I am not old enough to have had a car in the '50s and you should never trust what anyone on usenet says, even you have been wrong in the past.
Past performance is no indication of present performance either, at one time you would have trusted TNP but there is no chance you would now.
remember the basic Ford Popular only had one windscreen wiper, the 2nd was an optional extra. It's not "penny pinching" it's "customer choice".
I passed my driving test in the 50s - although I didn't own a car until
1964. But - I did follow what my father did with his car.
When did reversing lights and fog lights become a standard fit? I can remember my dad fitting rear fog lights on his various Hillman Hunters. Fitting the towing hitch seemed to require it to be fastened to a horizontal bar that had to be fitted below the rear bumper (no doubt fastened to some solid part of the body shell) and this bar was a convenient place to attach fog lights, with a little switch (with its reminder light next to it) under the dashboard (*). I bet those lights were not within the distances stipulated by Construction and Use regulations...
His earlier Hunters had to have a similar switch and lights on the "tow bar beam" (or maybe just below the rear light cluster) for reversing lights. I'm sure I can remember that when he changed from an older model to a new one, it had reversing lights in the light clusters for the first time - and presumably a switch in the gearbox rather than a manual switch. But I can't find any photos online of Hunters with a modified cluster that included reversing lights, so maybe I'm imagining that.
Looking at pictures of old cars reminds me of something else: the days when many cars had a petrol cap that wasn't lockable...
(*) Typically a cylindrical switch that you pulled out to turn on, with a central green portion that lit up as the reminder light. This was thought to be trendier than that older plastic paddle switch which you moved up and down to turn on/off, with a separate light mounted next to it.
According to Hansard, two red rear reflectors were made compulsory for all vehicles with more than two wheels and one on two wheel vehicles from 1 October 1954. For pedal cycles, this replaced a requirement to have a white portion on the rear mudguard. Two red rear lights for vehicles with more than two wheels were made compulsory from 1 January
1954 for new vehicles and 1 October 1957 for those already on the road. It was probably this that marked the end of the single parking light, rather than the 1964 Act that I suggested earlier. The Road Transport Lighting (Rear Lights) Act 1954 also first made it legal to use white reversing lights.
A single hole was easier to DIY. If you're going back to old electrics you've forgotten floor mounted dip switches and semaphone indicators.
Were these bought new?
The early Herald certainly didn't have reversing lights as part of the rear light cluster. Not sure about later ones.
Not about something like this. Apart from not giving the dates to the day. Those who were kids at the time probably remember being sent out to switch on the parking light while dad snoozed in front of the telly. Always assuming you had both a car and telly, of course.
I caught him out very early on, spouting rubbish about something he claimed to be an expert on, work wise. Which was rather sad, then.
And of course heaters were an option too - if you were lucky. And a radio a pure luxury.
I never quite understood the first Ford Popular. Why buy a 20 year old design new when you could get a good used Morris Minor etc for the same price? But then people bought new Reliant 3 wheelers too - so no accounting for taste.
Even if the wasn't a family car, most kids would have known what a parking light was and what it was for. In those days, they looked around them rather than just at a phone screen. ;-)
Yes. I really can't remember any car having reversing lights fitted that didn't work from new. But plenty added them (or one) in the form of a bolt on type - rather like a front fog light.
Interesting. Not got any accurate dates, but my father changed jobs in
1954, and therefore company cars. In the old job, he had a 40s Morris Minor which he had the second tail light fitted to. With the new job came a brand new Morris Minor - the very first OHV one in Scotland, the actual one on show at the Scottish motor show. That had twin working lights as standard.I'm surprised the retro regs for two lights was as late as '57, though. Perhaps my father was ahead of the times. ;-)
Pull or rotary switches were the norm on older cars. Until the toggle type arrived.
Yes although you could buy metal brackets, pre-drilled with one or two 1/2" (approx) holes for a switch and a reminder light. Those could be screwed onto the underside of the dashboard.
I remember my mum's 1959 (Mark 2 - without split screen) Morris Minor which had a floor-mounted dip switch. It originally came with trafficators although these had been supplemented by flashing indicators by the time mum bought the car in 1966 or 1967 (after she passed her test). The trafficators continued to work for a few years afterwards (quite a novelty to a four year old boy!) but eventually either stopped working (seized up?) or else dad disconnected them.
You could (can?) drive a three wheeler on a motorcycle license.
You could. But was it really such a problem to get a car licence if you'd passed a motor bike one? The lower RFL might have been the main reason.
A lot of the older drivers attracted to them like my grandad would have gone the Motorcycle then Motorcycle and Sidecar then 3 wheeler route. Bubble car first then a couple of Reliants.
Long gone now so I cannot ask why he never got a car classification as pre 1947 one test got you a licence for both. As a member of the Royal Engineers from a volunteer recruit in the
30's and managing to survive right through with some close shaves in Norway and Italy I'm sure he would have driven lorries and cars at some point but never got a civilian licence in time afterwards. He was never wealthy so maybe it was the lower RFL.G.Harman
Originally the motorcycle licence allowed three wheelers to be driven if they had no reverse fitted. The car test was required for this. Three wheelers with reverse could have a blanking plate fitted to stop reverse being engaged. This could be removed later if a full licence was obtained.
Dave Plowman (News) explained :
It was at the time a cheap way to ride/drive protected from the weather and without needing a car licence. I think the rule originally was that it had to have no reverse gear and weight not exceeding (6cwt,
8cwt???).Cars were also expensive to buy at the time, when the costs fell (mini and etc.), so did the number of three wheelers sold.
Sam explained on 08/03/2017 :
That requirement was later dropped, the Reliant had reverse.
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