FEBRUARY 1979 LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE
It’s not just all of the vehicles that have disappeared from this now transformed view of Leeds from nearly 45 years ago…
This is a scene, in all its glorious decrepitude and decay, that has almost completely disappeared now. The location is Portland Crescent in Leeds, practically in the centre of the centre of what was once a very industrial city and well before its gentrification. There is still a car park here but it’s somewhat smaller, with most of the space now taken up by the modern steel-and-glass structure of Leeds Beckett University’s The Rose Bowl development. Nearly all of the Victorian buildings on the left have gone, replaced by 21st century student accommodation, although the substantial brick warehouse at the end of end of the row is now part of the O2 Academy entertainment venue, which must be very handy for the students. The dome visible in the distance is that of Leeds Town Hall – also still there – while the white tower is one of those from Leeds Civic Hall. But, overall, Portland Crescent is a very dierent place today.
We don’t hold out too much hope of many of the cars here still existing today, more than 40 years on, either. Over on the left we have an example of one of the models that was pointing the way forward to the 1980s and the heyday of small, front-wheel drive hatchbacks. Ford launched its Fiesta supermini in the UK in February 1977 so it would still have been a relatively fresh sight here in early 1979. On steel wheels and devoid of any side decoration, this Diamond White example looks to be the lowly base variant, in either 957cc or 1117cc form. Next door is RHD 191N, a Blue Oval from an earlier era. It’s a 1974 Ford Cortina 1.6 MKIII and, like its younger sibling, fairly low down the pecking order with its lack of adornment and starkly round headlamps. According to DVLA records, it was taxed until December 1983.
Its neighbour is a Standard Vanguard Vignale, one of the 1958-61 range of Vanguards featuring a facelift by Giovanni Michelotti under the auspices of the Italian coachbuilding firm of Vignale. The same body design was used for the 1960-’63 Vanguard Six, but this model doesn’t have ‘SIX’ lurking under its bonnet badge so we reckon that it’s one of the fourcylinder 2088cc cars. Alongside it is a 1977 Chrysler Avenger 1300, with its rear end now devoid of the ‘hockey stick’ rear lights that were such a distinctive aspect of the Hillmanbadged model. Chrysler dispensed with these in favour of a ‘light bar’ arrangement when it revamped the car in September 1976 and re-branded it from Hillman. It survived through
to October 1988. Finally in the row nearest us, there’s JWT 523N, a Glacier White 1975 Morris Marina 1.3 four-door saloon. Its demise didn’t come until May 1989, by which time it had been re-painted red.
Of the cars in the background the Austin Maxi in the gap between Avenger and the Marina is the most easily identifiable. While we can’t make out the registration number completely, it’s a P-reg, which dates it as 1975 or 1976. It’s finished in Tahiti Blue (we think), which looks a lot less vibrant than usual in the dull grey of this February Yorkshire day.
Of the vehicles stretching out behind the Fiesta we can identify a Morris Marina two-door coupé in Damask Red – perhaps it inspired the owner of the white one to paint his in a similar shade? – while a little further along there’s another Ford Cortina MKIII in the fantastic shade of Jade Green and the very recognisable fastback roof of a bronze Ford Capri with brown vinyl roof right at the end. The car sheltering under the building in the far background, slightly masked by the very bare tree and the walking gentleman, is yet another Morris Marina, this time in Teal Blue. They definitely seem to have liked their Marinas around this part of Leeds. And who can blame them?