Friends' Gallery Picture of the Month - January 2019

[Chris KC]

Ooooh, I remember seeing Hell Drivers in the mid/late 1960's.  I daren't watch it again as I'm sure the stunts will seem tame and the cast will look like teenagers.

I dunno Duncan, it's still a penny thriller but bears watching again. I concede evetyone looks rather young though...

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Back on topic the picture looks staged to me - I reckon it was intended to show what the site did i.e. frames in, cars out. It almost certainly hung on the plant manager's office wall.

Apologies if I'm in the wrong post code, as I'm still refused access to Registration (the latest attempt at registering said someone else already had my email address!) but the reference above to old movies reminds me :  A 1932 film with Jack Hulbert and Cecily Courtneige shows a (short?) Box being commandeered by  the Police to chase  a villain through London streets full of Austin Sevens galore.  The name was "Jack's the Boy".   Also "The Eagle has landed" features a Chummy and a Yellow long w/base Box.  Do they happen to be owned by Forum members?   Cheers,  Bill in Oz

Thanks for the tip Bob! This looks great...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIfU_xQicXs

I can only see clips of 'The Eagle has Landed' unless you can manage French?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEUi-kskSzs

Bill, should you have any trouble with above links I could send you a copy of 'Jack's the Boy' on DVD, just message me with your address.

[Mike Costigan]

Chris, you can view Eagle has Landed over four parts here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzKZ-s42wrw

There are only brief glimpses of the Austins, and I haven't yet spotted any number plates:

   

   

[Chris KC]

Chris, you can view Eagle has Landed over four parts here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzKZ-s42wrw

There are only brief glimpses of the Austins, and I haven't yet spotted any number plates:

It seems to have had its wheels pinched!

[Mike Costigan]

An effective way of immobilising it!

[Michael D]

Mike - what a terrific picture. I wish I had had it a few years ago when a BMW salesman who was trying to sell me a new BMW flatly denied that the car division was established by making A7s on licence from Austin - needless to say I took my business elsewhere!

being a car salesperson does not necessarily means the man having ANY knowlegde of the history of the factory and the marque he's selling....I'd say on the contrary nowadays.... knowledge is no longer considered being a good asset.. gullibility is because they need to sell by all the marketing B.llsh... they're. fed with

[Bruce Nicholls]

Any one seen Mary Poppins Returns yet. Lots of Sevens appear mostly Box type saloons, although I spotted a Swallow parked in Cherry Tree Lane.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Bill Sheehan writes:

Congrats Mike on a great photo - it perhaps also illustrates the efficacy of German camera lenses so long ago. Another clear shot is the attached, showing the Auto Unions being weighed prior to the 1934 German Grand Prix. But my question - does anyone know who piloted No. 63? Cheers, Bill in Oz

[Chris KC]

Bill is right about pre-war German lenses. I have a 1930's Zeiss which still takes beautiful pictures. Another factor though was negative size - a shot like this would have been captured on at least a full plate (8.5 x 6.5") negative; the detail which can be captured with a good lens and a large format neg is staggering and has yet to be matched by affordable digital cameras.

[stuartu]

Bill Sheehan writes:

Congrats Mike on a great photo - it perhaps also illustrates the efficacy of German camera lenses so long ago. Another clear shot is the attached, showing the Auto Unions being weighed prior to the 1934 German Grand Prix. But my question - does anyone know who piloted No. 63? Cheers, Bill in Oz

Could we see the photograph please? If it is the photo I have in mind, the answer would be Walter Baumer.

Regards, Stuart

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Apologies, No. 63 would be Walter's brother, Werner. Walter would be in no. 62. Premature posting! Could still be the wrong photo, of course.....

Regards, Stuart

[Tony Griffiths]

Bill Sheehan writes:

Congrats Mike on a great photo - it perhaps also illustrates the efficacy of German camera lenses so long ago.  Another clear shot is the attached, showing the Auto Unions being weighed prior  to the 1934 German Grand Prix.  But my question - does anyone know who piloted No. 63?   Cheers,  Bill in Oz

Although German lenses have a great reputation, amusingly, while researching Taylor Hobson engravers I came across an interesting fact: during the 1930s the British firm of Taylor Hobson supplied over 80% of the world's lenses used in film studios, especially in America ....this was part of a long-standing tie-up with the Leeds-based Cooke Lens company, their special zoom lenses for cine photography proving the most popular ever made. Later, in the 1940s and 1950s, Taylor Hobson again took the lead in critical areas of high-precision measurement with the Talysurf - the world's first true surface texture measuring instrument and the Talyrond the world's first roundness measuring instrument, this resulting in a step change in a machine shop's ability to measure accurately. Both remained world-leading products for years and were followed by the Talystep (is still regarded as the finest step height and surface finish instrument ever made) and then the Nanostep - that allowed measurements to nanometric accuracy (further developments you'll find online....). The company is now part of the American AMETEK's Ultra Precision Technologies Group.