Our life in cars: Part 1.

We've just changed our 'main' car and its replacement has got more electronic bells and whistles than it took to get Neil Armstrong to the moon and back. Sensors all around, innumerable 'driving aids' and, would you believe, it comes with its own radar system at the front. I'm not a petrol-head but I can't help comparing this 'red beast' with my first car, bought around 1966, and the others that followed it. A good exercise for the grey matter and an excuse for a trip down memory lane. Here's the list, as accurate as I can make it.

My very first car - a black Standard 8. It took me, and many others, back and forth Aberystwyth many times. Sometimes we even made the trip without something dropping off or going wrong. It introduced me to the wonderful world of basic mechanics. It came with windscreen wipers, indicators and that was it in the way of equipment. No heater and no boot. To keep costs down the body shell was pressed as a whole and access to the boot was via the back seat. It ended up going to Pesci's in Caerphilly as scrap. I still owe Miss Laws the £20 it cost me.

'Our' first car: an Austin 1100 at a good price from Aunty Gladys in North London. We ran out of petrol the first time we drove it on a motorway. Not much more equipment than the Standard 8, although it did have a heater and a screen wash, albeit from a plastic bag dangled precariously in the engine compartment. I learnt to change a clutch, a starter ring and front-wheel drive constant velocity joints on this one. And I had to sell my first 35mm camera (a Zenith E) to raise funds to pay for repairs after running into a tree in Plymouth. Happy days.

Next came a Saluki Bronze Ford Escort Mark 1. This served us well during our two years living in Scotland and ferried us (and Harry Cat) up and down the M6 many times without too many problems. It even got us across France into Northern Italy once. Compared to our previous cars, this had a touch of luxury in that it had a radio and a (stick on) heated rear screen. I remember  problems with rust (6 inches of water sloshing around inside many times) and the fun of replacing a gear box and clutch.

Our first foreign car - a Lada Riva made in Russia and the butt of many jokes (What's the difference between a Lada and a golf ball? You can drive a golf ball 200 metres). It was basically a Fiat 127 made on the Volga with improved brakes and suspension to cope with the Russian roads. It looked and drove like a tank but took us on a camping holiday in France, with the exhaust system dropping off when we were there. Driving on and off a cross-channel ferry without an exhaust is not an experience I care to repeat. Neither would I care to repeat a disastrous episode when I managed to crack a brake cylinder block when changing a set of front drum pads. It's funny what you remember, isn't it? Bought cheap and sold for a pittance.

Then along came a Talbot Solara. Not a car known for its build quality but it did us for a while. The paint work was rubbish and the gloss gradually took on a matt appearance. And let's not forget the numerous rust spots. I became pretty good at using fibre glass filler and spray paint.

Despite its shortcomings, I remember that we got a good deal when we part-exchanged it against a Powder Blue Ford Escort Mark 2. The model we had was at the bottom of the range but it was reliable, albeit a rubbish starter on cold mornings. due to its over-square engine.  So much so that I went through a phase of taking the spark plugs out at night to guarantee that I could get to work the following morning. It was the first car that we had as a family and took us on a couple of gite holidays in France. More happy days.



An Alpine White VW Polo, the first car we bought from new.  Our finances dictated that we went for the entry model - 2 doors and with minimal frills. Reliable motoring with a very hard ride. It took us across France and Switzerland to a holiday in Northern Italy and on a few camping adventures around France. This was the last model we had as a one-car family. Circumstances dictated that we had to have a car each but more of that in Part 2.