Driving observations

[Gabsgrandad]

My 1st. car a 1953 Ford Popular, 1172cc side valve engine, acquired 1963, (at a cost of £29) with semaphore style indicators which sometimes required a thump on the door pillar to get them out. The wipers were also very modern and worked on inlet manifold vacuum, at revs they went slow and even stopped until you lifted your toe, very handy when you were overtaking in the wet! . The dipper switch was foot operated. Oh the good times! Had to wait while about 96 to get a parcel shelve, in a Granada.

 

[Raywood]

My first car was a 1947 Wolsey 12. It had the semaphore indicators and the heater was a fan in the passenger footwell similar to those you used to have in buses but smaller. Its unique point was its jacking system. You could lift a hatch in the floor fit a lever in place and jack up all four wheels at once.
It had been owned by a funeral director and used a funeral car for years which meant it had very rarely been driven at any speed and it was very sluggish though.

 

[Martin24]

Oh I am loving the last couple of posts. Really making me feel young with my first car being of 1981 vintage. :cheer:

 

[emmerson]

Hell Martin, that makes me feel old! My first car was a 1939 Morris 8 series E, bought in 1960 for £2-17-6d!

 

[thedoog1]

Mine was a 1953 side valve split screen Morris Minor bought for £5. One of its party pieces was the brake master cylinder would pack up, i became very adept driving with only the handbrake. not that worked very well either.
But i loved that car.

Steve

 

[Gabsgrandad]

A couple of things I didn't mention on the 'Popular. was the brakes which were rod brakes and you needed a weeks notice of wanting to apply them! As that's how long it seemed to take you to stop it. The other "novelty" was the heater, the cooling system was a thermosyphon system, ie no water pump, and the heater in the passenger footwell (just a fan behind a little radiator, used to either toast you a nice golden brown one minute and blow freezing air at you the next! Ah the joys of motoring. - Best moment -- going to night school one foul winters night early 60's, snowing and blowing like the clappers when the £30 'heap' passed a beautiful RR at the side of the road changing a wheel!

 

[Hutch]

First car, to drive on the roads was an F type Vauxhall Victor, 1960'S i think, 0 to 60 in about 30 seconds. Vacum Windscreen wipers, 3 speed coloum change. Ah, put it into a ditch on a slippery morning going to Colledge. Raleigh, runabout after that.

 

[Gagakev]

My first car in 1980 was a 1958 mini cost me £40.00
Taking the girlfriend (now the wife!!) home one night and the whole of the drivers window including the frame dropped out and landed in the door pocket, .............big pockets back in the day.

 

[Gafferbill]

........first car to own and drive but only on farm roads was a 1936 Hillman Minx in 1960 at age 13.
The Hillman was bought for £3 as it had just failed the newly introduced MOT test!
First car to own and drive on the road was a 1958 Austin A55 Cambridge in 1965.

 

[Martin24]

My first one, okay I'll admit to it, was exceptionally low mileage and very well cared for, hated it though and you'll soon why when I say 1.3 Talbot Horizon LS The car history does dip once in a while as I spent a few years with Fiats.

I was so very glad to get rid of it 18 months later and move on to my 87 Fiesta.

 

[Keefanmaxx]

My very first car was a 1978 Fiat 128 estate. Body was fine, the mechanics left a bit to be desired which was not the norm!!
Also owned the Cavalier SRi, a Cortina 1.6, VW LT van, a Talbot Horizon, a Rover 214 hatch, Rover 420 Estate and saloon versions, Skoda Octavia estate, a Vauxhall Zafira (the rare one that didn't catch fire) and now the Antara

Only thought Id had a few cars!!

 

[JonnyG]

learnt to drive in my dad's 1967 mk1 ford cortina 1500 . First car i bought was in 1981 a 1970 Fiat 125s.. drove it for 2 months before i knew it had 5 gears!! floor fell through on that but did get 9 months of brilliant use out of it...and sold the engine for as much as i bought the car for . mk2 cortina 1600 super was next had no brakes so i fixed that.still had no real brake but you got use to it lasted 6 or so months... Alfa gtv followed that and lasted 10 ish months before someone ran into it whilst parked up... rover 3500 followed and owned that for 3 hours drove it the 50 miles home and did it drink fuel sold it to a neighbour made 5 quid hardly covered the fuel....had a few vauxhal and fords normally ok had a lot of Alfas Fiats and lancia 's ..memorable if not always as reliable .

 

[Raywood]

Oh I am loving the last couple of posts. Really making me feel young with my first car being of 1981 vintage. :cheer:

What makes you feel old is visiting a motoring museum and finding several cars of the types you have had over the years on display.

 

[otherclive]

Oh I am loving the last couple of posts. Really making me feel young with my first car being of 1981 vintage. :cheer:

What makes you feel old is visiting a motoring museum and finding several cars of the types you have had over the years on display.

Quite agree. I visited the Haynes Museum a while back and there was a Ford Zephhyr Six and Humber Hawk, my first cars when I was a student. Then lo and behold a nice Singer Chamois which fulfilled the role of family car when we had two children and the dog and cat on our regular runs from Plymouth to the Midlands. Being married and with a mortgage I couldn't afford to run the "luxury" vehicles of my student days until some 40 odd years later!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Oh I am loving the last couple of posts. Really making me feel young with my first car being of 1981 vintage. :cheer:

What makes you feel old is visiting a motoring museum and finding several cars of the types you have had over the years on display.

Quite agree. I visited the Haynes Museum a while back and there was a Ford Zephhyr Six and Humber Hawk, my first cars when I was a student. Then lo and behold a nice Singer Chamois which fulfilled the role of family car when we had two children and the dog and cat on our regular runs from Plymouth to the Midlands. Being married and with a mortgage I couldn't afford to run the "luxury" vehicles of my student days until some 40 odd years later!

Ditto and so true

 

[Hutch]

Ah the Singer Chamois, what a lovley little car and engine to work on, what a breeze to do the valve clearenses on, !!! Shims, must have taken at least 6 hours, then when it warmed up rattled like a tin can full of marbles.

 

[Dustydog]

1963 Austin A 35 van battleship grey. Indicators a non cancelling knob on centre of dashboard with red light. Starter was a handle that also seconded as a wheel brace. Non wind up sliding windows held up with a clothes peg.Manual choke and a pull knob for electric start when the battery wasn't flat.

 

[Martin24]

Mattress in the back DD?

 

[Dustydog]

Mattress in the back DD?

With a sleeping bag too Martin :evil:

 

[knight-1]

Not as strange as it seems, my MOT test station checks the oil dipstick. I've been there and seen him do it! When I question why, his response was "you don't do many miles in your car do you" ........LOL. Of course I don't assume all test station do this but it's a road safety check and "having oil" in your engine is a vital safety point!!
I always remember an Acronym I was taught by my driving instructor; (thanks Dad). Check! POWER each time before you drive. Petrol,Oil,Water,Electrics,Rubber.

 

[Gabsgrandad]

DD wrote - "With a sleeping bag too Martin " -- Who was she then Dusty?

 

[Dustydog]

46 years on I can't remember

 

[chrisbee1]

Not as strange as it seems, my MOT test station checks the oil dipstick. I've been there and seen him do it! When I question why, his response was "you don't do many miles in your car do you" ........LOL. Of course I don't assume all test station do this but it's a road safety check and "having oil" in your engine is a vital safety point!!
I always remember an Acronym I was taught by my driving instructor; (thanks Dad). Check! POWER each time before you drive. Petrol,Oil,Water,Electrics,Rubber.

The oil level is checked because the tester needs to run the engine at reasonably high revs to carry out the emission check. Likewise he should check the coolant level .

 

[Bertsch_18]

You know something similar happened with my friend too and he too was quite apprehensive while exchanging the car. Though he works for a DUI attorney Los Angeles but still couldn’t make things out to my amazement.

 

[Craigyoung]

Mmmm . Spam i suspect