As few British motorists were used to the pleasure of automatic transmission in the 1950s, those manufacturers that offered such an option often had to produce explanatory booklets.
This handy little tome from BMC boasted that piloting an automatic was ‘just like driving with an ordinary synchromesh gearbox except that there is no clutch pedal to operate’. There was also ‘no need to move the gear lever into neutral when coming to rest and waiting to take off again’
BMC insisted that its automatic cars were safer because ‘there are no distractions’ and ‘no complicated clutch pedal and accelerator movements’.
And to push home the point about ease of operation, it made sure the accompanying images showed a female motorist at the wheel. Nothing like a bit of period stereotyping when it comes to marketing, eh?
