EXECUTIVE DECISION
The year is 1959, and two adjoining neighbours in a leafy suburban avenue have very different views regarding motor cars. On the left, we have a grammar school deputy headmaster who wishes to have the casts of The Goon Show, Hancock’s Half Hour and Beyond Our Ken deported to Antarctica on the grounds of sedition. His role model is Edgar Lustgarten from the Scotland Yard B-features, and he disapproves of all Teddy Boys, beatniks and anyone who prefers an espresso to a nice cup of tea. He is never happier than when driving his immaculately polished Wolseley to the rotary club.
And on the right is a cool cat (in his mind at least), one who delights in wearing an Italian-cut suit and who regularly dons a pair of sunglasses when visiting the local corner shop. For the up-and-coming estate agent known to say 'Ciao!’ (in a Portsmouth accent) to the head waiter at the trattoria, there can only be one choice for a new car – the Triumph Herald with its all-independent suspension, a prestigious name and, of course, Giovanni Michelotti’s styling. In the words of the advertisements, it is a car you can ‘park with pride!’, although colleagues of the Herald owner do wish he would cease uttering the
