Earliest memory that influenced your petrol head future
Discussion
Early 1970s bubble-arched Mk1 Escort rally cars tearing up forest tracks sideways on Saturday World of Sport. The sound of a BDA or Lotus Twink Escort on full-steam-ahead still gets me going 40 years later.
Ford GT40 (I had a model one about a foot long - and a Lambo Muira too which had opening panels to let you see inside and look at the engine). Wow!!!!
Chrome rostyle wheels on a Cortina Mk2 1600E or a Rover P5B. The 6-clock wooden dashboard and aluminium sports steering wheel on my dad's 1600E. - I used to get to steer and I was maybe only about 5 - that's probably not allowed so much these days.
A line-up of lots of different-coloured Mk1 Capris at the local Ford dealer.
The launch of the Austin Allegro to replace the relatively neat-looking (IMO) Austin 1300 - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, a lesson learnt that car manufacturers can really make a mess of things and get away with it for years. Sorry Austin Allegro owners - just my own opinion.
Hillman Imps on local car-club autotests in the supermarket car-park. They were given permission to use the car-park as the town supermarket was closed on Sundays!!!
The gorgeous sound of a neighbour's J-reg Triumph Stag (when it was running, his one unfortunately was silent for much of the time).
Ford GT40 (I had a model one about a foot long - and a Lambo Muira too which had opening panels to let you see inside and look at the engine). Wow!!!!
Chrome rostyle wheels on a Cortina Mk2 1600E or a Rover P5B. The 6-clock wooden dashboard and aluminium sports steering wheel on my dad's 1600E. - I used to get to steer and I was maybe only about 5 - that's probably not allowed so much these days.
A line-up of lots of different-coloured Mk1 Capris at the local Ford dealer.
The launch of the Austin Allegro to replace the relatively neat-looking (IMO) Austin 1300 - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, a lesson learnt that car manufacturers can really make a mess of things and get away with it for years. Sorry Austin Allegro owners - just my own opinion.
Hillman Imps on local car-club autotests in the supermarket car-park. They were given permission to use the car-park as the town supermarket was closed on Sundays!!!
The gorgeous sound of a neighbour's J-reg Triumph Stag (when it was running, his one unfortunately was silent for much of the time).
Edited by quiraing on Saturday 18th May 14:55
Pvapour said:
i was about 6 or 7, my Dad used to race cars on the way back from my gran & grandads late at night, slightly inebriated shall we say, no wrong in those days & it was a great laugh.
How do you mean, "no wrong"? The breathalyser was introduced in 1967. Granted more people found it "acceptable" but it was still just as illegal.I'm not being holier than thou, incidentally, my father once woke to tell my mother he'd parked the car in the garage. We didn't have a garage and the car (a Zephyr)was found parked perfectly on the pavement in a nearby bus shelter.
For me, it was having a toy garage and various Matchbox cars - these ranged from a white Mustang to a Lamborghini Miura to a tractor and trailer. I think my favourites were a battered Matchbox beetle - pre-superfast - which had a small opening engine cover which I found fascinating and the Mustang as it had a little plastic switch on the side to steer it.
Remember going to get my dads Capri when I was perhaps 4, he had it until I was old enough to drive.
I apparently could name most cars on the road at three.
We use to go to the owners club events for these,
My uncle owns the car in the picture and has done since my dad sold him it in the sixties, it was white then and had some wide wheels on but has been returned to original, another uncle has one as well, he hasnt had it long, comparatively, probably only 20 years !
Remember going to see Stock Car and Banger racing.
My dad used to buy and sell cars, do serviving and all sorts so there was loads of cars passing through.
I apparently could name most cars on the road at three.
We use to go to the owners club events for these,
My uncle owns the car in the picture and has done since my dad sold him it in the sixties, it was white then and had some wide wheels on but has been returned to original, another uncle has one as well, he hasnt had it long, comparatively, probably only 20 years !
Remember going to see Stock Car and Banger racing.
My dad used to buy and sell cars, do serviving and all sorts so there was loads of cars passing through.
Going to Croft Autodrome (as it was known in those days) as a 12-year-old with my Dad and hearing a Cobra and a GT40 (real ones!) at full bore on Railway Straight at the back of the circuit, and the smell of Castrol R. Hearing Lotus Cortinas on twin 40s in Hamsterley Forest on the Mintex Seven Dales Rally before you saw them... Happy days indeed.
Apart from playing with toy cars. I used to "help" my dad work on the family cars, old Humber Hawks, Super Snipes in the early seventies.
Earliest time driving was sitting on my dads knee when I would have been about 5 or 6 and steering in the late Sixties. Doubt if that would be looked upon favourably today.
Got my first car at 15 and as where we lived had private roads used to drive to friends houses and hone my driving skills. This was the car (Hillman Hunter) where I started to do all my own spannering.
Earliest time driving was sitting on my dads knee when I would have been about 5 or 6 and steering in the late Sixties. Doubt if that would be looked upon favourably today.
Got my first car at 15 and as where we lived had private roads used to drive to friends houses and hone my driving skills. This was the car (Hillman Hunter) where I started to do all my own spannering.
What influenced my petrol head future?
Sitting outside the garage in minus temperatures with my dad fixing various 90's fords that my parents owned.
Most memorable was changing the brake shoes on a mondeo in what must have been the coldest day of that year. He had me running back and forth to the garage fetching different tools. Never once lost his patience when he asked for a pair of long nose pliers and I presented him with a 1/4 spanner. I was 7 at the oldest and didn't know a hammer from a screw driver.
Kind of locked in my love of all things mechanical. I now work in avionics but its still mechanical.
Richard
Sitting outside the garage in minus temperatures with my dad fixing various 90's fords that my parents owned.
Most memorable was changing the brake shoes on a mondeo in what must have been the coldest day of that year. He had me running back and forth to the garage fetching different tools. Never once lost his patience when he asked for a pair of long nose pliers and I presented him with a 1/4 spanner. I was 7 at the oldest and didn't know a hammer from a screw driver.
Kind of locked in my love of all things mechanical. I now work in avionics but its still mechanical.
Richard
In the early 1960's a neighour - Len Bailey - worked for Ford Advanced vehicles in Slough. He was working on the GT40 Le Mans project, and used to bring a GT40 home for 'testing'.
As a 10 year old being a passenger in a GT40 at 160mph on the M4, terrified that my arse was 2" off the ground and a tuned V8 howling 2" behind my head? Hooked for life to V8 noise.
As a 10 year old being a passenger in a GT40 at 160mph on the M4, terrified that my arse was 2" off the ground and a tuned V8 howling 2" behind my head? Hooked for life to V8 noise.
My Dad always did his own servicing and repairs DIY - with me watching and helping. Well I thought I was helping at age 5!
My parents had always driven sensibly with me and my sister in the car - as you would expect - then one night my dad was angry or running late or something but he started hooning it with me in the car. It was a mk1 Escort, only a 1300E, but the next thing we were sideways and redlining it when the conditions allowed. I was like
So to sum up my dad. Never had the money to buy anything even near a 'sports car' but enjoyed getting the spanners out and enjoyed a hoon when the conditions allowed.
My parents had always driven sensibly with me and my sister in the car - as you would expect - then one night my dad was angry or running late or something but he started hooning it with me in the car. It was a mk1 Escort, only a 1300E, but the next thing we were sideways and redlining it when the conditions allowed. I was like
So to sum up my dad. Never had the money to buy anything even near a 'sports car' but enjoyed getting the spanners out and enjoyed a hoon when the conditions allowed.
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