Cars We Loved in the 1950s

After World War II, new cars in Britain were very hard to come by. Most new models had to go for export, or were reserved for drivers with pressing needs, such as doctors. Petrol was rationed, roads inadequate, and modern technology lacking. With the 1950s, things slowly began to change. Morris, Austin, and Ford put increasing numbers of British families on four wheels, while new sports cars from MG, Jaguar, Triumph, and Austin-Healey promised motoring excitement. There was the innovative Land Rover, and the "bubble car" phenomenon. By 1958, new car buying was leading a consumer boom. . . and Britain’s manufacturers still had the market to themselves. Giles Chapman investigates the fascinating motoring decade of the 1950s.