MOTOR SHOW IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 13

MOTOR SHOW IN BRITAIN

“BUYERS’ MARKET RETURNS”

BASIC PRICE OF £275 FOft CHEAPEST CAR (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, October 42. The barriers are down at the thirty, eight annual Motor Show this year. The plush ropes -and cords that held back the envious British, ’motoring public from the “export only” models in previous post-war shows have now disappeared. Today, the second day oi the show, thousands of people were swarming over the glittering rows of cars, slamming doojs, bouncing on the springs and enjoying themselves in an almost forgotten pre-war show manner. It was vivid proof that the buyers' market has returned to the tear industry. Only on the expensive coachbuilders' and luxury model stands were the crowds held at bay although there salesmen pleasantly answered questions about £6OOO models from small boys and youths in motor cycle jackets. Polishing off hundreds of fingermarks on the windows and gleaming paintwork of one populate car, a harassed commissionaire slimmed up the attitude of the trade to the British public this year. “Last year I used to dust off our export cars a few times each day and tell people they could not touch them. This year, I am opening the doors for them, handing out catalogues, pamphlets and photographs and I’ve become a real ‘char’ polishing down our cars all day long." The commissionaire’s downfall from his' days of aloof disdain was reflected by the teams of eager salesmen on each stand. A casual look into the bonnet of a new model brought a salesman to one's elbow to real off a baffling list of new features in technical jargon. And on many stands were booths with revived signs announcing “Demonstrations arranged”— “The customer is always right” once again in the motor trade. Lowest-Price Car As expected, the Ford company retained its position as the supplier oi the lowest-priced car in Britain when it introduced its new Ford Popular, a rescaled model of the well-known Anglia. The new two-door four-seater ’ saloon has a 10 h.p. engine and sells in Britain at a basic price >ot £273 with £ 115 purchase tax extra. Ute Popular is £B4 cheaper than its nearest rival, the Austin Seven two. door saloon and is being produced at a rate of 250 cars a day at the company’s Dagenham vzorks. Ford also introduced a new luxury model of their Zephyr design, the Zodiac, which costs £6OO or £B5l with tax.

One of the surprises of the show is the entry of the Daimler company into the sports car field. Although their new 2J litre roadster model is not built for competition racing, the lowslung two seater is capable of more than 100 miles an hour. Reserved for ekport only until next spring, it. costs £llBO or £1672 with purchase tax added. A speed of 100 miles an hour is also guaranteed by the Grey Lady saloon shown by the-Alvis company, its basic price is £1283 (£lB2l with purchase tax). Lady Docker, wife of'Sir Bernard Docker, chairman of the B.S.A. group and Daimler company, has also become a sports car enthusiast this year. Forsaking her usual gold painted saloons, her current'car is a two-door fixed head coupe on a Daimler special chassis with a Hooper body. Painted in metallic silver it has an interior finish of red crocodile leather. As in all Lady Decker’s cars, it has full powder compacts and makeup sets installed.

The popularity of the “100 m.p.h. plus” sports car in the United States is seen in the increasing number of fast low-slung cars exhibited. Jaguars still lead the field with their record of the fastest production car with their XKI2O Super two-seater but several new models are also claimed to be capable of 100 miles an hour speeds. They are the new Jowett Jupiter four-cylinder two seater which sells at £545 with £228 purchase tax, the new six-cylinder Bristol 404 which has a basic price of £2500, the six cylinder Jensen Intetecepter which costs £l7OO, the new version of the Aston Martin DB-2-4 with a drophead coupe body which has a basic price of £ 1930 and. the new Riley Pathfinder four-door saloon. Its list price is £975 with £407 purchase fax extra. M.G. have also introduced a new series TF at a basic price of £550 while their new Magnet te fourseater saloon costs £645 at the basic price. German Care German makers are also exhibiting at the show for the first time since before the war. The cheapest make, the Volkswagen saloon which is the British light cars’ chief competitor in Continenal countries, costs a- total of £649 in Britain with duty and purchase tax added. Two diesel engined models ’are also featured by Borgward and Mercedes Benz. They are priced at £1576 and £1651 respectively. Freak car of the show is the American Ford company’s experimental X-100—the “car of tomorrow." It is not for sale and will not be produced but the makers can confidently claim that it “has everything that opens and shuts.” A convertible, its plastic canopy and glass windows are automatically closed by a moisture sensitive device if the roof is open and it is unattended when rain falls. A gleaming switch board of buttons provides the controls for an automatic transmission four windshield wipers, built-in jacks, bonnet and luggage compartments, electrically-assisted emergency handbrake, a dictaphone, two-way radio, and an electric shaver.

According to the makers it has 24 electrical motors, 92 control switches, 44 electronic tubes, 23 circuit breakers, 10 fuses and contains eight miles of electrical wiring. Total electrical equipment weighs 6651 b and the whole car weighs 2% tons. Latest export figures released on the eve of the exhibition show that Australia is still the British motor trade’s best customer. For the nine months ended in September Australia took 41,342 cars and trucks worth nearly £10,500,000. New Zealand is fifth on the list with imports of 14,707 cars and trucks valued at £4,700,000. Compared with the corresponding period last year New Zealand Imports show a decrease of 7000 vehicles worth £3,100,000. '