Jaguar fire – read all about it!
I found a copy of a 1957 newspaper below some old lino in a house that contained this story of a fire sweeping through the Jaguar production line, destroying £90,000 worth of US export models. This is a sad sight – I can’t imagine the value of these cars today.
The scene of office staff trying to push cars away from the path of the fire would have been incredibly dramatic.
What an incredible find, Nigel. The 1957 fire is well documented but it’s rare to see period reports of the incident now – Ed.
Standard or MG?
The fabulous photo from Stockton-on-Tees from August 1965 (CCW, 8 February) seems once again to illustrate the sad decline in British car marques of the era. I wanted to point out what I think is an error in identification. If I’m reading it right, you’ve got the car behind the bus just passing what I think is Hepworth as an MG Magnette.
I think it’s an ultra rare (even then) Standard Vanguard Sportsman, which had a very MG-like grille. I’m a Lancia man myself but my dad had several Standards when I was growing up in the mid-’50s. I wonder if there are any Sportsmans still around? I believe an MP once bought one but had the two-tone colour changed to single tone green because he didn’t want to look too flamboyant!
A painful Aston tale
I read the Our Classics piece on Richard McCann’s Aston Martin (CCW, 22 February) with a wry smile. ‘Ouch’ indeed, but I can sympathise!
I sold a very lovely reliable 1980 Merc 450 SLC back in 1987 in order to satisfy my dream of owning a DBS V8.
