Tartan Travel Rugs and other Nostalgic Motoring Accessories

[myglaren]

I recall having BriNylon shirts - awful

[white exec]

And was that asbestos bandage wrapped round that exhaust pipe - a la marine diesel?

[CitroJim]

Oh gosh! Bri-nylon.... That brings back some memories... Not all good...

Likewise Brentford Nylons... I can remember sleeping on nylon sheets as a kid - horrible

All nylon is any good for is making substitute Activa ram bushes...

[Richard_C]

A while back I posted on this thread and said I would go dig out some stuff from the garage. Been and done it so here we go.

First though, tartan travel rugs as per subject line. I had a genuine BL one, local small town garage gave it to my father when he went on and ordered 4 (yes 4) Austin 1800s, one for him and one for 3 other mangers where he worked. They had made a decent profit and the Chairman decided to give out some "company cars" but it had to be that week before tax year end. The rug was lost (by me) when I came across an accident late at night near Stalybridge, years and years back, and put it round a kid who seemed to be in shock. Ambulance came, took the victim and the rug. All in a good cause.

First in my aladdin's cave is a cigarette lighter/holder. Chrome plated front, black crackle finished back which you screwed or riveted to the dash of your Morris Oxford or whatever. You could adjust teh slide for different lengths of cigarette and load up. There was a button to heat up a coil and the one at the bottom of the slide would be lit ready for you to take it out and puff.

Here it is:

A couple more posts to follow soon

[Richard_C]

Next in line of total motoring weirdness is a Seemark auto light switch. Back in the day you had to have lights on a parked car even in a 30 limit. We knew the people who made these, business hit the buffers when the law changed.

The bit you see gets screwed to the bottom of the dashboard, nice black cover for it, remember when they were pretty straight. You could wire it in to the sidelights (no funny electrics back the, just wires to each bulb) or plug in one of those red/white bullet shaped lamps that you hung on the wind up window - not got one, sorry, but you can see the socket for it. Switch one way, lights on, middle sis off, other way its auto using a fairly crude LDR.

Some more normal stuff, but none the less nostalgic for some, will follow in the next day or few.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Excellent stuff Richard keep it coming!

Regards Neil

[CitroJim]

Excellent stuff Richard keep it coming!

Absolutely agreed Love it...

The fag lighter is brilliant! Inspired no less... My dad would have loved it...

[NewcastleFalcon]

First in my aladdin's cave is a cigarette lighter/holder. Chrome plated front, black crackle finished back which you screwed or riveted to the dash of your Morris Oxford or whatever. You could adjust teh slide for different lengths of cigarette and load up. There was a button to heat up a coil and the one at the bottom of the slide would be lit ready for you to take it out and puff.

One currently for sale on E-bay Richard, identifies the maker as Novelec Mechanical Components Limited, Tally-Ho Works, North Finchley. Went out of business in 1966!

(The "Tally-Ho" was a four in hand fast coach from London-Birmingham whose first stop for a change of Horses was at what is now known as Tally-Ho Corner North Finchley!)

Regards Neil


Tally Ho Corner postcard [Public domain or Public domain], by Anonymous, from Wikimedia Commons

[NewcastleFalcon]

For the younger viewers this is what in-car entertainment looked like in the 1970's



Regards Neil

[CitroJim]

Happy memories of 8-track cartridges Neil!

I used to spend many happy Saturday mornings untangling and re-threading them to earn a bit of pocket-money as a young lad...

[dnsey]

Next in line of total motoring weirdness is a Seemark auto light switch. Back in the day you had to have lights on a parked car even in a 30 limit. We knew the people who made these, business hit the buffers when the law changed.

The bit you see gets screwed to the bottom of the dashboard, nice black cover for it, remember when they were pretty straight. You could wire it in to the sidelights (no funny electrics back the, just wires to each bulb) or plug in one of those red/white bullet shaped lamps that you hung on the wind up window - not got one, sorry, but you can see the socket for it. Switch one way, lights on, middle sis off, other way its auto using a fairly crude LDR.

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Some more normal stuff, but none the less nostalgic for some, will follow in the next day or few.

I'm not sure what it says about me, but I could build a copy of this from scratch - I have examples of that exact photoelectric switch and the unusual plug and socket in my 'stores'!

[Spurious]

Next in line of total motoring weirdness is a Seemark auto light switch. Back in the day you had to have lights on a parked car even in a 30 limit. We knew the people who made these, business hit the buffers when the law changed.

I'd a MK2 Golf that when turned off you could push down/up on the indicator stalk and it would turn on the relevant parking light, offside or nearside. Quite clever. I don't know if they new golfs do that.

[Spurious]

Next in line of total motoring weirdness is a Seemark auto light switch. Back in the day you had to have lights on a parked car even in a 30 limit. We knew the people who made these, business hit the buffers when the law changed.

I'd a MK2 Golf that when turned off you could push down/up on the indicator stalk and it would turn on the relevant parking light, offside or nearside. Quite clever. I don't know if they new golfs do that.

And to just add in the nostalgia on the thread (well I'm not really old enough), a lot of the parts had proudly stamped; "MADE IN W. GERMANY". Even the parcel shelf had it!

[Richard_C]

I think VWs still do, in fact maybe all German cars? You can leave just one side light on in some German cities and still comply with the law.

Anyway this has kicked me back into life .... remember those map reading lights you plugged in to a cigarette lighter socket so you could pretend you were driving your Mini on the Monte?

[Richard_C]

Then of course you had to have a smaller steering wheel. Tan one is off my Hillman Hunter, black one off the Maxi - both international rally winners in their day. No airbags to mess with, and the horn button rendered unnecessary by the long stalk switch in the dashboard to fire off the air horns.