1948: Britain's First POST-WAR MOTOR SHOW | Newsreel | Retro Transport | BBC Archive

[@TheFlyingScotsmanTV]

ahh the BBC - we mustn't have any brand names... so a review of the motorshow without mentioning a single manufacturer or model. quite remarkable.

[@tubularap]

Indeed, I also noticed that not a single brand or model name is mentioned. It must have been on purpose, probably because BBC was not allowed to advertise in any manner. Those rules were strict.. It was the same in the Netherlands, where the national TV (funded by taxpayers) could not name companies or even showing their logos. Only in news bulletins a brand could be named if it was necessary, like in a legal dispute or such. But it was avoided as much as possible. A running gag was that Philips was called "a famous lamp producer from Eindhoven", so everyone knew what was meant.

[@adelaferreira4575]

If you know cars you will know those models…

[@terrencebiggane8648]

​​​@@tubularap- I think that in the early 1970s the song Kodachrome by Paul Simon was not played on the radio in England for the same reasons, if I recall correctly.

[@rogerking7258]

I remember on Blue Peter in the early 1960s, if there was ever a battery to be seen there was tape all over the brand name.

[@dandare1001]

It's amazing the ease with which the woman can get in and out of the Morris Minor.

[@bardo0007]

Also women can actually drive it, who would have thought?

[@RobertJarecki]

​@bardo0007 There's a video about American women working in factories during WWII. A female applicant is asked if she can drive a car. When she answers yes, she's told that means she can operate a drill press. Many women, in the USA at least, didn't drive in 1948. My mother did operate a drillpress and other machines during WWII but didn't learn to drive until 1950 after she moved to suburban San Diego. [And, she *_never_* drove when Dad was in the car.]

[@MichaelBosley]

And all without fainting or becoming hysterical. (Satire, of course)

[@KekeElBecko]

I didn't see her getting out of it though. She's probably still in it.

[@a0r0a7]

And on that Bombshell, quite literally. I can hear Mr Chumley Warner in this. Great to see this old footage.

[@DeannaAllison]

Yes, I really thought that Mr Chumley Warner was narrating for a moment there!

[@IVAN-bs5bq]

@@DeannaAllison Very well done Mr Reginald Molehusband !

[@adelaferreira4575]

What a jewel of a video,loved old cars ,especially those beautiful English engines , thank you !

[@bardo0007]

Morris Minor was launched in 1948, amazing small car it was.

[@graememckay9972]

That's actually in colour it's just that everything after the war was varied shade of grey.

[@rogermetzger7335]

[@philhayes3148]

My father attended this aged 16, he was an apprentice mechanic,another mechanic he was working with took him, drove from Southampton and back in the same day in an old prewar car.

[@ji-tan]

lmao 4:30 "How do you like it ?" cuts to next car

[@TheEternalOuroboros]

The accessories that come with these cars are incredible! A bar in front of the passenger seat? A disabled accessory for the DRIVER?

[@mdog2435]

Has all the makings of a great Monty Python sketch!😎💯

[@petewarby7158]

Living in our modern world I's so boring lol. Lovely video. Thank you.

[@htimsid]

Febulous plestics!

[@JohnSmith-it6hj]

Very hendy, those plestics.

[@robinvanags912]

The very model of a modern Morris Minor.

[@MorristheMinor]

An MM Series, no less! The prototype was called The Mosquito. Sorry, but that's all the Ms I can think of....

[@RobertJarecki]

​@@MorristheMinor if anyone knows about that car, you do.

[@TheFlyingScotsmanTV]

"ah yes.. excellently equipped".

[@bruceburns1672]

When Britain was a manufacturing nation that understood how wealth was created, Germany and Japan never forgot like Britain and powered on into ultra-modern rich societies.

[@keithammleter3824]

Actually, the film illustrated part of why Britain declined after the War. Many of the cars shown have essentially pre-war styling, whereas American cars of the same year were more up to date. Many of the cars are small, with small engines & built down to a price which, since people in export markets were getting increasingly more affluent, spelt the end of British exports.

[@ProfessorBernardFuck]

@@keithammleter3824 not really - small cars with small engines sold all over the world, you didn't see large american cars selling anywhere but america, and maybe australia. Affluence didn't really start until the 1960s, and even then cars didn't have engines anything like the size of the US

[@RobertJarecki]

The prewar styling was certainly fine on the Rolls-Royce and didn't hurt sales of British cars like Jaguar and MG sportcars in the USA. Even the large Jaguar saloons were OK in the USA as they were sometimes mistaken for Rolls-Royce and Bentley models.

[@keithammleter3824]

​@@RobertJarecki The MG TC was a niche market thing. The Jaguar XK120 open top featured in this old film only sold about 1700 cars - that's a total for all markets, 4 years sales. 1,700 cars is negligible. The only reason it sold at all was because it had a high top speed - 120 MPH claimed. The US car production in 1950 was 8,000,000 cars. The most up to date car in the film, the Morris Minor, sold 130,000 cars in 1950. Jaguar didn't sell well in the USA until the Mark 1, released in 1955, with styling very different to typical US cars, but quite new and quite good. RR has always sold very small numbers in the US due to it being a statement - "Look - I'm filthy rich. I'm got pots of cash to waste." In 1950 Cadillac sold about 100,000 cars. It was a much better car - better styling, better finish, better handling, better mechanically. The entire production of Rolls Royce in 1950 was only 2238 cars, so the sales in the USA must have been just about negligible. If RR had post war styling it could have sold much better. But better styling would have needed a lower radiator height, and that old F-head Rolls engine needed a stupendous amount of cooling. Eventually Rolls Royce obtained a Cadillac V8 OHV engine and copied it, production beginning 1959 - and that let them finally use modern styling and sell well.

[@peterdaisleyworrall9458]

@@keithammleter3824 Be careful Mr Jareki, The Jaguar XK 120 was very well regarded in the USA with Clark Gable demanding the very first production car. It was meant to be a low volume sports type project but demand and market success deemed otherwise. It did manage 120 mph as well - quite a thing for the early 1950´s, let alone the sensation it caused at London & New York when launched in 1948.

[@rensha8635]

Loved that!

[@martinchesworth2721]

Wizo chisel tips all the branding with not a mention or donning the cap to the manufacturers.

[@davidbaxter4910]

THOSE WERE THE DAYS!

[@davidbaxter4910]

ABSOLUTEMENT..

[@davidbaxter4910]

YESS.....

[@Ravendarkwytch]

The prototype for Top Gear

[@HughTVDX]

Bottom Gear!

[@DartmoorAR]

Presenting The HOMER…

[@rogermetzger7335]

Was that an English Ford near the beginning? My dad bought me a ten-year-old one of those in '59.

[@michaelhalsall5684]

Looks like a Ford Anglia 2 door .There was also a Ford Prefect which was the 4 door version.

[@rogermetzger7335]

@@michaelhalsall5684 The one my dad bought for me was the 1949 Prefect. My dad bought a Ford flathead v8 four door U.S. Ford new about 1935 and drove it until about 1954. After trading it for a Used Kaiser and then trading the Kaiser for a used Chrysler, he bought a used 1955 Chrysler in 1956. He bought the Prefect for me in '59. He still had the Chrysler but the Prefect was a huge step down for me after being accustomed to the '55 Chrysler. The Prefect had no heater but a crank-out windscreen for ventilation, knee-action shock absorbers (I think the British call them "dampers") that had probably never been replaced, wood floorboards, and a starter that hardly ever worked. I learned to park on hills so I could let the car roll and "pop the clutch" to start it. When that wasn't possible, I could - and did - use the crank (supplied!).

[@SoCalMoney-je9bt]

Nothing like drinking and driving!

[@Luke-yh6nm]

I'm still looking for a young Bernie Ecclestone somewhere showing dealer representatives how to WIND BACK their mileage!

[@TheFlaneur-up1ft]

Cometary is by Mr Chumley Warner, don’t you know.

[@NoosaHeads]

They won't mention any of the cars names.

[@76ToneCrome]

It probably needed Jeremy Clarkson.

[@fidelcatsro6948]

😂👍🏿

[@lazerblu]

Amazing Morris designed a car that even woman can easily get in and out of... lol

[@sleepyheadsleeps]

the inbuilt drinks cabinets in two cars seems out of place now.

[@htimsid]

Why not for the passengers?

[@rickrandom6734]

King Edward VII drank ginger liquor when motoring. His doctor worried about his health and ordered him to invigigorate his health with this drink when driving.

[@loddude5706]

Died 1910. cirrhosis of the lay-by, very sad . . . : )

[@gwheregwhizz]

That's for the other legless drivers.

[@MickyP2]

With modern day potholes and speed bumps? ​@@htimsid

[@richardsmith4992]

Strange no BMW, Audi, VW or any Japanese models...can't think why😉

[@Fastvoice]

To be fair: Audi didn't yet exist at that time. 😉

[@faithlesshound5621]

@@Fastvoice Audi had been merged into Auto Union, along with DKW, Horch and Wanderer in 1932. Hence the four ring badge. NSU was the fifth ring.

[@Fastvoice]

@@faithlesshound5621 I'm a German petrolhead. Thank god someone explains the history of German car production to me. 😉 (BTW: We're talking about 1948. Even Auto Union didn't really exist at that time - it restarted in West Germany in 1949. The 1st Audi model was released in 1965.)

[@RobertJarecki]

Dad didn't buy a Japanese car until 1981. He was in the US Navy 1939 to 1963 [Pacific Theater WWII].

[@michaelhalsall5684]

The Japanese didn't export cars until the 1960s.

[@youchwb6005]

BBC means Big Black Car,

[@Fastvoice]

Close, but not quite accurate. 😉 (Hint: Just think of Grace Jones "Pull up to the Bumper ... with your long black Limousine").

[@ukusanz]

It’s like he was afraid to name drop car brands, he wouldn’t make it on Top Gear

[@ferglesnerk]

Not allowed to advertise on the BBC

[@MikeM-ow8cb]

£359 for a new car! :D

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

Your motoring correspondent following the old BBC line of not calling out commercial companies or brand names - leave the viewer to glimpse labels if they're lucky. 'Impartial' well beyond reasonable.

[@jourwalis-8875]

How old fashioned! And what has a bar with whiskey and cristal glasses to do with real motoring? And about the sports car: Don´t drink and drive!

[@ivanmifsud6972]

How did they manage to be so boring?

[@djtomoy]

british car industry still going strong today 👍😬💀

[@michaelhalsall5684]

Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar are still going strong!

[@donaldharlan3981]

So fake

[@nothingtoseehere999]

Why's it fake?

[@faithlesshound5621]

@@nothingtoseehere999 He doesn't believe there was a Motor Show at all. It was a giant hoax perpetrated by the Illuminati. But Donald Harlan was not fooled.

[@michaelhalsall5684]

Do you mean "so formal"?

[@donaldharlan3981]

Sorry, it's just wrong for people to say that there was an auto industry in Great Britain after world war II. Such lies

[@nothingtoseehere999]

@@donaldharlan3981 well there was an industry been driving British cars most of my life