Tartan Travel Rugs and other Nostalgic Motoring Accessories

[NewcastleFalcon]

Another thread some newer members may not realise exists.

Spotted in a Triumph Stag for sale at Mathewsons this coming weekend, 70's written all over them but the beaded seat cover is by no means relegated to history, you can still get them.



Neil

[CitroJim]

The thought of sitting for an extended time on a load of beads never did and still does not appeal...

Maybe I just don't have enough natural 'padding' to fully benefit from them...

[NewcastleFalcon]

Parking Lights

...a nostalgic motoring accessory, but it was the Law at one time to display parking lights if you wanted to park your car on the Queen's highway at night, in the days before built-up area floodlighting, and probably still is for roads where the speed limit is over 30mph.

Some contraption like this would be used

Nice name...the Ajax Car Parking Light

e-bay sale item

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Interesting, I remember seeing some of that type during my rallying days. However I carried a pair of clip ons which could be used in the event of a breakdown/off in a competitive section. Because the car could end up pointing the wrong way the lights were separate so they could be attached to the bumpers in the correct way for other traffic. Very similar to these:

BFTW

[NewcastleFalcon]

Here is the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations relevant section
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/198 ... ulation/24

Far too weighty of course. Embodied in the Highway Code here are the relevant rules.

3. Parking at night (248 to 252)

248
You MUST NOT park on a road at night facing against the direction of the traffic flow unless in a recognised parking space. Laws CUR reg 101 & RVLR reg 24

249
All vehicles MUST display parking lights when parked on a road or a lay-by on a road with a speed limit greater than 30 mph (48 km/h).
Law RVLR reg 24

250
Cars, goods vehicles not exceeding 1525 kg unladen weight, invalid carriages, motorcycles and pedal cycles may be parked without lights on a road (or lay-by) with a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) or less if they are

at least 10 metres (32 feet) away from any junction, close to the kerb and facing in the direction of the traffic flow
in a recognised parking place or lay-by.
Other vehicles and trailers, and all vehicles with projecting loads,MUST NOT be left on a road at night without lights.
Laws RVLR reg 24 & CUR reg 82(7)

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice one here., pics in link.

https://www.classentials.com/product/ra ... ins-socket

Here we have another marvelous Classentials Special Vintage Find! A beautiful 1950s / 1960s SEDAN Park-Lite ‘the Continental’ parking lamp in like new condition, new old stock (NOS)! In the 1950s and 1960s cars did not feature built-in parking lights. So when you had to park at a dark location (meaning everywhere outside cities and villages in those days) you had to fit a parking lamp to your car for safety reasons. The earliest models were rather crude converted lorry side-lamps but this SEDAN Park-Lite is a beautifully designed model which can be fitted on top of your side (rollup) window. With the window / roof / doors shut and locked it cannot be taken off by the greedy hands of a thief!
This accessory is beautifully made (British manufacture) with a chromed metal central frame, matt chrome hinge, red and white lenses, white wire and an old style dashboard mains plug. Included is the original chrome dashboard socket which was delivered with the lamp. In the 1950s and early 1960s this type of 6V / 12V mains socket was widely used before the ‘cigarette lighter’ 12V socket was introduced. The lamp can be rotated on the hinge so it can be used on both sides of a car in the United Kingdom (RHD) and on the continent (LHD) with the red and the white lenses projecting light in the right direction. The lamp is 12 Volts and 5 Watt and the device measures 10 x 6 x 4.5 centimetres. The wire length is 115 centimetres.

Neil

[Gibbo2286]

These were the most popular/cheapest.

[myglaren]

Looks very familiar.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Feast your eyes, the absolute chapter and verse on this particular 1960's accessory for the in-car picnic. Very briefly appeared accidentally in the background of a "findit-fixit-flogit" episode as detritus on the floor of a vehicle.

Need a car with wind-down windows though, but yes I well remember both the packaging which for some reason was retained and the little trays slipped into after every use from many many in car picnics in the 60's and 70's.

e-bay sale item £32 a tray now!

Neil

[Stickyfinger]

Feast your eyes, the absolute chapter and verse on this particular 1960's accessory for the in-car picnic. Very briefly appeared accidentally in the background of a "find-it-fix it-flog it" episode as detritus on the floor of a vehicle.

Need a car with wind-down windows though, but yes I well remember both the packaging which for some reason was retained and the little trays slipped into after every use from many many in car picnics in the 60's and 70's.



Neil

Or get a Austin Westminster ............

[NewcastleFalcon]

The Tartan Travel Rug remains alive and kicking in 2024.

first electric tartan travel rug
May 2024 Renault Zoe

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Couple of posts on the Word/Phrase of the Day worth depositing in the collection here...

"Go faster stripes" !!!!!!
Flippin heck there is a blast from the past, not heard that phrase since the 70/80,s when every one use to decorate their cars with pinstripes from the likes of Motor World and other car accessory outlets, we had a brilliant one called Deganwy Motorist shop, strangely in Deganwy of all places.
You had a very small walkway around the shop as it was that stacked full of gear from service parts to spot lamp, alarms and of course many Colours and widths of PIN STRIPE, it looked like chaos in there but the guys behind the counter could point you right to spot you need to go to find what you want, back in the 70's everyone local into cars knew this shop.
Aladdin's cave always sprung to mind.
You could even buy the green or brown sun strips for the top of your windscreen and have yours and your current girlfriends name on them how 70's cool was that! my mate bought a blank green one and stuck to the outside of the screen as he thought that's were it went, I mean you have got a mirror inside, it blew off, how NOT cool was that. We still haven't let him forget that 50 odd years later, why would you !

You could even buy the green or brown sun strips for the top of your windscreen and have yours and your current girlfriends name on them how 70's cool was that!

I used to get a lift home from work with a girl who drove a mini van.
One evening a car came towards us and she cracked up laughing, the oncoming car had such a sun strip with the names 'Dick' and 'Fanny'.

I doubt that it was the Craddocks looking for recipes.

Amused her for days as she was married to a Richard. She couldn't use her Christian name with the same effect.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Cant let a paragraph about Tartan travel rugs posted elsewhere miss the spiritual home of Tartan travel rugs and other nostalgic motoring accessories.

A tartan travel rug, in my early years of motoring we always had one rolled up in the boot but never used it ever, as well as 2 cushions on the rear seats. I never knew why you just did it.
Oh and not forgetting swapping your wing aerial or should I say the "coat hanger" we all ended up using at some stage usually because you lost the silly little aerial key so had to leave it up and some clown has now bent it, but with the hanger you seemed to get a lot better signal oddly, for the obligatory "electric" one which went up and down with your radio on/off, there's posh!

Neil

[Stickyfinger]

for the obligatory "electric" one which went up and down with your radio on/off, there's posh!

Don't knock them....
One of those added 20bhp to my Austin Cambridge

[ChrisRobin]

On No Alasdare on the contrary, I added one to my Cortina and it turned it into a Ghia, I still remember the thud, thud, thud it made as it extended (I bought the cheap ones) you would also add the faux leather seat covers which never really fitted properly for that luxury car "look" I once added to my black Sierra, Leopard print fluffy ones, didn't look at good s I thought it would in fact it looked awful, the added rear seat cushions made it look......... well lets just not go there.