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Cast your mind back . . .

Is4bell4•

12 years ago•31 Replies

I was giggling with a friend today about when we first learned to drive.

Winding the window down to put out your hand to turn right or left,

slowing down. Grief, remembering when the dip switch in my first mini

was on the floor and the water used to seep in from the underside.

When you hit the brakes a tidal wave would flood from the back to the

front lol. The sub frame was always a big problem rusting and the wind screen wipers

used to get out out sinc and meet in the middle.

No MOT's. handbrakes did not work so you

would ride the clutch. And double de clutching because the syncromesh (sp) had gone.

Ohh the memories of driving in the 60's

Then of course overheating, so you would have to put the heater on full blast in the

summer to cool it down

ROFL

xx Ros xx

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Is4bell4

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31 Replies

•

KingoftheCocktails12 years ago

My first car was a Morris1100 and apart from skidding on ice one day I never had any problems with it.I was lucky. Good puller!

KOTC

Is4bell4• in reply toKingoftheCocktails12 years ago

Yeah KOC they were so old fashioned in the 60's :0). . you could not pull in a Morris, and if I remember the windscreen wipers only worked with the speed you were doing? Go slow and the wipers also went slow.

You would have to do a ton to get the rain off the screen . . . haha xx Ros xx

KingoftheCocktails• in reply toIs4bell412 years ago

You mean a Morris Minor I think.The1100 was much more comfortable with a lovely heater!!!!!!

• in reply toKingoftheCocktails12 years ago

passed my test in the Morris 1100 in 1961, nice little car.

undine12 years ago

A friend and I many years ago crossed the Pyrenees in a mini with the intention of driving down through Spain and seeing the real Spain only we overheated in the Pyrenees and had to stay a few days camping there, while the car was sort of repaired, anyway it still overheated so we ended up on the first Costa which at the time was not what we wanted - so was interesting to see you had overheating problems with your mini too xx

Is4bell4• in reply toundine12 years ago

lol undine I used to carry a canister of water, I had to wait until the engine cooled down before I could refill the radiator again so I did not crack the block!

Crossing the Pyrenees would never have worked in my case. ha . it was refill the radiator every 25 miles.

xx Ros xx

undine• in reply toIs4bell412 years ago

I forgot to say my boyfriend at the time was 6 ft. tall why he bought a mini I'll never know lol xx

Is4bell412 years ago

lol . . .I had to have a mini, it was my dream, passed my test at 17 and purchased a heap. But enjoyed it while it lasted. The hills were tricky as the handbrake did not work, and double de clutching came easy after a while.

I felt like the knees knockers in it.

jabber12 years ago

I had a Hillman Imp which was a lovely little car most of the time. When it broke down my boyfriend would repair it for me an let me use his mini while mine was off the road. We took my car on holiday though as there was more room for the camping equipment - my parents thought we were using b & b's - single rooms of course We drove the Imp from near Slough, all round Scotland, right up to the north coast, camping in fields by the coast. It was very free and easy then and petrol was cheap. The boyfriend and I have been married now for over 40 years (child bride!) and next week we're off to Scotland again, but thankfully these days we're in a motorhome. I hope the weather is kind.

Is4bell4• in reply tojabber12 years ago

Those little Hillman Imps were lovely. not unlike the mini if I remember correctly. I had a boyfriend with one but unlike you it was a 2 week romance lol.

appyalison12 years ago

I really loved my orange wedge - it was a Bond Bug, a three wheeler. Boyfriend and i took a tent and all the equipment to Cornwall for holiday. It took hours packing as it was so tiny. Great fun! Alison

phillips1• in reply toappyalison12 years ago

I actually rolled one of the ordinary Bonds, Alison. I was demonstrating how it really could corner, even with three wheels. It didn't and I got thrown out. Dug the gravel out of my hands and off I went again. Well you can at 17 can't you. lol

Bobby xxxx

appyalison• in reply tophillips112 years ago

Hi Bobby, a lad I knew was always tipping his over round corners. It was all part if his fun. The Bug had a lower centre of gravity so I never rolled in it. Thank goodness! Alison

Is4bell412 years ago

Grief do you remember the bubble cars, I did not have one but my older sisters boyfriend did. I squashed in the back somehow to go the Sandbanks.

xx Ros xx

appyalison• in reply toIs4bell412 years ago

One of my primary school teachers had a bubbke car. She was called Mrs Baxter. It opened frontwards. Memories. Alison

Is4bell412 years ago

So was I the only one who had to double de clutch?

xx Ros xx

appyalison• in reply toIs4bell412 years ago

I had a boyfriend who raced cars - minis. I was an extra person who sat in and revved when car was on blocks etc. Boyfriend taught me how to heel n toe and double declutch. He roared with laughter when I told him my first driving lesson had not gone well. Instructor was terrified as I zoomed up the road. He asked me to stop and gasped as i asked him where the brake was. He always said I didn't drive like a woman. Mmmmmmm, I do now! Alison

Is4bell4• in reply toappyalison12 years ago

Grins @ Alison, another woman who can double declutch hahahahaha xxRosxx

appyalison• in reply toIs4bell412 years ago

Haven't done it for years and years but I just assumed that was what drivers did! Alison

jabber• in reply toappyalison12 years ago

My driving instructor also told me off for driving too fast. He happened to live opposite my boyfriend and said I was using the wrong person as my role model!

appyalison• in reply tojabber12 years ago

Driving instructors. - no sense of adventure! Alison

zube-UK• in reply toIs4bell412 years ago

Yeh I did double de clutch when I learnt to drive in a Bedford 10 ton truck my boyfriend drove for a vegetable merchant. used to get whistles as I climbed up into cab in my short skirt I thought I was the only girl to be so brave, still lucky enough to have that boyfriend 50yrs on.. he's my dh !

12 years ago

My very first vehicle was a moped, which I loved to bits - free as the air on it and went miles in the country lanes. First car was a three wheeler when we first got married. Fun too but a bone shaker.

knitter12 years ago

We had a Mini van many years ago, I would sit on the front seat with my daughter on my lap and the cat in the back.....can you imaginr doing that now

When I passed my test there were no roundabouts in our town, so have never really got the hang of them...ha ha !

whit12 years ago

my first car that I bought for £17 in 1961 was a1950 armstrong sidley ,i couldn`t drive at the time so i had to get some one to drive it home for me, and he gave me a couple of lessons , then I went out on my own but there wasn't the traffic on the roads then like there is now . I finally sold it for£15.wish I still had it

Is4bell412 years ago

I purchased a silver mini, a 'limited' (only 25 were made) model on the Queens Silver Wedding Anniversary, wish I had kept that one.

xx Ros xx

phillips112 years ago

My first car was a 1932 Austin 7. It cost me £15. No heater, no radio, three speed gearbox, cable brakes and NO starter motor. Swing the handle to start and watch out for the kick back. Happy days.

Bobby

dall0512 years ago

Hi Ros, I had my first car when I was 16, It was a Ford Anglia or Angle box as I used to call it. It was my dads old car and I used to race it around an oval track I made in my dads field. In the end my friends brought 2 more of the same model, MOT fails and we used to have races which involved many comings together. I don't think Health and safety would be to happy about it now but we all survived even though we completely rolled one car which had an large open sun roof and no seat belts.

Tony

12 years ago

Gosh that is going back a bit Ros, I remember double declutching and having to get the choke just right, I don't recall having a heater originally or it might have been I'd reached destination before it had had time to heat up.

Best wishes BC

Is4bell412 years ago

Oh yes the chokes, ha they used to flood if you did not get it right.

xx Ros xx

peege12 years ago

Like annieseed I had a little motorbike (still have the burn scars on my inner calf from falling off & sizzlieng my leg on the exhaust. 1st car was a Morris Minor. I'd set my heart on a convertible lucky I coiuldn't find one as on the way home (avoiding Cambridge town centre in case caught by police) I rolled it over, broke the rear window with my head & ended up inbedded in a deep fen dyke. When I passed my test 1st time I had three points on licence straight away .

Ist legal car was Austin A40 which I cleaned up & sold for a profit. From then on I supplemented my grant by buying cars at cambridge Car Auctions, a bit of elbow grease, spit n polish & re sold each one. I progressed each time & the last car was a Triumph Vitesse convertible the cash I got for that bought tickets to Libya but that's another story

I do recall a Mini Traveller with no working heater & driving through countryside in freezing fog. The windscreen was frozen inside & out

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