What can be seen?

A fantastic ‘new’ photo has emerged on the Isle of Wight heritage page on Facebook taken c1960 outside the Ryde Garage – Downing and Donovan. It is a great photo in its own right because it includes a number of the staff – very intriguing is a glimpse of a car through the door into the showroom, at first it looks like a saloon due to the ‘roof’ angle however, we were unsure and further comments also thought the roof was ‘something else.’

A red Triumph Herald convertible?

The car is definately a Herald. It has no rubber bumpers, so it’s an early one – and it’s not a saloon, because saloons did not have Vignale Crossed flags on the rear wings. Could this be a convertible? A red convertible? Could this be VDL634? The original photograph posted online by Garry Stretch and was taken by his father who worked at Downing & Donovan, he later said “My dad served petrol there when he wasn’t driving buses. Mum worked in the office. He bought a new courier van in blue, YDL 6.”