THE FAMILY CAR 02
By the end of the 1920s the British car industry had got into its stride and the Midlands became a major manufacturing region. The early industry was divided into two parts, the luxury end like Bentley and Rolls Royce and the popular car manufacturers who competed to make the cheapest small reliable car possible. Cars like the Austin Ruby were best sellers and many families bought into the trend and got one. These cars became almost the family pet and many gave them names. They were polished and cared for and usually only came out at weekend for a trip into the country or perhaps to the seaside. The great seaside resorts like Blackpool who had built themselves up on rail travel recognised the change and started to cater for the motorist by building large car parks near the sea front. How many of you can remember the intense excitement of being the first to see the sea?
'Going for a spin' was popular and changed the roadside along the main pleasure routes. As well as garages, roadside café's sprang up like mushrooms. This wasn't the death knell for picnics, the flask and the box of sandwiches was still carried for use at the destination but almost everyone called in at a café for a bite to eat, usually on the way home. It made it a 'proper day out'. The variety of destinations grew as entrepreneurs realised there was a market to cater for. Large amusement parks like Belle Vue at Manchester and Trentham Gardens near Stoke on Trent had the same range of attractions as the seaside towns. Small race meetings and local agricultural shows suddenly became 'venues' and attracted far more visitors. Even local corporations got in on the act. At Stockport a large estate at Poynton called Lyme Park was given to the National Trust but largely managed and funded by Stockport Municipal Borough. Eventually we saw the growth of the stately home market as landowners sought a way of getting an income from their homes.
From my earliest days in Stockport I can remember trips into Derbyshire before the war, The Peak District became a playground for the workers. Nearer to Barlick a favourite run out was the Trough of Bowland. In the early days this was a gated road and it was a common sight at weekends to see a tramp standing by the gate ready to open it for passing motorists, doffing his cap and getting a copper for the service. I was once told a story about this. A tackler was driving through the Trough on his way to Blackpool with the family and gave a threepenny bit to the old bloke who opened the gate for him. He looked at the coin and said “I can't take this off you”. The tackler asked why and the old bloke said “Well, it's like this, rich folk give a halfpenny, middling sorts give a penny and if you're giving me threepence you must be even more hard up than I am”!
The days of trips out into the country or to the seaside ended in 1939 when WW2 started and petrol was rationed. Many people laid up their cars for the duration of the war and it wasn't until petrol rationing ended in 1950 that family motoring became popular again. Even with petrol available many cars were laid up for the winter. We became experts at jacking the car up onto blocks to take the weight off the tyres and covering them with a sheet. Those that were kept on the road often had 'winter tyres' fitted. How many of you can remember snow tyres? People used to tax their cars for six months only and the first great exodus of the year was the first fine day closest to Easter. I can remember how common it was when the good weather arrived to see cars broken down on the side of the road, often with boiling radiators. Sawley Brow was a killer if you hadn't flushed the system out and looked after the fan belt! Motoring magazines were full of good advice about what to do to get the car fit for the road again after a winter spent idle.
Another peculiar thing about the family car was the division of labour. Anything to do with the interior was woman's work. It was below the man's dignity to do mundane things like polish the dashboard, vacuum the carpets and empty the ash trays! His province was the mechanical maintenance and funnily enough, washing and polishing the exterior. I never failed to be amazed at the number of men who would have died before they would do any cleaning in the house but saw washing and polishing the car as something essentially masculine.
The 1960s and most of the 1970s were the high point of the family car. Car manufacturers sold their cars on expectations of jolly trips out and the cars themselves improved enormously. Mind you, there were the occasional glitches. I remember a friend of mine taking delivery of a new Austin Allegro and the first trip out was to Harrogate over the undulating Blubberhouses road. He had a car full and all went well until they arrived home and found that only one door would open. He found out eventually that he'd travelled over the humps a bit too fast and the car body had distorted. Austin's were so embarrassed they gave him a new car!
More and more people took to the road and as the number of cars grew new roads had to be built to accommodate them. I can remember the first piece of motorway opening in December 1958, the Preston by-pass. Families went out and drove up and down the new road just for the experience. Later on when the M6 was extended south people were actually going to the motorway services for an evening out, such was the novelty. Eventually the number of cars exceeded the capacity of the road and congestion reared its ugly head. The trip out often became a succession of traffic jams. Large organisations realised that there was a fortune to be made out of charging for car parking and many people realised that if you were planning a long trip it made sense to travel overnight when traffic was at its lowest level. These days the cost of fuel has risen so much that a car journey is a luxury to many poorer families. The cost of maintenance is astronomical and the advent of computerised systems has meant the death of the home mechanic. In the old days a competent man with a few tools could keep his vehicle on the road but I'm afraid those days are gone.
It's ironic isn't it that we have regressed in many ways to the very earliest days of car ownership when only the better off could afford to use their new toys. Some things never change! Next week I'll have a look at traffic and how things have changed,
Cars came in all shapes and sizes. Seen in Water Street Earby in 1978 and it was street legal!