Make of Car?

[StephenFord 866]

Notice also windscreen wiper only on the driver's side, and no wing mirrors at all - only the interior rear view mirror (and that small rear window of course did not have heating to keep it from misting up). I think I am right in saying that only one brake light was mandatory, and also that a single (off-side?) dipped headlight met the requirements of the law, the nearside headlamp being extinguished completely when the dip switch was pressed, pulled or flicked (according to manufacturer !)

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Harking back to Stans message about memories of first cars , I think this blurred photo was our first new car .

My Dad worked in the building industry and originally I seem to remember him having small Ford vans based on the Anglia car (sit up and beg type ?). Then he must have got a promotion and we had this as a firms car , a Ford Prefect .

I'm the little lad , look to be about 4 or 5 yrs old so that must put it at 1953 ish .

Weirdly for me , I remember that day and my sister is carrying a huge bunch of Bluebells that we picked somewhere in Notts ( against the law to pick those now ) .

As Bluebells are out now , this is probably 60 years to this very month !

[DAVIDW 1,681]

And my brother may correct me but I think this picture , with my Mum posing , was his first car

(edit) ....thought it was a similar time to the previous but can't be , must be more like 1958/59 as he wouldn't have been old enough to drive any earlier .

Its a BSA 3 wheeler and I remember once when he took me and another little pal for a spin , it didn't have the power to get up the hill on Marwood Road (off Coningswath Road ?) and we had to get out and walk / push it up (note the brick under the front wheel !) :

[Merthyr Imp 729]

This was my first car! It would be a collector's item now. I don't know the maker, but I daresay Austin would get a cut from the sales. It was originally green , but we repainted it red - it was probably still green at the time of the photo as it looks a bit battered. Solid metal, not like kids' pedal cars of more recent times, although you had to be careful of some of the edges against your knees (no long trousers in those days!). The boot and bonnet both opened - the latter to reveal an imitation engine, and the headlights worked from a switch on the dashboard. What looks a bit like a spotlight was actually a horn or hooter, but whether it was original or whether my father fitted it I can't say.

The photo would have been around 1953 or 1954.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Now that was a car that I always wanted !

Looks like they were made by the Austin motor co .

http://www.austinworks.com/pedalcar.html

My dad was a qualified carpenter before being a builder and he even made a wooden scooter , complete with round wooden wheels !

Long gone now but wish I had a photo of that .

[fch782c 144]

Hi David w

my late father in law owned and restred one of these might be wrong but I think it was known as the BSA Scout

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Bet you wish he had hung on to it !

If you search BSA Scout in Google images it comes up with these :

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=709&q=bsa+scout&oq=bsa+scout&gs_l=img.12..0l4j0i24l6.5908.10072.0.12990.10.9.0.1.1.0.97.801.9.9.0...0.0...1ac.1.14.img.P523fUcwDuY

Never realised that BSA made 4 wheelers ? Also never knew that BSA stood for British Small Arms .

[denshaw 2,871]

Was it Birmingham small arms?

[Merthyr Imp 729]

Now that was a car that I always wanted !

Looks like they were made by the Austin motor co .

http://www.austinworks.com/pedalcar.html

Gosh - I've just seen the price! Our pub must have been doing good business at the time.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Was it Birmingham small arms?

oops ! You are right.....it was the "Small Arms" bit that I took note of .

[RGR 218]

Peddle cars for sale at a car show in Grass Valley California last year.

[MELTONSTILTON 452]

Yesterday I took my wifes car to the garage for a service, the owner is a vintage car collector, so I asked him if he knew what the car in the photo is.

He said almost straight away it could be a CLAVEAU, and a late model because they had a problem with the engine over heating, so the later models had a grill put on the top of the bonnet near the drivers window.

[Stan 386]

What a Claveau chap . A vant one !

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Certainly that has a lot of similarities and its a lovely looking period car .The wheel arches and door are in the right place .

The only thing is, that in the original "white" car , the headlamps seem to protrude more and below the headlamps there is either a bumper sticking out or curved body detail that isn't evident on the Claveau .

Also there is no evidence of those creases where the wing meets the door but as you say , maybe there was a later model that had these ? Must be extremely rare as there are hardly any photos out there.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Oh no not again !

Its not our car but this is more to bookmark the name in case it slips out of my brain later !

I was wandering by a second hand book shop today and noticed a book in the window . It was a thinnish book about a make of car made in the 50s called Paramount , (made in a neighbouring county !) . I've never heard of the make before .

Some of the headlamp and grill detail looked familiar and so I asked if I could have a look at the copy . Unfortunately there wasn't a picture of "our" saloon in the book but I thought I would google the make when I got home .

I could only find a couple of images on line but luckily had taken a snap through the shop window of the cover and that's below . Reading the wiki for Paramount , it wasn't that successful a company and they only made 70 cars and the bits were sold off . Maybe our car was a hybrid made from these ?

The front end grill and lights of the car top right look nearest .

Edit : This might be clearer from a copy for sale on ebay , my pic below that :

[fch782c 144]

I firstly thought it might hve been a Bristol but doing a bit more delving I discovered it was produced firstly in Swadlincote Derbyshire then production moved to Melbourne Derbyshire and eventually up in Leighton Buzzard production ran from 1950 to 1956

Firstly they intended to use an Alvis Engine but due to cost they opted for a Ford 10 engine with twin SU carbs the suspension was similar to the early Triumphs ie transverse leaf spring arrangement.

Hope this helps

fch782c

[fch782c 144]

just another snippet of useless information, the author of the above book Peter Tutthill made his living writing books about bespoke cars

[Trevor S 2,003]

Have faith....it will be identified.

Have feelers out with car clubs, magazines etc but no ID to date.

Suggestions of late 30s Bugatti, Allards, D3lahaye, Tatra, Peugeot 302/402 are among many that have been received but unfortunately none have all aspects of the mystery car.

Three wheel drive clubs have negated the idea it was a hybrid 3 wheeler like what was around at the end of the war.

Common thread of opinion is that it is a kit car or, a prototype that never got off the ground.

Mick2me.....any chance of the Nottstalgia Forum approaching the Nottingham Evening Post (or whatever it is now) and even Bygones for both those publications to post a picture of the mystery car and ask readers if they know what it is or even have knowledge of its ownership and history. Might just get the answer that way and I am sure Picture The Past would be grateful for the free publicity and.....it may even get Nottstalgia more members?

[mick2me 3,033]

Its an idea, I did once contact PtP when we first started. They never replied.

[MELTONSTILTON 452]

Found this on Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Cars

[DAVIDW 1,681]

The Tutthill name lead me to this thread on pistonheads . The second image of an electric car made in Leicester , had some familiar looks . i.e. the vents on the side and headlamps /grill . If you have the time , there's some interesting cars in the 11 pages that follow

http://mobile.pistonheads.com/;s=65z4wjNuR2y_AM1NfMZlVg07/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=140&t=1188528&mid=0&i=0&nmt=Obscure+British+Manufacturers%2E&mid=0

[Trevor S 2,003]

Its an idea, I did once contact PtP when we first started. They never replied.

Mick2me....PTP has helped me quite a lot with trying to solve this mystery car. They sent me a better photograph which I subsequently posted on this Forum. PTP also apologised for being unable to identify anything about the photograph and actually forwarded the photograph on to a motoring magazine. That magazine was one of many who replied; advising they thought it was a prototype.

I reckon if you use your clout and get the photo in the Nottingham Paper and/or Bygones, we might just solve this one.

Thanks Meltonstilton and DavidW - more pages to scroll through. That second image was close but the doors are wrong. I might see if I can post a photo of our car on that site - you never know.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Oh no not this again ....

Happened to see a picture of a Lloyd 650 today built by a Roland Lloyd in Grimsby up to the 50s . Can't embed a photo but a similar looking car should be linked to this Telegraph article on the firm .

The geography makes it possible !

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/4749882/So-long-and-thanks-for-the-fish.html

[Tim in the North East 200]

Further to Trevor S's observation that 'The door handle is intriguing as it is to the rear of the door and has a recess under the handle' I don't think there is a recess under the handle - I think what we see under the handle is a shadow. Recessed door handles did not really appear until the 1970s.

Of all the suggestions Tatra, Allard and Cleveau look the most promising!