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MG MG Y Type - Vanished Britain

https://youtu.be/GHhuBZEZESU

Interesting film of 50s London traffic....I keep looking for Y types....check out the footage of dark car at 10 to 12 secs in...any idea if its a Y....probably not but just in case.

Nostalgic look at Britain before we ruined it.

D MULLEN

https://youtu.be/sbz5gA7W7Kw


Hope you can get the link....there are a few 50s road films ...must keep looking for Ys.


or try this one...interesting films.

D MULLEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nt1rigJyLY
Short film of TD construction circa 1950. See the line of Y Types as the TD's are being loaded onto the car transporter. And is that Transporter not a wonderful collector's item itself?
R Taylor

Robert,

I think there are more Y's on the video than there have ever been since. Needs a good effort for owners to attend a UK gathering to re-create as many Y's as possible at one location.
Maybe 2017 for the 70th Anniversary.

Richard
R E Knight

We gave it a good go in 2007 in Maitland - count the cars in this photo ?.

We are planning to beat this record in June 2017 !.

Cheers

Tony Slattery

A L SLATTERY

Richard, the image of University Motors is all I could find of 1950's London, what treasures there are behind that famous façade. Despite my best attempts, I could find no interior pictures of the showroom, at the time and period, that this thread is about. Perhaps you might have better luck.
Look forward to seeing you in March. (Is it Hillier Gardens again? on the 13th?)

R Taylor

Hopefully in 2017 we will beat our figure of 2007 when 47 cars turned up. More than 50 were booked in but the weather was awful.
In 1997 we had around 40 cars.

Will have to ease all these Y owning folk out of their hutches! There are nearly 40 YT's now in the UK!

Jerry Birkbeck

Robert,

Yes, Hilliers on 13 March. If you wish to display the car then you have to pay and book in advance for in front of the house, I will make late decision based on weather, if it is pouring with rain I will not attend, otherwise look forwards to seeing you there

Richard
R E Knight

Interesting stuff Dave. I also had a look at the Cars of the 50's and 60's which was rather turgid. One forgets how dreadful many of the designs were - Vauxhalls, Fords, Hillman's, Austins and so on. Surprisinly no MG's - An MGA would have looked stylish. The only worthwhile 50's car was the Healey 100/4 amd couple of Jags - the rest though were fit for the bin!

Also some fun films on British Transport and Traffic in Towns. No Y types though!

Jerry
Jerry Birkbeck

One must consider how good were those cars Jerry, New cars were almost impossible to buy in the early 50s, so many pre war cars were clocking up over 200,000 miles and still earning their keep. Nowadays one cannot imagine modern owners having the ability to keep even those cars running. Everyone then could carry out basic repairs, including jacking up a car with a screw jack [unless it was a Y type] otherwise you just stayed put at the side of the road, or walked two or three miles to a telephone. Bryan
B Mellem

Yes I have to concede that point Bryan and especially the individual skills to carry out basic repairs, Nonetheless, the design of many new models introduced in the 50's was pretty turgid. Hence my comment. Even so folk choose to save and restore cars like the Humber Hawk and the Viva - which shows remarkable faith on behalf of the restorer.

Still each to their own and it is encouraging that the necessary skils are being carried on! However... the design?

Jerry
Jerry Birkbeck

I may have told of a true story of a family who set off in their Austin 7 from London to go on a camping holiday in the west country. Somewhere in Somerset the car ran a big end so with the local farmers permission set up camp in his field and the owner set about dismantling the engine, taking care not to spill the oil and removed the worn con rod. He then got a lift to the local town where a garage could white metal the con rod, then spent the next day lapping in the bearing then put the lot back together and continued their journey. Almost every car owner could do the annual decoke and lap in the valves themselves. People then were determined not to give in. We are a very different people now. Bryan
B Mellem

Even I can recall in the late 1960's when I started driving just how resourceful car owners were.

The DIY approach was recognised in several towns and cities in the UK and for example in Stafford where I worked in 1970 there was a DIY facility available for hire with ramps, tools etc and guidance from qualified mechanics. Something you would sadly never see now with insurance costs and health and safety guidelines and moreover the increased commonality of the threat of litigation.

I never used it as I ran a modern (Triumph Spitfire and later a Vitesse - now of course classics) which I needed for every day use. Any problems were resolved by the local garage. Cheating I know but the requirement for a relatively reliable vehicle meant that this was a priority. When I moved to London in 1972 a car was not a necessity as I could undertake site visits on the bus! The Vitesse went and I acquired my first Y Type a 1951 YA, which had had goodness how many owners when I picked it up in East Dulwich for £95. I cut my teeth on this model and repairs were done in the street and on the kitchen table in the flat I shared with four others. No DIY facilities in and around Greenwich!

Does anyone recall these, were they part of a national chain or merely the interest and whim of a local individual? Interestingly dear old Harry Crutchley lived a stones throw away from I lived in Stafford and I did see a few T Types in and around the town. However, this was before I moved to London and eventually became a Y owner.
Jerry Birkbeck

You were not alone Jerry, I'm from East London, did all my repairs in the street, just like everyone else. Passed my test in 1964, (I still have my red driver's licence,)first car was a 1955 Hillman Husky, it was so unreliable that I got shot of it after a couple of months, likewise an Austin Westminster, although the front bench seat of that car bore witness to scenes not printable here. Then came the TD. At the time, I didn't know there were TA,B,C & so on. The TD was cheap, paid just £20 for it. Ran it for a couple of years and sold it for £125. During that time, the only security I used was to remove the rotary arm when parked. I learned so much from that XPAG engine.

Recently, the YB has been running rough, kangarooing, coughing and spluttering. A garage takes care of the car these days, but we went through the diagnosis together. The battery had seen better days, so we changed that. Not much improvement, then the coil was replaced, followed by the distributor cap, points, condenser and rotary arm. Better, but not 100%. Over to the fuel side, changed everything in the carburettor, I was shocked how much the needle cost, an improvement, but still it coughed. Took the fuel pump apart. Found it, the diaphragm was sticking, changed the fuel pump. Much better, but not for long, soon it started kangarooing again.

My mind went back to that TD, I had replaced the plugs and one of them proved to be defective, the garage fitter, inspired by this, rechecked all the work done and found the coil was very hot. He replaced it and, at last, the car is running sweet again. Working in the street on that TD all those years ago, who would have thought it would have given an insight to a 64 year old YB?
R Taylor

Ah, what memories! changing big ends on the side of the road!
A couple of years ago, I took the Y for it's MoT to the usual garage. This time the tester had a trainee(?) tester with him, only a young chap, in his late 20's. He was quite amazed by the (working!) Jackall system and completely confused when under bonnet checks were made,he had never experienced an SU carburettor before and the coil, points condensor ignition system was completely off the page, never being taught the Kettering system in college, and no ECU!
So, what's the future for early English perpendicular, once the current custodians are no longer able to do roadside repairs!

D P Jones

This thread was discussed between 11/01/2016 and 19/01/2016

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