Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: sedan

It's a common misconception that MG Cars (trading under various specific names over the years) only build sports cars. In reality, MG have also been building hatchbacks since the 1982, and sedans ("saloons" in the UK) since 1927. This MG is a Magnette ZB, which was the saloon manufactured by MG from 1956 to 1958, replacing the earlier, but similar, Magnette ZA. The ZB used an Austin-made BMC B-Series 1.5L I-4 with dual carburetors that produced only 64 horsepower. This meant that the ZB ultimately wasn't very fast, but not being a sports car, the pressure for higher performance was arguably off, and indeed many 1950's-era British cars, including sports cars, were very slow. One innovative feature for the 1957 model year was the option of one of the world's first semi-automatic transmissions. This is more significant in hindsight, as semi-automatics are now the standard of the automotive world (at least for internal-combustion-engined cars), even if they took decades to catch on.

I did a little bit of research on this car, and concluded that it's probably a 1934 Chevrolet Master Sedan. It was parked in Sidliste Opatov, of all places, where an old Tatra of about the same age was being unloaded from a truck. I didn't ask what it was doing in Prague, but seeing a pre-war American car other than a Ford is quite rare in Europe, especially since pre-war Chevys are rare even in America.

There was so much snow on this hill that even after I had this photo developed it wasn't immediately clear whether this Trabant 601 was on blocks, or simply held in place by blocks. As on careful inspection you can see the tread of the right front tire, it is in fact held on the hill with blocks. Yes, I know that I normally avoid car pictures, but I make an exception when it's something special. There aren't too many cars like this in the U.S. :-)