Forgotten Marques - British

[Styria]

For an old codger like me, with plenty of memories, whether they be good or bad, this video strikes a soft cord. Three makes, viz. Jowett Javelin, Humber, Sunbeam Rapier and Hillman Super and Imp - well, that makes it five, doesn't it - more to hold your attention ? Yes? No ? Well, let's go.

The Humber takes me back to 1958, when we were new arrivals in OZ Country, and living in Drummoyne where we rented a bedroom for the "grown ups", and I shared another bedroom with a snotty nosed kid that belonged to the Hungarian landlords. We were paying two pounds and ten shillings, the Government gave us five pound for the week, but we were already working within a fortnight after our arrival. It didn't take long for us to try and obtain something more permanent, and following that endeavour, we knocked back a block of land at St. Marys with a price tag of three thousand poiunds and, would you believe, a house at Hunters Hill (Sean, where are you) for six thousand five hundred pounds. That's where the Humber came in.

The Estate Agent's car was a Super Snipe (?), the same shape as the one featured in the video. Well, it was pretty close. I still recall being driven in the car, it was black, to Hunters Hill to look at the property. The silence was golden, the ride and comfort were exemplary, and all I could manage was an effort to take in all that was so important to a snipper like myself.

We didn't buy the house, but we were sure impressed. Well, I was, but not by the home but the car. I think this is a nice little video displaying a certain amount of nostalgia and "good feel" for times well past now. Regards Styria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0C2NncdDYc

 

[sean sherry]

Yes Michael , Hunters Hill was very cheap back in the Fifties, as I remember that the Banks would only lend Money for new Houses , not old Sandstone dwellings in Hunters Hill. For the record we bought our original unmolested "Jennerat" place for $115,000 in 1975, the unimproved Land valuation is now $2.5 Million plus !!! We could not afford to buy it today... a luck of the draw.
"Jennerat" was one of the original Developers of Huguenot descent. Hunters Hill was known as the French Village as the Developers were all French.
Italian Stone Masons were imported to build the Houses .. Irish Contractors built the Stone Walls and the Roads.
What saves the old Classic Houses is Poverty ...Owners did not have the money to alter them ! So we still have all the original Cedar Woodwork and 5 italian Carrara Marble Fire Places. The original Gas lighting Pipes are still in the Ceiling. We do not "Own" the House .. we are just the custodians to preserve for the next generations. Compared to Europe we must endeavor to preserve what little History we have.