sps1955's photos

For the main article: www.flickr.com/photos/40878011@N07/7329119536/in/set-7215... . For further information on Austin 10 and Austin 12 prices, see www.flickr.com/photos/40878011@N07/7329103872/in/set-7215... .

For the main article: www.flickr.com/photos/40878011@N07/7329119536/in/set-7215... . For further information on prices, see www.flickr.com/photos/40878011@N07/7329103872/in/set-7215... .

The Citroën prices for which no horsepower is specified presumably relate to the 12 (the equivalent of the 7CV in France). See www.citroenet.org.uk/foreign/slough/traction/traction-04.... , reproducing a 1939 UK market brochure. For the main article: www.flickr.com/photos/40878011@N07/7329119536/in/set-7215... .

The Austin was the first car that my father bought new. The caravan was bought second-hand c.1957. The car had 42 b.h.p. and towing the caravan into the West Country and Wales was, I think, "interesting". Unknown location. Scanned from a print in the family collection.

My parents' 1964 Singer Gazelle series V and 14 ft Bailey caravan on the right. I think that this may be a site near Bude, but would be glad to know if anybody recognizes the location. Scanned from a print.

My parents' Austin A40 Somerset and Bailey 14 ft caravan to right of centre, with a Jaguar and a larger and more modern caravan to the left. Ford Anglia 100E beside the tent in the foreground. Unknown location. Scanned from a print in the family collection.

The Austin was the first car that my father bought new. The caravan was bought second-hand c.1957. The car had 42 b.h.p. and towing the caravan into the West Country and Wales was, I think, "interesting". Although the car has been lined up with the caravan and is carrying its extended wing mirrors for towing, we are not ready for the off, as the waste water bucket for the caravan sink is still in position in front of the wheel and, behind it, the Calor Gas cylinder appears still to be connected. A young sps1955 is visible, and, just to my left, my mother's corgi is sitting behind the car. Unknown location. Scanned from a print in the family collection.

The interior of my parents' Bailey caravan , with an infant sps1955 and a collection of toy cars on the table that appropriately includes a caravan. Note also the one inch Ordnance Survey maps next to the rolls on the drop down flap in the foreground. The plate rack over the sink was, I think, my father's handiwork.

From the drawer of my grandparents' card table! Definitely pre-1965 but probably older.

From the drawer of my grandparents' card table! 1930s or 1940s? The character was also produced as an articulated advertising figure: www.drewpritchard.co.uk/collections/sold/products/valvatron?variant=9244785475 .

From the drawer of my grandparents' card table! 1930s or 1940s?

On my parents' drive. Probably taken to record the caravan , which was about to be traded in for a new one. For more on the car, see www.flickr.com/photos/40878011@N07/7329081680/in/set-7215... . Scanned from a slide.

A rather happier photograph of the series V Singer Gazelle , on a Caravan Club "certificated location" near Wenlock Edge, which is visible in the background. The caravan was quite new when this photo was taken; it was a Lunar (built in Lancashire and taking its name from the River Lune). Scanned from a slide.

My parents' 1964 Singer Gazelle series V and Bailey 14 ft caravan . An oddly composed shot, but I have kept it as found for the information that it gives about the character of the site, whose current web page is here . Scanned from a slide.

My father's second Singer Gazelle, owned by him from new, just before it was traded in. I have at some point dated the slide mounts "29/30 Jan. 1976" but I must have got the year wrong because the replacement car, bought new, was on an R plate, current from 1 August 1976 to 31 July 1977. When we first looked at the slides, my mother remarked, "what a smart looking car", and considerable effort had been put into keeping it as smart as possible (assisted by my late grandfather's body repair business, which my father ran for a few years), but the area around the rear wheel arch reveals the truth; my father also believed that a leak in one corner of the windscreen had corroded the bulkhead. It had done over 100,000 miles.

My father's second Singer Gazelle, owned by him from new, just before it was traded in. I have at some point dated the slide mounts "29/30 Jan. 1976" but I must have got the year wrong because the replacement car, bought new, was on an R plate, current from 1 August 1976 to 31 July 1977. When we first looked at the slides, my mother remarked, "what a smart looking car", but the corrosion was in fact quite bad and considerable effort had to be put into keeping it as smart as possible (assisted by my late grandfather's body repair business, which my father ran for a few years); my father also believed that a leak in one corner of the windscreen had corroded the bulkhead. It had done over 100,000 miles.

On my parents' drive at Telford Avenue, Leamington Spa. I was told that, after one holiday in a hotel with the infant sps1955, they decided never to repeat the experience, and bought the caravan second-hand. This must have been c.1957. My memory is that the caravan was a Bailey, in which case it cannot have been all that old when they bought it (the Bailey company had been founded in 1948: www.bailey-aboutus.co.uk/ ); however, it was kept until 1974, by which time it was something of an antique. I can recall only once seeing one like it and, indeed, I can't find photographs of any Bailey like it on the web, so I hope that the identification of it as a Bailey is correct. Any further information on the design or its history would be very welcome!

This is the best photograph that I can find of my father's 1960 Singer Gazelle IIIA, bought new through my maternal grandfather's garage, but traded for the series V in 1964. The IIIA was dark green with a grey-green flash (known on later cars , at least, as holly green and willow green), like this one . I am fairly certain that the site is in the West Country. I suppose that the larger caravans in the row across the middle of the shot would have been kept permanently on the site, although my parents' van was a touring one; for more on this see www.flickr.com/photos/40878011@N07/7329075692/in/set-7215... .