Driving and the Good Times

[Maggie/915]

This is aimed to take HPW 's mind off the accident.

We drive a lot of miles each year but accept that our driving life is coming to an end.

So the good things about life in the car.

'Hopping it' in the car and going anywhere anytime.

Distance no object.

Not being the passenger but the driver.

Central London , Marble Arch , Hyde Park Corner and which bloody bridge will we go over this time.

As a child those hot summers in the late 50's when we dashed to Druridge Bay to swim.

The Sunday Run was different to now, usually taking in the coast, countryside even the Lake District in the car.

Picnics with the Folks and extended family.

Happy Days.

In the late 70's 80's there were the free gifts to collect.

Remember 'we're going well were going Shell'

Having a tiger in your tank'

Or

Boom boom boom 'Esso Blue'

[mercuryg]

Hope you didn't fill the car with Esso Blue Maggie!

[Maggie/915]

Good point mercuryg.

I got carried away with the adverts.

No one has paraffin now it seems .

[mercuryg]

No one has paraffin now it seems .

 

I think my mother still has a paraffin heater in the greenhouse, but can't remember when she last used it. I remember when I was just little walking with my grandad to the garage in Blyth to fill a can from the machine. Isn't there a machine still at the Lion Garage?

[Malcolm Robinson]

[Malcolm Robinson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_mFoQVm60I

[Malcolm Robinson]

And a more modern take...........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqJpNimGd9w

[mercuryg]

"We drive a lot of miles each year but accept that our driving life is coming to an end."

 

Maggie, I think you're talking yourself old! My mother is 80, and still driving all over the place. (If you see a gold 03 Micra, get out of the way....)

 

I passed my test when I was just 18, so have been driving 32 years. I don't drive often these days, as I can't justify the expense of a car. It's simply not necessary. I remember the days when I could fill my Mini's tank for less than a tenner; it cost £45 to almost fill the Micra up last time!

 

Anyway, what cars have we owned, and what memories do they hold? For me, first own car,having borrowed mums for a while, was a khaki green Mini 1000 - a rare model, in fact, for it was part of a batch commissioned by the MOD for use on army and air force bases, and very strangely or a mini had a vynil roof. Next car was another mini, a rather battered model that served me well for some years.

 

Then I had a Mk1 Escort that  a friend 'repainted' for me before passing it on; it was red, white  and blue with a matt black bonnet with, rather annoyingly and not by request, 'STEVE' stencilled in white. Homeward bound from a friends in the middle of the night (no drink involved) I was stopped by the police. 'This your car, sir?' 'Yes, officer.' 'Mmm, we often stop tehse, very easy to steal, you know.' 'Oh, I know, but this one has added security measures.' 'Really? Such as?' 'Well, it has my name on the bonnet in foot high letters.....'

 

Moving on, I then 'borrowed' another Mini off a good friend. This one was special: it was a 1275GT, but with a race-tuned Downton engine bored out to an unspecified size, but probably around 1400cc. Water cooled head and  all sorts of mods. Went like the proverbial off a shovel, and had the wonderful ability to spark all car alarms in a hundred yard radius when revved. The fun I had embarrasing XR3i's at the lights.....At the same time I owned what woul now rank as my dream car: a Jaguar XJC. Actually, this one was a Daimler, making it very scarce indeed. For the uninitiated, this is the two door version of the XJ6. V12 engine, all mod cons for the time, blindingly fast and, well, in this case, a complete and utter wreck. The intention was to restore it. Sadly, a chance to move from Cheshire back here meant it was never even begun. I sold it to a bloke who simply wanted the (perfect) engine. It's the one car I wish I still had: I bought it for a pittance, yet today - even in the state it was needing a new floor, one new rear wing (try finding one of those.....) and much, much more you'd be talking lots and lots of dosh.

 

The 1275 blew up on the Horton Road on the way home from work one day, so I packed it off back to its owner in Cheshire; he still has it, another sad car waiting to be restored, but I believe he will get around to it one day. Next came a car that repeatedly tried to kill me,  a black Opel Manta GTE. Lovely car, but from the first week I owned it, it was clearly out to get me. Four days with it and, while coming down the Bebside side of the bank, a lorry from down the bank began to shed its load; a railway sleeper destroyed my windscreen which, amazingly, merely shattered. It was an inch from my face when I came to a stop. It was involved in many mishaps including attacking tractors and so on from then, and I replaced it with a mad, very cheap, and rather endearing FIAT Uno, which expired on the way to the garage to part exchange it. My last car was a very effective Citroen BX14; it'sno wonder Rolls Royce still use that hydraulic suspension system under licence. It is truly amazing.

 

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy tome! Hope you have stories to tell.

[tonyg]

when i passed my driving test in 1961. it was 60p.per Lesson and one pound for the test.i dont know what it costs now.

[mercuryg]

A lot more than that Tony!

[Maggie/915]

Strange how attached to cars we become!

I had a bright yellow Peugeot that everyone hated then came to love.

I even got attached to a boring Ford Focus.

That survived with me for thirteen years and became one of the family.

Neil Young even penned 'long may she run!'

about his favourite car.

Right now my little Mini is on an adventure 4,000 miles and counting in three months.

[Maggie/915]

In 1966/67 the test was £1 and the lessons £1.

Times change which perhaps mean our kids drive less and less.

Some of my kids rely on push bikes .

However any accident can be near fatal.

[Canny lass]

When I lived in central London I preferred a push bike. I could get across London quicker than in any car. A couple of years ago I saw a couple of 'ambulance' push bikes outside the British Library. Great idea. They must be able to get to an accident scene quicker than the traditional ambulances.

 

Other than that I started my motoring life in a Morris Minor purchased from the Lion Garage in Bedlington. It had done a lot of miles and did even more around the highways and byways of Northumberland during the two years I had it. Some parts of the body work had actually been repaired using paper maché!!!  I loved it. Since then I've had all sorts: Nissan, Vauxhall, Opel, VW, Ford, SAAB and Volvo. I can't claim to have any favourite. To me the car is just a tool which get's me from A to B and it should do that as problem free and cheaply as possible. Give me the type of car that I can do simple repairs on using basic Tools and bare hands rather than requiring a computerised workshop and a degree in science just to open a window! My old man on the other hand ...........

[pilgrim]

I read over the above and suddenly recalled the craze for stick on bullet holes on car windows - but just cant recall where they originated from??

[Malcolm Robinson]

Wasn't the the Jimmy Bond movies which made them popular? Goldfinger.

[Symptoms]

Esso did those bullet holes ... a promo to coincide (as Mal says with the Goldfinger film).  All the other obvious stuff was given away - World Cup player coins, all those dreaded drinking glasses, 'Tiger in the Tank' stickers (who can remember the Tiger's tail giveaway ... to be fixed to the car aerial).  As a family we used to go on camping holidays to the Continent and BP did a passport for kids;  it looked just like the blue adult passport of the time.  Anyway, at each BP filling station over there you'd get it stamped, just like the border crossings entry and exit stamps on the real passports at the time {pre EU}.  The BP passports could then be redeemed for prizes.

[paul mann]

From your Esso Blee Dooler.

[pilgrim]

have to admit I never took a 'test'-  did a course and did a drive and 3 written papers on 'car sympathy' highway code and mechanics and they gave me a licence.

although I see on my latest licence I have to display 'L' plates if I drive a tank now ?? strange old world

[mercuryg]

Pilgrim I now have an image of your tank brushing everything aside and blasting all to hell on the battlefield, complete with l plates. Great stuff.

[pilgrim]

nooo - with one of the old licenses you could drive all sorts of obscure things!!! mine includes steam powered !!! and an admission -- was on a jolly and had a go with a T34 -- er oops - dinged that a bit (but don't tell anyone)

had another look at licence -- track laying vehicles ok -- no L plate  - but need one for steam powered if carrying passengers????

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

We didn't have a car - aah.

1966 - girlfriend's dad had a Morris Victor and prepared to teach me - provisional licence obtained.

Must have had two lessons - each time from his house, Ridge Terrace, to Queens Head Guidepost, couple of pints I drove back and he told the wife we had driven for miles!

Lad from work offered me a lift, on his vespa, to The Millstone, South Gosforth for a lunch time pint - stopped by policeman. He was a learner without  'L' plates, Fine + endorsement 6 weeks later. Following week, I hadn't learnt my lesson, offered a lift, on mates vespa to The White Elephant from Ashington Tech. Policeman waiting for us at the pub. Fine + two endorsements - banned from driving.

Still 1966 - no licence, no car, no girlfriend - kept on drinking and walking to and from pub.

1975 started working shifts. 1980 - new provisional licence, K reg mini used for first shift and got stopped by police roadblock looking for escaped criminals - they caught me, with passenger but no documents on me so had to take them to the cop shop the next day. Provisional licence handed in and of course my luck had changed! They did not know that my passenger was a non driver and they assumed he was a full licence holder. No more encounters, having obtained a full licence by 1981, until 2015.

2015 - police attempted to stop me on me mobility scooter - tore off doon the back lanes, skidded past The Blake arms and went doon hill at 8mph; up the drive; into the garage and safely into the hoose. My luck with policeman and mobility has changed! 80% of this is true.