Charles Warrell, the inventor of
the I-Spy series of books, joined the Daily Mail in 1948 as Big Chief I Spy and
his column was in the newspaper daily until 1986 when David Bellamy took on the
mantle. The idea was hugely popular, with 20 million books being sold in the
1950s and 1960s, and it was during this period that the Priory Tea & Coffee
Company issued a dozen or so series of I-Spy cards, amongst them our set of the
month for July, 50 Cars. Issued in 1964 they were described at the time as
being “well up to the usual high standard of production associated with
Priory cards, the colour picture showing the vehicle with various appropriate
town or country backgrounds.” Many types of car, both British and
continental are included, from the small German Isetta ‘Bubble’ car
to the Vanden Plas Princess 4-litre Austin.
In fact the set also includes a couple of American models, the luxury
Lincoln Continental and the sporty Ford Thunderbird amongst a host of other
cars, many of which are still familiar names today – the Mini, the Beetle,
Morris Minor, E-Type Jaguar, Triumph Herald, Hillman Imp, Hillman Minx, Singer
Vogue, Sunbeam Alpine, Humber Super Snipe, Austin A40, Rolls Royce Silver Cloud
and so on, all described on the card backs. The Aston Martin is wrongly called
the D85 instead of the DB5 although it is correct in the special album which
went with the set. The special 32 page album is also available this month,
price £6 and contains descriptions of all the cars plus extra
information. The set of 50 Car cards by Priory Tea & Coffee Co. is
catalogued at £30.
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