Advanced Driving Hub

EasyShifter wrote:

sussex2 wrote:The Fiat was by far the best and you could do clutchless gear changes with ease.

I had to do that for a few weeks in a 1980s Hillman Imp when the clutch thrust bearing went at the start of the school term. Poor as church mice, we couldn't afford to pay for the work to be done so I just had to keep using it until I got a free weekend to do the work myself (not difficult as it turned out on an Imp).
So for those few weeks I was driving around Wolverhampton town centre and surroundings doing clutches gear-changes. I gave a a lift to a 6th form student who'd just passed his driving test and he was intrigued. "How d'you do that? Can I have a go?'
'Very carefully, and no,'I replied. 'Ask your dad if he'll let you try it in his.'
'I don't think he'd let me'
Well, surprise, surprise.
One thing about that kind of experience - it's a great way to learn to do silky gear changes with a working clutch.

I had Imps, again, very easy to work on, engine out in no time.

The very first car I had was given to me by my Dad in 1973 for me to learn in, a 1960s Ford Popular 100E. Something like this:



It was originally black. My Dad had a car spraying business, he'd bought the car to convert into a pickup, but then decided to buy a landrover instead. He re-sprayed it using two colours and gave it to me (I seem to remember it was dark metallic brown/dark metallic green, paint he had left over/mixed himself, it sounds awful, but it looked really cool). Unfortunately the engine blew up after a short while. Me and a mate got another engine from the scrap yard but, as a student, I couldn't afford to get it running.

The first car I actually bought, after passing my test, was a 'G' reg (1969), bought from my Grandad for the princely sum of £250, on return from my first trip to sea in 1975. Very similar to this:



I had that car for about 3 years I think.

Trebor wrote:The very first car I had was given to me by my Dad in 1973 for me to learn in, a 1960s Ford Popular 100E. Something like this:



It was originally black. My Dad had a car spraying business, he'd bought the car to convert into a pickup, but then decided to buy a landrover instead. He re-sprayed it using two colours and gave it to me (I seem to remember it was dark metallic brown/dark metallic green, paint he had left over/mixed himself, it sounds awful, but it looked really cool). Unfortunately the engine blew up after a short while. Me and a mate got another engine from the scrap yard but, as a student, I couldn't afford to get it running.

The first car I actually bought, after passing my test, was a 'G' reg (1969), bought from my Grandad for the princely sum of £250, on return from my first trip to sea in 1975. Very similar to this:



I had that car for about 3 years I think.

100E and 105E, in the 1960s, often heavily modified, to provide saloon racers on the road.
I went in a couple, really good, easy ton on B roads.

Mk1 Ford Escort 1300 super 1969 in a bronze metallic colour. Bought for £325 in 1976. Kept for 3 years and sold for £300. Bargain!

One of these:

One of the earliest cars I owned was an Austin 12 built in the 1930's. Originally it was in someones front garden and the local council told them it had to be moved so the owner said I could have it for nothing if I drove it away for him. Didn't need to be asked twice . Side opening bonnet made it very easy to work on and running boards added some class . Got me around quite well as I was doing a second job at the time as a press photographer during evenings and weekends when there was little public transport around. The only format for press work in those days was 2 1/4 square and as I had no flash equipment I used TriX professional roll film for night shots and then cooked the film during development to get a printable image.