Cars

I always remember my big brother coming home on leave from his National Service in a very old Austin 7. It had wooden floorboards and they were riddled with woodworm so he had to replace them with some old wood my Dad found in his shed!

In 1967 I had 12 lessons in a Hillman Imp and passed my test first time in it, never having driven at night or on a motorway. So far, almost 50 years on, touch wood, my licence is still clear.

I remember well the fear I had on my first motorway journey. I'd done dual carriageway work with my driving instructor but that first time I had to cope with traffic joining from the left at motorway speed was terrifying! I had a friend who would turn off the motorway at slip roads, go round the roundabout or whatever, then rejoin from the slip road in the direction she was originally going!

I find it scarier to join the motorway from a slip road! At least if you're already on it you can usually move over to the outer lane to allow for traffic joining from the left.

The first car I drove 50 years ago was a Hillman Imp which was embarrassingly unreliable and leaked even though new! The first car of my own was a Hillman Husky van. It had a rear engine and had to be stabilised with a bag of sand in the front boot!
When I was a child the man across the the road built his own car. The back seat was an old sofa and we all went off to the seaside in it! Happy days!
Does anyone remember Derek car seats, made of metal with a steering wheel and a tray.? It hung over the front seat and had there been. an accident the child would have shot through the windscreen or been sliced in two by the tray!

I had a wonderful Hillman Imp, we called it 'the pram' because it wouldn't go without a push..........so many cars over the years, all rum characters, bit like the pets we had, happy days......

I learned to drive in 1967 in a Ford Cortina and had to do hand signals! I also tried to practise in my parents' Humber Super Snipe, which I found terrifying. It had a column gear change, a bench seat in front so the brake was on the wrong side and a very powerful engine and it reduced me to tears. Fortunately for me, my father was a schoolmaster and ran the school's CCF so had access to their ex-Army vehicles so I had a happy afternoon doing three point turns around the playground in a jeep. My own first car was a green A30, which my brothers painted red with some old paint, either gloss or emulsion. My favourite car was a Morris 1000 that I had when my first two children were small. It had the dip switch on the floor, which I always thought was a great idea.

I passed my test aged 17 and drove my dad's Viva. Then I got a job as a secretary and the boss liked me to drive him about in his powerful V8 Rover. I was often out on my own doing errands in it and used to go well over the speed limit. One day another partner in the business gave me the keys to his Porshe to do an errand for him. I couldn't get it out of first gear and drove all the way in first gear! Those were the days. I can't imagine why they trusted a teenager with their cars. Might have been something to do with my mini skirts!

My first car was a mini van which cost £50. It was a mobile death trap. I still managed to get £40 for it when I traded it in 3 months later.

Ah, the 2CV! Getting all nostalgic at the thought...

The first car I drove (living abroad at the time) was a fiat 500, the Topolino) . I was ace at double de clutching. Not so good at parking, cos as long as the nose was pointing in the approximate direction of the kerb, that was good enough

Fun days!

I can remember filling my petrol tank up for a fiver!

Passed my test in 1965 bought a Morris 1100 no indicators, used hand signals, no safety belt, but I had one fitted on MY side, how bad was that, thankful for all the rules and regulations these days, and glad I took my test ages ago, have been a District Nurse for years, I bought a new car last year at 73, still going strong, the car and me!

I passed my test 1st time at age 17 in 1972 - hand signals were part of Driving Test then!!! 1st car was a Mini which I bought with an Insurance Policy which my Parents took out when I was born (old"penny policy") & a Bank Loan.

I've driven all sorts of cars, learnt to drive in a long wheelbase Land Rover before I started Driving Lessons. After I passed my test a family friend took me & my parents out for the day, made me drive & took me on the M6 at Preston less than a week after passing my test, I still dislike Motorway driving.

1st brand new car my late DH & I owned was 7 years ago when Government offered £2000 for scrapping an old car & buying a brand new one (my little car was 15 years old - offer we couldn't refuse). Traded that one in at just short of 3 years old (3 door) for another of same model but 5 door. Should see me out for my driving days.

Fab thread! Memory Lane. Does anyone remember how the old minis used to die whenever they went through a puddle? But I recently had a Smart car and there was something wrong with the timing - in the old days I'd have just pulled the choke out, but that wasn't an option. I remember going on the M1 when it first opened - it was empty and exciting. Now I avoid it.

Yes great reading all these memories. My dad had a Hillman Imp and he took me up to the local disused airfield and showed me how to drive when I was about 15. My husband passed his test 6 months after we married in 1971 aged 17. We had an old mini which he'd had since he was 15 - he would drive up and down the back lane in it so to this day his reversing is brill We still had it when I went into labour with our first son but by then it was only doing 2 miles to the gallon so when my waters broke it was touch and go whether we'd make the trip to the other side of town in tome. We sold it just after he was born for £15 - sad day and we didn't have another for about 7 years. I didn't pass my test until 1979 and did a lot of practising in an old Anglia with holes in the floor.

Petrol freebies! Yes crun, the only champagne flutes I possess are Esso freebies. Glasses more frequently used have all bitten the dust.

Our first car in 1967 was a dark blue Ford Anglia. It had lots of red patches all over it (I think it was called red oxide) that was used to cover up all the rust. Our local garage used to call it the VD special.

I learned to drive in the 70's. It cost £3.50 a lesson.
I had a wonderful Instructor who was extremely kind but strict.
He used to keep several bags of sweets in the car which he used to give to his Learners. One day, I struggled to do a reverse around a corner.
He told me after a couple of tries that if I did not get it right, then no sweet for me.
I tried once again and failed.
And yes, no sweet for me as he munched away on his.
Happy Days.

disgruntled I remember driving on the m1 when it opened! Well, I was a passenger in my first(official) boyfriends car, it was a triumph TR3a, powder blue, was a lovely day and we roared along with the top down. And then we roared all the way back
And yes, the m'way was pretty well empty.

In the same car, with the same boyfriend + our friends in a Morgan, we drove to Italy, going over the St.Bernard pass (tunnel not yet built). Boy! That morgan had zero suspension!

Passed my test at 17, Dad was an inveterate car fixer and I had many a practice drive in his huge Morris. Column change and a bench seat. Flipping thing was so heavy to haul around and it took all my strength to stop it. I was working and i bought an old, old style Ford Anglia which Dad renovated for me. This was followed by a black A30. I loved that car, even though the stick out indicators needed a thump to get them to work. Of course both were aged and broke down regularly. In particular I became adept at holding up the exhaust to the bumper with wire when the bracket fell off. Also travelled on the M1 when it first opened, as a passenger in my parents' car. It was so, so quiet but such a relief to drive to our destination for Christmas in much less time. Seeing the M5 on Saturday I would much have preferred the traffic level of Christmas 1959! Think driving was much more fun back in the day, not so comfortable inside the car though. Those seats and suspension left a bit to be desired.

I passed my test in 1967, it was a nightmare because my suspender belt snapped just as I was getting into the car at the centre. Every gear change meant my stockings descended further, and I was so worried about this I got cramp. Instructor suggested we stopped, and then suggested I go for a walk. Realising what would happen if I did, I claimed the cramp had gone, and struggled on. I was convinced I had failed, but to my aastonishment I had passed, perhaps because worry about how my driving was going was the last thing on my mind!

Lol @ the snapped suspenders anecdote
Was it those with the rubber button thingies or the metal snap fastener?
Both instruments of discomfort, if not actual torture!

We saved baked bean cans to mend the exhaust in the 70's.

My father's first car in the early 1930s was an Austin 7. GO 1211. There were no indicators so he had to put his arm out the window to indicate when he was turning. There was no boot just a rack on the back so we children had to keep looking out the back window to make sure the suitcases were still there. No heater so my father wore fur lined boots and we were wrapped in blankets. No windscreen wipers and the windscreen opened up. I don't remember him having to pass a driving test.

When I bought he Citroen C3 that I am currently driving DH was delighted by all the things it could do. I just looked through the manual and thought "Oh God, all those things to go wrong!"

I passed my test in1963 in a mini. I drove my dad's Vauxhall consul with bench front seat and column gear change. When I passed my test I had to do part of it using hand signals and then I was told to use the indicators for the remainder. Cars were so unreliable and batteries needed to be charged frequently or the car wouldn't start. No seat belts and very few speed limits. No roundabouts, pedestrian crossings or traffic lights,. dual carriageways. When anything new appeared on the roads we got instructions on how to use it via public service announcements on black and white TV. How things have changed.