Memories of `early` motoring to the coast.

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Wed 7 Apr 2010 17:09
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - oilrag

I have a memory of riding a Triumph through a little village on the way to the coast in the mid 60`s (Bank Hols) and encountering a group of Police officers clustered around a table, at the side of the road. Can`t remember whether it was radar or those strips on the road.

I think there was a Min i van or Ford Anglia pursuit car parked nearby too - first speed trap ever seen and all very civilized.

Everyone spotted the Police Sgt on full display and we rode through at a steady respectul 30mph before opening the bikes up to around 100mph just past the trap.

Thast`s what 17yrs and the run to the coast was like in those days.

Do you remember any of it?

Edited by oilrag on 07/04/2010 at 17:11

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Apr 2010 17:39
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - commerdriver
Ford Anglia pursuit car

Now there's four words you don't see together :-)

We used to go down to the coast when I was little in a convoy of 2 A30s one Ford Popular/Prefect/Anglia and one Hillman Husky. I do remember quiet roads no seatbelts or child seats and it never rained.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Apr 2010 17:46
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Sofa Spud

Not on the coast, but I do remember on the A11 one night there were 2 cars stopped in the road. As we drew closer, a man from one car rushed up to the other one (a Hillman Super Minx, or possibly the Singer equivalent), wrenched open the driver's door and started viciously kicking and punching the driver. I wonder if that was before the term 'road rage' was coined!

Edited by Sofa Spud on 07/04/2010 at 17:47

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Apr 2010 21:34
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Clk Sec

Lots of police Anglia's around in the late 60's and early 70's. I owned one for about a year; battleship grey, pretty sluggish but very reliable.

Changed it for a much livlier Herald 1200.

Clk Sec

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Apr 2010 21:54
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Clk Sec

I've wandered off-topic again.

....Slap!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Apr 2010 21:57
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - oilrag

You can`t wonder off topic in my threads Clk, it`s not possible ;-)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Apr 2010 23:42
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Auristocrat

Remember, as a kid, being allowed to sit in an early Birmingham Police panda car - an Austin A40.

Also, as a kid, I remember a trip to Wales as a passenger in one of the original Ford Escorts - a Ford Thames van with rear side windows and fold down rear bench seat. On the way back whilst going over Clee Hill, the long 'wand-type' gear lever snapped, leaving a stub of about two inches with which to change gear.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Apr 2010 01:11
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Avant

You're all too young to remember the police Wolseleys - the big solid 18s and then the 6/80s (at least i hope they were 6/80s - the 4/50 wouldn't have pulled the skin off a rice pudding).

Don't worry about straying off topic - agreed, especially not in an Oilrag thread! We have a lighter touch now. We might need to pull the discussion back on occasions - e.g. to try and help an OP seeking advice or to avoid offence or acrimony - but if it's just a conversation then let it continue! Enjoy.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Apr 2010 03:26
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - billy25

When i was young (sigh!) we lived at the coast and we didn`t have a car!! (sigh again), however in the school summer hols we could go on the beach every day (yay!).

One day on my way home, i ran across the road and got knocked down, i dropped my bucket and all my crabs escaped! I got taken to hospital where i stayed the night, then i went home, and the nice man that run me over came and brought me a big box of spanishes (now called asst liqource!).

Oh ! and the car was a big shiny black one!! and that strangely has been my favourite colour ever since! .....probably cos of the spanish!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Apr 2010 09:49
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Clk Sec

I can't remember A40's being used by the police in my area, but I ran one myself for about three years in the early 70's. Not a very exiting car for a yongster , though.

Ah, the 6/80's - my very first car and, yes, a model frequently used by the police. Unfortunately, mine spent most of it's time off the road, but such sumptuous luxury!

Many enjoyable trips to the coast in those days, of course.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 9 Apr 2010 11:43
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Bilboman

Michael Palin wrote a wonderfully nostalgic autobiographical TV film "East of Ipswich" about family holidays on the coast in the 1950s. As well as the ever formidable Joan Sanderson as the seaside landlady ( tinyurl.com/ydss8bu) there is a wonderful "duel" between young Michael's father in an Austin A105 and the father of a a rival middle class coast-bound family. The overtaking manoeuvre finally thwarted, the father erupts "The sort of people who can afford Rovers nowadays!" At the end of the film, he finally sails past the Rover on the homeward journey with a smug cry of "That's the thing with these Rovers, all style and no performance!"

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 9 Apr 2010 14:18
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - Avant

I remember that too, Bilboman - as a fan of 1950s Austins (the best mass-produced car you could buy then) I loved the ending. Allan Cuthbertson was one of the fathers - can't remember which but I think it was young Michael's in the Austin.

My memory was of an A55 but it could have been a 105 - either way it could have sailed past the stately Rover, especially if it was a Rover 60.

Edited by Avant on 09/04/2010 at 19:18

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 9 Apr 2010 15:39
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - oilrag

Michael Palin wrote a wonderfully nostalgic autobiographical TV film "East of Ipswich"

Just ordered it from Amazon - £5.62. thanks Bilboman ;-)

Edited by oilrag on 09/04/2010 at 15:40

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 9 Apr 2010 15:29
Memories of `early` motoring to the coast. - b308

I remember riding in the back of Dad's Cambridge going to Southport sands with 3 other kids and dad winding the thing up to about 80/90 on the dual carriageway...

When we got there we dug a big hole, covered it with branches and then sand... when we came back the next day there were a set of tyre marks into the hole... I doubt someone was a very happy bunny...

Later I learned to drive in a Maxi on those same sands...

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

From which small car to buy at which price point to the best UK-built cars, our Top 10s have the lot. Click now for your shortlist.

Unsure of what to buy? Our Top 10s are here to help you....