Friends' Gallery Picture of the Month - October 2020

[Mike Costigan]

This month we return to Sheffield, last seen in March 2019: https://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/for...9#pid24988 

Here we have moved to the centre of the city, with the cathedral just off to our right up Church Street; we are looking south-west along Fargate. The Coles department store in the centre of the shot gave the name 'Coles Corner' to the junction. The focus of our interest is, of course, the Austin Seven in the foreground, but what model is it? At first I thought from the roof-line that it was a van, probably an AVJ, and speculated that it could well be one of Burdall's fleet. Burdall's was a sizeable company producing custard powder and other baking products from their factory in the old barracks on Penistone Road; in 1936 alone they purchased a total of 43 Austin vans. However closer examination reveals no roof-mounted rear number-plate, and the front wings look more like 1930-31 style, so in all probability it's an RL or RM.


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Photo submitted by Jeff Taylor.

[Parazine]

The car turning right, on the extreme right of the photo, looks like a Ford 7Y deluxe. When I was a kid in the '60s, these were still a common site, together with the 10hp model 7W which was very similar to the late pre-war and early post war Prefect. They were very common in the day, almost unseen today.
My dad had a 1937 7Y for many years, first car I was ever driven in. He should have bought a Ruby...….

[bob46320]

I like the guy, far left towards the bottom with advertising boards on him, front and back. "Beware, The end of the world is coming". maybe for him if he walks in the road like that.

[John Mason]

The Police officer wearing the white coat doing traffic duty needs eyes in his backside. I have done some of that in my time. Not in Sheffield but in similar circumstances and it can be quite hair raising at times.

John Mason.

[Tony Griffiths]

Today, the sandwich-board man would be sprayed in pink and waving a banner saying "Man-Made Global Warming - we are all going to die". Now, turning to the car; that could be David Wortley's father's box saloon. What do you think, David? It would be super if it was. And it might well be.
Coles Corner - the place to meet for assignations various.

[Bob Culver]

Most notable of all is the available parking, free and probably with no time limit!. The disappearance of it even here in my time has been tremendous. When briefly in UK ten years ago I actually found a single vacant free parking space in one small town and have a photo as a momemto.
As for the original Ford Y and Rubys, the Y was larger, more powerful, brakes and road holding poor but no worse, and significantly cheaper. The wonder is that so many Austin Sevens sold, but Ford was seen as American and was still living down the Model T stigma. presumably the 7Y was improved as the later 10s. The late Rubies had a reputaion for crank failure when it was still rare for the 2 brg.
What is the car behind the Seven? Is it an Austin 8? Looks post war.

[Reckless Rat]

In the early 1990s construction started on the Sheffield Supertram network, phase two of which saw excavations at this spot in the photo, and off to the right into Church St across the Cathedral frontage. This necessitated the removal of the pre existing tram lines from the 1900s. Normally this would have been reasonably simple, apart from deplacing any existing services but early excavations revealed a large number of hitherto unknown graves from the 18th century and earlier. Apparently it was expensive to have a relative buried in the hallowed ground belonging to the Cathedral so it was often the case for people to be buried just outside. The guy making the firrst cut with his excavator had a very traumatic day when the bucket of his JCB took the lids off several coffins revealing the occupants. This then resulted in a massive security operation to seal the area as typhus and cholera were potentially still active given the ages of the deceased. Eventually a large number were exhumed and reinterred in a cemetery on Langsett Rd.

The other road, behind the PC on point duty is called Fargate and in mediaeval times was the location of one of the gates into the city walls. Fargate is now pedestrianised but most of the buildings remain. Coles corner however was redeveloped in the 1960s.

[Dave Mann]

I just love that photo Mike. You are not kidding Bob, in the 1960s I ran a RN saloon and became quite used to it's handling, participatory on a local roundabout, then mother got a Ford Pop which on one occasion I had to collect and I nearly lost on that roundabout, their handling was diabolical.

[Steve Jones]

My Mother, born in Sheffield in 1923, always told of Coles Corner as the place to meet the latest date. That it was not where she ever met my Father maybe says something or, perhaps, not.

Steve

[Howard Wright]

Hi All

I went to university in Sheffield in the early 70’s.  I can’t place the photo at all... Perhaps I was too busy doing other things...studying?

What is amazing in the photo is the interaction of trams, cars and pedestrians.  The latter seem oblivious to the dangers of traffic using the road as much as the pavement!

Cheers

Howard 

PS my first car was a 1956 Ford 100E prefect and as I recall it’s handling (with Macfearsome struts) was acceptable so things had obviously moved on by then!