3 on the Column Classic Car Podcast: Andrew's Headmistress & the Jaunty Spitfire

Today, Andrew revisits his schooldays where, fortunately for us, he paid a bit more attention to the staff car park than he did to his schoolwork!  SEE ME!

Riding in the back of the school minibus at high speed through the back streets of Gosport on a loose bench seat, and getting out alive...

The smell of lightly oiled rubber?  It can only be a Renault 8.

This is a local, special edition for local people: we'll have no trouble here!

What's that pedal bin doing on the curb?

All will be revealed.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hello, good evening, and welcome to the Three on the Column Classic Car podcast with Brian Thomas and Andrew Roberts. Hi, good evening, Andrew. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Well, Brian, my mind has gone back to the late 1970s at my primary school for some strange reason. It would be strange. Where I was impressed by two cars in particular in the staff car park. Already being a connoisseur of fine vehicles. One was the, I think at that time, the only Wolseley badge wedge I had ever seen close up in the metal. Wow. I think it's I think A, people forget what an impact the wedge would have made in 1975. You know, it looked so different to the preceding land crab, and B, it was the Wolseley badge version of which and of course that meant it was top of the range, had that interesting grill with illuminated badge. So naturally, you know, a five-year-old would be thrilled by such a sight. And I mean again in that starved car park, I recall the headmistress having a rather jaunty triumph spitfire. Quite a late model, uh Series 4 from memory. And I also recall seeing that Starf Car Park a Hillman imp that look as though it's done, so it's a tour of duty with McGill, in a man in a suitcase, and survived. Again, yeah, I mean people forget you used to hear the sound of the imp engine a lot, and a really rather stylish Vauxhall Viva 1300 GLS in gold metallic, basically the four-door, I mean it's not the four-door, four-door magnum, but with the 1300 engine and de-badge to call it called a Viva. So this was towards the later 70s, it was the end of the decade. So it may not have been this quite the first flush of view, it was certainly a recent model. And it I think it impressed me. Again, I think the imp would not have been unusual a car from the 60s in a mid-late 70s car park. The other vehicle I recall, and um, you know, I'm allowed these reminisces because I'm a grandfather, is um a neighbour's um grey 1966 Volvo Amazon estate taking part in a school fate. And I remember being fascinated by its strip speedometer. Were they raffling? Were they raffling it? Or no, it was just um a neighbor who was actually set up a stall for charity. I remember his um Amazon estate parked on the grass. And these are all the various vehicles. I think when I moved school, the school minibus was a Bedford CF with no windows and two wooden benches nailed either side bus in the loading the lobe, except there were no windows. Are you wrong? Wow, either side. So they have absolutely ideal transport for seven to nine-year-olds. It was as you're as it um as it could sort of careered around the mean streets of Titchfield and Fareham. Wow, I'm saying no more because anyone who went to that school will remember that um minibus.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

But you see, nothing used to go wrong in those days, did it? So it was all fine.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Well, that was the problem. That is, I was watching some quite graphic public information films. Um don't watch those. Which again, I think put put one off of it. And yes, you you'd again when I remember going on a school trip to London, and this would be 1980, being fascinated by that half the ice cream vans were still Bedford CAs. CAs with sort of fiberglass tail fins, which um looked and I think I think some of the ice cream men really were teddy boys, which I sort of added to the added to the fun of it. But you would you didn't bat an eye. I mean, school coaches sometimes look like the coaches from Blue Murder at St. Trinian's, if you've ever seen that film. The Dreadnought Motor Company. And sometimes again, anyone who grew up in my area will remember two of the big coach swims, and I have to emphasize their coaches always look very modern and most Swish. Um, either Princess Summerby or White Heather. You know, I think duple-bodied Bedfords. But it's odd, you know, we were talking before the podcast began about sort of what cars. I think my head teaching, yes, the Spitfire matched her very dynamic personality, etc. Um, I you know, when I changed school, I thought of the most terrifying French teacher. He should really have had a battered, slough-built citron traxian avant. He didn't. Well you I'll swear that my headmaster was about stood about six feet six inches in his socks, and he had a mini. I have vague memories of that. So to watch him sort of cantilevering himself in and out, um, I suspect he knew we all found that entertaining, so naturally he did it. But those are sort of the um sort of the memories I have. I mean, teach head teachers should, you know, by law, have at that time have a secondhand rover P4 and smoke a pipe. Um and they should always look like Raymond Huntley. But what about your I mean you were even the ladies, even the headmistresses, do you mean? Or no, we had a headmaster who's who should look as if he ought to smoke a pipe, I don't think he did. But you began school in the early 70s, so which vehicles do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Wow, yeah. Um, well, the the most appropriate teacher's car, we had a metalwork teacher, and again, we're not going to name names. Um, he had a Rover P4, okay, and it was white, and there probably wasn't a panel on the bodywork that wasn't absolutely destroyed with rust. I mean, literally from about halfway down the car, it was holes, it was flaky brown metal, and the joke was we always thought this guy's a metalwork teacher. Why doesn't he mend his car? Because it would obviously be very, very easy for him to do that, um, but he never did. So that was one great big source of amusement, and uh, you mentioned um the Triumph Spitfire. We had a teacher, we had a big school field, and we had a teacher with a Triumph Spitfire again, I think it was probably a Mark IV, and he would drive round the school field with the six formers in the car, like six of them in the car, and like four of them stand or sitting on the boot lid with their feet in the car, while he would drive round the school field and actually teach them how to drive, and all went well until the story goes, one of them actually slipped and his foot went forward and caught the footbreak very hard. So all the kind of essence of a public information film actually came to fruition on our school field, um, which um was probably something that you probably wouldn't be able to do today, but everybody survived and it wasn't a problem, but um yeah, sort of different times, I think, is the uh the the way it goes. And we had a an art teacher who had a Reno 8, and we all thought this art teacher was um quite interesting, he had sort of quite long hair, always wore like a tweed jacket, and he sort of smelt of cigars, and we all kind of felt that the Reno eight was just the perfect kind of car for him because it looked ever so slightly mad, so that's just like sort of three or four cars from my school, really, which perfectly kind of captured the times really and and the memories, and um and we had a lady teacher who had a very smart Japanese coupe, and I think it probably was a master 626 of about 1979 vintage, and that was actually being the coupé, that was actually really quite unusual. You really didn't see many of those about at all, and that was a real top of the range, it was gold. I think it was called the Master Montrose, I think.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Yeah, the Montrose Montrose is the brand name over here, yeah. And then very rare now. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and again, the coupe, and I mean, again, they're sort of from memory. I'm looking at one now, in fact. What stylish vehicles, I think.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

It was the two-litre.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

I think that they are extremely stylish vehicles. I mean, the saloons are nice. The coupe, I think anyone who had a sunbeam in the 60s or 70s would have looked at the Mazda. They again have an elegance to them, of course. Now they're highly sought after, such as the popularity of classic Japanese cars. Oh, yes. And rightly, and rightly so. The Renault 8, which of course I do recall because my my parents had one for a while. 12 years of um, I don't think it was in the first cluster of youth, but it it did, it's serviceable. Again, I remember the V in the front boot lid, right? Which to give sort of relief to the sort of um slab sides. I remember obviously the technical spec is pretty advanced. I think it had all the all disc brakes. Very unusual a small car of that era. Yes, I remember always smelled of rubber, boiled rubber, which was so many rear engine cars did. Yeah, why was that?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Why was that the case?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

I was absolutely right on that. I was right. I I wonder, it's to do with the heating system. It often seems to be hot air from the engine piped around your feet. Right. But it did have that look, and yes, it did have all disc brakes. It was the last, it started the last generation of rear engine Renault's. I think that's the intriguing thing about the yes, obviously there was slightly late, later Renault 10, but it came out in 1962, and you think about it, 1965, the Renault 16 was a voted for the public, the Renault 12 was not long afterwards, and also the Renault 4 was launched a year before the Renault 8 with again front-wheel drive. And yes, um Pedance, I know that um the Renault 4 is not the first front-wheel drive Renault. No, it's exactly the lightweight van that was, but again, 969 Renault 12. So by then rear engine Renault's, which I think began with the 4 C V, were on the way, were on the way out. And the I think the Dauphin and the 8 in Europe, in France, anyway, overlapped by about five years. Dauphin kept because one of my teachers did have a Dauphine, it was a right-hand drive one. I think it may have even been a Gordini. It was um it was French built, it wasn't one of the Acton-built ones, I'm sad to say. I just remember the racket it made, which again makes me think it was a Gordini. Yeah. And it was unusual enough to 1980 to be sort of commented on. I think a lot of dopers had vanished from British Roads by then. You stand more chance of seeing one when the old Morcam and Wise film, That Riviera Touch, was aired on television than on the street. But it stood out next to the head teacher. What did he have? He had a Volvo 244 deluxe. Right. Which has a modern uh more 1980 equivalent of a Rover P4, which was absolutely fitting. I think one of the other masters had a vehicle which I love largely because it's so wonderfully utilitarian, the Bedford Hray Beagle. Oh, yes, yes. Now, listeners, I mean, what a vehicle it was. It was basically the Bedford Hray van with windows at the side and a back seat. That was it.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Is that Martin Walker? Yeah, Martin Walker. Down in Kent somewhere? Folkestone. Folkestone, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

That's right. They they were sort of the uh Vauxhall, Bedford's um in-house, um, in-house, shall we say, or approved, you know, converter. So Martin Walker's they had a long association with Vauxhall.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

And is it right that they took so many vehicles that Vauxhall Opel actually had a special railway section that took the train, the train took the vehicles to be converted directly to the factory, and they had a special siding or something built for them.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

That would make sense. I would check with the amateur mil railway historians who were always fascinating. Because their long association, I mean, there was no Vauxhall Viva official HA estate. No. So obviously the converted H Ray van made a lot of sense. And it ran alongside the HB estate and even the early HC estate, it was available to as late as 73. But by about 1980, it looked old. I mean, the design looked older. Obviously, the H-ray van went on until '83. The last one, I think, at A-plate, which is quite bizarre. I've sort of seen a brochure with a Bedford H alongside a Bedford Astromax. Yep. Yeah. Because I think government departments kept them going. And so maybe he may be the armor arriving in his charisma charismatic Bedford Beagle with its 1963-style Vauxhall Viva dashboard, etc., which of course was cries of Malcolm.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Also had some quite interesting glasswork on the side, didn't it? It had like a the Beagle had a sort of like in the middle of the glass down the side, there was like a little sort of vertical rectangular pane, which always made me think of it as having like the windows they'd taken out of a suburban mid-terraced house kind of thing. Do you know, do you know the glass bit I mean? It very sort of like not right somehow.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yes, I just I suspect it was to provide extra ventilation, but it did look slightly out of proportion. Yes. But again, you know, with you know, with the side flash and those jaunty hubcats. Yeah, yeah. It looked appealing. It did. I'll give it that. I think that, you know, my cohorts and I were wrong to laugh at this vehicle because now I'm absolutely fascinated by them. It looked more up to the minute than the last of the Hillman Minx-based Huskies, as opposed to the later Imp Husky. It certainly was robust, etc. Um, it could carry a fair amount of luggage. I mean, I'm looking at a picture of one now, and it um looking at the Martin Walter Limited stamp and Utilicon, all-purpose conversion. Yeah. It's even got Martin Walter's telephone number. So any listener wants the conversion, telephone folks 51844. Wow. And remember to insert your fourpence and press button A as you do so. But so what uh I can't remember any other sort of vehicles of um no, I think the local scout troop had a a vehicle that seems to have vanished from the public consciousness. I think they had a BMC J4. No, a J2. Yeah, J2 seems to have vanished from the public memory. J4s, I think, are remembered when anyone thinks of either Abbey Road or with Nail and I. Yeah, yeah. But the J2, although they were in production for a fair while, yeah, they seem to again vanished from the uh sort of public mind. I wonder why that is.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

They sort of became they did another version, a later version, which was the JU250, which kind of looked a bit like the J2, but was kind of made to look slightly taller and slimmer somehow.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

The JU was the um succeeded the Jesus in 67. I think one problem was that how it was sold, because in 67 I think it was launched at both as a Morrison and an Austin, of course. Um BMC, you know, BMC. Then in 68, after British Leyland was formed after Leyland merger, it was called a BMC, and then two years later, 1970, it's called an Austin Morris. Yes, that's right. Um, I mean you want to do an example of corporate chaos. They went on until 74 when the um Sherpa replaced Sherpa replaced that and the J4, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 19:05

So it replaced two vehicles and used most of the bodywork of the J4, I think, and sort of slightly put bits on. Which I mean exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

I mean, there's a splendid Morris public Morris commercial that days, because when it was launched in 56, it was either an Austin or a Morris commercial, and there's a splendid sort of um path-backed um sales film for Morris vehicles, you know, Morris commercial vehicles, you know, narrated by the great actor Maurice Denham. And it's about you know how Morris vehicles go all through the night and um, you know, basically how great it is to work at their factory, etc., and how a young apprentice is going to really enjoy it. And I kept thinking, the young apprentice, he claims to be 15. I'll swear he's 32.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Is this the one where you see the young apprentice sort of having breakfast with the family?

SPEAKER_00 20:11

That's right, and then then their friends where the lorry driver comes comes. That's because he's obviously driven his night shift in a Morris commercial. Yes, of course he has. Isn't that interesting? And you and you see a lot of the new J2s lined up. Yeah. No, and I think and again, compared to the old um Morris commercial J, it would have looked extremely up to the revolutionary. Yeah. I think as a child, obviously as a child, you don't appreciate that. As a very small child, I was just wondered why, you know, in my neighborhood, a Vauxhall Viva HB, I think it had an E registration plate, and there was a Morris Oxford Traveller Series 6 with a G. And I kept wondering, why does the Viva look younger than the Morris and yet, you know, is an older car? Because it's clearly registered too. And I didn't realise obviously the idea that some vehicles retain the same body style for years and years. So uh J was it J U would only have been 1980, what, six years out of date, maybe seven. But it looked 1950s because the style is still taken from the J series. I was talking actually with a friend yesterday about what we didn't see. I remember one and a half litre, 1.6 litre farinas. I think Southampton was still using them as taxis into the 70s. I don't remember seeing many of the three litres. I don't remember seeing many Westminster's, Woolseley, 6110, 699s, or the Van der Plaas Princess. They were still they were comparative rare, they were comparative rarities, but certainly you'd see a lot of rings. The other thing that makers of period drums of the 70s tend to forget the sheer volume of Hillman Hunter. On the road. Um and again, I mean, do you recall them? I mean, I recall them in fair number.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Oh, definitely, yeah. I mean, they were they were just huge. I mean, it was quite on my radar because my dad had a 1967 Singer Vogue, um, the pre-arrow shape for all dax. Um, and that was probably a change over year um on when the arrow came in to replace it. And um I always thought of thought at the time, why didn't Dad get like the Hunter version? And it's because the Singer Vogue Aldex version was much cheaper, obviously, because it was the old style.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Because this is the big year for the um the arrow series, it's yeah, definitely from memory, and again, it's a very fallacious memory, the it was the Hunter and the Singer New Vogue with the Arrow shape were launched in '66 to replace the Superminx and it the Superminx shape Vogue. But the um the Audax Minx and Gazelle, the Sunbeam Rapier, Aldax, and the Humba Scepter, and I think the Super Minx and Single Gestates went on until 67. And that's when the remainder of the new arrows came up. The um was it the Hillman Estate card, the Singham New Gazelle, the new Hillman New Minx, and of course the new Sunbeam Rapier and Humba Scepter. So, you know, I suspect your dad had uh if it was your dad's um singles on E-plate, he probably had a very, very good, you know, very, very good deal on it. And yes, if you want to see, but I'd recommend you don't watch the Ray Barrett commercial. I think it's for the Hillman GT in 1969, because it'll make you even more wrathful that your father didn't have an arrow. Because basically, if you drive an Arrow Series Hillman, you get to wear a roll neck, be very dramatic, have about three gallons of Brill Cream in your hair, and then drive off in another Rootsmobile to a groovy swinging nightclub. Although, frankly, I never really had Ray Barrett down as a groovy swinging type of an actor, it says.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

No, I wouldn't have my dad down for someone who'd go to a nightclub either. But uh, he definitely had to brill cream, though. I remember the brill cream.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Please don't remember my I remember my father's brief but horrendous attempt in the early 70s to try and look like Peter Wingard, judging by old pictures. Believe me, that was not believe me, only Peter Wingard could, you know, really get away with that look. And that's because he was Peter Wingard. So so no, I think it was, and I think again, you may remember 1977, you know, if you paid a visit to your friendly local Triumph dealer, you might come away with a really good deal on a Triumph 2500S estate, top-loaded with extras, because of course they were going out of production, yeah, etc. etc. And if you weren't too keen on being a follower of fashion and maybe you wanted a proper estate rather than the new Rover 2600 SD1, the Triumph would be right. Same with Ford, I imagine. You know, imagine the deal you could have had in '79 when um was it the Cortina 80, aka the Cortina Mark V was being launched. That's it. Yeah. I mean, you know, there's some might be some Mark IV bargains you might get, you know, might get a gear. Might get a 40 V6 gear. I mean, so so no, I mean, I mean that, but that's sort of the level of sort of as a child, you as a young person, you must remember seeing various special edition cars, etc. Oh, yes. I I think we can all dis discriminate, differentiate between those that are to mark the end of the line. Do you remember the Ford Zephyr Mark IV special in 71?

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Uh no. I really wasn't aware that they did special versions like that that far back to before.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Oh, yes. I mean, Ford, I think, go back as early as I think the first special edition car in the UK, and I'm happy to be corrected, was the Morris Minor Million launched in 1961.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yes, of course. Yes, the the lilac.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah. That's right. That is a splendid vehicle, and it set the template. But certainly, Ford, I think, brought out two new colour schemes for the Ford Anglia 105E in 1967, Last of the Line. Was it Venetian Gold or Blue Mink, which sounds like a which sounds like a swinging hippie band.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

And that was like on the Anglia 1200, wasn't it? Or like super.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

The 105V. It looks it looks groovy, shall we say. But I think it's '71, the Ford Zephyr Special. It's basically Ford Zephyr VI with a lot of Zodiac equipment and a vinyl roof. Right. And those, you know, and of course, those wonderful hubcaps with the stars on them.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Yes. And it's a good way to, you know, clear the showroom because it's a run out for the console and granada, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Which looks so different from the Mark IV Zephyr. I think one thing that one seemingly trivial is not trivial, the Mark IV Zephyr was still available with a column shift. Wow. That sort of and a benchfront seat for the you know for the taxi market, not the console. So different type of car, but yes, they were doing special editions that far back that they were doing all Capri special editions in the very early 70s.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah, of course they were. Yeah, Alan Jones with his um Caprice, of course. Yes, sort of 70s, who's who's been on this podcast in France.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Indeed, and what a car it is, because it gives everything the 3000E had to offer. And I think some owners prefer the 1.6 or the 2-litre engine to the 3-litre. So it's a real absolute bargain. If you want a Capri, this would have been probably the one to have. I mean, I've spoken to someone with a Fiesta sandpiper and love the two-tone colour scheme. I live in hope of finding one of the really obscure Mark II escort special additions. An escort lynette. Lynette, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

And remember the was it the Kingfisher? Kingfisher, yeah, was uh like a metallic. I think the sandpiper was brown and cream. And Kingfisher, it did, yeah, and the Kingfisher was like a beautiful, probably Hawaiian blue, a colour from the Ford um range. I'm sure it was blue. Was it two-tone? I'm trying to remember. I don't think it was.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

There was a two-tone, there was a two-tone Fiesta Kingfisher, pale blue over silver. It looked rather nice.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Over silver, right, yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Um looking at the Ford Escort Lynette, which I think um do any do many survive um had that super stripe on the side. Right. I mean that is um I mean basically at 1.3L, but it looks good.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Yeah, yeah. And it had the headdress and um sort of radio cassette player inside, and uh they also did in the London area Fords, I think, had the escort capital. They did in conjunction with Capitol Radio, in conjunction with the Flying Eye and the Capitol Radio. Do you remember the bumper stickers for the Capitol? I do on line four.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

And a cap an iconic auctioneers recently sold, I believe, a Ford Escort um Capital. Did they? Go I mean, I'm looking at it now, and again, um it's a popular plus, yeah, but with extra equipment, it's the capital car for capital people, but you could only buy it through London Ford main dealers. Yeah, yeah. I mean, basically what do you get? I mean, you get Radio Stero Cassette, which actually that alone would make it worth having.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Is that the ERS 321P or something? Let's have a look.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Let's have let's have a look at it. No, it's not. It's not that one. No, no, no. It's not that one. But I'm looking at the spec table, and again, for what it offered, you know, and again, it's coming towards the end of the um escort Mark II's run. Sure. It does offer. I mean, I love the fact that rear fog lamp is seen as a luxury feature. Oh, it is. Of course, we're forgetting two special editions that were for local Ford dealers in the southeast.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

A local special edition for local people. We'll have no trouble here.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

We've got before, haven't we? And I imagine how many they would have sold with a slogan like that. Um I dare for I dare anyone to use that slogan for their wares. Um, you know, is the Ford Cortina and the Ford Escort Huntsman? Oh, yes, the estate. Yes, yes. And what very pleasant. I've seen a Huntsman escort. I think I've certainly seen a Cortina Huntsman Estate up close in Pasna. I've seen an escort huntsman. Um the colour scheme is lovely. I can understand why people would want one and why it works.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Roman bronze, wasn't it? And seemed to recall.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

That's right. And of course, we've the escort remember the escort gold crest. Gold crest, yeah. I mean, you know, for you know, obviously there are high profile Ford specialties, like the Escort Harrier, the Ford Granada Gear Sapphire. But I'm always interested by you know, the sort of the more sort of not minor, but the more obscure ones. Maybe they receive less in the way of publicity, etc. etc. And I love the gold crest colour scheme. I mean, it reminds me of a certain number by Spandout Ballet.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Was that gold by any chance?

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Uh there's no communication, let me down. Put it that way. No. Um so it's I mean, what are that? I mean it's special that special. There's been Vauxhall were keen on their special. There's one Vauxhall special edition, and I must ask the Cavalier Club if any survive. The Voxel Cavalier Command Performance.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

No command performance. This is that different to the commander. Well, this is a this was a 1980 initiative. I mean, you know, basically the website is, of course, fantastic and really informative, and I recommend it. I also recommend everyone looks at Voxpedia, which is your go-to site for Vox Information. It's absolutely fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

It's got all the early advertising on it.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

And then the hist and the history as well of one of Britain's most important car makes. But command performance was 1980, etc. So, you know, you have as well, you know, your um command performance Chevette hatchback, etc. Your command performance Cavalier 2000, and your command performance Carlton, you know, which is basically say the Carlton comes also with alloy wheels, a sunroof, and power steering and tinted glass, and a remote control driver's door mirror to make the neighbors envious. Absolutely. You've got the command performance badge on the road, etc. Um, so basically as well as that, it was these command performance voxels were backed by the voxel road show.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

I do not vaguely recall this.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

Yes. It was a variety show hosted by Ted Rogers, and whom by 1980, you know, host of 321 was quite big with massive viewing figures, which is something I have re-watched, and although the queer show is terrible, Ted Rogers was a really, really good host. Extremely, extremely professional and charming in what he did. So naturally, you know, it was a lot of money. It says in the club, obviously, it naturally cost a lot of money, and I think Delos went to give um invitation to prospective customers, but um quote, most of us took their friends and family for a freebie night out. So, but again, you know, it's a show of um confidence. But I wonder if any of the command performances, um, voxels survive. I mean, I'd be I'd be absolutely fascinated, you know, if and again it was a train, it was a train. Obviously, 1980, the Mark I Cavalier was a year away from its demise, etc. So that's why it's one way of boosting or maintaining the model's profile before um you know before before replacement. I just like the idea. I wonder I wonder if anyone else did a thing similar. Maybe a sort of um a British Leyland sort of command performance um hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Yes. Actually, actually, I would have wanted to have attended that one quite badly. Uh so no, I'm forgiving a special addition. All of these vehicles, I suppose, uh, you'd read about in your local press, in you know, the glossy weekly motoring magazines, and you'd be very surprised if you saw one in a dealership, or delighted if you saw one saw one on the street, etc. But forgive me, I've spoken too much, I shall punish myself by watching some of my least favourite editions of top of Top Gear, etc. So now final question for you tonight, because you know we take you back to your private school days. Was there any public information film or say road safety initiative that actually impacted on you at that time?

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Um probably anything to do with crashes with people not wearing seatbelts, I think. That's probably the one that uh gave me a morbid fascination with wrecked vehicles when I was a child. I've said before I probably wasn't a very nice child, but um I can remember there was um a place on a Sunday morning where my father used to go, and it was like a little allotment club where he used to buy plants to his gardens and things, and you used to have to walk down this little track, and on the right hand side, as you walked up to this allotment place, there was like a salvage yard, and he used to sit there and look at all the wrecked, smashed up cars and think, oh my goodness, look at the state of that one, which at the time had absolutely no concept of the fact that anybody may have actually been injured in this vehicle and it wasn't just something to be pointed at and looked at by sort of uh small children. So uh yeah, so I think probably and then I saw the public information films of people not wearing seat belts and thing, hmm, their car will end up in that yard. So uh yeah, quite um quite dark side of it, really. I think that was probably my memory.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

The one I I I'm of the age, you know, I should remember or have vivid memories of the Green Cross Coban. Correct me if I'm wrong, I think he was launched from 1976, so I would have been six years old, and I should remember him. I don't think I took him entirely seriously. No. I think it was so wonderfully over the wonderfully over the top. Um the Green Cross Codeman. I'm not really old enough to have recalled seeing um you know Alvin Stardust telling children how to use the Green Cross code. Um I think one writer described him as looking like a tr Victorian sort of chimley sweeping uh uh boss and childcatcher. I like I'm I'm a big fan of Alvin Stardust, so I prefer his earlier incarnation, which you're too young to remember. Indeed. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

Um you've spoken about them before. I don't recall personally, but I think you sent me the video clip.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Well, of course, because I'm a moody guy. Um so I remember I don't remember him, I don't remember Joe Butner or Kevin Keegan. You know, or the lead singer of Mud. Yeah. I would have remembered that. I'm too young to remember John Pertwee with the really overly complicated Splink monoc, um which I don't I think it didn't last long because it was too complicated. I do remember Tufty teaching road safety, Tufty the road safety squirrel, with the voice of Bernard Cribbins, which I will now always associate with um the unfortunate shenanigans of Willie Weasel. But no, I the Green Cross Code Man not so much, not so much of an impact on me. It's very too cut too cartoon-like, etc. Also the later ones where he's accompanied by a robot and said robot does resemble a pedal bin. Or something like polish the floor and put down a rug, you may as well put down a man trap. Yes. With voice by Patrick Troughton.

unknown 40:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

Um so the other one I recall as well, I think we spoke about before, is the um Triumph Dolomite nearly ramming a bed for tea cave because the Triumph driver is tired. That's true. Yeah. I don't know, did you but you must have had a local PC or sergeant come along to give talks about cycling proficiency?

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Um I think I kind of missed that, to be honest. Um what I do remember is some company coming to my school with lots of little electric cars and sort of fake level crossings and things. Um, and we all had to pretend to not run each other over. But I'm probably going back to the infant school, I would think. Um by the time you got to teenage, you're obviously a bit too big to have little electric cars in the school hall. But um, yeah, I do remember, do remember that, and that I think was a view to encourage us to not, you know, run out into the road and get splattered by cars, I think, generally.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

It would be it would be fascinating, it would be a fascinating experience. I mean, I think when I was in my mid to later teens as part of our um, you know, part of our development as young people and uh raising our social consciousness, good luck to the teachers with that one. Yeah, we were shown a 1968 Royal Naval First Aid film called Don't Let Him Die. Oh, right, yeah. And unfortunately, I was more only got it died because the uh announcer seems to be enjoying his at least something like something like um yes, Frank died, and Reg Barnes didn't know what to do. Uh etc. Unfortunately, me being completely dreadful, I was more fascinated with the fact that Reg drives a Rover P4. That um there's one scene where uh I think a Wolseley 1550 crashing into a haystack, Q sort of stock James Bond style music, etc. Um, the naval ambulance is a Thames 400E with a clanging bell, and how gossport in 1968, if it weren't for the odd Viva HB, looked basically like everywhere else in 1956. Um so I was more obsessed with the cars and the backgrounds. If it wasn't for some of the graphics of these sort of animated scenes, and again some of the more recent models in the background, you would have put the film late 50s. And I think that I still I mean it's on YouTube now. It is an absolutely fascinating piece of um piece of drama with groovy stock music, but again, I was more interested in the cars, and I think the first date message unfortunately was um was rather you know rather lost on me. Yeah. I think that often happens, I think, when a film becomes so dated as to become fascinating for the um period detail rather than the uh rather than the actual message. I'll leave we'll I'll leave with this one because again I was 11, I think, when this was shown. Um Michelle Dortrice and Neil Innis coming to grief when they park their Ford Cortina Mark V on the hard shoulder to read a map.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 43:44

Do you remember that one?

SPEAKER_01 43:45

I d I think I do.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

Yes, yes, with uh the great Patrick Allen on voiceover. I mean, Patrick Allen was going to be the man who told you what to do in the case of a nuclear emergency, so telling us what to do on the motorway was Charles Place. To the great man. Incidentally, if you ever want to see Patrick Allen's great acting, watch a film called um Jetstorm. Okay. Um it's it's one of the it's a British disaster movie from 1959. And what a cast. Captain Manly Captain Stanley Baker and um his stewardesses, May Zetterling, and uh Virginia Maskell have to tend to uh passengers Harry Seacum, James Sybil Thorndike, Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly, Marty Wilde, Paul Eddington, and Patrick Allen, and as a mad bomber, Richard Attenborough in a Whig.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Gosh. Paul Eddington must have been very young in that, because he was sort of getting on a bit when um he was in the good life in the mid-70s.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

He was 33 when he was released.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

Gosh.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

He was 33 when it was released. He was older than people thought he was. Yeah. So so no no real car scenes, but it's no real car scenes. But in terms of cars, Patrick, of course, did the famous voiceover for the um Ford Escort 1300 E promotional film. He also voiced the Vauxhall Viva HB launch advert.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 45:30

Was it Jet Smooth Whisper Quiet?

SPEAKER_01 45:34

Yeah. It's a sort of go-to voice, wasn't he, for these things in the sort of 60s and early 70s. And and everything was launched with that kind of voice, wasn't it? Because that sort of made people it his voice gave a sense of power and made people stand up and take notice, didn't it? And it it gave everything a kind of majesty that was probably far in excess of what the product actually was.

SPEAKER_00 46:05

But that's part of the part of the fun. He went to university in Canada and he had a faint mid-Atlantic lilt in his voice, which which helped. And of course, he in his later days he was the announcer on the smell of Reeves and Mortimer. Oh, was he? Right. Okay. Wow. I remember one episode that um he warned the viewers to take heed of him because, quote, I killed Tarka the Otter.

SPEAKER_01 46:35

That was a brilliant series. That was fantastic. I never knew it was him, though.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Oh no, yes, he was king of he was king of he was king of the voiceovers. So yeah, you know, if you're going to, you know, if you're going to have the top announcer, it has to be, you know, the great, you know, the great Patrick Allen, you know, you know, you know, of course, the voice of protect and survive.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. A go-to voice.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

So on that bombshell, take very good care. Yes. And I will see you next week. Yes. Remember. Look and take heed. Take care, sir.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

And what else should we remember as well? We should ask people to like and subscribe.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Like and like and subscribe.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

And remember, we need to find a voiceover person to do that for us at the end of every program. I wonder if he's available.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

Yes, yes, and my training will come in handy. Thank you. Thank you, dramatic training. You know, I knew that that would come in handy one day. I'm not sure. And remember, listeners, we won't be there when you cross the road. Exactly. There's nothing to do with the green cross code, we're just going to say that anyway. Right, good thing we should have fun.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Have fun. Take care, Andrew. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

Bye bye.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

I think we probably are. Yeah.