Saturday, July 15, I went to the Barrington Illinois car show. I took many photos and will show them in two separate posts. I hope you like them.
The first two are for a 1965 Volkswagen. This car was used to model a Johnny Lightning 1/64 scale car.
There were three nice Ford convertibles. The first is a 1955 Fairlane Crown Victoria
Here is a 1958 Fairlane 500. At least in the Chicago area, 1958 Fords are rarely seen at car shows.
Here is a 1960 Sunliner.
The next group of pictures is for a 1948 Hillman Minx, a car I have never before seen. In the second picture is the turn signal, which extends/retracts with switch inside the car.
Here is a 1983 Toyota Celica Supra. I have a friend who had a car just like this.
Lots of nice cars here Ed. That 1948 Hillman Minx is an old friend. A neighbour back in Yorkshire had one. My father thought that he was crazy having a convertible in that climate. Not me.
Thanks for sharing the great pics! Only fault I can find on any of these great cars is that horrific ugly "Butt Wart" on that otherwise beautiful '58 Ford.
I remember those retractable turn signals, on other British cars too, great pics thanks Ed
That feature was very prevalent on the very many late '40s & early '50s British cars in my home town of Victoria, British Columbia in the 50s and 60s. I understood this feature to be called a trafficator.
A beautiful car made ugly! I can't believe there are people that like these hideous "Warts" on their cars.
I know that those of us who dislike continental kits provide tired comment.....but for me this feature hides the beautiful tail end characteristics of those great 50's cars. A classic example of this is the '55 & '56 Ford Fairlane. Secondly, to my eye it goes against the styling "flow" as well; looking generally chunky.
@jack-dodds I remember them from Zambia. We knew them simply as semaphore signals. It would be interesting to know when the Brit's finally went over to proper front and rear-ended indicators. I believe this is very much a 1930s technology, but maybe wrong.
@charles-rockett I'm not sure about when the change occurred but it seems likely in 1957 (see below). My father bought a new 1953 Austin Somerset and I seem to recall that it had trafficator/semaphore turn signals as noted below. Note that it was positioned lower on the body for the convertible. They were controlled by a switch/small lever gizmo situated on the steering wheel hub.
This feature was still present on the 1955 & 56 Austins, but gone by '57 as noted in sequence below. Same goes for the Hillman btw.
