Practically Classics Forum

One friend's glamorous mum always had a new Spitfire: she was a hairdresser, naturally. His dad had to make do with a tatty Mk3 Cortina. The local vet had a bright yellow TR7, but the best was a mate whose family ran the local garage and seemingly used the customer cars as their own private taxi fleet. We got ferried to cubs in all manner of things - from a Ford Anglia to a Jag Mk 10 - and also an E type. I think the XJS had just come out - and I remember thinking the E type was a bit of an old banger...

Not so much my friends' parents but my parent's friends....... Most memorable was a near neighbour Des Tilley who had a Landcrab and 2.5p.i. (not at the same time) which he ran in the Mexico and Sydney Marathon rallies. Not sure which in which though.

In the 70's my best friends father drove a red Matra Djet and somewhat later another friends mother owned a brown XJ-S.
Luckily, I also had friends whose parents drove "lesser" cars than us, so I didn't have to be jealous all of the time.
At random, there were a Datsun 120Y, Datsun 100A, Citroen Ami and a Mazda 1500 (altough I now find it quite cool).

My best mate at primary school, his Dad had a blue Morris 1100 and my best mate at secondary school, his dad had a Scimitar GTE Se6a.

Back in the 50's when I was at primary school car ownership in my neighbourhood was virtually nil,only one of my friend's father had a car,a Ford V8 Pilot,a massive beast of car.We all thought he was a millionaire or a bank robber.

The first one I remember was a very early Minor MM convertible. I think one of Mother's uncles paid for it as father needed a car for work (he was a curate at the time), I'd be about two then and we sold it with a very rusty floor when I was five or six ('58/9). I remember the family setting off to the seaside on a glorious day with the hood down and the weather changing to downpour, so coming home without the side screens wasn't fun!

When I was five or six, father bought a Reliant van - the one with the motorbike front fork/wheel. It had no floor, so a friend suggested the new wonder stuff - chipboard! He forgot to screw the passenger seat down when fixing it. He discovered that when he let the clutch out too quickly - the Archdeacon went flying into the back! We only had the van a year or so and cashed it and the MM in for a Minor Traveller.

A pair of Travellers followed (803 split screen then a 948 of '61 vintage), both failing due to rust thanks to our new parish being on the edge of the Solway, where the high tides often covered the roads. A Herald (61) followed and I first learnt to drive in that (officially - I actually learned in an A55-style pick up on a friend's farm) and a 61 Victor FB followed that -then I bought my own car (a 65 Wolseley Hornet) as the engine blew on the Victor and we needed a car urgently! I passed my test in the Hornet in 1971 - and suddenly feel old!

Apparently, the first car I went in was a VW Beetle that my parents hired when we moved from Barrow (where I was born) to Carlisle in/about 1954. The way I'm not putting miles on the Golf suggest that a VW may be the last car I drive!

mostly rusty unreliable ones ....

Our neighbour used to take us all to primary school,in his silver DS Safari
There was something truly magical as the 'Silver spaceship' rose up in the air when he started it!

Ones that come to mind are:-
XJ6
Marina 1.3 super
Rover SD1
Princess 2200HLS
1275GT Mini
Jeff Uren Mk3 Savage Cortina Estate even remember the number plate on that LAB 550K
Mk1 Cortina
Mk2 Cortina
Vauxhall Viscount
Viva HB
Capri 3000GXL
Lancia Beta
Lancia Gamma
Citroen DS

Trev

Round the Midlands, the weapons of choice were

Austin Morris 1100's
Triumph Heralds
Austin Maxi's
Landrovers (Well the factory wasn't far away)
Simca 1100's
Hillman Imps
and loads of Mini Clubman estates