What a fabulous and entertaining topic this one turned out to be; we have already heard some inspirational tales and a good bit of old-fashioned heart-warming nostalgia to warm our cockles.
What became very apparent is that our parent’s generation were very different to ours – they practiced the “make do and mend” philosophy. Cars were run as a necessity (in the main) rather than an accessory.
Cars were there to serve a purpose and serve it they did – many of our parent’s cars just kept on going and going; right until there was literally no more mileage left in them.
Rather than trading them in when they started to show signs of tiredness, our parent’s generation were much more likely to “patch them up”. Whilst I am sure that there are probably some health and safety / legal issues surrounding a lot of these methods (that certainly wouldn’t pass muster today) you have to admire them.
Waste not, want not: the theory applied to cars. I don’t feel that this is a way of thinking any future generation will ever really take up in quite the same way again.
My Childhood Car Shame
My Mum had a brand new fiesta when I was little – I must have been about 8 or 9 at the time (do you know the Fiesta has been around since 1976??). It was Mum’s first new car; Dad had bought it for her and it was a big deal indeed.
Now this was back in the days when people didn’t wear seat belts: kids included. When Mum would drive us around, I would usually lean forward with my head between the seats and talk to her. Actually (and to be fair to my Mum, here) she used to tell me off in case she braked and I went through the window (!).
So I took to sitting on the rear passenger side and talking to her through the headrest, which was like a square rubber ring (rather than a solid head restraint). When I leant on it, I could look through the middle and would chew the rubber somewhat inadvertently.
One day I noticed that there was a REALLY big mark on the headrest and I knew that the next day it was going into my Dad’s for a service. I spent a whole sleepless night worrying about what would happen. Would I send my parents into financial ruin by wrecking Mum’s nice new car? Could it ever be repaired? What would they say?
Well actually, they said nothing. Because they never noticed. But somewhere, there is a 1982 Ford Fiesta running around with a grey front passenger headrest with a hole in it. That is, of course, if it’s still going…
Classic Cars
@simonshieldcars told us “Simon’s dad had an old Riley. Chrome all polished & shiny & the peacocks used to attack it, thinking it was another one”
@cars_portsmouth told us that his “Dad had a 1920 Bentley 3.5 Litre and a 1953 Sunbeam Alpine. [He was] a serial hoarder of cars, that never achieved their potential.” What a shame – nothing better than a lovely old Bentley restored to its former glory!
Cars that Cause Fights
Yes, there are such things. Between siblings anyway – the most common squabbles were all about the seating arrangements:
@NorthCityAutos’ Dad “had a Humber with bench front seat. [There were] 3 kids so one always sat in the back pretending they were pleased with fold down armrest.” There’s always one short straw!
There were two fellow Tweeps that mentioned the infamous 7-Seat Volvo:
@SwannAutomotive told us; “we also had a volvo that had seats in the boot – we argued about who got to sit there just so we could pull faces at other cars – yup! 2 seats, 4 kids, lots of mischief. Karma has now come full circle & we are now the parents with squabbling bambinos!”
@Cardeck_UK also remembered that their “parents has a brown car with seats in the boot” When I asked them is this was another Volvo estate story – and if they, too, fought over the back seats, they replied “Yep lots of elbowing! Fighting who went in the back seats and getting in trouble for waving at people! [The 7 seat Volvo] should be renamed troublemaker”. Quite!
“Old Faithfuls”
We usually associate older cars with unreliability but sometimes, this just wasn’t the case.
@MrLudders50 told us about his trip in a “Reliant Bond 3 wheeler, Midlands to Minehead [in the] 60′s…It was a very enlightening experience! Sick bags and all!”
@LionheartIns’ Dad “had [an] 1100 beetle that he took through 200k miles”
@olddiesel agreed that he was most impressed with “the little Beetle. Didn’t Auto express do an article on a chap with a mega high mile Morris Minor he had from new??? – may be wrong though”. Answers on a postcard please, chaps!
@CarbaseUK told us “I was driven around in a battleship grey Morris Minor 1000 as a child. Loved it until its doors rusted off.” Classic.
Nostalgic Stories
@JA_Autos told us about his parent’s “burgundy Cortina [that was] driven to the South of France [with an] 8 track cassette [with] the only 8 tracks [being] Neil Diamond – it was a long journey”. I’ll bet – however, I did point out that at least they are set up for future karaoke sessions! They did admit that although they were “still suffering now” they “do a good Sweet Caroline 
”.
”.
@simonshieldcars told us about her “Family day out in Audi 80 to park, grandpa got into back seat & we could smell smoke. Pants on fire. Battery was under seat”. Vorsprung Durch Technik Perhaps not! Poor old Gramps!
@Lease4wheels’ Dad had a “1987 Sierra XR 4×4 2.9i Saloon in Black. What a Car!!” I did ask if it had tinted windows and Gangsta wheels but Aleem pointed out that his “dad wasn’t 2PAC. Lol”
Banger Tales
@NorthCityAutos remembers “Coat hanger aerials & tights to repair fan belts #MrFixIt” and @LionheartIns“Mum’s mini had rust holes in the floor & you could see the tarmac as she drove along.” When I pointed out the possible legal implications, Dave was quite happy that nobody could prove it, especially being as it is probably now in the great car yard in the sky – after all, it was an “original “C” reg”.
@S_J_Bizzle (our friend from +Stoneacre Motor Group) told us that his “most vivid memory is my dad’s 92 (?) Astra spontaneously combusting in a car park.” Nice – hope nobody was hurt, Sam!
Boring Cars
There were quite a few Tweeps telling us actually how boring their parent’s cars were!
@cars_portsmouth found his parent’s “Green Fiat Strada [an] all time low! [especially as] 5 Had to sleep in it once!!” I’m not entirely surprised, in that case!
@Cardeck_UK told us that his parents had “Dodgy Mondeos, Ford Sierra Sapphire and a Blue Orion! They put me off [cars] – I am learning at the moment at the grand old age of 28!”
@olddiesel wasn’t impressed, either – his parents had “All “boring” Japanese cars, my uncle was the one who did interesting cars – Pug 504 estate, E34 5 series etc.”
Car Disasters
@leejh55 remembered (possibly not quite so fondly) “Talbot Horizon misery when the glass radiator water reservoir blew up on the M1”
@SwannAutomotive told us quite a traumatic tale of their “dad’s white Rancho being put on a wrecker, I was @ 8/9… I remember thinking we were really high but I was a child – everything was big. The windows got smashed too; it was like a claw in an arcade game”. Scarred for life, methinks!
Summary
Ending this fabulous two-part blog is an email from the lovely @johnwcurtis:
“When I was 5 and my dad had a new Hillman Hunter.
We visited a pond in the New Forest, close to our house, to scoop up frogspawn (it was legal then).
I had my wellies and a jar with a string round it and ventured into the pond. I went in a little way and my welly got stuck in the mud. I tried to free it but couldn’t. As I turned to look at my dad who said he was coming to save me, I lost my balance and sat down in the stagnant, smelly, black mud.
My dad was furious and said I couldn’t get in his new car with my clothes stinking like a farmyard and of course, I was soaked right though.
I was made to strip off in the car park and sit on newspapers that he found in a bin, all the way home. Gutted!”
How funny. Inspirational parents? Not always! But cars always feature when it comes to looking back at our childhood memories – even for @J8mes_b and @specialistcars1 whose parents didn’t have a car, automobiles will always represent a certain era in our lives.
If you have enjoyed our blogs, please check out some of the other ones right here on this site and don’t forget to follow @SimonsCarSpots and @MotorMistress on Twitter for the chance to get involved next time round!
Written by @MotorMistress
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