This will make you cry. I’m pretty sure this is a pre-war 2-1/2 Litre steel body car as it has a single side mount spare and side lamp pods. It seems to have lights on the roof and also has Morris Minor MGTD taillights. The scrap yard torch guys apparently put on their best clothes for the camera. Notice the guy pulling off the LR wheel complete with brake drum and half shaft.
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It’s a 1937 wooden framed saloon . The same as mine . Would be worth a bit now.
Very sad! The chassis they were cutting wasn’t from the SS though.
Peter
Greetings All,
Okay…you guys in the U.K…are you telling me when you showed up to your job at the breaker’s yard each day, you wore a suit?
Cutting torch and no goggles, not surprised. The guy in the suit cutting so close to the guy in the sweater!?!?!?
I’m surprised the guy didn’t swing at him.
Also surprised at setting the car on fire, what was the purpose? No showing of drawing the fluids, especially the petrol.
Neat film, what was the purpose/context of making this back then? Clearly it had Jaguar content?
There are pictures of guys working in the Blackpool shop wearing white shirts and ties and painting cars. By the time they moved to Foleshill, there were still some ties in evidence, but more coveralls.
The car seats and other interior upholstery had no salvage value and reduced the scrap value of the steel, so burning was a quick way to eliminate all that.
Why torch cutting? This film was made before the Americans brought over their car crushing machinery to sell. There are sales demonstration films of it on Youtube.
Pics in the Bugatti factory , show workers in white shirts and vests…
Eric Hook told me that in the old days an SS was worth about 3 pound sin scrap . He would byy them , strip them of mechanical parts and the useful parts to make SS100s and send the rest off the scrap.
When I moved to NZ in '68 I was working as a toolmaker, we would have older toolmakers arrive from the UK and they one turned up to work with a tie.The next day all the toolmakers had cut out a crepe paper tie and wore them. The newbie got the message 
In uk back in the day shop floor foremen always wore a bowler hat as well as a white shirt and tie!
By the time I started work at Daimler works in Radford all that had gone!
There are pictures of guys painting SS’s in dress shirt, tie and coveralls, sans mask from the 30’s!
Still no idea why the car was purposely set on fire?
Maybe it was to remove all of the non-metal materials from the wreck?
Yes, that’s what I said before; the steel mills did not want the upholstery.
This video explains all that.
Here is MG in 1931. Some white shirts, ties and waistcoats, some lab coats, some aprons, some coveralls. Very few power tools. Drill presses run by belts on an overhead shaft. Probably not much different than Blackpool.
The brake compensator machinery is interesting.
Rob
What a great film.
They look like F or L Type Magnas and M Type Midgets. The OHC MGs had a n unfortunate arrangment of a vertical generator driven via gears that doubled as timing gears. So not only wore but the seals in those days tened to leak oil down into the generator.
They were all very attractive cars and the M Ty[e with it’s pointed tail and V screen very so. But I’d have as much hope of fitting in and driving one as a Bugatti Brescia, or Austin 7 Swallow, The must have been shorter people then . And Jaguar had a nod to cramped driving with the XJ6 S1 too… The brake machine looked like it was made to trim the linings down true when in situ . SS1s , also with cable brakes, needed something like that.
I’m sure I 've seen the wife in various car ads of the period, inc SS. perhaps she specialised… I assume my brother must have done his apprenticeship there and that’s where he learnt to work with a fag in his mouth.
I’m not sure how safe working on machinery with a tie on would be. Donald Trump length ties would be fatal very quickly
Another forum member Gary sent me this youtube link of a '37 SS going to the scrap yard in 1961, which we had discussed in 2017 before I got my '38 SS.
I watched it again and noticed that it has lights on the roof, exactly where I discovered a hole in my roof in 2020.
Did we ever figure out what that was all about? Was there a law requiring a roof light somewhere in the world?
Makes me cringe, when that video occasionally gets posted…
I would take a guess as to the holes in the roof being for all-night parking lights. I have seen a few pictures of this type fitted in the same position on other cars. I assume they are an after- market accessory and possibly even a Lucas product.
In those early days it was a rule in the UK that you had to have your car illuminated if you parked in an unlit street. The visibility problem was exacerbated by reflectors not being compulsory. Tail light lenses were fluted or dimpled but this design did not have the correct faceting to enable reflection.
Using the standard sidelight switching illuminated up to six bulbs with front, rear, and numberplate - a minimum of 36watts - resulting in a depleted battery by morning. (I know because it has happened to me). If two were fitted, there would have been an auxiliary switch somewhere that possibly enabled a choice of left, right or both. Or maybe there were individual switches on each pillar. The bulbs were just 3watts.
I have an original Lucas alternative model which clips onto a side window and plugs into a two-pin auxiliary socket. It has both red and clear lenses which can be interchanged to enable parking on either side of the street.
I would say that if you have these holes and get some original lamps to fit, that it would be acceptable as a genuine period safety accessory.
I set the grandchildren a Christmas quiz and going through some old workshop light fittings from various classic cars - this is their feedback:
Vehicle lights for night time parking on public streets was a a law in the UK, passed we believe in the mid 1940’s but used earlier in bigger cities like London as vehicles and cars became more popular and affordable for the general public. This law still remains in place today when parking on any road or adjacent rest area/layby where the speed limit is above 30mph.
After market parking lights were available until such features began to be built into modern cars. These needed to have a forward facing white light and rear facing rear light, and placed on the outer side of the car that face the centre point of the road. Lucas, Wipac, etc certianly made these Parking lamps.
The choice was either “fix to the roof” (requiring one at either side of the car - perhaps as Rob has found on his roof, and probably needed an dashboard selector switch to illuminate driver’s or passenger’s side); “clip on window” type; and “magnetic” type. These later 2 designs being either to plug into the cigar lighter or clip onto the battery terminals.
These are some photos of what we found:
ROOF FIX PARKING LAMPS:
CLIP ON WINDOW PARKING LAMPS:
MAGNETIC PARKING LAMPS:
I awarded an extra Christmas quiz point for finding this extract of information from the UK Government in 1955:
# Vehicle Parking Regulations (Lights)
HC Deb: 04 May 1955 vol 540 cc128-30W[128W]
Mr. Peter Freeman asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he is now able to announce his decision in reference to car owners leaving their cars without lights on the street if within 100 yards of public lighting, following his hearing of comments received from interested organisations.
Mr. Boyd-Carpenter: Yes. I am making regulations to permit certain vehicles to be parked in the streets of London at night with parking lights so long as they are on a road subject to a speed limit and are within 100 yards of a street lamp, and to be parked without lights at all if they are within 25 yards of a street lamp on such a road, except on bus routes. Outside London there will be similar arrangements except that parking without lights will be subject to the permission of the Chief Officer of Police concerned. The necessary regulations will be made under the Road Transport Lighting Acts and I would emphasise that they relate only to vehicle lighting and do not alter the existing law as to parking. A more detailed account of my proposals is given below.
Following are the Proposals
The effect of the proposed Regulations in respect of the lighting of parked vehicles will be broadly as follows:—
Vehicles of the following classes, viz., private cars, hackney carriages adapted to carry less than 8 passengers exclusive of the driver, goods vehicles not exceeding 30 cwt. in unladen weight, motor cycles with or without sidecars, invalid carriages, pedal cycles and tricycles will be exempted from the requirements of the Road Transport Lighting Acts, 1927–1953 in respect of the carrying of front and rear lamps—
(A) (1) if showing a white light to the front and a red light to the rear from either—
- (a) a single “parking lamp” complying with prescribed requirements as to character, size, position on the vehicle and areas of visibility; or
- (b) the normal off-side front and rear lamps; or
- (c) until 30th September, 1956, in the case of a vehicle legally permitted to carry only one rear lamp, the normal offside front lamp and a rear lamp on the centre line or off-side, and
(2) only while standing or parked close to and parallel with the near side edge of the carriageway within 100 yards of a street lamp (whether or not illuminated) on any road on which a 30 m.p.h. or lower speed limit is in force.
(B) If showing no lights—
(1) Within the City of London and Metropolitan Police districts
- (a) while standing or parked close to and parallel with the near side of the carriageway within twenty-five yards of an illuminated street lamp on any road on which a 30 m.p.h. or lower speed limit is in force, other than a road on which a bus or trolleybus service is operated; and
- (b) in any authorised car park or hackney carriage stand on a road on which vehicles of the class concerned are legally permitted to be parked or to stand, subject to the consent of the Commissioner of Police concerned where the car park or stand is on a road on which a bus or trolleybus service is operated.
(2) Elsewhere throughout England. Scotland and Wales - (a) while standing or parked close to and parallel with the near side edge of the 130 carriageway within twenty-five yards of an illuminated street lamp on any road on which a 30 m.p.h. or lower speed limit is in force;
- (b) in any authorised car park or hackney carriage stand on such a road;
subject in both (a) and (b) to the consent of the Chief Officer of the Police for the area concerned.
No exemptions will be granted by the Regulations in respect of the lighting of vehicles parked on road verges, and the leaving of cars with special lights or unlit near road junctions and intersections will not be permitted.
The proposed regulations deal only with exemptions from vehicle lighting requirements, and the existing law in regard to parking and obstructions remains entirely unaffected.
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Once again, I have learned a new and obscure fact!
That’s quite a bit of research David. Good to set the GCs a real task and take their minds off mindless e-games. In our family a long time ago we had Renaults and Peugeots dating from the '50s and they had little lamps fitted as standard equipment onto the rear roof pillar, the ‘C’ pillar, with a switch to activate either the left or right. I expect other makers did something similar.
I don’t know if anyone today would keep their parking lamps on through the night even if a law still prevailed. Today you would probably have a good spirited person rap on your door and tell you you’ve left your lights on. I was aware that police still issued fines for non-compliance in the fifties if they felt like it, or if someone ran into your unlit vehicle.
My Lucas variant is different to those so the motorist was not starved of choice.
Some great and interesting information, whether trivia or not, is revealed on our forum. For instance, millions of the faithful Lucas sidelight type 1130, as fitted to the 1 1/2 L Mk IV, were made and installed on countless vehicles. But did you know there was a 1130A made too? I have a pair that came with my prewar non Jag. The story is for another time but initially they appear to be identical however the only interchangeable part is the internal bulb holder. Someone might be able to research this curiosity but all I’ve found so far is that they were only prewar and the red indicator lens is glass, not plastic.
Good tidings to all.
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Well, done, David and grandkids. Please give them an extra grandpa hug from me, as my grandkids are hundreds of miles away this Christmas.
So this law was only enforced in certain areas and under certain conditions. Perhaps that is why we have been unaware of it for so long, which is surprising if it is still in force. We have discussed the reflector law of 1954 as it is mentioned in Jaguar Service Bulletins.
I knew about the law in France, as my XK120, which was first owned by a Frenchman living in Paris, has Marchal side parking lights on both sides.
These are aftermarket, not listed in the XK120 Spare Parts Catalogue, and we presume installed by the French dealers.
I have only seen these on French cars and other cars associated with France.
But I did not know there was such a law in England.
My '38 SS was first owned by someone living in the area of Chiswick west of London, so perhaps he sometimes parked on the left side of the road, and only put a light on the right hand roof.
Then it was probably removed and the hole filled over when the car was repainted in the '50s or '60s and was owned by someone living in Peterborough, where he probably didn’t need overnight parking lights. I guess that fits in with the exemption in 2.(b) (2) Elsewhere throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
They could not get the lock nut out so they filled over it.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Wise men still seek him.
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