SUMMER 1961 PARLIAMENT SQUARE, LONDON
We begin a trio of colourful Sixties scenes this week with trouble at the heart of government. Some things never change, eh?
No wonder the owner of the green Morris Minor here is sinking to his knees in despair; his car has picked what must be one of the worst possible places to throw a hissy fit.
The location is Parliament Square, right in the centre of London, and the year is 1961, which means that by now the Minor was officially a million-seller for the British Motor Corporation. Fortunately this being the heart of the political establishment means that the police has responded to the incident in force with the officer in the white smock on point duty directing traffic while his colleague looks at the errant Moggie’s interior with an air of bemusement.
But what could be the matter with 669 KMK, an early Morris Minor 1000 Series III that was no more than five years old when this picture was taken? Is that a cloud of steam escaping from underneath, or something more serious that has prompted the Dennis F12 fire engine to attend?
The F12 featured a wooden frame with aluminium body panels and its 195bhp Rolls-royce 5.7-litre straighteight engine meant that it was one of the fastest fire engines around.
Among the vehicles being inconvenienced by the stationary Morris is, on the far left, an Austin A135 Princess obscured by a passing Ford Consul MKII – a ‘Lowline’ version introduced in 1959 and which saw the roof lowered by 1.5 inches. Further changes saw more chrome added to the exterior while the cabin also saw some safety revisions.
Further along, peeping out from behind the Dennis is an Austin 152 Omnivan. In the queue of traffic behind the Minor are two Austin FX3 taxis, the mainstay of London’s cab fleet. Launched in 1948, the FX3 was initially only available with a 2.2-litre petrol engine. An Austin diesel option came along in 1956, prompted by other companies offering diesel conversions. The FX4, introduced in 1958, would have begun to erode the FX3’S dominance by the time that this photo was taken, though. Incidentally that may be a third FX3 behind the gesticulating lady on her right – presumably the Minor’s passenger. ‘Gerald, I did tell you not to buy a Morris, but did you listen? No, you didn’t! I grew up in an Austin household; why couldn’t we have bought one of those posh new A40 Farinas instead?’
Ahem. Anyway, back to the last few cars. We can see a first-generation Bedford CA van between the taxis while an Advance-liveried Bedford A3 truck is joining the square from Great George Street.
This scene has changed little today, albeit there’s now a statue of Sir Winston Churchill in the space behind the A135. He was still an MP in 1961 and the monument wouldn’t arrive until 1973.
As for our stricken Morris Minor, a check with the DVLA shows no record of 669 KMK, almost suggesting that it is sadly no longer with us, though hopefully not as a result of its failure to proceed moment here and the ominously looming Dennis fire engine in the background…