I have often observed cars being driven slowly and sedately, and irritatingly so when it is unecessary. Very often the driver is middle aged wearing a flat cloth cap, and accompanied by a lady of similar vintage.
An opposite extreme was one late 20-ish chap I had lifts with who wore a cloth cap and a pair of his wife's kid leather gloves (he said that it gave him a better grip of the steering wheel). He used to play cat and mouse with the police, thinking it a great game. He would accelerate like a plane, using maximum revs in each gear. I heard later that he had been given a 12 month ban.
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Hats are one thing, caps are another.
Our leader's jaunty titfer is just about tolerable. But no decent person should wear anything with a peak unless they are compelled to under the conditions of their job or service. No one should argue with me about this. There's nothing to be done with a genuine deep-down prejudice, and that's what this is in my case.
So if you wear a baseball or cricket or flat or cheesecutter or other kind of cap, stay the pink fluffy dice out of my way, or I may look at you with undisguised and heartfelt loathing and contempt. Of course this may not bother you.
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When I got a Passat about 6-7 years ago (replacement for a stolen Golf 1.8T) a colleague joked I should get some driving gloves as it was "an old man's car". A little later as some sort of promotional campaign, VW sent me some "driving gloves"... I probably still have them somewhere :-) What were they trying to say to me???
Next car was a Ford. Ironically I'd have gone for another VW or Audi but the company scheme run by Leaseplan did not allow this... but Leaseplan had been purchased by VW ;-)
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As ever, Lud says it all ;-)
Except...that 'jaunty titfer' is pushing it a bit.
I have a rather nice black Borsalino but I can't wear it while motoring because the roof of the Prelude is right down on my head.
I also have to admit I have a pair of string-back leather gloves in the, er, glovebox. (Not Jack Brabham kangaroo skin though!)
I guess I'll never shake off the 60s.
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">No one should argue with me about this.<" and ">I may look at you with undisguised and heartfelt loathing and contempt.<"
Lud, there's something that's been nagging me.
Are you Michael Winner?
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Flat caps should only be worn by Terry Thomas style cads driving rakish roadsters while twirling their waxed moustaches.
I, however, reserve the right to wear my straw panama, which has been on the parcel shelf of my car for TWO YEARS for want of a sunny enough day...
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i have nothing to add
im a yorkshireman but no whippets thankyou
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Flat caps should only be worn by Terry Thomas style cads
Rubbish. I'm starting a style of flat cap worn back to front, plus yellow gloves, as us oldies answer to the back-to-front baseball cap wearing chav. We'll all be doing it tomorrow! Get out of my way, I'm coming through!
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L\'escargot.
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"I'm starting a style of flat cap worn back to front, plus yellow gloves, as us oldies answer to the back-to-front baseball cap wearing chav."
And goggles, presumably?
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And goggles presumably?
I would do, but they'd clash with my bifocals.
--
L\'escargot.
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Rubbish. I'm starting a style of flat cap worn back to front plus yellow gloves as us oldies answer to the back-to-front baseball cap wearing chav. We'll all be doing it tomorrow! Get out of my way I'm coming through! -- L\'escargot.
A very strange image of "Toad of Toad Hall" with a shell upon his back has just appeared in my mind - not pleasant!!!
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A very strange image of "Toad of Toad Hall" with a shell upon his back has just appeared in my mind - not pleasant!!!
Without wishing to diss the former Backroomer having that forum name, I nevertheless prefer not to be associated with him. I am my own man .... er .... snail.
--
L\'escargot.
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AlastairW: "I, however, reserve the right to wear my straw panama, which has been on the parcel shelf of my car for TWO YEARS for want of a sunny enough day..."
You may be in for a shock. In my experience, straw hats shrink in prolonged sunlight. The rear parcel shelf for two years will have shrunk it by a minimum of one full size in my estimation.
V
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Are you Michael Winner?
Nothing like him. You haven't really heard the tone.
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Good God Micky, you don't wear a baseball cap or anything do you?
I'm sure it's all right in your case.
Just as long as it isn't one of those tweed jobs... :o}
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Baseball cap? What's that.
You can observe my driving attire here on the front cover, Alan was too busy for the photo shoot.
tinyurl.com/ywtdzv
I'm convinced you are Winner, caustic and curmudgeonly in equal measure. Well done.
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I have often observed cars being driven slowly and sedately and irritatingly so when it is unecessary
Well, overtake, then, if you want to. If you want to be irritated, so be it. It's a free world, within limits.
Next.
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Bit ironic that this should be coming from one called "hillman", the Hunter being probably the most "old-man" car ever built.
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the Hunter being probably the most "old-man" car ever built.
As one who did R&D on the 1725 cc Hunter & 1500 cc Minx I can assure you that in their time the Hunter was quite rapid. In the right hands the Hunter could keep up with the much-vaunted Cortina GT on any road.
--
L\'escargot.
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I have a bit of a conundrum. Last year when driving my g.f.'s MX-5 in bright sunshine, wearing sunglasses only partially worked as the sunlight would often stream down behind the specs and still dazzle me, reducing enjoyment of driving with the roof down.
So I have been considering getting a hat for this summer!
I would not be seen dead in either a baseball cap or a flat cap, so I am thinking along the lines of a full-brimmed sun hat in the sort of Manc/baggy style. As its the only style of hat I have ever been comfortable wearing (on holiday). Will probably look a right plonker but at least I will be able to drive without squinting half the time.
And I've got my Grandads immortal words echoing round my head, he had two phrases relating to hats: "Never trust a man who drives in a hat", and "If you can't fight, wear a big hat", (he was a good boxer in his army days)! I dont know the origin of either of these phrases, but I remember them all the same.
Or do I just need some better sunglasses? Do other soft top owners not get this problem?
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In the righthands the Hunter could keep up with the much-vaunted Cortina GT on any road. --
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That's right. Handled better than a Cortina but didn't have quite the same punch from the engine in standard form.
Jase1 not spot on as usual!
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As one who did R&D on the 1725 cc Hunter & 1500 cc Minx I can assure you that in their time the Hunter was quite rapid. In the right hands the Hunter could keep up with the much-vaunted Cortina GT on any road.
Amen to that.
When Mum worked for Godfrey Davis, she was given a Hunter 1725. It seemed nothing could out-drag her across Leeds, and I recall being a passenger with her on a journey from Otley to Ninebanks which included some hairy overtakes and some tyre-squealing cornering. The car was green and nothing fell off or failed in 40K miles.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I'm sure a Hunter won the London - Sydney in the 1960s.
Mmmmm, Holbay.
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Correct Micky, although it did so because the leading car { a Citroen, I think } crashed on the last leg with the Hunter close behind. As I recollect, the Hunter was not really modified either, I think it had a gearbox out of the Sunbeam Tiger, but otherwise standard. It surprised most people in this part of the world.
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>> the Hunter being probably >> the most "old-man" car ever built. As one who did R&D on the 1725 cc Hunter & 1500 cc Minx I can assure you that in their time the Hunter was quite rapid. In the right hands the Hunter could keep up with the much-vaunted Cortina GT on any road.
I don't doubt it.
Being an "old-man" car has very little to do with capability -- for years the Honda Civic has been seen as an "old-man" car, despite having some of the most capable engines in the business. Ditto a lot of Volvos. Like a lot of stupid British stigmas, it makes no sense.
Unfortunately that doesn't alter the perceptions of the cars. As a child of the '70s I remember distinctly the Hunters being driven almost exclusively by older gentlemen in flat caps, rather slowly, including both of my grandfathers rather strangely. I don't seem to recall them going wrong very often.
A criminal waste of a capable car I'm sure.
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With my car a hat is obligatory with gloves and pipe optional , unfortunately , I have a sunroof which precludes the wearing of a hat and makes me an outsider .
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>>I don't seem to recall them going wrong very often.
They did go rotten very quickly though! - but that wasn't too rare in the 1970's.
Number_Cruncher
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> I don't seem to recall them going wrong very often.
Perhaps my dad should have had a Hunter then. He had a 1968 Minx estate which - as he put it - would blow its head gasket whenever it went above 40 mph. Put him off British cars for 17 years. (He had two reliable - pre-electronic - Renaults before developing a perverse enthusiasm for the Maestro in the mid-80s.) Never saw him driving in hat or gloves, though.
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As a child of the '70s I remember distinctly the Hunters being driven almost exclusively by older gentlemen ....
As a child you probably saw most male drivers as being "older gentlemen". When I was a child I saw anyone over 16 as being old!
--
L\'escargot.
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