Road vehicle timeline

[Butler Henderson]

Oxford Diecast have published a timeline of the periods that the proptotype cars were in production and presumably lasted on the road thereafter. It is contained in Globe 119, the pdf of which can be downloaded from http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/globes.htm

[BernardTPM]

It's always tricky to say how long you'd see a vehicle on the roads after production. As a rule of thumb I'd say 15 years after a car is discontinued they will start to become uncommon, though for a very popular type you could add about 3-5 years more and for unpopular models take off 3-5 years. Of course, you can't have them before they were introduced, so that's the most important date.

Incidentally, I've done a listing for all 4mm post war car models, both current r-t-r and kits and some of the more obtainable (ebay, etc.) discontinued models. If you want an up-to-date issue 3e (free!) of my "Post War Cars for the 4mm Modeller" e-mail me - bernard@tpmodels.co.uk

[eastworld]

I believe that I'm correct in thinking that cars used to be seen much longer after production stopped than they do these days, especially those built in the 30s being seen into the 50s due presumably to the effects of the war?

 

Stu

[Guest jim s-w]

Hiya

 

I wasnt there but from talking to people who where old cars were very common up until the late 60's. In 1960 the MOT test was introduced for cars 10 years old meaning a sudden loss of cars over this age. More significantly the MOT test was changed to 3 years old in 1967 meaning a mass loss of older cars.

 

HTH

 

Jim

[asmay2002]

I believe that I'm correct in thinking that cars used to be seen much longer after production stopped than they do these days, especially those built in the 30s being seen into the 50s due presumably to the effects of the war?

 

Stu

The introduction of the MOT test in 1960 for cars more than 10 years old and the annual test from 1967 for anything more than 3 years old cleared a lot of old stuff off the roads.

 

ASM

[skipepsi]

There has come a point in the last ten years that older cars quickly become beyond economic repair because either the company stops making spares eg Audi or the modular design means a new part from the maker is more than the second hand value of the car in the case of my Saab reconditioned engine ??1100 bought the car for ??1095.

[coachmann]

To give an idea of how things were, there wasnt much money around and people thought nothing of buying 20 year old cars. My father advertised a 1928 Standard Seven in 1948 and people were queing down our street waiting for him to come home from work! Owners kept cars going by any means possible, often swapping engines on the street using sheer legs.

 

Dad backed his 1930's Lanchester 14 into footings for a new council house one winter's night in 1955. He was late for work next morning waiting for a JCB to lift the car out of the hole. It tore the back wings and fender off but he drove the car like that for weeks until new wings were welded on, setting fire to back seat! The front passenger door had to be bolted shut (bolt off a back gate), and the engine was started by putting two wires together to fire a Tank soleniod (they were srapping wartime tanks at his works in Duckinfield). The bang used to wake up the street but no one complained.

 

As people have said, the introduction of the MOT stopped all that business. It wasn't that there were accidents so much as assisting the British motor industry after purchase tax was massively reduced on new cars.

 

Larry

[shipbadger]

Hi all,

 

Back in the tail end of the sixties and into the seventies some manufacturers actually advertised that their cars lasted. From memory the life expectancy of a car was around 10-11 years, Volvo claimed theirs lasted longer (15 yrs?)and Porsche I seem to remember were claiming 20 years for theirs. Cars in Ulster lasted 7-9 years on average by which time I was reliably informed by the RUC they would have been in at least one accident. I think he might have been exagerating but looking at the cars I'm not sure. What is obvious now is that most cars on our roads show little visible sign of rust. Back in the seventies I had three vehicles in a row which were fifteen years old when I bought them. All needed new sills and pop rivets, tin can and plastic padding to stop the headlamps from falling out. Some makes, Fiat, Vauxhall, had terrible reputations. Some will never forget the Lancia Beta, a friend had a seven year old one which the garage jacked up to do some work and were surprised when the front wheels stayed on the ground. Closer inspection showed that the engine was also staying put and only the body was rising.

 

As to the age of cars now, it depends on where you live. I live in Gloucestershire, we have more cars per head of population than anywhere else(what does that say about public transport) and their average age is greater than elsewhere. Fifteen year old cars are common, and so are the smaller commercial vehicles, plenty of M and N prefix Transits about.

 

The mileages covered on an engine have also increased dramatically. A Mk 2 Cortina could need a recon engine at as little as 45,000 miles, oil changes at 6,000. The 'Running In, Please Pass' sticker in the back window is now but a memory. My 3.5 tonne van needs a service every two years or 20,000 miles, unthinkable thirty years ago. All those little one man garages so beloved of modellers are now almost gone. My village still boasts one, but without the computer to plug in under the bonnet his services are now rather limited.

 

Tony Comber

 

Tony Comber

[Steve B]

In 1959, Dad bought a 1935 Austin light 12/4. He replaced the trafficators with blinkers but other than that, no changes. Drove it for about three years until some steep hills in the Peak district ran the oil to the back of the pan and burned out the bearings. We used to see a lot of pre war cars around, back then.

 

Steve

[37114]

Bodywork wise Cars are much longer lived now, I scrapped a Renault 21 a couple of years ago and there was hardly any rust on it. What is worrying though is the amount of potential classics being traded in on the scrappage scheme, I have read recently of an immaculate 1978 MG midget being saved in the nick of time and somebody recently tried to trade in a 1949 Ford!

[RANGERS]

Browsing a book the other day, I found a pic of Dawlish in 1976 which caught a part of the car park and the selection of models in it caught my attention :

 

Mk 3 Cortina x 4

Mk 2 Cortina x 3

Marina x 2

Zodiac Mk 3

Zephyr Mk 4

Fiat 128

Alfa Guilietta

Ford Transit LWB V4

Rover P6

Anglia est

Capri x 2

Victor FD

Austin A40 Cambridge

Viva HA

 

Most would have been less than 7 or 8 years old at the time, the exception being the A40 at around 20 and the Zodiac at more than 10. Interesting that most are available off the shelf or as kits.