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<\/p>\nYou may be aware of a certain Royal shindig that’s happening tomorrow, but for those of you who have chosen to set up camp under rocks, Prince Charles is all set to level up and be crowned King of England as part of the official Coronation ceremony. Oh, and we all get a day off work as a result. Rejoice! Alongside an extra bank holiday and the words to the national anthem having to be slightly amended we’ve also witnessed huge changes in the automotive landscape in the 70 years since the coronation centre piece that is St Edward’s Crown was last donned by a royal when Elizabeth was anointed Queen of this green and pleasant land in 1953. Cars today are boring, frankly, so to mark the occasion in our own Car & Classic way, and with perhaps a little less pomp and circumstance, we thought we’d take a look at the cars us Brits were flocking to showrooms for back in the days of the last coronation.<\/p>\n
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Along with a prospering commemorative coronation tea set market, the early ’50s was a booming era for the British motor industry too. It’s hard to believe today but by the turn of the decade the UK provided over half of the world\u2019s exported cars, more than any other country. It’s a far cry from our rather paltry efforts nowadays but back then, with mainland Europe still trying to recover from the devastating effects of the war, Britain was in a great position to meet global demand and British cars were at their popular peak. Sadly it wouldn’t last and Britain would soon begin to lose out to countries like Japan, the United States and Germany but for that brief time we really were at the top of the pile, so grab a cuppa and a couple of your preferred dunkers and join us on a trip down memory lane as we reminisce about five British cars that are very much classics now but were all brand new at the time of the last royal coronation in 1953.<\/p>\n
Most people will be aware of the AC Cobra but it’s a car that unceremoniously stole the limelight from the Ace<\/a>. But then stuffing a whopping great V8 into an already stunning car will tend to have that effect. The Ace was not only beautiful to look at, thanks to designer John Tojeiro, but it was a bit of a revelation for AC who were struggling to remain competitive after the war. With a tubular ladder chassis, fully independent suspension and a hand-beaten aluminium body the Ace instantly made an impact but the V8 that Carroll Shelby dropped in to create the Cobra wasn’t the first time a larger powerplant was utilised.<\/p>\n You see, when the Ace was released in 1953 it came equipped with a rather lethargic and ageing 2.0-litre straight-six that developed a somewhat meagre 100 horsepower, which didn’t really fit with the car’s sporty aesthetic. It wasn’t until ’56 that a 120bhp Bristol six-pot with three Solex carbs was offered, pushing the Ace’s top speed to nearly 120mph whilst simultaneously slashing its 0-60 time to nine-ish seconds. AC didn’t stop there though. Five years later a 170bhp 2.6-litre straight-six was added to the line-up and the Ace finally had the bite to match its bark, something that clearly piqued Shelby’s interest and the rest, as they say, is history<\/a>, and a rather celebrated one at that.<\/p>\n When it was launched in 1953, the Ford Popular<\/a> 103E, or ‘Pop’ as it was affectionately known, was the cheapest car in Britain, but then there wasn’t much to it really. Based on Ford’s older, pre-war Anglia it was sold with a 30bhp 1172cc sidevalve four-cylinder engine mated to a three-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh only on second and third. It was robust, reliable and would live up to its namesake because people bought them. A lot of them. The car’s inherent simplicity and affordability made the Pop ripe for the new hot-rodding<\/a> craze that was sweeping the nation having made its way across the Atlantic from America.<\/p>\n It was the<\/em> car to modify here in Britain and it remains, urgh, a popular choice within the hot-rodding community (sorry) but back in 1953 when it was initially released it provided a cheaper alternative to the more modern Anglia 100E and Austin A30, but then with 6 volt electrics, rod-operated drum brakes, semaphore indicators and no water pump you got what you paid for. Despite its limitations, however, and giving way to the next-gen Popular 100E after nine years in production, it remains a proper British icon and offers a cheap and easy way into classic car ownership.<\/p>\n The second sports car on our list, the Austin-Healey 100<\/a>, like the Ford Pop above, was ripe for modding, with two sportier versions being offered later on, which we’ll get to in due course. The first of the big Healeys, the 100 was developed by car designer, racing driver and all round automotive legend Donald Healey who showcased the car at the 1952 London Motor Show where it immediately impressed the brass at Austin who were looking for a replacement for the A90 Atlantic, a car that just so happened to be the basis, mechanically at least, for Healey’s new sporty number. With all of the pieces falling serendipitously into place Austin began building the car at Longbridge in ’53.<\/p>\n Fitted with the same 2.6-litre, four-cylinder engine as the Atlantic the lithe 100 could hit 100mph flat out, giving the car its numerical designation. It was aerodynamic and light making it quite the performer at the time. Then came the 100M in ’55. With its tweaked motor and stiffened suspension – either installed at the factory or at home in kit form – the 100M, or ‘Modified’, really brought the car to life. An even more performance oriented version known as the 100S was also developed and aimed directly at the race track.<\/p>\n The second in Triumph’s fantastic TR series, and one that well and truly put the British company on the map as a bona fide sports car manufacturer, the TR2<\/a> debuted, like all of the cars in this list, in 1953 but its a storied history<\/a> from genesis to the point of production is an interesting one. Triumph head honcho Sir John Black had seen the success of the MG TD both at home and in the export market and decided he wanted a piece of the action. The simple, robust but more importantly quick TR2 (thanks to its 90bhp, 2.0-litre engine) was born out of Black’s dogged determination and desire to succeed and was quickly developed with help from legendary engineer and BRM test driver Ken Richardson.<\/p>\n The fact that the car (albeit a modified example) achieved a top speed run of 124mph with Richardson at the wheel may have helped bolster its appeal but the fact of the matter remains it was and still is a great little roadster. Engaging, entertaining and simple to maintain it turned the tide for Triumph and would go on to secure the future of the company, and that’s a legacy not to be sniffed at.<\/p>\n It’s kind of fitting to include an Aston Martin in this list because the Coronation kid Charles himself has owned a DB6 Volante since 1970 that runs on bioethanol (the very car used for this article’s feature image, in fact), but then that doesn’t fit with our ’50s theme so we’ll leave it here as a footnote. The DB2\/4 does, however, fall neatly into this Coronation collection because it was first produced in 1953. The car was designed as a grand tourer that was available as either a 2+2 hatchback, drophead coup\u00e9 or a two-seater, fixed-head coup\u00e9 and boy was it a looker. It went well too, thanks to its W.O. Bentley-designed, 2.6-litre Lagonda straight-six engine that developed 125bhp.<\/p>\n![\"automotive,](\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1958ACAceBristol-800x533.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nFord Popular<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"automotive,](\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1956-ford-popular-63a4e5f8813ce-800x600.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nAustin-Healey 100<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"automotive,](\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1956-austin-healey-100m-6409efd2ddc61-800x533.jpg\")
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This version of the 100 has a stiffer chassis and more of the body panels were made from aluminium. The engine remained essentially the same but featured a slightly revised block paired with an aluminium Weslake head. Larger SU carbs were also fitted which helped push peak power to 132bhp. Brakes were upgraded to discs all round to help cope with the hike in power and the 100S, or ‘Sebring’ remains the most coveted of all Austin-Healey 100s. It’s very much a case of hen’s teeth and deep pockets with this particular model, however.<\/p>\nTriumph TR2<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nAston Martin DB2\/4<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"automotive,](\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1954AstonMartinDB24-800x533.jpg\")
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