Owned by Jack Coleman, S.London. (?)
Previous owner Alfred Draper, Brockley.
6-cyl engine
That was the sum total of my information about this car until in September 2024 Peter Garlick emailed me to say:
I chanced across your website after I did a bit of research on a quiet morning looking at some old family photos that I'd digitalised. I started checking the old registrations of the cars to see if any were still about and SXF 795 came up. A bit of Googling to see if I could find any more information lead me to your page and I wondered if the photo would be of any interest to you. I believe the photo was taken in 1963 along the Romford Road in Stratford E7. It was part of a collection of the annual carnival.
|
|
Indeed very interesting, Peter, thank you. I'm looking at the van behind the band and wondering if it's also a Civil Defence vehicle... an Austin? And the chap marching alongside 795... is that a CD uniform? Were CD mounting a special display at the Carnival, or just providing escort duties?
And with my bus-mad London upbringing, I'm also looking at the green RT bus, which looks to be running on Green Line route 721, which could be right. Google says:
Route 721 ran between Aldgate (Bus & Coach Station) and Brentwood via Whitechapel, Mile End, Bow Road, Stratford, Forest Gate, Manor Park, Ilford, Seven Kings, Goodmayes, Chadwell Heath, Romford, Gallows Corner and Harold Park
Green Line was the network of express (limited stop) services that came into the centre of London from places outside the usual London Transport service area. What is interesting about this is that they were usually closed-door single-decker coaches (classified RF), but this is a double-decker open-platform RT, which would probably only have had standard bus seating, and not the more comfy Green Line style. Not impossible, but a rarity.
But while I was filing Peter's picture, I discovered that I had another one of SXF795...
|
Obviously much later in its life — paintwork removed, and number plate moved to the other wing. I have no idea who sent me this pic (10 years ago), or what the occasion was, but I'm glad to be able to add it to 795's page now.
[To add (or alter) information on this page, please contact me on sxf@teeafit.co.uk.]