Page 91 - IT'S A RUM LIFE BOOK TWO "BOSTON 1960 TO 1970"

NEW CARS
On my return from the factory at Coventry the new range of
cars began to arrive.
There were no fleets of lorry transporters, William would
draw a cheque from the office, collect up all the company trade
licence plates and gather four of us to go with him to the
factory.

A quick note about “Trade Plates”. These were issued by
the local vehicle licencing authority in each County and used
exclusively by garages to move “Unlicensed” cars and lorries
from site to site. There were two types, Limited use and
General. The General plates cost much more and a garage
would probably only have one of these sets. Plus several
“Limited plates”.
Each set of “limited use” trade plates had a log book! This
had to be filled in every time the plates were used . Details
were comprehensive and this system was not popular.
Normally the boss had the general plates!

On the journey out to Coventry, we were treated to egg and
P
chips at Croxton Kerrial transport cafe just outside Grantham.
No such luxury on the return journey when we were allocated
just four gallons of petrol each at Coventry and sent on our
way.
We were never quite sure whether the boss was firmly
convinced the factory claims of 40 plus mpg were in fact
correct, or if he was just trying to ensure we kept our speed
down. The third option was that he was just mean, as the
journey home was all of 140 miles.

These “all new” range of cars were in fact really good. They
had an option of the basic model with 1500cc engine or the
slightly more superior with a 1750 cc engine.

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