From the archive: on this day in 1951
We sampled plenty of ‘specialist’ cars, but “the popular ‘middle’ size of car also had a good show, with the Standard Vanguard,Velox, Morris Six, Wolseley Six Eighty and the latest Humber Hawk also coming into the list”.
The rise of automatic gearboxes was a hot topic, as this reduction of duties “must appeal to a very high proportion of motorists”. We also noted that ride had improved, due to the growing use of independent front suspension, and the trend of more power was continuing – but not necessarily yielding faster acceleration times, because unfortunately “WEIGHTS ARE GOING UP” . Therefore, a 2.0-litre large saloon then weighed about 1300kg. The Dewar Trophy for the most outstanding technical achievement of 1950 heralded the Jet 1, the first car to employ gas turbine propulsion.