauxhall’s position within the fleet market.
Next in the row are a Datsun 180B and a Ford Anglia estate. We also have glimpses of a Jaguar XJ6, a Mercedes-benz and moving further up a Morris Marina, Talbot Alpine, Fiat Strada and, parked outside Barclays, a Fiat 850 caravanette. Spot the BL ‘Wedge’, Austin Maestro and Ford Sierra further along the line-up.
We had difficulty deciding whether the car pulling out across the road at the end of the row of shops was a Ford Cortina or Hillman Hunter, showing how similar the two rival models are. We went for the Hunter, though it might be a Minx, of course!
On the road heading away from us is a deeply rare French-built Talbot Samba – basically a Peugeot 104 under the skin – with a Ford Cortina MKIV ahead of it.
‘The deeply stylish Cavalier Sportshatch gave the Ford Capri a run for its pennies’
Now to the cars on the pavement. The second-generation Ford Escort 1.3L, BJT 798T was, according to DVLA records, beige and new in February 1979, now presumed dead having not been taxed since 1992. Note the hyper-rare Vauxhall Victor FE estate visible through the windscreen. The Gold Escort Ghia MKIII, AWK 121Y, was last taxed in 1997. In front of this is a Talbot Solara – a ‘booted’ Alpine.
Finally, few cars in the left-hand line-up are visible but we can spot a Cortina MKIII and, right at the back, a Ford Transit.
The shops have almost completely changed though the branches of the Midland (now HSBC) and Lloyds banks are still there. Barclays has given up the ghost and the shoe repair shop is now a Timpsons. Liptons, then a substantial supermarket chain, was sold to Argyll Foods and re-branded Presto in 1986.
Of course, one major issue would have been on the minds of the people here – miners walked out at Cortonwood Colliery just two days after our picture was taken, one of 20 uneconomic pits threatened with closure and the loss of 20,000 jobs. A national strike followed, which, as Britain’s worst industrial dispute, lasted a year and caused endless poverty and deprivation. Violent clashes between strikers and police shocked TV news viewers and created divisions within communities that are still felt today.
In an area blighted by factory closures, including the British Leyland plant at Canley, the area did not want further job losses but the mine finally closed its gates for good in 1991.
Thankfully, the former Rootes factory at Ryton was about to enter a hugely successful phase of building Peugeots, such as the 309 and 405, though it too would shut forever in 2006.