Wolseley: down memory lane

On looking through some old photo’ albums today I came across a poor quality picture of a car.  (see below)      

It is the second car I owned, a Wolseley 1500.  I bought it circa 1970 from a dear friend, Geraldine R Humpidge, who died in 1991 aged 94.  I would have been 47 years old in the year she died, so our friendship was indeed inter-generational.        

Wolseley was never a major British car manufacturer.  It made “nice cars for the middle classes”, and for a long time it was the preferred car for Police use.  (Old British films with a police theme will often show a Wolseley police car.) 

Wolesley  was eventually absorbed by the “Nuffield Group” (Morris, M.G., Riley etc).        

The blue Wolseley 1500 which I owned  (registration 403 ABX) was a winner.  Despite its boxy and un-aerodynamic shape it could move.  I once drove it at 100 mph on the M4 Motorway.  It had a nifty enough engine (1500 cc, hence the unimaginative name of the car)  and a very responsive shift-stick, 4 speed gear box.    

Best of all, the fascia was trimmed with real walnut!

 

I sold it to one of my brothers when I was in my freshman year in seminary, in order to finance a trip to Kenya and Tanzania.         

Then it was sold again and again.   But the “cool” thing is that the three subsequent owners were my brothers: Andrew Povey, Stephen Povey, and Martyn Povey.    

Memory lane is about a funny old car which four Povey brothers owned and enjoyed.      

 

The scanned photo' is of the very Wolseley 1500 which I and three of my brothers owned.  The photo' dates to 1971/72.

   

Here is a better picture of a Wolseley 1500 ( though it's not the one which I owned)