The good old days.

[Joe_Cole]

I've been given a copy of an old chandlery catalogue published by Harper Marine in Rochester. I guess that it's late 1960's

The prices make interesting reading

British Seagull 3-4hp £42 10s
Wessex Red Flares 18/6 for a pack of 6
Masthead light £1 3s 6d
20watt 2 way radio with RDF £194 5s (no wonder many boats didn't have a radio)
CQR 20lb anchor £8 9s 9d
Walkers log £21 5s 6p
2pints 2pack International polyurathane 35/9
Antifoul 1 gall £10 2s
Suit of sails for a Fulmar £47 10s

Joe


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[Talbot]

Ah the delights of real money, before we started going all european,, stop it I will be watering my beer soon /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[pvb]

Ah! Nostalgia...

Prices like that bring back memories of Thomas Foulkes' place under the railway arches in Leytonstone. Spent many happy hours looking round there. And remember their little catalogues, with the happy smiling faces of their staff beaming out at you?

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[boatless]

Not sure I'd pay £42.50 for a new Seagull, even today. Was it 3hp on a bad day - if it started at all - and 4hp on a good day, or could they just not decide?

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.

 

[VicS]

Re: In defence of Seagulls

I have a Seagull 40minus (featherweight). It was new in 1974 and I bought it in about 1980 or 81. It is still totally reliable, use it on my tender, and I see no reason for it not lasing another 30yrs. It's a bit noisy and a bit messy (not so bad since I modified it to run on 25:1 though). I dont know how many horse power it is but it dosn't matter as it is just the right number for my dinghy and it dosn't need any stabling, just a corner in the garage. It dosn't need any grazing, just 1/2 litre of petrol each time I use it there's no mucking out, just a few cm3 of gear oil every winter.

I also have a 40 plus dating from 1973 which I bought in about 1975 for my Mirror dinghy all the same comments apply.

As far as the prices in the catalogue go they may look cheeap but what was your salary then? Mine was under £1000 I think

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by VicS on 19/06/2004 20:28 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[boatless]

Re: In defence of Seagulls

I was still on pocket money then. I will say that the unmistakable note of a Seagull is an implicit part of a summer evening on an English river.

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.

 

[Mhvoiceuk]

According to this useful website - http://www.eh.net/hmit/ppowerbp/ - these prices would convert in real terms to the following today (assuming the catalogue is from 1968):

British Seagull 3-4hp £453.56
Wessex Red Flares £9.87 for a pack of 6
Masthead light £12.54
20watt 2 way radio with RDF £2073.03 (no wonder many boats didn't have a radio)
CQR 20lb anchor £90.44
Walkers log £227.05
2pints 2pack International polyurathane £19.08
Antifoul 1 gall £107.79
Suit of sails for a Fulmar £506.92

Flares, sails, lights all cheaper in '68. Radio ten times the price. Other things much the same.




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[cliff]

2/6, or half a crown in 1968 bought me 2½gal of 20:1 2stroke. If I remember it was 2 shillings for the 20pints of 2 star and 6d for the pint of 2T oil

Works out at £1.33 in todays money.
Anyone know how much 2½ gal of 20:1 costs today? (£10+ ?)

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[VicS]

I'm sure your 1968 petrol prices cant be right.

I am sure that when I first owned a car, in 1963, I used to get just over 4gallons for £1 so thats just a bit less than 5/- per gallon.

Your figures work out at less than 10d per gallon! That must have been many years earlier.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>

 

[cliff]

Don't think so, unless my marbles have done out to play. The reason I remember is my pocket maney in those days /forums/images/icons/wink.gif was 2/6 which got me a full tank of 2t (2½ gal) for the perkins twin 6 for boating at the weekend. Maybe my marbles have gone and I an a couple of years out but it cant be that much out.

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[FullCircle]

Marbles gone absent I am afraid. Petrol was 6 shillings a gallon in 1970 , rising to 34p in 1972 (in the Park Lane London Garage)when I put my FS1E Moped on the road. Then it went ballistic in 1973 when Ted Heath made a fortune on selling all the war surplus candles to power our homes for 3 days a week......

<hr width=100% size=1>Second Chance - First Love. Engine fired up first time, launching next week now!!

 

[cliff]

Re: Help needed

Anyoone finds my marbles please return them - I'm lost without them.

Ahh one can dream - must have been a few years earlier - Doesn't time fly.

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[claymore]

Well - I've just been checking my old receipts and Cleveland Discol was 4/10d a gallon in 1966 when I was first driving. Which did mean that you got 4 gallons for just under a pound.
Bitter was 1/10d and Mild was 1/7d
Youngers Tartan was 2/-
My earnings in 1967 amounted to the princely sum of £9 per week.
I bought my first house in 1970 for £2500 and the mortgage was £25:00 per month
I'd have bought the whole bloody street if anyone had hinted what they'd be worth today!

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>regards
Claymore<font color=purple>
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[VictorII]

Europe, was:Re: The good old days.

If you Brits think you have to be condescending about Europe all the time, try joining the USA. Perhaps they'll welcome you. Do you still hear the Portuguese moan about the world leader they once were (500 years ago)? They are happy in the EU because they know where their priorities lie.
You're a small island in a big world. Get over it.
Victor

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[boatless]

Europe, was:Re: The good old days.

And you're from where exactly?

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.

 

[VictorII]

Europe, was:Re: The good old days.

Brussels, incidently. Not so grand as any city in the UK, I admit. But poverty still beneath 6 percent, despite being at the heart of the EU.
But being in any other place in Europe, I would't think differently about UK politics, I assume.
Victor

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[bob_tyler]

Europe, was:Re: The good old days.

I remember my father complaining bitterly, in 1938, when Cleveland Discol, the very best petrol, went up from 1/6d to 1/6½d per gallon. He did his nut!

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