Memory Lane

It’s 1961 and trolley buses take a rest in a London side street.

Typical. You wait ages for a trolleybus, and then four turn up at once. Actually, in this shot of Warlters Road, north London, the electric buses are resting between duties in the quiet urban street. Within a year though, they would be no more; diesel Regent III RTS and Routemasters ousted the last of London’s sparky six-wheelers in May 1962.

Still, at least that would free up even more parking where it was obviously at a premium. The vehicles are a mix of private and commercial; the latter perhaps connected with Butler and

Crispe Ltd. Outside its entrance is a pre-1958 Series 1 Bedford CA – we can just make out the split windscreen. Keeping it company is a very bright Austin A40 van; OOY 666 being the number of this beast.

Looming Mayflower

On the right side of the street, a Ford Consul MKII is drawn up by the dahlias, with a Thames 300E – Ford’s 100E van – in front. The red Mini stands out, not just because of its scarlet newness but also because, being an early example, it’s badged as an Austin Seven. It was a rather more successful compact car than the ‘small’ Triumph Mayflower looming over it. Beyond that, and the sit-up-and-beg Ford Popular (with accessory roof-mounted indicators) it all descends into a dark motoring morass, although we can make out the fins of a BMC Farina.

This could be an Ealing Studios scene; you almost expect Alec Guinness to emerge from one of the front gardens, pluck a flower for his buttonhole and then exit stage right. Pursued by a trolleybus.

The Mayflower was the very first monocoque construction Triumph, with its body design a joint effort between Standard Triumph’s Walter Belgrove and Leslie Moore of the famed Birmingham coachbuilder, Mulliners. Standard Triumph bought that firm in 1958.