Car Memories from childhood.
Discussion
Migth be a bit boring but perhaps a little different, pick one of your favourite memories and let us hear about it, preferably from when you were a kid, doesnt have to be momentous, just the little details you remember, sights, smells, sounds etc
I used to love just sitting waiting in the car if my dad was going to a car spares shop or waiting at the chippy, sat there in the back on the black vinyl seats of the Mk1 Capri, the smell of a long dead Feu Orange still detectable above the whiff of hot oil and slightly damp carpet. I remember the teeth marks in the back of the seat from me when I was three or so (Ford Vinyl is so nice and chewy). I remember the tax disk holder, it said "Sports Motors (Hale)"
It had an analogue clock with a loud tick which I could hear when the stereo was not on but generally he would leave the 8 track on, my favourite was Tubular Bells but not the bit with the Caveman talking, that was a bit scary when you are six, if I ever hear Tubular bells now I can still remember the points at which the player would switch tracks, a brief pause, a loud click and the display used to change on the 8 track player which was slung under the dash, must have been an expensive option in 1969, in 76 they were in decline but we had a few tapes. Dark Side of the Moon was always good as was Machine Head by Deep Purple, other than that it was Mike Sweeney on Piccadilly Radio 261. I remember the two Sanyo speakers on the rear shelf, I remember the mettalic "poing" noise the boot lid used to make, the Grand Prix S tyres (165/70/13), I was fascinated with the cigar lighter which resulted in a circular burn when I messed about with it.
I used to love just sitting waiting in the car if my dad was going to a car spares shop or waiting at the chippy, sat there in the back on the black vinyl seats of the Mk1 Capri, the smell of a long dead Feu Orange still detectable above the whiff of hot oil and slightly damp carpet. I remember the teeth marks in the back of the seat from me when I was three or so (Ford Vinyl is so nice and chewy). I remember the tax disk holder, it said "Sports Motors (Hale)"
It had an analogue clock with a loud tick which I could hear when the stereo was not on but generally he would leave the 8 track on, my favourite was Tubular Bells but not the bit with the Caveman talking, that was a bit scary when you are six, if I ever hear Tubular bells now I can still remember the points at which the player would switch tracks, a brief pause, a loud click and the display used to change on the 8 track player which was slung under the dash, must have been an expensive option in 1969, in 76 they were in decline but we had a few tapes. Dark Side of the Moon was always good as was Machine Head by Deep Purple, other than that it was Mike Sweeney on Piccadilly Radio 261. I remember the two Sanyo speakers on the rear shelf, I remember the mettalic "poing" noise the boot lid used to make, the Grand Prix S tyres (165/70/13), I was fascinated with the cigar lighter which resulted in a circular burn when I messed about with it.
Sitting in a Citroen SM at the '72 Motor Show while my dad was enquiring about a GS, which he got new a couple of months later.
Going to Clacton & Southend in the GS and listening to Jackie Wilson cassettes.
A girl I fancied at infants' school
father had a lilac 3.4 MK1 XJ6 which looked massive.
Empty roads.
Big crashes on the motorway on the news every year with deaths due to fog and people not wearing seat belts.
Having my picture taken standing next to exotic & unusual cars.
Mr. Hopper, my Sunday school teacher's Morris 1100.
The orange 1602 BMW that knocked me over in Leytonstone High Road, days before playing a shepherd in the Navity and halting my acting career in its tracks at the age of 8.
Going to Clacton & Southend in the GS and listening to Jackie Wilson cassettes.
A girl I fancied at infants' school
father had a lilac 3.4 MK1 XJ6 which looked massive.Empty roads.
Big crashes on the motorway on the news every year with deaths due to fog and people not wearing seat belts.
Having my picture taken standing next to exotic & unusual cars.
Mr. Hopper, my Sunday school teacher's Morris 1100.
The orange 1602 BMW that knocked me over in Leytonstone High Road, days before playing a shepherd in the Navity and halting my acting career in its tracks at the age of 8.
Used to love it when it snowed, if we were going anywhere my dad would slide the car round and used to run to the window to watch him leave for work in the morning if it had snowed as he coudlnt help himself from going sideways.
Remember him chasing a motorcyclist in it who clipped the car and rode off. Remember on the way back from seeing ET and the cinema and he was in a bad mood as some drunk bloke had got up and puked over my little brother
but some bloke ina white Viva cut him up, he blew his horn and there was a little exchange of words, they got out and Viva driver took a trip onto his own bonnet.
Remember beign picked up from school and leaving the school road sideways.
Remember it going from Silver Fox to Greater Manchester Transport white, superb job done at work.
Remember him rebuilding the engine in the garage.
Remember when he gave it me when I was 18 and I was a liability
Remember him chasing a motorcyclist in it who clipped the car and rode off. Remember on the way back from seeing ET and the cinema and he was in a bad mood as some drunk bloke had got up and puked over my little brother
but some bloke ina white Viva cut him up, he blew his horn and there was a little exchange of words, they got out and Viva driver took a trip onto his own bonnet.Remember beign picked up from school and leaving the school road sideways.
Remember it going from Silver Fox to Greater Manchester Transport white, superb job done at work.
Remember him rebuilding the engine in the garage.
Remember when he gave it me when I was 18 and I was a liability
When I was about 10, my (now departed) Uncle who had a Canary yellow V8 MGB GT had a terrible crash on the North Circular. He managed to spin it in the rain, hit a concrete barrier and was thrown out through the tailgate. No mean feat in that car!!
What was left of it was towed back to our place and stayed there for weeks. Once he'd got out of hospital, he set about rebuilding it. He was an electrical engineer for B.A. Over the following months, this car rose like a Phoenix from the flames and was slowly put back together.
My firmest memories of the project was the first time the engine fired up...
and being woken up by the sound of his upgraded town and country horns going off at about 2am when he took his first triumphant test drive. The reason? Electrical fault. He was more embarrassed by that than the original crash.
What was left of it was towed back to our place and stayed there for weeks. Once he'd got out of hospital, he set about rebuilding it. He was an electrical engineer for B.A. Over the following months, this car rose like a Phoenix from the flames and was slowly put back together.
My firmest memories of the project was the first time the engine fired up...
and being woken up by the sound of his upgraded town and country horns going off at about 2am when he took his first triumphant test drive. The reason? Electrical fault. He was more embarrassed by that than the original crash. Garlick said:
Not a car, but my Nan (RIP) stored a Moto Guzzi in her shed for a neighbour. I must have only been 8 or so at the time, but I'd go into the shed and sit on it for hours! As soon as I got there 'Nan, can I go and sit on the bike?'
And still you haven't got around to your bike test?!http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3806512.htm
Pixel Pusher said:
Uncle who had a Canary yellow V8 MGB GT had a terrible crash on the North Circular. He managed to spin it in the rain, hit a concrete barrier and was thrown out through the tailgate. No mean feat in that car!!
What was left of it was towed back to our place and stayed there for weeks.
Wow, wouldn't an ambiwlans have been more appropriate? What was left of it was towed back to our place and stayed there for weeks.
Benny Saltstein said:
Back in the eighties my dad came home with a talking Renault 25. My brother decided to test its powers of detection by opening the passenger door at 80mph on the M62 before rear seat belts were standard.
Haha, excellent!Mine are Dartmoor trips in my Gramdma's E30 soft top then I has about 10 and under. I liked the noise of the engine and the smells you got driving through the country in an open car. I think this started my obsession with driving on Dartmoor, some fantastic roads there and it is also quite exciting stumbling upon these places you used to go as a child.
My Dad getting up to 120 leptons on an exact private replica of the M4 when driving to see my Grandparents in Wales. Hugely exciting for a 10 year old boy who is crazy about cars. It is still the fastest I have been in a car.
Various off roading trips in my Dads Series 3 Land Rover. Great fun and fuelled my desire for a Series Landie, even though I bought an Allegro on a whim and now can't afford one.
PumpkinSteve said:
I can remember the smell of the Mini that my dad used to have when I was 5/6. It's weird the things that you can remember.
This too. It pleases me that my Allegro smells exactly the same as the Landie and indeed every other old car I have been in!Remember when the XJS came out in what, about 76, a car dealer friend of my dads had one and I got to sit in it, I was so excited, seemed like a proper supercar then, anyway the place burnt down and was in the paper, at the front of the picture was a very sorry looking burnt out XJS, I was very upset by this.
Remember my dad and uncle buying and selling cars, all sorts used to turn up but mainly Viva's, Chevettes, Avengers, Ford's and the like, most exciting was a 3.0 Granada Ghia Coupe with a broken engine. The bought a 3.0 Capri, from the auction, looked ok until the passenger door fell off due to the hinges being rusted out.
My uncle had a Jowett Jupiter, this is the very car,
Although it was white back then and fitted with some extra wide wheels (by the standards of the day) off a taxi, it was the seventies, he still has it and has had it since the late sixties when it used to be my dads, he still pops round in it occasionally, my other uncle has one as well. As a family we used to go to the annual meetings, lots of generally posh people looking at cars in a field for a couples of days and staying in a nice hotel, so me, my brother and my cousins used to get taken and us two older ones would run riot in these old hotels and generally have a high old time exploring and making a nuiscance of ourselves.
Remember my dad and uncle buying and selling cars, all sorts used to turn up but mainly Viva's, Chevettes, Avengers, Ford's and the like, most exciting was a 3.0 Granada Ghia Coupe with a broken engine. The bought a 3.0 Capri, from the auction, looked ok until the passenger door fell off due to the hinges being rusted out.
My uncle had a Jowett Jupiter, this is the very car,
Although it was white back then and fitted with some extra wide wheels (by the standards of the day) off a taxi, it was the seventies, he still has it and has had it since the late sixties when it used to be my dads, he still pops round in it occasionally, my other uncle has one as well. As a family we used to go to the annual meetings, lots of generally posh people looking at cars in a field for a couples of days and staying in a nice hotel, so me, my brother and my cousins used to get taken and us two older ones would run riot in these old hotels and generally have a high old time exploring and making a nuiscance of ourselves.
We never had a car at home, instead my uncle used to come and take us out in a variety of new cars, Zodiac famously 10 of us in an Austin Westminster. It was a treat just to smell the newness and marvel at how complicated it all looked.
A bit older remember always watching a young femail teacher getting in a white mgb in a mini skirt at home time.
Simple times when a long journey was 40 miles.
A bit older remember always watching a young femail teacher getting in a white mgb in a mini skirt at home time.
Simple times when a long journey was 40 miles.
After a spirited drive to wales with me in the back of my dads 911 SC when I was 6 or 7, I threw up everywhere 5 minutes from our destination. He wasn't too pleased!
I also remember a piece of metal that came out in the middle of the rear seats which got mega hot and would accidentally burn myself on.
I also remember a piece of metal that came out in the middle of the rear seats which got mega hot and would accidentally burn myself on.
PumpkinSteve said:
I can remember the smell of the Mini that my dad used to have when I was 5/6. It's weird the things that you can remember. Used to have a little digital clock stuck on the dash with velcro because the Mini didn't have one.
This, my dad had a Mini 1000 in the early 80's and to this day I can still remember the smell of the interior!I can also remember my dads friend coming around to our house in his brand new burgundy Rover SD1 3500, I remember the day my dad picked up his brand new Sierra XR4i and the neighbours coming around to have a look at it! It was a metallic blue, had red trim around the dash and around the circular horn buttons and I loved the little display on the dash that showed the doors and tailgate were open.
The first time I saw a Ford Orion 1600 Ghia in white with the full for bodykit and I was adamant that when I was old enough to drive I would own one of very own. In my eyes it looked awesome!
I used to love riding in the back of my grandads blue Lancia Beta HPE Volumex and sliding around the rear as I never wore a seatbelt as my grandad hooned around corners. I was very sad when he replaced it with a red Scirocco!
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