TWENTY MOTORING MEMORIES

While on wedding car duty (look out for another blog soon), I pondered how a 1960 Wolseley 6/99 appeared to modern traffic and my advanced age. Was I really aged only 14 and contemplating my GCE O-Level options when Lancaster Insurance was formed in 1984? And here are 20 aspects of motoring and transport that might be lost on the youth of today:

1. Black Wolseley police cars. Admittedly, I would be less than a year old when the London Met. sold its last examples.
2. Bells - ‘gongs’ - on emergency service vehicles. Still heard in the 1970s in London.
3. Opening front quarter lights – natural air-conditioning and demisting.
4. Bench front seats. The 1972 Vauxhall Victor FE must be one of the last British cars available with this fitting.
5. Steering column gear changes. By the late 1970s the Renault 16 was unusual in having no floor gear lever option.
6. AA and RAC telephone boxes. I don’t think either of my parents were members (although, given the state of their cars, they should have been), so the interior of these boxes remained a mystery.
7. Vast AA and RAC map books occupying the front parcel shelf. These did not always prevent spirited debates, such as “I told you to take the A27 to Emsworth!”.
8. Starting handles. Absent from most British cars after the demise of the Morris Minor and Oxford Series VI 53 years ago, but still seen on many French vehicles during the 1970s. There was also any number of older Hillmans, Austins, Humbers, Wolseleys, Rileys, Singers, Triumphs and Sunbeams that occasionally needed to be cranked by hand.
9. The Little Chef. A feature of A-roads in the 1970s and 1980s. N.B. They rarely seemed as jolly as this example -
10. Transport Cafes are still with us but in far lesser numbers. Some were excellent, and others were reminiscent of Hell Drivers.
11. Leyland Atlantean buses reeking of Marlborough smoke.
12. Wing mirrors, which were often completely useless.
13. Cassette players. Prone to eating various works by JoBoxers, Darts, or Ultravox.
14. Glass bottles of soft drinks rattling around the boot or even exploding in warm weather.
15. Aftermarket transparent sunroofs on a 1973 Ford Capri XL.
16. Aftermarket front spoilers, which looked hilarious when applied to a 1967 Ford Corsair.
17. ‘Gnomist’ adhesive demister panels for the back screen. In 1977 the Ford Escort Popular and Popular Plus.
18. Air fresheners to give your car interior the aroma of orangeade.
19. Local advertisements in picture houses for dealerships - promoted as “only five minutes from this cinema”. Often illustrated by pictures ten years out of date.
20. And I have not yet seen sight to equal the Hillman Minx’ Audax’ I encountered outside of Southampton Zoo circa 1976. The owner had repaired the nearside taillight by covering the bulbs with orange and red-coloured Bacofoil.

However, one of my chief advisors for the Wolseley is my next-door neighbour’s 15-year-old son, who aims to buy his first Mazda MX5. With such enthusiasts, we need have no fear about the future of old cars.