Simanaitis Says
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L.J.K. SETRIGHT’S TIMESCALE PART 2
WE’RE CELEBRATING THE WIDE TALENTS of L.J.K. Setright, as exemplified in his Timescale, a multifaceted timeline in his Drive On! A Social History of the Motor Car.
Leonard John Kensell Setright, 1931–2005, English motoring journalist, author, lawyer, air traffic controller.
George Orwell and the XK-120, John Kenneth Galbraith and the Edsel. Setright celebrated the year 1949’s publication of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 and introduction of the Jaguar XK-120. Also, his 1958 entry saw publication of John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society and introduction of the Ford Edsel. None of these correlated, other than chronologically.
Image from “Leaping Beyond 120 Mph.”
He also contrasts highs and lows of the mid-Fifties: 1955’s mass vaccination against polio and the year’s Le Mans disaster; 1957’s formation of the European Common Market and that year’s disastrous ending of Italy’s Mille Miglia.
1961–2000.
The Mini (Skirt and Otherwise), Satellite Navigation and Central Seating. Setright’s book was published in 2002, its Timescale ending in 2000 with no prognostications. Plenty of occurrences, though: He cites the introduction of the mini-skirt in 1964, the same year that Paddy Hopkirk won the Monte Carlo Rally in another kind of Mini.
Mary Quant, 1967. Image from The Guardian.
Setright cites 1976’s death of Mao tse-tung and the first Apple personal computer. The opening of the Internet in 1983 coincided with introduction of five popular cars, the Citroën BX, the Fiat Uno, Honda Prelude, Mercedes-Benz 190, and Toyota Camry.
Image from “McLaren F1.”
The year 1992 saw introduction of satellite navigation. And, also the McLaren F1. I didn’t know L.J.K. Setright personally, but suspect he was there with me at Monaco’s Jockey Club for the high-society introduction of the car. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023
Simanaitis Says 
Additionally, Setright’s 1972 “The Power to Fly: The Development of the Piston Engine in Aviation,” is a masterwork.
Setright, Laurence Pomeroy, Griff Borgenson, Karl Ludvigsen, Maurice Hendry, John Bond have no equals today. Richard Hough’s 1961 A History of the World’s Sports Cars remains crisp, astute.
Thanks again for this.