FACES LAND - 1986

Here's a nice gritty urban scene looking along North Ellen Street towards a rather intimidating Jamaica Tower.
This place, as most of you will know, is called "Faces Land", with the housing on the left having gargoyle-like structures of human heads protruding from the window frames.
I also spotted a "Pola Cola" advert on the empty shop above a tag by Kinzie of the Hulltoon Huns.
Then there are the 2 black cars in the foreground - a cool Capri on the left and a lame Lada on the right.
Not forgetting the coal lorry making a delivery.
All this screams "1970's" to me, but in actual fact the photo was taken on 15th April 1986!
Click onto the image for a closer look.
Photo by Neale Elder.

STOUTS IN MARKETGAIT - 80'S

Stout Brothers garage & showroom was in the Marketgait in the 80's and the above items date from then.
The advert is from January 1988 and is basically letting it be known that the new Peugeot 405 won the "Car Of The Year" title.
The photos were taken in 1985 and remind us that Stouts were also Talbot dealers.

DALLFIELD MULTIS IN PROGRESS - 60'S

Here's a crackin' shot taken at the bottom o' the Hull in the mid 1960's when work on the Dallfield multis was well under way.
This image has "the 60's" stamped all over it - the multis being built, the cars, the red phone box, the community police box and the billboard ad for Consulate cigarettes.
What a whopper!
Photo from Gordon C.

TELE-TAXIS CARD - 1970

69333 was the only taxi service number I knew from memory back in the 70's & 80's.
Even when in an alcoholic stupor, somehow I still managed to remember it, which saved a lot of blurry-eyed fumbling about with phone books in phone boxes!
The card is older than when I started calling up Tele-Taxis mind you, dating from around 1970, when I was still in primary school!

CITY CENTRE POINT DUTY - EARLY 60'S

This is policewoman, Sarah Christie, on point duty at the junction of Nethergate & Union Street in the early 60's.
I can remember the police in the 60's directing the traffic at Arbroath Road/Princes Street crossroads and Seagate/Commercial Street junction, so I'm guessing these were occasions when the traffic lights weren't working. Or unless it was before traffic lights were introduced?!!
So just as Sarah brings the traffic to a halt, it's time for me too to put the brakes on the present car topic that's been running the past few days and prepare for a different kind of trip - a journey back in time to the terminus of Dundee's music scene!

BROUGHTY FERRY CAR RALLY - 1970'S

Here's a vintage car rally that took place in Broughty Ferry sometime in the 70's.
Not sure if the cars were owned by locals or came from all over the UK, but they seemed to have pulled quite a sizeable crowd.

RETRO CARS ON PARADE

Just as a wee reminder, I stitched this slide-show together featuring many of the cars that were on the go in the 60's and early 70's.
Being schoolboy age at the time, much of my knowledge on cars from this era was gathered by trying to avoid them all when playing futba in the streets and down at Craigie lock-ups.
I can still name lots of them from memory - Minx, Consul, Herald, Corsair, Imp, Elf, Zephyr.... all of which crop up in the video below along with around 40 others, including the quirky bubble car!
See how many you can name (I don't have a list by the way)!
My neighbour a couple of doors along from me in Kemnay Gardens had a Zephyr and he used to speed into the culdee about 60mph then slam on the brakes to a scary sudden stop. It was like the batmobile zooming into the batcave (they used to speed the film up for that bit)!
When I was around 12 (1970ish) he once took me to a match at Muirton in his Zephyr and drove all the way at 100mph.
Dundee to Perth in 2 minutes!!

LOCHEE HIGH STREET TRAFFIC - EARLY 70'S

Another line of period cars, this time along a segment of Lochee High Street in the early 70's.
My attempt to name some may not all be 100% accurate so feel free to correct me (without swearing!)...here goes...Morris 1100, Humber Sceptre, Austin Maxi, Morris Traveller, 3 Mini's and 2 Vauxhall Viva's..not too sure of the remainder but it's a typical everyday display from this time zone.
I can name the shops though because I have an early 70's directory by my side.
Left to right - Kosto (newsagent) complete with Pola Cola sign above the door - Gall & Co (drapers) - Miss D. Fenton (fish merchant) - D. Webster & Co (butcher) - J. Milne (confectioner) - W. Low (supermarket) - Idea For Living (household accessories) - C. W. Carr (shoe retailer) - Forbes Johnston (chemist) and Alex Munro (butcher) with the canopy.

CITY CENTRE TRAFFIC - 1960'S

In contrast to yesterdays empty road along Hawkhill, here's a couple of pictures from the 60's showing a traffic packed High Street and Murraygate.

This was the era of Anglia's, Hillman's, Sunbeam's, Wolseley's and such like, and I'm sure some of you will be able to identify a few retro classics in there.

That's a Zodiac parked outside DM Brown's doorway.

Even the bus is in on it with an advert for SMT, who were Vauxhall and Bedford dealers.

The top picture comes from the "Dundee And Round About" book I featured last year, dated 1964, and even back then they were discussing the pedestrian v traffic battle, with the forecast being a victory for pedestrians!

Underneath it is the Murraygate when it too saw plenty vehicle action.

You can make out a beer lorry delivering fresh barrels to The Old Bank Bar.

Both sides of the street are crammed with cars, and yet the sign at the foot of the lamppost says "No Parking"!!

Click on the images to have a closer look.

Photos by DC Thomson.

DINKY v CORGI - 1960'S

See if I was forced into a darkened room when I was a kid, then tied to a chair and had electrodes clamped to my ears by some assertive market researcher who, while turning the current up higher & higher, asked me if I preferred Dinky or Corgi cars to play with?

I think I'd choose Corgi.

I suppose size-wise you got more car for your money with Dinky but I reckon the quality of finish on a Corgi was just a touch more superior.

Having said that, I sometimes had problems with Corgi's rubber tyres slipping off the wheels when cornering. Dinky, who had a harder rubber compound would tend to stay on when put through similar rigorous tests!

Notice the car from "Joe 90"? Well some of the "celeb" cars I had in my collection in the 60's were - James Bond's (bullet proof screen & ejector seat) - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which I hung "flying" from the ceiling) - FAB 1 from Thunderbirds - The Green Hornet limo, and a couple of others.

One I always wanted but never got, was the Batmobile. Possibly the best of the 60's cars, but unfortunately for me, proved too elusive!

Top ad is 1966.

Mid ad is 1969.

Bottom ad is 1969.

Click on the ads to read the larger versions.

DUNDEE STREET FREAKS - LATE 70'S

Here's the Dundee Street Freaks out on one of their cruises through the city centre.
The picture was taken around the 1978/79 period.
Dundee Street Freaks was a local car club for those who liked to indulge in customising their motors.
This fine example above was owned by Ralph Seiffert from Muirhead. It's an old 50's model Ford Popular which had been impressively modified. As well as it's eye-catching bodywork, it had a 2.5 litre Daimler v8 engine, Vauxhall front suspension & steering, and Jaguar rear suspension. It has also been exhibited at numerous custom car shows around Britain.
The Vauxhall coming into shot from the left was driven by Stuart Clumpas, who was a student at the time. He later went on to run the Dance Factory gigs at Fat Sam's in the 80's, and more recently, organise the T In The Park festivals.
Big thanks to Angus.

BROOKE BOND CARDS #1

I reckon most of you who were kids in the 60's will remember collecting Brooke Bond picture cards. This was when tea packets contained loose tea rather than tea bags, and we needed a tea caddy & sieve to make a cuppa.
There were a variety of subjects cropped up on the cards as they changed from one set to the next. Some I can recall are, wildlife, space, famous people and butterflies, but there were only 2 themes I managed to collect the complete set of, motors cars and ships.
These were hard earned too, having to go around the primary playground trying to find swaps with the doublers!
The 2 books above are from around the 1968/69 period and not only contain the full set of cards (50 in each) but they also had a lot of illustrations and extra info on the subjects.

OPENING OF TAY ROAD BRIDGE - 1966

On this day 43 years ago, the Tay Road Bridge was officially opened.
Also on this day 43 years ago when I was aged 8, I was playing with my mates in the culdee where I lived, when one of my neighbours shouted over to us to ask if we wanted to go across the bridge. Needless to say, we all piled into his car. It was around teatime we set off, thinking we were in for a nice pleasant half hour trip, however, it seemed like the rest of Dundee had the same idea at the same time as the queue from our end of town was miles long, right along Dock St & Broughty Ferry Road. It was the same over in Fife when we eventually inched our way along the bridge. It was dark when we got back after what turned out to be about a 4-5 hour crawl, with the parents worried what had happened to us.
I remember the neighbour saying "At least, when you're old, you'll be able to tell people that you went across the bridge the day it opened!" - and I think this is that very moment!
I also recall there was a bit of a rush for Dundonians to get their mitts on one of these First Day Covers that commemorated the occasion. Wonder how many kept theirs though?
The film clip below is from the same day too and has a bit about the "new" bridge and how Dundee was looking forward into the future!
Lord Provost Maurice McManus explains the reasons for the bridge and its cost.
By the way, he is who the McManus Galleries building is named after.

VICTORIA ROAD - SHUT SHOPS

A photo showing a section of the area in the previous picture I put up.

From right to left you have - The Lion Bar (a pub, not a confectioner!) - Roadcraft School of Motoring - Crown Wallpaper & Paint Stores - Tosney Fish Merchant and again the stripey shop is B.G. Forbes music shop.

Forbes sold instruments here with pianos a specialty, but upstairs they run a music school and I used to go here for guitar lessons around 1967/68 when I was aged 9/10. I only lasted a few months though as I ended up leaving due to "musical differences!". He was trying to teach me basic "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do" stuff that I already knew, but I was wanting to learn chords like I heard on The Beatles "I Am The Walrus", so I took a strop one day, declared he wasn't up to the task and ended up learning to play guitar myself at home.

You can view another shot of this area when it was doing business in the 60's in my November 2008 Archives. Just stick Forbes in the search box.

Finally, the car parked on the right is a Ford Anglia and the one up from it I think could be a Zephyr.

PANDA CARS AND BLACK MARIA'S

When panda cars first hit the scene on trial in England in the 60's, they started off with black & white markings, hence the nickname. However, when the rest of the UK adopted the panda's, they changed the colouring to light blue & white, although the nickname stuck.
Dundee had a fleet of Morris Minors (as in above photo) and then in the 70's I'm sure they changed to or added Ford Escorts.
Craigie, where I lived, had a small local Police Station beside the shops so we always saw them passing by on a regular basis. Still, despite being familiar with them, when we were primary school age, every time we saw one approaching from a distance, we always ended up hiding behind hedges or running up closies, even when we were just only playing in the garden.
It was a good bit of practise I suppose for our teenage years when they would come looking for us and it was time to scarper over walls & fences!
Black Maria's were black Police vans. A bit more sinister and always on the scene when there was serious trouble to deal with. Most often used at football matches. They would open up the back doors and just chuck you inside!
By the 1980's, panda's became extinct as the cars and vans were replaced with the white "jam sandwich" look.
Photo by the Scotsman. Tints by GG

THE OLD OVERGATE CAR PARK

I've put quite a few items up about the old Overgate shops, so now it's time to have a little look around the car park.
The above photo give's you a good reminder of the layout.
Below, however, is a great piece of film from the mid 60's that actually takes you there. No need for any further descriptions as you will see it for yourself. So fasten your seat belt and enjoy the wee hurl.