As a young American boy, my Dad bought a 59 Jaguar . We moved from Woking, Surrey in 1960 to Exhibition Road and lived in a Flat.. Interesting times in London.. I went to an American school out in Bushy Park. As i look back. I certainly miss those wonderful days..
That has to be an off-the-cuff remark surely?.. don't you think we like Americans these days? Your determination in what you want to achieve is admirable. What one might call the "American Dream". Drive sometimes is misconstrued as being pushy and big headed.... by those that don't have it themselves. The Americans that I have been in contact with have all been very gracious.
My Aunty married a guy from Florida in 1956. We found Americans to be naiive, prone to bs about their wealth and status, had alarming tastes in jackets, thought the world started and ended between New York and LA, older Yanks still had a grudge against King George and women came from the US to get free abortions.
Confirms what we all know. (1) It was sunnier in ' 63 than it is now. (2) You can fit an entire jazz band into a Jag, old stylee ...Thanks for sharing.
It wasn't a very good Summer after '63s dreadful three month's Winter of snow and ice. On holiday in Austria that year it was very wintry on the Grossglockner pass.
Hi, thanks for the kind comment. I love the past, though its audience in the present inevitably wains...This is more or less all there is of this here. The optics chased the sound in editing, and almost nothing was cut. That you remember some of this is wonderful. We are the moment, and no more than our memories.
And I thought people's driving was bad nowadays! But drivers were driving like absolute tools in this film - pulling out on each other, overtaking on blind bends, overtaking into oncoming traffic etc etc. Wow.
Some of the bad driving seems to have been set up - the red Triumph Herald at 15:55, for example. There are two situations when I was quite surprised by Mr Eyles driving: the incident at 8:15 when he repeatedly sounded his horn and flashed his lights to encourage a car to pull over to let him pass came over as aggressive even by today's standards; and he seemed to cut it very fine when overtaking a bus on the wrong side of the road at 15:15.
I must agree, but I must further add that he gets awfully close to the turning bicycle at 3:31 for my liking. I think that would be cited today for reckless driving. @@Mortimer50145
Interesting to see this version of the film. The version I've seen up to now starts at about 5:14 as he's about to join the M4. I liked his demo at around 4:40 of how *not* to steer, with lots of crossing of hands. I notice that even when he is steering "properly", he doesn't make full use of the wheel when turning tight corners: he makes a lot of small movements whereas I tend to start with both hands at 12 o'clock, pull down on one side to 6 o'clock, with the non-pulling hand mirroring the other one and then pushing up from 6 to 12 - a smaller number of larger movements. Mind you, he was driving a car that probably didn't have power steering - did a pre-1963 Jag Mark II have power steering as an option?
I'm pretty sure they didn't. I passed my IAM test in 1979. I handle the steering almost exactly the same when driving my 1974 Rover P6 3500s today as that has no power steering.
In 1966 I was born. Looking at these videos, I can see life was FAR better post WW2 up until about 2006. Since then it has deteriorated to the utterly horrible world we live in today!
I guess car ownership and overall population was much lower so roads were quieter, I'll give you that. I'm not sure everyone would feel life was better though, say if you were black, homosexual or a woman with ambitions to do anything more with your life than marry and produce children.
"life was FAR better post WW2" - idiotic ignorant comment of the week winner! Congratulations Jon! All you rose coloured glasses twits in these comment sections wouldn't last 5 days in the 50's/60's before begging to return to the present.
Society has been irreversibly changed by the media. The internet SHOULD have made us better “drivers” through life, but unfortunately it appears not. Wow ! Don’t we sound like old farts 😂
So glad I was able to experience a time when driving was a fun adventure, roads were policed in a wiser manner, and cars were friendly and easy to fix. I always loved driving but over the last few years of cameras, aggression, jams and potholes it became a pain. Now I'm retired and live in the countryside and driving these quiet roads without pressure to do things is fun again.
I lived and drove in London in the 1970s. I worked in Nottingham place, just off Baker St. I could park all day for free and drive home to Baldock in 40 minutes. Happy days !!!
I was just thinking that, when I lived in Fulham in the early 80s, anyone with a car (I had a beautiful navy blue TR6) expected to be able to park in front of their house. Better days!
Wonderful film, the presentation is fabulous, the narration is excellent, a bygone era, who could have predicted that the entire road system around London would some day be the world's greatest mobile car park.
What a wonderful time in english history. I was born in 1964. I feel jealous of my mum shes 81. I would give up all modern rubbish to be able to go back and live in that time, as an adult. Yes it is always better having wealth, in any time period, but just the social interactions of people were friendly. Born in the wrong time period.😢 Thanks for this glimpse back in Englands past😊
Life is what you make it. Why yearn for a largely fictitious earlier era when you could put that energy into making life - not just yours but others’ too - that little bit better.
My dad owned one of these beauties. I remember the lovely red leather seating, and the walnut tables attached to the back of the front seats. As a family, we enjoyed many a happy time driving all over Ireland to our various hotel stays. I recall eight miles to a gallon of petrol!!
The first few miles out of London as far as the “Hemmersmith Flyover” look much as they do today. Beyond that things are quite different. I started driving in the 80s, and the roads, signage and driver behaviour have changed much less in the 40 years since the early 80s than they did in the 20 years from 1963 to 1983.
My dad had a MK II, 3.8 liter I believe, and my favorite 10-year-old place to be was in its passenger seat. He drove at a sporting pace on the near-empty back roads of rural Ontario, but would slow right down as we got close to town. As my dad cautioned me despite my early age, when in town at any moment a little kid could dart out between parked cars. The horrifying prospect of that happening has stayed with me through the years, leaving me not paranoid but on the alert for the unexpected.
0:14 - the Ford Zephyr running white indicator lights - and being followed by a Renault Gordini - a rare car even then. Following behind a Vanden-Plas Princess (either 3L or, if with a R-R engine - 4L)
Fascinating video really brought back early motoring memories. I'm so fortunate to have lived and driven through town and country in that era. Passed my test in 63, and I bought a three year old Morris Minor on HP for two hundred quid, Halcyon days 😂
Notice in those days there were no central barriers on the motorways ? Drivers doing a U -turn or crossing the central barrier to get to a garage or cafe on the other side , were the cause of many accidents and fatalities in these times !
No, those days were better and these deaths you suggest never happened. Just going by the other comments suggesting this was all idyllic and without concern.
Lovely to see the old “Dual carriageway without a clearly defined central reservation”. Hence, the speed limit was 60, not 70. Such roads are almost non existent today but ppl still believe the speed limits on modern dual carriageways is 60 🤔
Nice to see these empty roads before the M4 was built. They used to be my regular weekly commute. So much has changed including the IAM commentary. Also it now often takes longer to drive the same journey using the motorway.
When this was filmed, there were massive plans for a web of motorways around London and most towns and cities across the country. More akin to American freeways with grand junctions that would have eaten up a lot of land. Obviously it didnt take long for resistance to set in. Sadly the destruction of the once great railway network took place despite most of the replacement roads never getting built leading to the 'worst of both worlds' situation that exists up to today.
we may have seen the same one, but there was a guy on here did a great YT on those motorway plans. crazy now to think what it woudl have looked like if they were all built
Old fellow stopped on the outskirts of Weybridge by a policeman in 1974. “You were doing 100 right down the middle of the road! What the hell you playing man?!” The driver, indignant, hauls out his license and says “Look right here sir! It says ‘Tear down the dotted line’ and that’s exactly what I’m doing!”
@@markgt894 OK, so you're one of the 30% who had a car in 1963 and you're sure you wouldn't have been one of the 5,000 a year excess fatalities. Lucky you.
My friends dad is called George Eyles and he'll be old this year, born 1935. This can't be him because he only ever drove a forklift at Martin Bakers in Denham (Ejector Seat specialists) and now he rides a wee mobility scooter each afternoon when he takes his dog for a walk. I wonder if they were related as the George Eyles i know was from London originally. Very cool video and many thanks
Ahh, the London I knew as a child ! Fascinating how courteous drivers seemed to be allowing plenty of space😎😎😎. Then I think of Elephant & Castle NOW😱😱😱😱😱
Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to improve what was already a most interesting and fascinating piece of motoring history. I have watched this many times before, and will do so again and again. As a classic police car enthusiast, I was particularly interested in the Wolseley 6/99 Traffic Car turning left off the A4 into Heathrow Airport. I think that this version shows the registration number more clearly. I read it as 704CXA, which could be correct. Can you confirm this?
Hi, I have tried to make this out myself...and and it is a bit frustrating. My copy does not look very much better. I get 7C4 CXA. But is it is really hard, it could be 704 CX3. The only number I would bet on is the "4".
It must be 704CXA, a 1961 London issued number. In other u-tube gems, I have also identified 703CXA, 665CXA and 708CXA, all Wolseley or Austin Metropolitan Police cars, so I think that 704CXA is right. Regrettably all these cars seem to be no more. Not surprising, but sad nonetheless! @@maxustaxus
Totally different to the attitude todays drivers have to cyclists and pedestrians. Even with the M4 motorway, for long distance road traffic, Bath is still one of life's cycling experiences.
He didn't bully the driver ahead. The driver ahead should have pulled over before he flashed his lights and then sounded his horn. Still have too many A Holes like that today. Middle lane hogs, etc. You're probably one.
I was expecting to feel nostalgic watching this, imagining that England was a rural idyll back in 1963. Then I saw the driver go along new-looking highways that didn't have many trees growing along them yet. So actually this journey would in some ways look greener and more pleasant today.
I'm 86 so all these cars were the models in my youth and that Austin A30/35 was my first car I bought on HP after passing my driving test in 1956 or thereabouts.
@@nickhickson8738 I'm a mere 74, worked in a garage whilst still at school, so serviced many of them, new the ins & outs of most of these cars. This was long before the days of electronics / engine management systems, pollution controls, even seat belts!!
The commentary was a part of the IAM test at one time. There to understand your thinking and observations by the examiner. I took my test in 1990 and by then it was optional.
We had 3 of these Jaguars/Daimlers in the 70’s they are beautiful cars… I remember if you held the starter button in to long it would jump off, under the bonnet and you had to hop out and reset it…😂 I restored a number of these in later years as well..
I remember those 3 laned roads also known as trunk roads. Very very dangerous and I'm sure a lot of people must have ended their lives with a head on smash in the middle lane
1. Trunk road was not the definition/synonym of a 3 lane road. A 2 lane road may be defined as a 'trunk' road. 2. 3 lane roads still exist in parts of the U.K.
A friend of mine was taking his advanced driving test, and was waiting behind a car at a roundabout. It was clear from the right so he started to pull forward, and totaled the car infront, because it had stalled and he did not notice.
Good to know that people with inadequacy issues about their cars who subsequently drive like like ...well the 🤡 that they are, is not a new thing. 😊 Lovely stuff.
We did Reading, Theale, Newbury and round the CLOCK TOWER 2 days ago. How things have changed. ALL WHILE LOOKING FOR A BANK THAT WAS STILL OPEN NOT VIA A LONG WAIT ON THE TELEPHONE!!! Oh the days of double de clutching. Mk 1 Metro. Neutral slip into second and it lines up for first. David and Lily Reading.
Most shan't know that the saying ' After you, Claude ', (which was always followed by ' No, after you, Cecil '), was from the '40's radio show ' ITMA ', (which was an abbreviation for ' It's that Man Again '). The ' Man ' was Tommy Handley. Jack Train played Claude, and Horace Percival played Cecil, who were very polite handymen.
So.... the IAM suggests we flash twice, then sound our horn if someone is in the outside lane and you want them to move? Wow. That's 6 points these days!! H😂😂
So even today It's still not a motorway to Bath? You have to leave the M4 and go south down the A46 or take the A350 thorough Chippenham ( by -passed ) and then the old A4 through Corsham ( the road this was filmed on ? )
Continuity error in Bath: For some daft reason he's on Lower Borough Walls (th-cam.com/video/5lq1caGu0Hs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vjeHiKjl6EKPUW0a) passing the Lamb and Lion pub, which still exists today. A couple of seconds later he's on Walcot Street, going past the old cattle market and St Michaels Without church.
Nice job mate.. I have a pro-version of Davinci Resolve and it has an extremely cool upscaler. Happy to run this video through a 4k upscaler for you. Just shout (I'm on TH-cam too.. You'll work it out!). PS - It works really nicely.
Probably less dangerous because there was considerably less traffic in relation to the number of lanes, but set against that, cars were not limited to 70 mph in 1963 and were (AFAIK) unrestricted (except by the power of the engine!). Was it 1965 when the 70 mph max speed limit of Britain's roads was brought in?
I believe the absence of a speed limit was only for motorways, although as an American I am unsure when that was. We always had limits on the Interstate System.@@Mortimer50145
Its a pre 63 jag as it has flat headlight glass, My dad had a 1963 3.8 Mk2 now as a 73 year old i remember it well. Road rage and aggression seem to be the order of the day nowadays , one doesn't have to look for trouble its out there waiting. Pity we cannot do the same run today for comparison ! you'd probably get mugged !
I remember having to go through Newbury in the 90s .It seems familiar . But I wasn't going west I was going south to North ! Was it before they built the new A34 ?
We had an XJ6 in 1978 and the Old Bill was always on our case. It was seen as a villains car. Love this chaps commentary and defensive driving. Lovely red interior on the Jag. Had a red XJS in 1980, could still drive fast then. 140mph plus.
You'd think he was flying a plane. I was born in 63. Nobody I knew had a Jaguar. Class awareness was everywhere. If you weren't like this jolly good chap you really knew it. I'm very glad this world has gone.
As a young American boy, my Dad bought a 59 Jaguar . We moved from Woking, Surrey in 1960 to Exhibition Road and lived in a Flat.. Interesting times in London.. I went to an American school out in Bushy Park. As i look back. I certainly miss those wonderful days..
That has to be an off-the-cuff remark surely?.. don't you think we like Americans these days?
Your determination in what you want to achieve is admirable.
What one might call the "American Dream".
Drive sometimes is misconstrued as being pushy and big headed.... by those that don't have it themselves.
The Americans that I have been in contact with have all been very gracious.
At least you know what it's like to drive on the correct side of the road!!!
@@AlistairClark99 you speak for yourself mate! Try being married to one...
My Aunty married a guy from Florida in 1956.
We found Americans to be naiive, prone to bs about their wealth and status, had alarming tastes in jackets, thought the world started and ended between New York and LA, older Yanks still had a grudge against King George and women came from the US to get free abortions.
We still do.
What an absolute gentleman of the road, sounds like my old driving lnstructor from the 70s
Confirms what we all know. (1) It was sunnier in ' 63 than it is now. (2) You can fit an entire jazz band into a Jag, old stylee ...Thanks for sharing.
It wasn't a very good Summer after '63s dreadful three month's Winter of snow and ice. On holiday in Austria that year it was very wintry on the Grossglockner pass.
Great stuff !! I watch this film over and over........just how I remember the roads when I was tiny !! I see there is also a little more footage.
Hi, thanks for the kind comment. I love the past, though its audience in the present inevitably wains...This is more or less all there is of this here. The optics chased the sound in editing, and almost nothing was cut.
That you remember some of this is wonderful. We are the moment, and no more than our memories.
@@maxustaxus So true !!
Beautiful Jaguar.
What a splendid time capsule.
And I thought people's driving was bad nowadays! But drivers were driving like absolute tools in this film - pulling out on each other, overtaking on blind bends, overtaking into oncoming traffic etc etc. Wow.
Some of the bad driving seems to have been set up - the red Triumph Herald at 15:55, for example.
There are two situations when I was quite surprised by Mr Eyles driving: the incident at 8:15 when he repeatedly sounded his horn and flashed his lights to encourage a car to pull over to let him pass came over as aggressive even by today's standards; and he seemed to cut it very fine when overtaking a bus on the wrong side of the road at 15:15.
I must agree, but I must further add that he gets awfully close to the turning bicycle at 3:31 for my liking. I think that would be cited today for reckless driving. @@Mortimer50145
There was also that cyclist @ about 3:30 or so, whom he became awfully close to before passing. @@Mortimer50145
I had a suspicion it was staged ! I don't know why . To make the film a bit more interesting ?
@@Sam_Green____4114 The red Triumph was a filming car. You can see it reflected in the Jag during some of the external shots.
All the way to Bath and not a single angry Audi on his tail. Joyous. All down to a sharp trouser crease and very shiny shoes.
They were Auto Union back then!
Probably because he's the one tailgating.
He did have that Triumph driver going full Audi on him though.
Interesting to see this version of the film. The version I've seen up to now starts at about 5:14 as he's about to join the M4.
I liked his demo at around 4:40 of how *not* to steer, with lots of crossing of hands. I notice that even when he is steering "properly", he doesn't make full use of the wheel when turning tight corners: he makes a lot of small movements whereas I tend to start with both hands at 12 o'clock, pull down on one side to 6 o'clock, with the non-pulling hand mirroring the other one and then pushing up from 6 to 12 - a smaller number of larger movements. Mind you, he was driving a car that probably didn't have power steering - did a pre-1963 Jag Mark II have power steering as an option?
I'm pretty sure they didn't. I passed my IAM test in 1979.
I handle the steering almost exactly the same when driving my 1974 Rover P6 3500s today as that has no power steering.
In 1966 I was born. Looking at these videos, I can see life was FAR better post WW2 up until about 2006. Since then it has deteriorated to the utterly horrible world we live in today!
I guess car ownership and overall population was much lower so roads were quieter, I'll give you that. I'm not sure everyone would feel life was better though, say if you were black, homosexual or a woman with ambitions to do anything more with your life than marry and produce children.
"life was FAR better post WW2" - idiotic ignorant comment of the week winner! Congratulations Jon! All you rose coloured glasses twits in these comment sections wouldn't last 5 days in the 50's/60's before begging to return to the present.
So true ! Same here in Germany , we all miss this time
Society has been irreversibly changed by the media. The internet SHOULD have made us better “drivers” through life, but unfortunately it appears not. Wow ! Don’t we sound like old farts 😂
@@nigelgb8408All good points, you COULD of course be black, gay and a woman but you just couldn’t shout about it.
So glad I was able to experience a time when driving was a fun adventure, roads were policed in a wiser manner, and cars were friendly and easy to fix. I always loved driving but over the last few years of cameras, aggression, jams and potholes it became a pain. Now I'm retired and live in the countryside and driving these quiet roads without pressure to do things is fun again.
Couldn't agree more...I would say more...but this is YT in 2024.
Cars may have been easier to fix, but then they needed a lot more fixing!
@@jokermaan1 uhh, no. Cars are practically computers on wheels now, and prone to many more defects
@@jokermaan1 Not if you maintained your car properly instead of running it until it wouldn't go any more and then fixing it.
I lived and drove in London in the 1970s. I worked in Nottingham place, just off Baker St. I could park all day for free and drive home to Baldock in 40 minutes. Happy days !!!
Good luck with that one today!
Bliss I work just off Baker Street, and use a bike
Train now would be much quicker !! Those days a smelly diesel but electric from about 78 ( To Royston ! )
I was a driving instructor in London in 1971, working from BSM in Kensington High Street.
I was just thinking that, when I lived in Fulham in the early 80s, anyone with a car (I had a beautiful navy blue TR6) expected to be able to park in front of their house. Better days!
Wonderful film, the presentation is fabulous, the narration is excellent, a bygone era, who could have predicted that the entire road system around London would some day be the world's greatest mobile car park.
What a wonderful time in english history. I was born in 1964. I feel jealous of my mum shes 81. I would give up all modern rubbish to be able to go back and live in that time, as an adult. Yes it is always better having wealth, in any time period, but just the social interactions of people were friendly. Born in the wrong time period.😢 Thanks for this glimpse back in Englands past😊
Yes those were the days, we had a lovely outside toilet, real parky in the winter ..Lol
@@LeeEnfield-iw3qk well that was a time that made boys into real men I suppose. Lol
Great post...strange how today, in an age of plenty,...people can have so little of what humans really need.
Life is what you make it. Why yearn for a largely fictitious earlier era when you could put that energy into making life - not just yours but others’ too - that little bit better.
@@johntechwriter sorry you have no dreams of your own. Because I know theres no time machine, but if there was , I would be gone in a heart beat.
" I'm in the correct gear, nicely pressed trousers, shirt and tie, sports jacket" 😃
Oh dear boy. You wear a cravat with a sports jacket. 😂
Not to mention the well polished Oxfords. 👞
No polyester in view!
My dad owned one of these beauties. I remember the lovely red leather seating, and the walnut tables attached to the back of the front seats. As a family, we enjoyed many a happy time driving all over Ireland to our various hotel stays. I recall eight miles to a gallon of petrol!!
Get out of it,8 miles to the gallon😂i have one of these and it will 22mpg on a decent run.
Wonderful clip, from a wonderful era, well it was for me, i have always been fascinated with jaguars, and still am,❤
Splendid show old sport. The days when driving was jolly fun. I was one!
The first few miles out of London as far as the “Hemmersmith Flyover” look much as they do today. Beyond that things are quite different. I started driving in the 80s, and the roads, signage and driver behaviour have changed much less in the 40 years since the early 80s than they did in the 20 years from 1963 to 1983.
I'm really pleased that MK2 Jaguar still exists. It appears to be 'living' in Melbourne.
How do you know?
@@twinsonicIf you Google reg. no. you'll find a link to a discussion about it and a link to the Melbourne owners Facebook page.
You're kidding
Beam me back Scotty.We had it so good back then, And we have clearly lost our way.
Beautiful journey in a true British Classic car. what more could you want,
What a beautiful country we once had
Sure... 🤡
@@Iombardia What does your comment imply? You think it wasn't better than it is now?
It's definitely lost its charm and a lot of its identity sadly. @@Nedchilvs
@@Nedchilvs We have a lot of cars and definitely a lot more dinghies nowadays🤣😂
@@ScratchyBaws Yep and the cars ain't pretty and neither are the people coming over in those boats.
Great semi aggressive skilled driving tips. I like his style.
My dad had a MK II, 3.8 liter I believe, and my favorite 10-year-old place to be was in its passenger seat. He drove at a sporting pace on the near-empty back roads of rural Ontario, but would slow right down as we got close to town. As my dad cautioned me despite my early age, when in town at any moment a little kid could dart out between parked cars. The horrifying prospect of that happening has stayed with me through the years, leaving me not paranoid but on the alert for the unexpected.
Flashing your headlights and sounding your horn to force someone over.....a great way to get involved in a road rage incident today for sure.
Remember that there would have been no speed limit on that brand new M4 then. There weren’t any until 22/12/1965.
Gorgeous silver Jag with red leather.
Fine turn of speed though. However. Some of this advice and driving behaviour is still highly relevant.
No follow me Claud either.
Red road rager. Nothing new here.
0:14 - the Ford Zephyr running white indicator lights - and being followed by a Renault Gordini - a rare car even then. Following behind a Vanden-Plas Princess (either 3L or, if with a R-R engine - 4L)
Most of the cars then were impending rust buckets unless some messy underbody protection was sprayed on. Dinitrol?
Brilliant,thank you 👍
Fascinating video really brought back early motoring memories. I'm so fortunate to have lived and driven through town and country in that era. Passed my test in 63, and I bought a three year old Morris Minor on HP for two hundred quid, Halcyon days 😂
They weren't.
I'm jealous, I really am.😊
In 1966 there were 7,985 people killed on Britain's roads. Not so halcyon for them.
Notice in those days there were no central barriers on the motorways ? Drivers doing a U -turn or crossing the central barrier to get to a garage or cafe on the other side , were the cause of many accidents and fatalities in these times !
No, those days were better and these deaths you suggest never happened.
Just going by the other comments suggesting this was all idyllic and without concern.
@@alastairward2774 Yes they did ! What utter bullshit !
Lovely to see the old “Dual carriageway without a clearly defined central reservation”. Hence, the speed limit was 60, not 70.
Such roads are almost non existent today but ppl still believe the speed limits on modern dual carriageways is 60 🤔
@@Pikestnt And no speed limits on the earliest motorways!
A lot of wearing of rose-tinted specs in the comments.
When you see this film it makes you feel old, I passed the IAM test in 1965.!!!!
1967 for me, hahaha... how they have ruined our roads'!!
The you are bloody old (at least 80 I'll bet)
Not close to 80, but not that young either !
Good mates Dad passed in 1947,still drives in London, but not much.
@@gregsmith1070 IAM test came in 1956.🙂
Brilliant film
Nice to see these empty roads before the M4 was built. They used to be my regular weekly commute. So much has changed including the IAM commentary.
Also it now often takes longer to drive the same journey using the motorway.
When this was filmed, there were massive plans for a web of motorways around London and most towns and cities across the country. More akin to American freeways with grand junctions that would have eaten up a lot of land.
Obviously it didnt take long for resistance to set in.
Sadly the destruction of the once great railway network took place despite most of the replacement roads never getting built leading to the 'worst of both worlds' situation that exists up to today.
we may have seen the same one, but there was a guy on here did a great YT on those motorway plans. crazy now to think what it woudl have looked like if they were all built
Old fellow stopped on the outskirts of Weybridge by a policeman in 1974. “You were doing 100 right down the middle of the road! What the hell you playing man?!” The driver, indignant, hauls out his license and says “Look right here sir! It says ‘Tear down the dotted line’ and that’s exactly what I’m doing!”
That joke is older than this film! 😁😁
Fascinating footage from when UK roads were killing about 7,000 a year. Now it's
If you consider all the congestion today an improvement.
@@markgt894 OK, so you're one of the 30% who had a car in 1963 and you're sure you wouldn't have been one of the 5,000 a year excess fatalities. Lucky you.
@@markiliff wasn’t alive then.
The worst year was 66.
Almost no one wore seat belts in 1963 and inertia ones were unheard of. The MOT test was only 3 years old. Drink driving was considered normal.
My friends dad is called George Eyles and he'll be old this year, born 1935. This can't be him because he only ever drove a forklift at Martin Bakers in Denham (Ejector Seat specialists) and now he rides a wee mobility scooter each afternoon when he takes his dog for a walk. I wonder if they were related as the George Eyles i know was from London originally. Very cool video and many thanks
Love the horn and flashing of lights, not surprised in got a ✌️
I have no idea why he thinks I'm interested in his politics
Ahh, the London I knew as a child ! Fascinating how courteous drivers seemed to be allowing plenty of space😎😎😎.
Then I think of Elephant & Castle NOW😱😱😱😱😱
Excellent driver commentary old chap !
by george i think he`s got it 😇👍
Good old days never see them again god I miss it 2024 depressing day with all what’s going on I’m so glad I was born in the 1950 lovely days 😊
This is what you and your generation took from me
dentistry hurt
Good old fooooking days 🎶🎶....💂
Yes this is why I'm voting reform and why I voted Leave !
@@Sam_Green____4114 it's something but there's no political solution it will just be subverted
London looks surprisingly recognisable
Not a pot hole in sight by George golly gosh
Or a speed bump or even a speed bump with a pothole
Why repair a pothole, when its well within your budget to redefine what a pothole actually is? My council it is a minimum of 4 Inches depth.
Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to improve what was already a most interesting and fascinating piece of motoring history. I have watched this many times before, and will do so again and again. As a classic police car enthusiast, I was particularly interested in the Wolseley 6/99 Traffic Car turning left off the A4 into Heathrow Airport. I think that this version shows the registration number more clearly. I read it as 704CXA, which could be correct. Can you confirm this?
Hi, I have tried to make this out myself...and and it is a bit frustrating. My copy does not look very much better. I get 7C4 CXA. But is it is really hard, it could be 704 CX3. The only number I would bet on is the "4".
It must be 704CXA, a 1961 London issued number. In other u-tube gems, I have also identified 703CXA, 665CXA and 708CXA, all Wolseley or Austin Metropolitan Police cars, so I think that 704CXA is right. Regrettably all these cars seem to be no more. Not surprising, but sad nonetheless! @@maxustaxus
Attaches Institute of Advanced Motorists badge, pulls out with eyes firmly on centre console. Skims cyclist. Bullies car ahead. Ah, the glory days!
"Driving demands tolerance."
Next sentence.
"I've got a lot of speed here and I intend to use some of it." 😆
Totally different to the attitude todays drivers have to cyclists and pedestrians. Even with the M4 motorway, for long distance road traffic, Bath is still one of life's cycling experiences.
and an extraordinarily dangerous overtaking manouevre at 15.15 - forcing oncoming traffic to make way.
He didn't bully the driver ahead. The driver ahead should have pulled over before he flashed his lights and then sounded his horn. Still have too many A Holes like that today. Middle lane hogs, etc. You're probably one.
Brilliant sun today 😀
I was expecting to feel nostalgic watching this, imagining that England was a rural idyll back in 1963. Then I saw the driver go along new-looking highways that didn't have many trees growing along them yet. So actually this journey would in some ways look greener and more pleasant today.
Fascinating to see the old M4 layout with it ending at the A4 roundabout. Explains the crazy J8/9 numbering at Maidenhead today.
17:49
Where is that cool little arch?
I can name almost all of those cars in the film, that dates me!
so, what was the Blue estate car at 0:23 - and the white car at 1:15?
I'm 86 so all these cars were the models in my youth and that Austin A30/35 was my first car I bought on HP after passing my driving test in 1956 or thereabouts.
@@nickhickson8738 I'm a mere 74, worked in a garage whilst still at school, so serviced many of them, new the ins & outs of most of these cars. This was long before the days of electronics / engine management systems, pollution controls, even seat belts!!
When blaggers drove Jags! ❤
The commentary was a part of the IAM test at one time. There to understand your thinking and observations by the examiner.
I took my test in 1990 and by then it was optional.
We had 3 of these Jaguars/Daimlers in the 70’s they are beautiful cars… I remember if you held the starter button in to long it would jump off, under the bonnet and you had to hop out and reset it…😂 I restored a number of these in later years as well..
I remember those 3 laned roads also known as trunk roads. Very very dangerous and I'm sure a lot of people must have ended their lives with a head on smash in the middle lane
😂 Yeah who thought it was a good idea to have a 3 lane road 😱 recipe for disaster
1. Trunk road was not the definition/synonym of a 3 lane road. A 2 lane road may be defined as a 'trunk' road. 2. 3 lane roads still exist in parts of the U.K.
@@zaphodbeeblebrox4574 I've lost My Trafficator lol 🤣
I thought all Jags in the 60's were driven by villains leaving a bank quickly ......
Agree!
Those old English cop shows like 'No hiding place' in their Wolseley's chasing the villains in their Jags.
15:25 mins in "When you see a chap like that, there`s no excuse for getting involved with him". Very wise words.😅
The guy in the red Herald what an absolute jerk of a driver.
A friend of mine was taking his advanced driving test, and was waiting behind a car at a roundabout. It was clear from the right so he started to pull forward, and totaled the car infront, because it had stalled and he did not notice.
What a wonderful bygone age.
I don't know how he concentrated with that bloody music 😅and no filth to catch you speeding 😊
Yes there was police
Good to know that people with inadequacy issues about their cars who subsequently drive like like ...well the 🤡 that they are, is not a new thing. 😊
Lovely stuff.
The authorities always seem to be telling us that things aren’t dangerous, that are and things are dangerous, that aren’t.
"This is a very busy road" - me wondering where all the cars are..🤔
Do cars still allow you to use the "traficator" ?
Great days in 60,s so traffic free compared to today very experienced driver we all could learn from him regarding road manners and control
God! I was only one when this was made! I’m 62 in September !
Bath looks much improved now!
We did Reading, Theale, Newbury and round the CLOCK TOWER 2 days ago. How things have changed.
ALL WHILE LOOKING FOR A BANK THAT WAS STILL OPEN NOT VIA A LONG WAIT ON THE TELEPHONE!!!
Oh the days of double de clutching. Mk 1 Metro. Neutral slip into second and it lines up for first.
David and Lily Reading.
Most shan't know that the saying ' After you, Claude ', (which was always followed by ' No, after you, Cecil '), was from the '40's radio show ' ITMA ', (which was an abbreviation for ' It's that Man Again '). The ' Man ' was Tommy Handley.
Jack Train played Claude, and Horace Percival played Cecil, who were very polite handymen.
So.... the IAM suggests we flash twice, then sound our horn if someone is in the outside lane and you want them to move? Wow. That's 6 points these days!! H😂😂
My father lost his offside rear wheel on his MG M type doing this trip in 1959….he watched it run past him 😂
Absolutely wonderful film, i just would love it, if the guy in the Herald sees this and gives us his side of the story. ❤
Driven by a fellow staff IAM examiner no doubt - a set up for the film.
I doubt he would be alive now ! I was born two years later and I'm 60 in January !
0:50 Didn’t see him utilising his trafficator when pulling away from kerb, tch.
When jags were built with long lasting engines ! Not there latest offerings
Were those the days when people could spell properly?
not as I remember them. Eating piston rings for a past time and blowing more smoke than an Indian reservation.. take the rose tinted glasses off
So even today It's still not a motorway to Bath? You have to leave the M4 and go south down the A46 or take the A350 thorough Chippenham ( by -passed ) and then the old A4 through Corsham ( the road this was filmed on ? )
Continuity error in Bath: For some daft reason he's on Lower Borough Walls (th-cam.com/video/5lq1caGu0Hs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vjeHiKjl6EKPUW0a) passing the Lamb and Lion pub, which still exists today. A couple of seconds later he's on Walcot Street, going past the old cattle market and St Michaels Without church.
I love Bath. But I hear it has changed. A friend of mine told me it is like an open prison now.
The proper way to drive to Bath is down the Fosse Way.
That steering method at 5:10 was a big no-no for my driving instructor... it's called "milking the wheel"
No pot holes!
Nice job mate.. I have a pro-version of Davinci Resolve and it has an extremely cool upscaler. Happy to run this video through a 4k upscaler for you. Just shout (I'm on TH-cam too.. You'll work it out!). PS - It works really nicely.
The key message is at 17:30 No point in playing 'after you Claude'. Amazing that he recognised Claude. 😂
9:20
"...three lane road, which experts tell us is not dangerous." Oh really?
Probably less dangerous because there was considerably less traffic in relation to the number of lanes, but set against that, cars were not limited to 70 mph in 1963 and were (AFAIK) unrestricted (except by the power of the engine!). Was it 1965 when the 70 mph max speed limit of Britain's roads was brought in?
I forget (American here), but there were limits off of motorways before that, and that three lane road would not have been a motorway. @@Mortimer50145
I believe the absence of a speed limit was only for motorways, although as an American I am unsure when that was. We always had limits on the Interstate System.@@Mortimer50145
Unsure. But I think off of motorways there was always a speed limit from the time the red flag act was introduced.@@Mortimer50145
They didn’t survive, did they?
I wonder if that Jaguar is still around?
The registration isn't (6929RW), no car found on the DVLA website
@@jumpjet777 Thank you for confirming that.
Its a pre 63 jag as it has flat headlight glass, My dad had a 1963 3.8 Mk2 now as a 73 year old i remember it well.
Road rage and aggression seem to be the order of the day nowadays , one doesn't have to look for trouble its out there waiting.
Pity we cannot do the same run today for comparison ! you'd probably get mugged !
The 3.8 was the best rendition IMO
4 years old in 1963. My pedal car was always well maintained, with a little drop of 3 in 1 oil. 😂
The driver of the Red Triumphs seems to have had too many light ales old boy!
Giving me the v sign, I can't think why he should think I am interested in his politics......Priceless
Perhaps it was Harvey Smith
@@djidroneadventures4059 that takes me back
6:13 “we mustn’t weave in and out”
He should be a driving instructor 😂
Love the way Eyles flashes his headlights and hoots at that inconsiderate idiot at the 8 min mark. High five George!
I remember having to go through Newbury in the 90s .It seems familiar . But I wasn't going west I was going south to North ! Was it before they built the new A34 ?
Great film, surprised that the advanced driver didn’t indicate when pulling off into traffic from Castrol house at the start of the journey.
...or do a shoulder check?
13:35 signalling with my trafficator 😂
Or just use the V sign 😂
Lmao Geez teaching our boy to drift 🤣 👍 round London 😂 back then no rules 😂
Was it not the bank robbers chosen car.
You've been watching too many episodes of 'The Sweeney' 👍
We had an XJ6 in 1978 and the Old Bill was always on our case. It was seen as a villains car. Love this chaps commentary and defensive driving. Lovely red interior on the Jag.
Had a red XJS in 1980, could still drive fast then. 140mph plus.
Most cars had no seat belts I believe in a crash no crumple zones at risk of serious injury cars have come a long way
You'd think he was flying a plane. I was born in 63. Nobody I knew had a Jaguar. Class awareness was everywhere. If you weren't like this jolly good chap you really knew it. I'm very glad this world has gone.
How do you know it was his Jaguar ??
What section of the m4 was that?
Hammersmith Flyover and probably later Maidenhead Bypass.
Looked on Google, it’s still two lanes🤔😬😬
Trafficator 😮
Giving me the V sign I can't see why he'd think I'm interested in his politics.
Ah. And no 70 limit, but very little motorway... and goodness I have owned a lot of those car models, as old wrecks!
"Very heavy traffic" LOL