60 Jaguar E-types await handover in 1961. But it wasn’t all glamour for Britain’s car industry
SOMETIMES IT TAKES AN OUTSIDER to see the wood when the experts are inspecting the trees. That’s the position of TV producer and novelist Peter Grimsdale – not a regular motoring writer but a life-long car enthusiast who presents a wide-ranging portrayal of Britain’s recovery from war strife to top nation on wheels.
It celebrates Mini and E-type, Lotus and Jim Clark equally, but highlighted against a background of industry mismanagement, distrust of innovation and a fear of flash. In a chapter headed ‘No style please, we’re British’, Rover chief Maurice Wilkes rejects a design “because it’s a head-turner and we don’t make head-turners. We like to make vehicles which are not noticed…”