remembering our first car

As soon as I was age to hold a provisional license I applied for it,received it and went to purchase my first car immediately after it came through, such was my haste to learn to drive and gain some independence. I was a commercial fisherman and through hard work I was making enough money to buy a fairly decent car while my friends who were working ashore learning trades and the like could not afford to buy any kind of car as their earnings would be poor until they served their time or got promotion in whatever occupation they had chosen.
I took my father with me as I thought I would benefit from his experience and we went to a trader who was a family friend thinking this would also benefit my purchase.
On arrival my father and I browsed over the dozen or so second hand cars on show until we whittled them down to two, one of my choice and one to my father's taste.
It was an old basic Morris 1000 that my father advised me to choose because it would be economical to run but as it had a bit of rust about it and a few rips on the leather seats I had opted for a pale blue and black Humber Super Snipe with overdrive, luxury interior with picnic trays on the back of the front seats.
The salesman had appeared by this time and after considering our choices he too opted for my fathers Morris 1000 explaining to me that it was a more sensible first car and as I had to learn to drive in it, it was the more sensible choice for these reasons. After much debating I ignored their advice and purchased the Humber Super Snipe because of the luxury, style and power it had over the Morris.
It was sitting in all its glory at the front door one day when I arrived home from a trip at sea and instead of having a well needed bath and food I threw my kit bag down and asked for the keys.
DO NOT MOVE IT! I was warned as I unlocked the door and had my first real examination of my car. The gear shift was situated on the column on the left hand side of the steering wheel with the hand brake on the right hand side of the drivers seat leaving plenty room between the two well padded reclining front seats. I pulled out the choke and started the engine, pushing on the accelerator and listening to the sound as it revved up then wound the window down so I could hear better. With the engine running to my satisfaction I started to examine all the luxuries on the inside like the cigar lighter, wireless that needed a license in those days, the luxurious leather seats and the real chestnut wooden dash and surrounds and everything else that made this car special. Many of the extras on that car are standard on the cheapest of cars now and when I think of the wireless that needed to be licensed and all the other standard things that cars come with now (like electric windows and central locking) compared to the cars of then maybe my first car was not so luxurious after all but I did make full use of the reclining seats though. It would have been better though if I had taken my fathers advice and gone for the Morris as the Humber could only get twelve miles to the gallon compared to to forty odd to the gallon that the Morris could do. In the end after I had a lot of bother with the clutch, plus a crash which put it off the road for a while as I had ages to wait on the insurers assessment I decided to sell it. So after a year my pride and joy went to an auction with a still faulty clutch to be sold for a fraction of the price I paid for it. With my first car came an expensive lesson in life but enjoyable memories to look back on as I am sure yours has too.

The basic car of the fifties

Image via Wikipedia

My first memories of cars was one belonging to my grandfather (on my mothers side) as being from quite a poor family we could not afford one of our own.
I would be around four to five years of age so the design and make did not register to well at that time but other things did.
The body was sort of rounded and looking at vintage cars now it could have been an Austin of some sort. I remember the inside of the roof being covered in canvass compared to the padded plastic coverings they have progressed to. The seats were hard, uncomfortable and unadjustable so if you were short legged you would carry a cushion to place at your back to let your feet work the clutch and brake pedals and the accelerator of course. The lights were dim and the indicators were little arms that popped out between the doors which also had a dim light inside them for night use. Brake lights were nonexistent so the driver had to keep his wits about him at all times. The dashboard was hard metal with few dials making it look very bare and the thin gear stick was in-between the two bucket front seats. A small rear window made vision very poor and the front windows had wipers but no washers so if the windscreen got muddy the driver had to stop and wash them with water and a cloth that was carried with them. Reliability was a cause for concern even in new models if you were traveling any distance, so everything from water to oil etc had to be checked regularly to avoid overheating of the engine as there were no gauges and warning lights then and the underpowered engines tended to struggle at the best of times.Grease nipples were placed at certain places around the moving parts and they had to be attended to also. These are just a few things that made motoring more difficult, maybe more interesting to some in days gone by so when you jump into your car the next time just pause for a moment and appreciate the progress the manufacturers have achieved to make motoring a more pleasant and less hazardous experience for us. Now I wonder what can we do about the new problems, like traffic jams and the like????

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