From Earl’s Court in London and courtesy of the British Pathé news service, here’s a report on the 1956 British International Motor Show.

When Pathé News produced these wonderful newsreel features on the annual auto shows in Britain and across Europe back in the ’50s and ’60s, the newsreel service had no way to know that all these decades later, car enthusiasts like us would still be enjoying them. But indeed, these vintage news shorts are the perfect instrument for surveying the annual new car scene across the Atlantic all those years ago. For example: here are a few of the big stories at the 1956 British International Motor Show from Earl’s Court in London.

+  The Daimler Conquest, described here as “Daimler’s first two-seater drophead coupé.” The line also included a saloon and a four-place drophead coupé, all powered by a 2.4 liter inline six.

+   The Austin A105, billed as “the bigger sister of the A90” and “the first Austin to have two-pedal control,” courtesy of a Borg-Warner three-speed automatic transmission. However, automatics would not catch on with British motorists for some years to come.

+   The Rover T3 Gas Turbine, “not yet in production,” says the narrator, “but proves that Britain is taking the lead in this revolutionary development.” It never saw a production line, of course, but the intriguing prototype, featuring a rear-mounted engine and four-wheel drive, is still in existence.

+   The 1956 Buick Centurion Motorama dream car, a fabulous creation of Harley Earl’s General Motors styling studio that must have left British viewers either gazing in wonder or scratching their heads.

You can find all these marvels and more in the video below.