Going to the beach in the Cortina estate, 4 kids in the boot with a blanket and some pillows.
The Renault 4 with the dash mounted handbag holder.
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This is all getting too much (sniff)...
Sitting in the middle of the front seat of Grandad's Morris Oxford Estate - passing him the cigarettes that Granny lit for him (a safety measure, you understand).
Dad's first company car - an Austin A40.
Summer job at the local BL dealership, degreasing newly delivered Marinas and then touching-up the paint chips and rust spots.
50p tips from 5-star customers at the pumps - 2-star customers never gave a tip (cheapskates).
Second degree burns from vinyl seats that had been cooking in the sun for a few hours.
Z-Victor-1.
Jumpers for goalposts...
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My GT Cortina with an outwards-going dent in the rear wing. (Moral: if you have a 16 lb. bowling ball in the boot, take care when cornering).
Oz (as was)
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My GT Cortina with an outwards-going dent in the rear wing. (Moral: if you have a 16 lb. bowling ball in the boot, take care when cornering). Oz (as was)
Managed the same trick with my Rover 400, only mine was with a full piggin (80 pints) of Ringwood Brewery True Glory that broke free from the rack I had placed it in. The boot never did shut properly after that, leading my a number of searches for immigrants at Dover and Calais!
No Dosh ** Quick, talk motoring, Mark's coming! **
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Managed the same trick with my Rover 400, only mine was with a full piggin (80 pints) of Ringwood Brewery True Glory that broke free from the rack I had placed it in.
No Dosh,
Are you sure it wasn't Old Thumper?? ;-)
Oz (as was)
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Are you sure it wasn't Old Thumper?? ;-) Oz (as was)
LOL Oz!
No Dosh ** Quick, talk motoring, Mark's coming! **
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Agree about 8-tracks. Still reckon they\'re better than CD\'s and I still have one very battered Deep Purple one! Of course one needed the Capri to go with them. Or the offshore pirate radio station.
Did you know that silver paper from a fag packet was the ideal replacement for a blown fuse? That the same silver paper could also clean chrome? That newspaper cleaned a windscreen a treat? That steering column gearshifts (Zephyr, Hillman Minx) made things (slightly) easier when you had to deal with the formidable garments young ladies wore to protect their virtue in those days? (along with several Babychams of course).
That if you worked in a garage you could (a) get free oil just be saving up all the trickles from the empty cans, (b) furnish your front room with Green Shield stamps because all the foreign Merc drivers who pulled in didn\'t know what they were so you got to keep \'em (c)..well we won\'t mention that...
That your A35/Minor/Anglia etc engine would probably be smoking well after about 30k miles and that you could buy a set of Hepolite pistons, Glacier big-end shells, a Payken gasket set, a Fram Oil Filter made to measure so you could fit the whole lot on a Sunday (my record was doing a Vauxhall Victor AND the timing chain, between breakfast and pub opening).
That radial tyres changed our lives circa mid-60\'s? With a set of Pirelli Cinturatos you were not only the duck\'s guts cred-wise but you could also have your lady of the moment screaming with delighted terror as you chucked that old Cortina round the bends. Lifting the front outside wheel like those guys in L-Corinas at B/Hatch I never did manage, but not for the lack of trying. I remember feeling the heat wallet-wise when I had to pay six pounds eleven shillings and some odd times 4 for a set of those beauties. And that was trade price.
Gentlemen start your engines. Handbrake on. Gear in neutral (wiggle it). Switch on ignition. Pull out choke knob (just right. Too much and the damn thing will flood, not enough and it won\'t start). Pull starter knob. Your reward assuming everything is more or less in order would be a running engine (is that rattle the tappets or a sticking valve?)
.......now then, has anyone here ever, ever, asked his young lady to divest herself of her stockings (no not tights, this is in the days when women dressed properly), her stockings, so he can fabricate a fanbelt? Sandra Maddocks where are you now?
...later
G.
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Driving miles out of your way because there was a filling station in Leeds giving eight times Green Shield stamps.
Being thought a flash git because you'd asked for a quids worth of petrol.
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My Grandfather remembers a time when he and some friends were driving around like "lunatics" as he put it.
The local bobby, on his bicycle, stopped him and told them all to "go home before they got into trouble" (!)
Of course, in those days, you did just that.
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Scraping off and treating yet another few rust bubbles on my 4-year old Triumph Dolomite EVERY weekend.
Plus, other necessary regular tuning / adjusting.
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MGB GT's that rocked from side to side on tickover-who could tune twin SU's properly?Skinny cross ply tyres;my 1962 Singer Vogue like a gentleman's club inside but nearly dying of shock to find no floor in it;my trusty Morris 1300 imported from Jersey- beige with a red interior;changing the points if it ran badly;my brand new Opel Manta GTE in white-what other colour? and Beech nuts out of a machine-the fourth packet free!!Halcyon days>>>>
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I must be a bit younger than some as I remember BEING one of the kids and dogs that had to travel in the boot of the Marina, or two the the front seat with the dog in the footwell (no seatbelts of course).
Travelling in the MGBGT sitting on the back of the seat and sticking our heads up out of the sunroof.
My friends dad had a Maxi in sludge brown and it had an 8-track and he was considered to be very cool.
Being one of 8 or 9 people squeezed into a Mini and being stopped by the police because somebody's legs were sticking out of the window and being told to get home quickly and not do such a silly thing again.
I bought shares in a clapped out old Rover - cannot remember the model - to get to a festival. It was brill. Mustard colour, belt style speedo, bucket seats, Arthur Daley charm... got us there and back cheaper than the train would have cost and we still got half out money back when we scrapped it afterwards!
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Couple more...!
Real police cars like Rover V8 3500S
Dolomite Sprint, the car your Gran drove that would easily see off an RS 2000!
John Player Special Lotus F1 car, in black. Anyone remeber those? Ronnie Petersson drove it I think.
Baz
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Real police cars like Rover V8 3500S
Also, the Austin Westminster, which used to make a huge whooshing sound (didn't need two-tones) when booted.
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I was camped next to a black JPS Winnebago-type wagon which was reputed to be Petersson's at Le Mans last ear.
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Real police cars like Rover V8 3500S
DVD,
remember when for a time (thankfully short) they put those absolutely monster roof signs and light bars on P6 Rovers totally beggaring up the aerodynamics.
90 mph flat out and so unstable needed two lanes on the motorway; or did you never have the misfortune?
another nostalgia moment, Range Rover leaves scene of incident with telescoping flood light erected.
DOH!
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...got us there and back cheaper than thetrain would have cost and we still got half out money back when we scrapped it afterwards!
Actually GETTING money for a scrap car was something!
Nowadays to get one taken away you're having to pay £50 + Vat.
Heard a good story on a fly on the wall documentry a few years ago.
Student is stopped by police for driving a Mini that was obviously unsafe and is told to stop driving it and call a car breaker out to fetch it there and then.
Fortunately, he had just got home from uni (some 100 miles away) so giving it up was no hardship. He got £15 for it, not bad as he'd bought it at uni for a fiver and just wanted it to get him home for the hols!
H
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I reckon if we can get this sort of response to a thread on 'nostalgia' the following day, within a week we could put the whole lot in a book and it would be a best seller!
Reading this lot has been an absolute delight! Mind you, I can more or less date each poster by his responses!
(I'm 48 years and 2 months BTW.)
And they say 'nostalgia ain't what it used to be!'
(Well somebody had to say it!)
Graeme
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and the utter debauchery of Cliff and Livin' Doll on the jukebox at the Ace Caff plus rows of Goldies with clip-ons.
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My Dad's real American Chrysler (FLL 463) which had to be laid up during the war years.
Black metal covers over headlights with just a small slit to allow light to emit...to comply with wartime lighting restrictions.
Hitchhiking...particularly the lift from Hednesford, Staffs, to North London in the back of a furniture van on a very comfortable sofa...everyone would stop for boys in blue in those days.
My 3rd car...the first to come with a heater.
Using monthly car petrol ration of four gallons (120 miles) on the Lambretta instead so as to get 400 miles.
Esso 'Keep your distance' stickers.
The arrival of CB...'One-Nine for a copy'...'Ten-Four Good Buddy'...and the film 'Convoy'.
...and much more.
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" the lift from Hednesford, Staffs, to North London in the back of a furniture van on a very comfortable sofa."
My brother in law taking a group out in a Bedford minibus which had no seats in the back, so he just put in a selection of dining chairs and a small sofa.
Brian
Still learning (I hope)
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Seems like I'm younger than I thought!
Although my very earliest music memory, if this is relevant, is liking Rolf Harris's 'Two Little Boys'. I was only tiny at the time, it didn't last, honest!
HF
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Christmas not starting until December and Easter Eggs not in the shops on January 3rd...
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Travelling from east coast (of Ireland) to west Limerick (almost the other end) two or three times a year every year of my childhood, to see extended family and stay on the farm. Spending substantial amounts of time lying around in the boot of the estate. Rear seatbelt - what's that? Counting the telegraph poles after I Spy got too boring. Knowing the roster of towns to pass through. Halfway there. Two thirds. Three quarters. Nearly. Looking forward to stopping for an ice-cream in Roscrea. Enduring hair being brushed by Mum so we were "presentable". Competitions (after arrival) to see who could jump the greatest height from the hay mountain in the barn. I ultimately won as I once managed to climb up the hay bales to roof level, which was higher than the two-storey house. Learning never to jump onto still-tied haybales from a great height (short lesson).
As a student - hitch-hiking from Dublin to south Derry most weekends of each summer for four years to see my girlfriend. Being picked up by a harassed-looking salesman in Armagh, because he'd ignored me in Dublin, Drogheda, Dundalk and Newry and I kept getting to each place ahead of him. Being offered a lift all the way from Dublin to Cookstown (this never happens) and then enduring the driver's racist ranting for four hours - still, it was a lift. Getting my girlfriend to travel the same way and spending hours on the road never getting tired of each other. One day on my own, deciding not to stick my thumb out for an hour halfway between Newry and Armagh because the warm sun and the breeze in the trees meant it was just too peaceful and beautiful to leave. Another guy on his way to Donegal going over an hour out of his way to take me directly from Dublin to where I was going. Being constantly amazed at people's kindness and consideration. My last time hitching that road was just a month after graduating, on my way up to get married the following day.
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Aww - what a lovely post - keep happy, andymc!
HF
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Thanks HF!
Actually, there's a (tenuous) motoring link to my wedding day as well. As I'd hitchhiked up, I didn't have my suit with me so my folks were taking it up with them. Morning of the big day I was staying with my dad, brother and a pair of uncles in the guesthouse at Portglenone monastery (yes, I'm aware of the irony but it's one of the most chilled-out places on the planet, even if you're not religious) and I woke up thinking - "not nervous - great!". Had a great morning just looking forward to it all, then asked my dad where the suit was cos it would soon be time to change and go.
"Don't ask me - I haven't seen your suit" are words not normally guaranteed to send a chill through the heart, but there you go. Fortunately, my Mum had it at the hotel where the reception was to be. Long story short, my Mum ended up driving from the hotel to the guesthouse - 30 or so miles - only she omitted to bring the suit. So we had to go back to Cookstown in her hired Nissan Micra (motoring link!!!), and drove at 90 the whole way. Didn't know that car would do that! The car was literally airborne at least three times. Got to the hotel, showered & changed, looked for Mum & after five long minutes, found her trying her hat on at different angles. Expletive deleted. Then she took the thing off to get in the car anyway!
I ended up ten minutes late. Fortunately I'd picked the right girl - she saw the funny side!
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Ahhhhhhhh.......
Mum's '64 Ford Zephyr with a (red vinyl!) bench front seat, column change and umbrella handle type handbrake.
Red vinyl dashboard, horizontal speedometer, floor mounted dip switch, horn ring in the steering wheel.
Dad fitting front seatbelts to it. (Not inertia reel ones, but the type you adjusted to fit!)
Me standing in the back, aged about 5, door locked, window wide open, head out of window, when the door came open on a sharp bend! I hung on, mother knew something was up because "it went very quiet"!
Being made to sit in the front from then on. (But not having to wear the seatbelt!)
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....picking up on a few:
I worked for an "official SU agent, parts and service". The owner was well into his seventies. For tuning MGB's et al he would take a length of neoprene tubing, stick it in his ear, get a screwdriver, "listen" to each carb's airflow while muttering some sort of secret mantra over it, tweak the screwdriver, and lo! Your carbs had been expertly tuned by an official authorised SU dealer! 17/6d please.
Want yer brakes relined guv? No worries (this before bonded shoes). Punter handed over his worn shoes, I went into the back room, used a machine to drive the rivets out, found the new linings in the stores, went back, riveted them on the old shoes then bevelled off the rough bits on a bench grinder. And this was asbestos! I dread to think that might come back to haunt me one day.
Nobody will believe this: cousin and I had a Bedford CA Van we decided to drive to Nepal in '65 (we did actually make it). But the master cylinder packed up in Germany and the brakes got worse and worse. So we booked in at a camp site and pulled the m/c. Full of crud of course and nasty brown what was once brake fluid. Anyhow cleaned all this out and pondered what to do. Problem was the piston seal was stuffed and of course letting fluid past. After some thought we found that a 1 deutschemark coin was about the same size as the bore of the m/c. Putting this in with the old seal behind it, forced the old seal to, well, seal a bit better. Put it all back together, new fluid and so on. Net result was that braking capabilities, given a bit of pumping, were more or less restored and we proceeded happily on our way.
My 1955 Holden FJ in Australia was so rusty that you had to keep the rear doors shut at all times, otherwise the body would bow.
But we drove it 27,000 miles like that.
Learning to drive in UK and giving hand signals: flap hand up and down= I am slowing.
Car test (sorry you have to be really ancient to get this) 3 Highway Code questions. It is snowing and road signs are obscured. How do you tell a stop sign (then of course road signs had shapes according to what they meant). Er, well, er (racking brains, dunno, if it was snowing that bad I wouldn't be driving.
Got me pink slip and passed anyway.
Cold night going home on your motorbike. Stop at the chippery and get a Cod and 9 and a pickled onion (wrapped in newspaper before the nanies spoiled the fun). Stuff it inside your Belstaff Trialmaster jacket and both you and your dinner interacted to keep each other warm on the way home. But hold the vinegar....your sweater would smell terrible next day..
(Growlette dragging me off says stop trying to be old man, I suppose this has some meaning in her vernacular....)
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I swear this is my last.....
....Aertex knickers :-D
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"....Aertex knickers :-D"
Learning to sail, girlfriend (now SHMBO) had disposable paper panties on.
She got a wet bum and tell me that the things simply disintegrated, leaving just the elastic.
Brian
Still learning (I hope)
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H'm.
Memories of passing my UK driving test after ca. 20 years driving down under.
Decided to post my application after ca. 9 months in UK. DVLA returned all documentation and cheque: "Sorry sir, you have to take a test. However, you can drive on your Aussie licence for 90 days (or whatever, a hell of a lot less than 9 months!) after you entered the country."
Action:
1) Quick trip to Calais and back in order to re-enter the country and re-validate my Aussie licence.
2) Driving test, in Middlesbrough: crusty old examiner's face would have cracked if he smiled. "I prefer not to wear the seat belt thank you" (???).
I must have driven with some enthusiasm as the examiner felt bound to remark: "You must've thought you were chasing kangaroos down the street!"
For the sake of my pass, I naturally fell about at this shaft of wit.
Final oral question: "What is the road sign that shows you have just exited from a built-up area?"
I forget what answer I gave, but it led to his next question:
"The sign you just described: can you tell me where the nearest one of those is, to where we are now?"
I ventured a guess, somewhere just out of the town of Middlesbrough.
"It's in Calais", he said in Hitchcockian tones.
Anyway, sir, if you're reading this, thanks again for the pass.
Oz (as was)
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Hugo
What about your first car - the white Mini?
Local PC stopped us and I sat on the front wing hiding the suspect N/S front tyre! He was more bothered about your stickers on the back - Yorkie bar eater are you??
Happy days!
Charles
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First car 66 Hillman Imp van £275; boy oh boy; renewing head gaskets at side of road, forgetting to insert the one, tiny, oil ring!!
Changing a heater hose on the imp (about 10 ft front to back?)
Having to keep feeling that the hose was hot; if it wasn't your radiator was empty.
Manipulating the choke behind the driver for a cold start.
Replacing the rubber donuts!!
Putting bricks in the front to inprove handling (?)
mark
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Hugo What about your first car - the white Mini? Local PC stopped us and I sat on the front wing hiding the suspect N/S front tyre! He was more bothered about your stickers on the back - Yorkie bar eater are you?? Happy days! Charles
Yes, How can I forget that Charles!
I didn't tell you about another memory I have of that car, which involved a joint 18th birthday bash at the Cornwall Coluseum.
I gave a load of people a lift home. The chap in the front seat was in no fit state to walk the couple of miles or so after the party. I opened his window to give him some air and also as an insurance policy against soiling the interior.
Now, bearing in mind I would never see the passenger side for months at a time because I always parked it against a wall, and I never washed it..... until I came to sell it!
I saw the left hand side for the first time since that party several months ago. My friend in the passenger seat HAD made a deposit out of the window, which had set to an artex like finish on the glisting white paintwork!
H
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