Lesser-known British cars of the 1940s, 1950s & 1960s

For this Old Classic Car collection, I gathered together 150 photos of lesser-known British cars of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, ie those that tend to turn up less regularly than other - more mainstream - makes and models at car shows, in car museums etc - an online "Festival of the Obscure" perhaps I could have called it.
Classic cars in this video include the Ashley 750, Allard P2 Safari, Singer Roadster, Morris Six, AC 2 Litre, the British Anzani-built Astra Utility, Turner Lea-Francis, various Gilberns including the Invader estate, Unipower GT, Bond Equipe, Marcos Mantula, Peel P50, Armstrong-Siddeley 236, Peerless GT, Allard Palm Beach, Farr-bodied Jowett Jupiter, Lanchester Leda DHC, AC Greyhound, AC Buckland tourer, TVR Clipper, Sunbeam Harrington Le Mans, Beardmore Mk7 taxi, GSM Delta, Lagonda 3.0, Triumph Fury prototype, Mini "beach car", Riley RM woodie, Standard Vanguard Sportsman, Marauder, Scootacar and many many more less-often-encountered classic British cars.
If this vid was of interest, please pop a note in the comments and - if you haven't already - consider subscribing.
Elsewhere on the Old Classic Car channel you'll find all manner of content, from image collections like this, to show visits, museum walkarounds, garage waffle and much more.
If you know of anyone else who might find these vids of interest, please forward one of the above links to them.
Thanks for watching.
#classiccar #classiccars #oldclassiccar

[oldclassiccarUK]

Hi, thanks for watching, a full list of the videos on the channel is here:
Channel homepage:
If there are any petrolheads that you know that might find this kind of thing interesting, please pass on one of these links, thanks!

[richardt.]

Good morning from New Zealand.
I am a 1953 model and an Ex Pat from Coventry.

I found this video while surfing YouTube and I'm so glad I did.

I believe if information is not written down or passed on it will be lost!

My father was a big car lover and had many, mainly Triumph's.
The inspiration for the 2L Triumph Vitesse is I am told came via my father.
He had the 1600 Vitesse and had it blue printed and wider wheels put on
even before the warranty had run out and while it was being serviced at the
Coventry Service centre on the A45, Mr Wills, the Service manager asked
why it had been done. My father explained, it wasn't fast enough and wouldn't
handle fast cornering, hence the wider wheels. Sometime later my father
got a call from Mr Wills and he was given a 2L prototype to test drive.

The Berkley three wheeler originally had an Anzani 322cc, they later had a
328 cc Excelsior engine. I had the later one but never had it on the road.

I had three Reliant Super van 3’s and two Regal cars. But my favourite three
wheeler, was a kit car, it was a Mini Ranger Cub. The engine failed after two
weeks, there was a Riley Elf car siting in a lay by on the A45 for months, so
I took the engine which happened to be a Cooper 998cc engine with 10 inch
discs, God the car could move!

Do you have a way I could contact you please?

[hughchadderton]

Thank you Rick for another great video. My late father and I owned four of the cars you showcased.. He owned an AC 2 litre aluminium bodied saloon in with grey-green bodywork and a tan interior and an Armstrong Siddeley Star Sapphire in blue. I owned a late 1940s Lea Francis light fourteen; the one with the separate Lucas headlights, and a Berkeley four wheeler. When I say owned, I'm stretching a point, as I had it for around two hours, and I'm also stretching a point by calling it a four wheeler. I bought the car as restored from a professional seller in Stretford or Sale, and on the way back to north Manchester the front offside wheel fell off. I rang my father and recounted the sorry tale, and he came out to rescue me. When he arrived, he told me that the wheel had come off because the studs had been replaced with mild steel bolts and that the car was very unsafe. We then re-secured the wheel and took the car back to the seller and asked for my money back. The seller was reluctant at first, but changed his mind when my father reminded him that his professional reputation was at stake from selling me an unroadworthy car. I was happy to get my money back, but sorry the deal hadn't worked out.

[willieckaslike]

A VERY interesting collection, which bought back many memories. Some good, some not so. But a refreshing change to the usual "wall to wall" examples of many well known models. Thank you for sharing !

[tonybaker]

My first car was a Vauxhall Wyvern 1950, then a Morris Minor with twin SU carbs, followed by a Mini van and then a Mini traveller. My last car before going overseas was a Triumph Vitesse 2l. Ended up with boring old family cars after that!

[beegee]

What a beautifully presented and engagingly narrated video! This was an era with an incredible variety of designs. It is fascinating to see so many that did not make it into any kind of volume production. This is one to revisit and enjoy again. Thank you! 👍👍👏👏👏👏

[paulhelman]

Amazing collection of UK's remarkable creativity and beautifully photographed as well.

[rydermike]

Wonderful collection of photographs. Thank you. All these beautiful machines are so very different and stylish. Certainly glad you included the 100mph Grey Lady. What a car.

[kennethmeyer]

Love the way you “hold” the pic for a few seconds.

[rtman]

Another 'cracker' of a collection, Rick. Well done! 🙌Lots of favourites - too many to list. At 38:16 is one of four Vanden Plas Princess DM4 Limousines (based on the Austin A135 chassis), all from the Royal Household, that wore the NGN 2 plates at successive stages. Another five had the plates NGN 1 passed down from one Princess DM4 to another. They were often used by H.M. The Queen Mother. The four DM4s with the number NGN 2 were chassis nos. 10273 (May 1953); 13547 (April 1958); 15705 (March 1964); and 16807 (June 1968). I believe the 'real' NGN 1 and NGN 2 plates now adorn a pair of Jaguar XJ State Limousines of the Royal fleet.

[Duranie]

The Turner GT 8 has some similar lines to my dad's Volvo P1800, which he owned around 1969. I was brought up around many cars as my dad restored many over the years. One that comes to mind is a mark 5 Jaguar. My grandfather worked for Rolls Royce assembling aircraft engines. As you can imagine the conversation between them was always cars and engineering related. Thanks for a very interesting video.

[peterperigoe]

Gosh, my favourite has yo be the covetable Humber Super Snipe, thanks for the video!

[MrDaiseymay]

Fantastic show Rick. I'm 81, and can remember a good half of these gems, but not necesarily 'in the flesh'. It's kind of sad, that most of that artistic energy and engineeering abiity, came to so little. Just after the war, my dad bought and sold 'vehicles', Looking back, he would say, ''You could sell anything with a wheel on it back then, and he would often attend Auctions, and drive his newly acquired purchases home. One day, we, and the locals were startled by a collossal roaring noise. Dad had turned up, Grinning, at the wheel of a monster Red Racing car, with single seat, huge wire wheels, huge steering wheel. Small split windscreeen. The straight through exhaust, which was bound in what could only be a sought of Asbesdos tape. ran along the outside of the body, ending with a fishtail. The rear end, had a boat tail shape. He then roared off again, saying he'd already sold it. I doubt very much, that---whatever it was, it wasn't road legal, and belonged on a Race track.. I wish I knew was it was, probably Italian, and what happened to it, today of course, it would be quite valuable, and in a Auto museum, possibly Beaulie

[colinmuddell]

Another first rate video and the next best thing to visiting the museums and meets. The 1952 Lagonda 2.6L Saloon struck me as being particularly handsome. The Triumph Dove and GT6 (with the silky smooth 2 litre straight six) have always been favourites of mine. I like the Triumph Renown too - a classy car for its size. The Sunbeam Harrington comes a close second to the Dove when it comes to looks. The Talbot convertible is a looker too. The Jowett Javelin was fairly common in the day - I remember seeing quite a few in the 1950's. Keep up the good work Richard!

[jeffking]

I forgot just how many smaller and niche car companies there were in Britain.
Some amazing marques .
🚗🙂

[rappers]

This shows what a rich automotive history we have. I was born in 57 and thought I had seen most British cars. Alas, how wrong I was. A few I have seen at the EC motor show.

[BigFiveJack]

Thank you for presenting this extensive collection of photos.
42:04 THAT is the Stand-Out entry in this video - Wow !
47:08 THIS is a very strong challenger to the above - Oh Yes !

[ggmtv]

Thanks for that. They brought back memories. I recognised most of them, including the Lloyd, the Allards and the Lea Francis.

[billmoss]

Excellent, and your understated commentary makes for very relaxing viewing.

[pathowe]

Great video Rick
Your enthusiasm shines through mate, keep up the good work 👍