LOUGHTON AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

[Keith Clements]

Chiswell’s was the bigger site, and always had a long line of cars for sale, facing the High Road. There were many names, some now long-forgotten: Alvis, Armstrong-Siddeley, Bean, Clyno, Jowett, Lagonda, Lanchester, Railton, Singer, Wolseley . . . while the Morgans of the 1930s were small threewheeler ‘runabouts’, halfway between a motor-bike and a car. Also remembered were those Jowett cars and little narrow vans with engines which made an unusual ‘popping’ sound. Prices must have looked low compared to today, as it wasn’t until 1961 that I bought my own first car – a 1936 Wolseley Super Six, for £37.50!