In article <F258JmGzrLCCtgx8VUk00008d1f@hotmail.com>, Peter Ogilvie wrote:
> Find it funny people would buy a series truck to tow something. It would be
> fine for towing a boat up a launch ramp. A top speed of 35mph
> in 3rd gear, with the trailer on behind, hardly seems a useful highway tow
> vehicle, however. Only thing I've towed is a 109 regular behind my 88 but
> it would barely do 45mph on level ground in 4th gear. Couldn't see towing
> anything very far in that situation. Europeans must have been really hard
> up to HAVE to use a series to tow anything of reasonable size.
>
In the Sixties we only had a handful of motorways and fast roads that would
equate to a highway. Most familys had cars of between 1100 cc and 1600cc.
(My Dad`s first car was a 1958 998cc Austin A35 (smaller than a mini). He sold
it because he had three squabbling boys and we desperately needed more room.
The new car was a 1964 Vauxhall Victor 1600. American would call it a compact!)
These cars would have a maximum speed of around 70-80 mph.
Rovers and Jaguars were owned by the well to do.
Series Land-Rovers would be seen towing horse-boxes and stock trailers. If you
broke down the breakdown truck would most likely be a Land-Rover with a crane
arrangement in the load bed. We did not have many pick-up trucks at all here,
and the only other 4x4s around would be ex-WW2 Jeeps or Austin Champs (always
rare).
There were still "bomb sites" around in London at this time, often in use as
car parks or used car lots. It took Britain a LONG time to recover from WW2.
Tell it to T`youth of today and they won`t believe you!
Paul
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Jun 15 2001 - 06:51:05 EDT