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1957 Wolseley 6/90 Series II 
Ep. 1.12Class: Cars, Sedan — Model origin: 
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Background vehicle
Comments about this vehicle| Author | Message |
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◊ 2012-11-14 21:14 |
Wolseley 6/90. Series I 1954 to 1956 Series II 1956 to 1957 Series III 1957 to 1959 The Series III had an enlarged rear window, which doesn't seem to be on this one. -- Last edit: 2012-11-14 22:07:05 |
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◊ 2012-11-14 21:34 |
The rules of 1960s UK police series are that there has to be at least one appearance of 892 FPC or 894 FPC in every film .... (which is a problem as both cars are 1958 plates in the S3 period but with small back windows, as if there is an additional permutation we do not know about - discussion at /vehicle.php?id=544933 and /vehicle.php?id=117807 ). |
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◊ 2012-11-14 23:30 |
xxx FPC finished in 2/58. The series II cars ran in production until May 1957 according to Graham Robson, although public announcement of the Series III was delayed until August of that year. This suggests stocks of who knows what parts hanging around, maybe even complete body shells with the smaller window. Add to this the time taken to fit the cars with the various police modifications, and the possibility of delaying putting the new cars into service until they could have 1958 appear in the log book as date of first registration and you may have an answer. In the comment on the second link shown above there appears to be some confusion concerning the MG Magnette and the 6/90 having the same bodyshell. This is not so, the Magnette shared its bodyshell with the Wolseley 4/44 and 15/50 models,although the shells were not identical in the sills and wheel arches; the Wolseley 6/90 shared its shell with the Riley Pathfinder and later the 2.6 which had by then become a Wolseley with a Riley grille and better trim. Finally, the MG ZB Magnette and the MG ZB Varitone Magnette were not exactly the same. The larger rear window was intended for the Varitone, which sold at a higher price, concurrently with the ZB which still had the smaller window. To add further confusion, it was possible to specify a ZB Varitone to be supplied in one colour only, giving you the bigger rear window and presumably a better view of the road behind you but not the flashy two-tone finish. |
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◊ 2012-11-15 00:53 |
john - thanks. Glass's confirms May 57 S3 date, but gives xxx FPC as starting 2/58, finishing 6/58. I'd need to check through the 6/90 selection to confirm but I think we have some more late 57 into 58 plate date small window police 6/90s apart from just 892 and 894 FPC. Also noted barrett's comment at /vehicle.php?id=544933 for "small rear window as SI but larger light units as SIII" - Glass's does not mention rear lights so unable to correlate - though eg /vehicle_471294-Wolseley-6-90-1955.html seems to show earlier 1955 S1 design. Glass's also says 6/90 had "name and model on boot lid from March 58" - see /vehicle_37145-Wolseley-6-90-1954.html (892 FPC) and 2nd thumb in /vehicle_50759-Wolseley-6-90-1954.html (894 FPC), but also to complicate things further UUV 133 (a late 57 plate big window) /vehicle.php?id=120221 (and several other sightings), and as above a 1955 /vehicle_471294-Wolseley-6-90-1955.html . It may be that the Glass's reference means a Wolseley script as well as 6/90, but we have no examples with both visible to give a clear comparison, and the badging reference does not help where we are now.. So, if new rear lights came in with S2, I think all your analysis works - 892 & 894 FPC become S2 but stockpiled and unregistered for a year after S3 started. But if new lights were S3 introduction, we're still stuck with some small window S3 to explain. However late 56 plate date on SGX 909 with new rear lights suggests S2 introduction works - thumbs in /vehicle_230296-Wolseley-6-90-1956.html . To clear up so many mixed dates for the FPC pair, I'm entering them as 1957 S2 for best guess on current understanding. Also VXH 64x on same basis /vehicle.php?id=254052 . -- Last edit: 2012-11-15 01:30:07 |
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◊ 2012-11-15 01:33 |
PS - I'm probably hallucinating wildly now about 6/90 plates, but this one does look like it finishes with a C, so one of the FPC pair is possible and the Universal Law of Appearances is obeyed. |
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◊ 2012-11-15 12:11 |
What larks! Surrey County Council: - "three letter marks were not invariably issued in alphabetical order." "Two or more marks were normally in use simultaneously and the issue of a mark might extend over several months" Cars: - how did the police buy their cars in those days? Presumably they did not send a Constable up to the local Wolseley agent to buy a couple of dozen 6/90s when they needed them. Most likely they had a purchase office to deal with such things, or did the job by way of the County offices,and would have been prepared to take cars that were obsolete or did not meet the normal specifications in order to save cash. Also there is the possibility of retrofit of items like light clusters, especially to increase safety. Since the cars in Gideon's way were upwards of eight years old at the time they may well have been sold on, and permission obtained for them to remain disguised as police cars for the duration of filming. To my knowledge, the 4/44 was never used as a patrol car, its 1930s 1250cc XP type Nuffield engine only produced 46 bhp and would have been pushed to catch a stolen milk float. The earlier cars appearing with VXH 64x are undoubtedly 6/80s, based on the MO Oxford from the windscreen back, but fitted with Nuffield's 2,215cc six cylinder VC type engine. |
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◊ 2012-11-15 14:16 |
Yes. I need something gentle to calm down now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTGwTH1PUeI . |
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◊ 2012-11-15 23:06 |
The major modification was to replace the S1's coil spring rear suspension with leaf spring. The same thing occurred to stop the Pathfinder being a Ditchfinder, the coil spring and Panhard rod suspension having proved to be poor on roadholding. The 6/90 Series 2 only amounted to 1,024 cars and Robson suggests that BMC were so anxious to delete the S1 that the restyling followed the chassis improvements as and when it could. As an ex motor industry employee, I would suggest that the costs ran the piece and that once the chassis difficulties had been overcome the next major cost would be press tool changes for the large rear window, and smaller bits like rear lights would be incorporated as stocks ran out. -- Last edit: 2012-11-15 23:06:35 |
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