TRAFFIC is crawling at 50mph through North Yorkshire from Scotch Corner to Bedale as the A1 is up-graded to a modern motorway suitable for the next generation of motorists.

This picture turns the clock back to the previous generation of road-building. It shows the opening of the southbound carriageway of the Leeming and Londonderry by-pass on October 3, 1961 – the northbound carriageway had opened the day before.

These were exciting times for motorists in North Yorkshire, as the centuries old Great North Road was re-routed away from the centres of towns and villages.

Catterick was bypassed in 1959, Leeming in 1961 and Boroughbridge in 1963, which made North Yorkshire the first county in England in which the A1 was a complete dual carriageway.

No opening ceremony was reported for the Leeming by-pass, but our picture suggests that the first vehicle to pass along it belonged to a civic dignitary. Just for fun, our legions of car-spotters might like to identify the posh car (email: chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk or call 01325-505062).

Two weeks ago, we showed a 1963 picture of Ripon Market Place with a two-tone van parked outside the Croft and Blackburn Vauxhall dealership.

This west side of the market place is properly Queen Street, and the garage was established in 1908 in what had been the Crown and Anchor Hotel. Since 1974, this Grade II listed building has been a Sainsbury’s store.

The two-tone van belonged to Howdens of Harrogate, and would be seen delivering car parts a couple of times a week.

There was rare unanimity among our vehiclists who all identified it as a Commer, although they ascribed a variety of weights to it.

John Scurr got a bonus mark for the detail of his identification. “I believe it is a Commer 1¼ ton Forward Control Van,” he said. “They had catchy model names back in the 1950s and 1960s.”

Some professionals got in on the act, with Roger Clarke Motor Engineers of Melmerby Junction, near Ripon, naming it as a Commer Karrier Bantam.

Commer, as lots of people pointed out, started out as the Commercial Car Company in London at the start of the 20th Century. In the late 1920s, it was amalgamated into the Rootes Group with other classic British car companies, including Hillman, Hunter, Singer, Sunbeam, Talbot and Karrier, which started life as a Huddersfield van-maker.

Several people sprinkled a fascinating fact on top of their answer: the Commer vans were frequently converted into ice cream vans which were common on the streets into the 1970s.

Ken Hannah of Guisborough gets a flake for adding: “Across the street is an Austin J series. Inbetween is an Austin A35, with a Hillman Husky estate car behind.”

Many thanks to everyone who contributed, including Mark Cooper of Darlington, Michael Waite, James Newton of Swainby, Derek Noble of Hutton Rudby, John Weighell of Neasham, John Gibson of Great Broughton, Mick Faulkner of Hutton Rudby, Gerry Simpson.