Classic Car Buyer Magazine No.244 VED CRISIS WITH AMONTH LEFT Back Issue

As the September 3 issue date at the foot of this page is the
same date in 1939 when Great Britain declared war on Nazi
Germany, we mark the moment the world order was changed forever by
taking a look at how big a role our car industry played during the Second
World War. This interesting feature by regular contributor Ted Connolly
looks at how major motor companies built shadow factories on green field sites and turned car production over to building aircraft, military vehicles and associated equipment, as well as munitions for the duration of the conflict. Although the car industry underwent great changes during
those dark days, Coventry was always considered to be the heart of
our motor industry. All this could’ve changed following an air raid one night in late 1940 when almost a third of the city’s manufacturing capacity was destroyed. However, due to the city’s cleverly located shadow factories, Coventry’s industrial base eventually emerged from the conflict stronger and better equipped to face the rigours of the second half of the 20th century.
Over the years, a whole host of interesting cars have come out of this Midlands-based city, and to follow on from this article we’ve put our collective heads together and selected what we consider to be the
best cars to come out of Coventry.As you can imagine, this wasn’t a
simple task, as from the dawn of motoring there have been well over
100 different vehicle manufacturers based in and around our very own
‘Motown’. So we’ve put our necks on the line and selected what we think is an interesting bunch of cars and I’m sure you will let us know by the usual channels what your favourite Coventry-built car is if you disagree
with the ones we’ve featured.
with the ones we’ve featured.
The weather over the recent Bank Holiday weekend showed just how
changeable conditions can be over a very short period; glorious sunshine
one day followed by persistent rain the next.