Cork/Pimlott Truck Photo Dating Please

[arthurk]

... until about 1948 films were unavailable in the shops for amateur photographers.

I don't think that was the case. My father was a keen amateur photographer, and the pictures I've inherited include a number taken during his WW2 service (Army, Northern Ireland).

What does occur to me, though, is a question that might relate to the date and location: where were Cowan & Co based?

The original post says this was taken in Manchester, yet the truck has a Glasgow registration. So, were Cowans from Glasgow but delivering to Manchester? Or were Cowans in Manchester and using a truck that had been registered in Glasgow?

If the latter, that suggests the truck may have been secondhand when they got it, which might push the date of the photo on a bit. Or could the basic Leyland chassis have gone to a truck builder in Scotland, then been sold and registered there?

[Henry7]

... until about 1948 films were unavailable in the shops for amateur photographers.

I don't think that was the case. My father was a keen amateur photographer, and the pictures I've inherited include a number taken during his WW2 service (Army, Northern Ireland).

Sorry for going off-topic, but the unavailabilty of roll films in the shops (in Lancashire) is something I remember clearly.  Maybe they still sold them in the Naafi - a neighbour in the RAF took some snaps of my family in 1946, which was a surprise. 

Harry.

[RobinOz]

Cowans and Co had a base in Chester road Manchester and a couple of relatives worked there.

[arthurk]

OK - I hadn't come across Cowans before, but I've now had a look in the 1932 phone books (at Ancestry) and I see they had branches in both Glasgow and Manchester, plus other towns in the same directories. So if they were a national firm their trucks could have been purchased and registered more or less anywhere.

[RobinOz]

Thanks again arthurk, I'll have to have a look at that phonebook.

[Eggy1948]

RobinOz - had a go at removing a few of the scratches on the photo and then added a border :-

[arthurk]

Superb restoration, Eggy 

[RobinOz]

Oh  eggy, you're wonderful.
Thank you so much, my cousins will be delighted.

[Eggy1948]

Oh  eggy, you're wonderful.
Thank you so much, my cousins will be delighted.

Superb restoration, Eggy 

Thank you