|
|
Post by ducatisti on Dec 12, 2011 22:32:18 GMT
Some lovely shots of 1950s roadscapes. I wonder where it was shot. Looks like north london interwar suburbia with the Westway(?) at the end... |
|
rincew1nd
Administrator
Junior Under-wizzard of quiz
Posts: 10,246 
|
Post by rincew1nd on Dec 12, 2011 23:22:04 GMT
Very much excellent-ness. Could have done with this the other year when the answer to the Christmas Quiz was hidden in a Triumph Bonneville having a right-side kick-start.
Interesting too that despite Tom's wide right turn at the crossroads, he fails to stop for the woman on the zebera crossing. Tut tut.
|
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Dec 13, 2011 8:30:07 GMT
The bike was registered with an "A" suffix, so it must be early 1960s
The last shots seem to be on the elevated bit by Brentford as I think you can see "Performance Cars" on the road below. They were on the Great West Road at Brentford until only a very few years ago. Corner of Little Ealing Lane l think. Also Gunnersbury Park as well as Osterley Park close by for the rural shots.
|
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Dec 13, 2011 8:51:32 GMT
.......... and one of the rail bridges looks like it was the now demolished ex-GWR freight line (the single track that the Picc crosses over twixt Boston Manor & Osterley) bridge into Brentford Docks, an area that has now changed beyond recognition in 50 years. So the earlier bits could have been nearby Osterley Park etc, Osterley Great West Road. Again, unrecognisable today.
|
|
Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
Posts: 3,234
|
Post by Oracle on Dec 13, 2011 14:34:36 GMT
Circa 1965 I guess judging by the M4 elevated, 1964 Corsair and Mk 2 Thames Trader. Where is that viaduct though?
|
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Dec 13, 2011 15:12:45 GMT
Now l've slowed the film down, the building l mistook for Performance Cars is actually "North Thames Gas" Also the bus at 4:11 is an RTW which was no longer in West London by '65. I'd say 62 or 63 but l now think several (3?) different locations. Where was the "Carrier" factory?? That will pin it down
|
|
|
|
Post by 21146 on Dec 13, 2011 17:08:32 GMT
3.06 is Eliot Drive, just north of South Harrow, with the Piccadilly Line arches featuring prominently.
|
|
|
|
Post by 21146 on Dec 13, 2011 17:18:43 GMT
6.01 'The Queen in Ethiopia' - Stave Visit was from 1st to 8th Feb 1965.
|
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Mar 14, 2012 21:31:01 GMT
Have now discovered exact details of this film It is called: "Look, Signal, Manoeuvre" and it is from 1965. The end scene IS the elevated section of the M4 (in the distance to the left is the River Thames and the right, the floodlights of Brentford FC). It is the Performance Cars building under the elevated bit where M4 crosses Ealing Road Brentford
SOME of the scenes were filmed in and around South Harrow / Rayners Lane. In those days there were 3 gasometers in W/NW London (Brentford, Southall and S Harrow) The Brentford one does not appear in the film (the cameraman must have had his back to it)
|
|
Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
Posts: 3,234
|
Post by Oracle on Mar 14, 2012 22:34:22 GMT
North Thames Gas had a gasworks in Brentford High Street behind a very high brick wall. Performance Cars were MG dealers and sold sports cars and were owned by racing driver Cliff Davis...his sister was my mum's best friend Beryl Davis. As regards the gasometers, I think it was the South Harrow one that was marked to indicate that it was not the one used to identify the approach for Heathrow's North-South cross runway (which was Southall's)...it was however used for the approach to Northolt and at least two passenger airliners landed at Northolt as a result! AMK 73A I think is a Triumph Tiger Cub, but what was the Matchless? For youngsters' benefit, until October 1971 you could ride a bike under 250cc at 16, which then rose to 17. I was 16 just before the change and then took my test in January 1972 and yes I did all of those hand signals!  |
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Mar 14, 2012 22:43:43 GMT
Oracle I knew Cliff Davis very well and his wife Sylvia
He didn't own Performance Cars, John Goldsmith & Harold Massey did. Cliff Davis owned Cliff Davis cars Askew Road Acton, had a son Chris. Cliff had leg amputated Roehampton and lived 108 Chertsey Road
|
|
Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
Posts: 3,234
|
Post by Oracle on Mar 14, 2012 22:49:44 GMT
I only met Cliff once when the 12th Hounslow Scouts in Hounslow Wet sold an old Villiers-engined go-kart...this would be late 1960s/early 1970s? Cliff had an Austin-Healey 3000 Mk III when he picked up the kart. I think Mum knew Cliff but I'll ask.
I once looked at an Aston Martin DB6 that PF had for sale in the late 1970s/early 1980s ....they wanted £6K for it. I walked away and now kick myself!
|
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Mar 14, 2012 22:58:42 GMT
Performance Cars did MGs etc. Cliff sold American gas guzzlers, Askew Rd, Dalling Rd w of Goldhawk Road. When l knew him well, ('65-'75) he either drove a white Corvette Stingray, or one of the cars he had "borrowed" from his car sales stock - always American. I think Cliff died in about 1979,
After Cliff died, Sylvie moved to Ferry Rd, Staines.
He had bother Tommy Davis who was with Toulmin Motors, Ealing Road, Brentford, abutting Performance Cars
|
|
Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
Posts: 3,234
|
Post by Oracle on Mar 15, 2012 8:18:02 GMT
Apparently Cliff (born 1917) died in 1986 aged 68 with deteriorating health over the last years. I am sure Mum has mentioned Tommy as well.
|
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Mar 15, 2012 8:22:24 GMT
AH 1986 was it??. . . I moved to near Shoreham Airport in 1976 and lost touch with many of them - except John Goldsmith of Performance Cars who used to come down and see us as he had a yacht in Brighton Marina. John G. only died a few years ago., (6?? perhaps)
|
|
Phil
In memoriam
RIP 23-Oct-2018
Posts: 9,473
|
Post by Phil on Mar 15, 2012 9:22:25 GMT
Now l've slowed the film down, the building l mistook for Performance Cars is actually "North Thames Gas" Also the bus at 4:11 is an RTW which was no longer in West London by '65. I'd say 62 or 63 but l now think several (3?) different locations. Where was the "Carrier" factory?? That will pin it down I'm not convinced it IS an RTW if you look at the width of the cars the way Youtube shows it. And I like the Saunders bodied RT at 5.05....... but I'm amazed that BOTH bikes have their "L" plates totally covering the headlight *. Even if it was legal at the time it seems a ridiculous place to put it if you want to go out at night. I wouldn't have even considered putting it there on my scooter (OTOH there was more space to put it). *Except Tom's bike in one shot in the middle of the clip - continuity fail!! |
|
Oracle
In memoriam
RIP 2012
Writing is such sweet sorrow: like heck it is!
Posts: 3,234
|
Post by Oracle on Mar 15, 2012 10:29:40 GMT
The 'RTW' is an RTL I think: note the lack of 'fillets' either side of the bind box. The only RTWs that I ever came across at Hounslow Garage around then were trainers out of Chiswick on meal breaks: they used to use the canteen. RTLs were also used and I think that there were a couple based at AV for use on the runs to Aldenham.
The Matchless is 466 GYX, which is an early 1964 London rego and I think the bike is a G2 250, produced to 1966.
Mum went to Godolphin & Latymer school in Hammersmith, as did Beryl Davis...Mum went in on the Distrcit from Hounslow West including during the war. They are still friends: Beryl must be in her 80s now and widowed for the second time. She had four brothers.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 20:38:48 GMT
Thanks for sharing the video - very enjoyable (and humorous).
|
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Mar 15, 2012 21:50:27 GMT
@ Oracle > I knew 3 bothers (Cliff, Tommy (Toulmin Motors) and Norman) . Norman owned "Sheen Sports" in East Sheen and lived in Cole Park near Twickenham Rugby Ground. Cannot remember 4th brother, but don't forget l moved to Sussex 35 years ago, so any contact after then was limited. But I do remember Cliff's leg amputation.
Cliff had a dog he called "William Woofer" and it sat on the front OFFSIDE of his Corvette Stingray as it was a left hand drive car, and Willie often had his front paws on the dashboard looking forwards to see where he was going. Brilliant photos exist of a shocked motorist, (no seatbelts in those days). I heard that Norman moved to Winchester to be with his daughter Barbara. Can you find out if he is still alive??
|
|
