Wheels and more wheels
The look, feel, smell and behaviour of cars almost gives them a personality of their own and whilst I have never given the cars I have owned names, when I see photos of them I usually remember their good and bad points and peculiarities.
I've included pictures on this page (more or less in chronological order) of most of the cars I have owned since first learning to drive. My lessons and test were taken in a Morris 1000 back in about '61. I've had more than shown below but never got round to photographing them all. A Hillman Minx was one that slipped away - the only British car I have owned with automatic transmission and it was so quiet and comfortable to drive. The Mk II 1600 Ford Cortina was also camera-shy although not owned for long because it attracted police attention. Having been stopped several times by the bobbies I once asked them why when I was never stopped whilst driving my previous car a Rover 2000. "Ah, the Cortina is a very stealable car" they explained. They added that if it were ever stolen, I'd be happy to have them find it for me.
The oldest car owned was a 1935 Morris Eight in superb condition. It was hand painted in bright red and black gloss Valspar. It used a lot of oil and I would carry a gallon can of the stuff around with me. You could always tell when it needed topping up as the pistons began to rattle. An attempt was made to reduce the oil consumption by fitting another engine obtained from a similar car but to no avail as consumption went up instead of down. I remember burying the donor vehicle in a long trench in the garden. The only time it was garaged was to replace a blown engine block core plug after a very cold icy night during my honeymoon during which the vehicle covered almost 1,000 miles. Cost of labour was 19 shillings and a new plug was 6p. The wooden floorboards of the Morris were ingeniously designed having just enough space between them to permit the rain to splash in and up your legs when you drove through a puddle. An embarrassing moment was when I arrived back at work after my lunch break in full view of my colleagues and peers who were sunbathing outside the factory when one of the front wheels fell off. I purchased the Morris in 1963 for £25 and sold it a year later for the same price 'sans depreciation'. I wonder what it would be worth now!
The largest car I've ever had was a Cadillac (19.5 feet long) which was purchased in Saudi Arabia for £45 and kept for some time until the automatic gearbox failed which only permitted me to drive the beast in reverse. I soon got fed up with this as I could only get to places I had already been to so gave the car to my Filipino friend Alfie who used it as a tool shed. Another American-built car was my GMC Chevy Blazer bought from my engineer and teacher friend Peter. This came complete with GPS and enormous sand tyres which enabled us to go out into the desert camping at weekends. A fabulous but thirsty motor eventually sold to a Kiwi.
Luckiest auto escape was in 1976 whilst driving to work one cold winter's morning when I hit some black ice and slid sideways into an oncoming lorry full of stones. Sandra, my work colleague sitting immediately behind me instinctively threw her arms over my head and hung on to me a split second before the impact minimising my injuries. I remembered being upset that the Rover 2000 had just been fitted with a new battery. The garage that towed away the car waived the towing fee in return for the few spares that they would salvage from the wreck.
One of my more recent cars was a Peugeot 205 diesel. It was an absolute gem. Purchased from my father who had kept it in top condition since new, it was the most economic car of all, achieving 60 miles to the gallon of diesel on a good run. It was extremely reliable and had been used to great effect in France including a trip to Rome. It is now owned by my good friends in France but is sadly unused now. I have remained a diesel fan since the Peugeot - the fuel is so much cheaper than petrol in many countries and the engines are so well engineered and very reliable.
Many of my older cars sported an RAC badge as standard equipment as my father worked for the organisation and always had plenty of spares! He was a road patrol starting with a Norton motorcycle combination then moving up to a minivan and finally a Ford Escort.
I've included pictures on this page (more or less in chronological order) of most of the cars I have owned since first learning to drive. My lessons and test were taken in a Morris 1000 back in about '61. I've had more than shown below but never got round to photographing them all. A Hillman Minx was one that slipped away - the only British car I have owned with automatic transmission and it was so quiet and comfortable to drive. The Mk II 1600 Ford Cortina was also camera-shy although not owned for long because it attracted police attention. Having been stopped several times by the bobbies I once asked them why when I was never stopped whilst driving my previous car a Rover 2000. "Ah, the Cortina is a very stealable car" they explained. They added that if it were ever stolen, I'd be happy to have them find it for me.
The oldest car owned was a 1935 Morris Eight in superb condition. It was hand painted in bright red and black gloss Valspar. It used a lot of oil and I would carry a gallon can of the stuff around with me. You could always tell when it needed topping up as the pistons began to rattle. An attempt was made to reduce the oil consumption by fitting another engine obtained from a similar car but to no avail as consumption went up instead of down. I remember burying the donor vehicle in a long trench in the garden. The only time it was garaged was to replace a blown engine block core plug after a very cold icy night during my honeymoon during which the vehicle covered almost 1,000 miles. Cost of labour was 19 shillings and a new plug was 6p. The wooden floorboards of the Morris were ingeniously designed having just enough space between them to permit the rain to splash in and up your legs when you drove through a puddle. An embarrassing moment was when I arrived back at work after my lunch break in full view of my colleagues and peers who were sunbathing outside the factory when one of the front wheels fell off. I purchased the Morris in 1963 for £25 and sold it a year later for the same price 'sans depreciation'. I wonder what it would be worth now!
The largest car I've ever had was a Cadillac (19.5 feet long) which was purchased in Saudi Arabia for £45 and kept for some time until the automatic gearbox failed which only permitted me to drive the beast in reverse. I soon got fed up with this as I could only get to places I had already been to so gave the car to my Filipino friend Alfie who used it as a tool shed. Another American-built car was my GMC Chevy Blazer bought from my engineer and teacher friend Peter. This came complete with GPS and enormous sand tyres which enabled us to go out into the desert camping at weekends. A fabulous but thirsty motor eventually sold to a Kiwi.
Luckiest auto escape was in 1976 whilst driving to work one cold winter's morning when I hit some black ice and slid sideways into an oncoming lorry full of stones. Sandra, my work colleague sitting immediately behind me instinctively threw her arms over my head and hung on to me a split second before the impact minimising my injuries. I remembered being upset that the Rover 2000 had just been fitted with a new battery. The garage that towed away the car waived the towing fee in return for the few spares that they would salvage from the wreck.
One of my more recent cars was a Peugeot 205 diesel. It was an absolute gem. Purchased from my father who had kept it in top condition since new, it was the most economic car of all, achieving 60 miles to the gallon of diesel on a good run. It was extremely reliable and had been used to great effect in France including a trip to Rome. It is now owned by my good friends in France but is sadly unused now. I have remained a diesel fan since the Peugeot - the fuel is so much cheaper than petrol in many countries and the engines are so well engineered and very reliable.
Many of my older cars sported an RAC badge as standard equipment as my father worked for the organisation and always had plenty of spares! He was a road patrol starting with a Norton motorcycle combination then moving up to a minivan and finally a Ford Escort.