1955 vs. 2020 – How UK roads have changed in 65 years – Axon's Automotive Anorak

Speaking about car use since the lockdown was implemented in late March, Mr. Shapps said of British traffic volumes now, “As Transport Secretary in the 21^st century I can now say that the level of car and road use is the equivalent to 1955 and I must be the first Transport Secretary in history who celebrates the idea that there are fewer cars on the road and fewer people using public transport than ever before.”

Intrigued to think that the UK’s traffic volume is now at the same level as it was 65 years ago, I’ve taken a look back at life on the road in Britain in 1955. Back then, life on the road, and British life in general, was very different to the Britain we are used to today.

Way back in 1955. the average British weekly wage was the equivalent of £9.25 (now around £704 per week), with the average house worth about £2,064 (c. £231,185 today), with only eight per cent of people owning their own homes, compared to almost 70 per cent today. In 1955 an average loaf of bread cost 4pence (c.£1.08 today), a pint of milk 3p (£1.63 per pint now) and six eggs just 8p (around £1.28 now). For a £1 spend, 65 years ago you could have bought 15 pints of beer, 14 fish suppers or visited the cinema 10 times!

For motorists (of which there were considerably fewer in 1955), a gallon of petrol cost four shillings and six pence back in 1955 – that's 22p in today's money (4 pence per litre at the time – ed.). In 1955, an Austin A30 would have set you back £529, with the improved A35 – which arrived in 1956 – starting at £541. The most expensive A35, the Countryman estate, commanded a price tag of £638. That’s the equivalent of around £16,560 in 2020.

Higher up the price scale, a luxurious Humber Hawk would have cost £695 plus £290 in purchase taxes back in 1955. In today’s money, that’s around £27,975, about the same price you’ll pay for a Ford Mondeo Zetec Edition in 2020, with the Humber being considered to be more prestigious, aspirational and ‘special’ 65 years ago.

Life on the UK’s roads in 1955 was also quite different to what we are used to today. Although traffic levels were similar to current conditions, 65 years ago there were no motorways to be found in Britain; the first section of dual carriageway ‘motorway’ not being opened in England until 1958 (the Preston Bypass in Lancashire, which now forms part of the M6 motorway). Britain's first full-length motorway, the M1, opened one year later in 1959.

Speed limits and drink-driving restrictions weren’t introduced to UK motorists for a further 12 years (in 1967), with seat belts not being fitted (as an extra cost option, and not obligatory to wear) until 1967 either.

The 3.3 million passenger cars on our roads in 1955 (33 million plus today) looked rather different 65 years ago too. There were no hatchbacks (the first not appearing for another four years, in the form of the innovative Pininfarina-designed Austin A4 Countryman), and no crossovers or SUVs (beyond the rustic Land Rover 4x4) existed. In addition, 1955 British motorists couldn’t enjoy the benefits of seatbelts, airbags, ABS, traction control, cupholders, alloy wheels and many other late 20^th Century technical innovations.

Back in 1955, more than 95 per cent of the cars on our roads were made in the UK, as opposed to less than 20 per cent of all new cars now sold here being British-built. By 1955, five companies produced 90 per cent of the UK's motor vehicle output: Nuffield/BMC, Ford, Rootes, Standard-Triumph and Vauxhall, with three of these fully-British owned. Today, just Ford and Vauxhall have survived, both under overseas’ ownership.

Of the dozen or so smaller British car producers that existed 65 years ago, Rover and Jaguar were strong niche makers, with a myriad of other minor players – from AC to Turner – making up the 60 plus UK car marques that existing in 1955, more than in any other country in the world at the time.

Of these smaller British car makers, only five still exist today; Aston Martin, Bentley, Lotus, Morgan and Rolls-Royce, all now also under foreign ownership. Too many other once-proud British car manufacturers have been consigned to the motoring history books over the past 65 years, including Jensen, Daimler, Morris, Lagonda, Riley, Singer, Bristol, Reliant, plus many, many more.

Great Britain was still the world's second largest motor vehicle producer 65 years ago, after the USA, but within just five years, the UK had dropped down into third place, behind Germany. Today, the UK ranks as the world’s sixth largest vehicle producing nation, slotting between South Korea and Spain in fifth and seventh places.

Best-selling passenger cars in the UK in 1955 included the Morris Minor and Austin A30 from the Nuffield group (later BMC/British Leyland), the Ford 100E (Anglia, Popular and Prefect), Hillman Minx and Standard 8 as ‘affordable’ smaller family saloons and estates. Higher up the size and price scale, the Austin Cambridge/Morris Oxford duo, the Ford Consul-Zodiac range, Standard Vanguard and Vauxhall Velox-Cresta were popular choices for more affluent white collar workers. Higher up still sat the Rover P4, Jaguar 2.4 (a.k.a. Mark I) and Humber Snipe, with the plusher Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, racier Alvis TC, advanced Bristol 403, and Bentley R-Type/R-R Silver Dawn twins being the reserve of the upper-crust elite.

At the time throaty wind-swept British sports cars ruled to world, with open-top roadsters such as the MGA, Triumph TR3, Austin-Healey 100 S, Jaguar XK140 and costly coupe Jensen 541 and Aston Martin DB2/4 models in high demand, both at home and in lucrative export markets.

Speaking of exports, new car imports into the UK accounted for less than three per cent to total sales in 1955, with the occasional foreign Volkswagen Beetle and Fiat 1100 being the most popular (but still marginal) overseas sellers in Blighty. The Renault 4CV and Citroën Traction Avant accounted for a handful of British sales too, with both of these French makes actually building cars in the UK, in the form of the Renault 750 in Acton, west of London, plus the Citroën Light 15 and Big Six (and briefly the 2CV) in Slough.

A few North American passenger sedans also found UK homes, the baulk of these cars coming from the ex-Empire Canada as part of the Commonwealth, rather than the USA. Exciting new game-changing imports launched in 1955, such as the revolutionary Citroën DS and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ (the world’s first 150mph production car), wouldn’t arrive on British shores until the following year.

So, as we’ve now seen, whilst we might be able to enjoy the ultra-light traffic conditions of 65 years ago, in reality most of us cannot really experience the near-empty Queen’s Highways (despite the number of motorists caught speeding increasing, with speeds of up to 155mph being recorded!) due to the ‘stay at home’ and ‘essential travel only’ lockdown conditions during these challenging times.

So, if you really must drive, please limit it to Gran Turismo, Forza Horizon 4, Need For Speed, and what have you, from the comfort of your own sofa. Drive safely…

London image by John Cameron, vintage London image by Annie Spratt.