Learning to Drive in the 1960s

[peter scott]

During lock down I decided to write about my early motoring experiences.

Peter

[ppppenguin]

Thanks for the stories.

My driving career was nothing like as exciting. I learned to drive during the petrol shortage in the 1973/4 and somehow passed my test first time. I inherited my dad's Austin 1100 when his eyesight became too bad to drive. A neighbour taught me about servicing. The clutch was always horribly juddery. Only found out why when it was time to fit a new friction plate. The leaf spring had cracked. Getting the clutch housing off in an Austin 1100 isn't easy. You can't get at one of the bolts. It also tended to overheat if you went above 50mph for very long. Never managed to cure that.

[peter scott]

We had several 1100s. Pam had one when we first met but later sold it. We inherited another one from an aunt of mine. It had a ruined gearbox but I spotted an 1100 engine and gearbox in a scrap yard and fitted that. This sorted out the gearbox but the engine was rough running. I had only paid £25 for it and perhaps should have paid more attention to the fact that it had been sitting out in the open with no spark plugs fitted. Eventually I split the thing and fitted the original engine onto the scrap yard gearbox and that worked perfectly. When I opened up the scrap engine there were deeply pitted corrosion rings in each bore where rain water puddles had been.

Peter

[boater sam]

Memories of my Ford E04A Anglia, 6v battery, beam axle, transverse leaf spring and no water pump!

[Murphyv310]

Brilliant stories Peter.
You certainly brought a smile to my face with them................. keep em coming.

[peter scott]

Memories of my Ford E04A Anglia, 6v battery, beam axle, transverse leaf spring and no water pump!

Yes, probably challenging for many modern motorists.

[peter scott]

Brilliant stories Peter.
You certainly brought a smile to my face with them................. keep em coming.

Thanks Trevor, I could probably dredge a few more but possibly not for global publication.

Peter

[Panrock]

After I passed my test (at the second attempt) in 1967 or 8, my Gran very kindly let me use her car - an Austin 1100. As a hot-headed 18 year-old, I drove it very 'enthusiastically' and I soon found the hydrolastic suspension was terrific at dealing with bumps and potholes in the road driven over too fast. On one occasion I was driving far too fast down a Kent country lane and encountered another young fool doing exactly the same thing in the opposite direction. We failed to miss each other and each car got scraped. We stopped, agreed we had each been equally at fault, and so didn't exchange details. 

My Gran wasn't best pleased. I then had to pay the £75 bill for repairs (in 1968 pounds). As a new Technical Assistant (TA), my BBC payslip at the time was for £60 a month...

Steve

[peter scott]

On one occasion I was driving far too fast down a Kent country lane and encountered another young fool doing exactly the same thing in the opposite direction.
Steve

Steve,

Don't feel too alone in your youthful foolishness. When we bought our first flat we needed a local authority improvement grant and a condition of this was that we had to remove the kitchen range that we wanted to keep.

   

We took it out and stored it at my parents' house but subsequently we decided to move it to our next property and strapped it onto the roof rack on our 1100. All was well until we got stuck behind a rather slow moving vehicle so I over took it and, out of sight out of mind, I then fleetingly forgot about the range and negotiated a sharp left hand bend a little too fast and with much embarrassment then proceeded to sweep the pieces off the road as the slow moving vehicle overtook us.

Peter 

[Craig]

Ah yes - the Austin 1100. My dad had one when in early '74 I was courting the girl who I married 43 years ago. That old car could tell some stories!

My dad let me loose adding electronic ignition - there was a project in PW in June '71 - when I was 15. Since he used the car every day to get to work, he must have had massive confidence that I could make it work fine over a weekend. I sprayed everything inside the diecast box with several coats of spray varnish (sort of a mimic of conformal coating). That worked perfectly until:

It eventually bit the dust in late '75 when the front suspension rusted through the floor pan on the passenger side. It is only when you see one of these restored (some people do this) you realise how tiny they are as compared to today's cars.

But our first car was a second hand Austin A35 some time in the mid 60's. That was a gutless wonder, even after my dad decoked it. If you got to a hill you had to rush it, because it could grind majestically to a halt as a result of its feeble power. One of the front indicator lights rusted out, so my dad, ever resourceful, made a new pod from a baked bean tin and isoponned it in. Filed to the right shape and sprayed the same colour as the car (grey) it looked absolutely perfect.