So many cars! So much has changed!

[NutmegCT]

Views of Berlin circa 1960, both East and West.

Many different marques, but no crowded roads. Could swear I see a Humber in there.

Can anyone identify the car crossing right to left at 1:50 in the film? a Tatra?

Tom M.

 

[JPSmit]

I love video like that - I am sure that even 10 years after the war many Germans couldn't own a car.

99% certain that isn't a Tatra - Tatras were much more beetle shaped - not sure what though - below the belt line it looks like a Lagonda but, above more like a Volvo. nice car whatever it is.

 

[catfood]

My first thought was Volvo

 

[JPSmit]

My first thought was Volvo

Mine too but actually looked and Volvos of that era are still boxy - even the 544 has a boxier curved back.

 

[NutmegCT]

I was 99% sure it's a 1958-ish Saab 93, but the strakes and chrome over the wheel wells aren't in any photos I've found.

1958 Saab 93b

View attachment 46683

 

[JPSmit]

And it was a lot bigger than a Saab! I looked at Borgward and Wartburg and even Horch - no luck

 

[pdplot]

Not a Saab 93. I sold those back in the '50s in Boston. I'll go with a Pobeda - a Polish car. Check it out.

 

[NutmegCT]

Yep - a Pobeda. I actually posted this in the other thread you started on the same video.

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?108781-mystery-car-in-berlin&highlight=pobeda

View attachment 47349

 

[GTP1960]

[h=2]So many cars! So much has changed![/h]

ok I'm no public finance wizard......but I don't get it.

how could they ( or we) afford to build such great roads back in the day & have so little traffic (read tax base) to pay for it?

where as, we, and our incredibly large tax base, (taxed heavily on everything but the air we breathe)
Live with roads that stink and are getting worse.
Realitivly speaking, Is the cost of maintenance & improvements that much more than new construction?

( we are getting hit with a new $60.00 a year "road tax", which got me thinking about it)

 

[JPSmit]

ok I'm no public finance wizard......but I don't get it.

how could they ( or we) afford to build such great roads back in the day & have so little traffic (read tax base) to pay for it?

The autobahns were key to Hitler's Germany and a huge priority - And, realizing that this is post war, there are huge advantages to small countries when it comes to infrastructure. Particularly when you consider that they don't also have the extremes of temperature most of North America does.

where as, we, and our incredibly large tax base, (taxed heavily on everything but the air we breathe)
Live with roads that stink and are getting worse.

Realitivly speaking, Is the cost of maintenance & improvements that much more than new construction?

( we are getting hit with a new $60.00 a year "road tax", which got me thinking about it)

Infrastructure isn't sexy - particularly if you can (as a politician) get your name on something new. :grin:

 

[NutmegCT]

Suggestion: look up how the US Interstate system was originally financed.

Not what many think.