Memorable drives

[Ian Grace]

As mentioned on another thread, one of the main joys - if not THE joy of old car ownership is driving them. So what was your most memorable drive? If I had to come up with mine, the choice would be very difficult. First drives after rebuilds would have to be high on the list, as would be a number of long distance drives, and even drives in horrendous conditions - I remember commuting up the M1 in my 2-seater to RAF Henlow every week through the winter of 1979. It had a hood but no sidescreens. The snow came in one side and out the other and I had to stop on the hard shoulder every couple of miles because the snow built up on the windscreen and the wiper wiped out an ever-decreasing arc until it stopped completely. On the day I joined the RAF, I drove from Reading to Henlow on this route and was climbing that big hill out of High Wycombe. I got nearly to the top and bust a half shaft. A friend brought me a spare and I ended up reporting for duty a couple of hours late. My Drill Sergeant was not amused, but had to admit that he had never heard such an original excuse!

My first drive in that car was memorable. It was only a short run down a Wiltshire lane (just off the Fosse Way), but I'll never forget the elation after putting so much work into getting it going. I only had the brakes to finish. I fitted one cable and couldn't wait a moment longer, so took it up the lane and back with just one brake connected!

In more recent times, I have had several most memorable drives in the Bed-Pan already, including the one from Southampton Docks when I collected it and drove it out of the city through the rush hour. But the most memorable has to be the drive back across country to our hotel from Milton Abbas late Sunday night after the farewell meet. I lit the candles and headed up the wooded lane out of the valley in which Milton Abbas nestles. As I broke out on top of the downs, the vista opened up and a huge full moon was rising, lighting up the fields around me. It was cool and damp and Minors always fly when it is cool and damp. The lane was deserted all the way, so I could really open it up. The drive was about ten miles, but I could have driven on all night.

Then there was the first VMR summer rally around Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire with a wonderful evening at Shuttleworth, and then there was our first rally in Bath – both in our ’29 tourer – now with Peter Stubberfield. Both were most memorable.

But top of my all time list would possibly have to be the VSCC Jubilee Rally in Malvern in 1994 (I think), where we spent a week larking about in our 1929 fabric saloon – brought from Germany where we lived at the time. On the Light Car rally that week, I managed to break a valve spring and limped into Shelsley Walsh with the car sounding as rough as old boots. I found a spring in a Malvern motorbike shop the next morning and had the car back on the road that afternoon – even after breaking off the bolt holding the oil feed to the head – flush in the head, which required a trip with the head to a machine shop in town to extract it, and a search for a replacement BSF bolt. Part of the weekend was a run out to Prescott and untimed climbs of the hill. That was the first time I ever climbed the hill in a Minor. That week was SO much fun!

[Ken Martin]

With 43 years worth of drives to choose from this is a difficult call, but I suppose the most memorable has to be the 1800+ mile drive through France and into Spain and back with a college pal in 1966 in my 1930 saloon. I had to change the dynamo on a campsite in Beauvais on day two – (thanks to Harry for the loan of his spare one) – memorable, but certainly not enjoyable.

We were able to park beside famous landmarks in Paris on a Monday, but could only afford to go to the first level of the Eifel Tower. The roads were very bad in places even in France and especially in towns and villages even on main roads. We thought this must be a way of cutting the speed of cars. The Minor was certainly slowed by the bumps and we had many punctures. I soon realised why the Citroen 2CV had such a huge suspension travel. The ride over the southern Massive Central was perhaps the most memorable part of the journey. The roads caused so many spokes to break in one wheel that it collapsed on the journey home.

Of course all the English tourists thought the car was an Austin Seven, the French were generally enthusiastic and encouraging and took the trouble to read the label on the radiator, and the Spanish still drove very old cars on almost third world type roads and so were unimpressed. France and Spain (still a dictatorship) were far behind Britain in those days in many respects.

Our honeymoon adventure in 1976 was also a contender for the most memorable journey – but once again not always enjoyable. We travelled from Bath to the ferry to Jersey (at Poole I think). When we arrived in Jersey the hotel was not very good, cars were double parked and so the doorman had to be given the ‘keys’ to the cars so that he could shunt them about, and also there was a drought and so baths and showers were not allowed. We made one journey around the island and then checked out and caught the next ferry back to England. We set off for a new horizon in the West Country in glorious weather at 6.00 am on deserted roads, but soon after arriving and settled into our good new accommodation, Kate became ill and had to have medical attention, and so we returned home to Bath over Dartmoor next day. I think we were in first gear for about 20 minutes on one hill.

[David Whittle]

Ken

Sounds like you could write a book about the memorable drives in the Minor! Mind you sounds like they were not always memorable in a posative way!

[Ken Martin]

The proposed book title is 'Enjoying the Original Morris Minor' and has been in preparation on and off for about 10 years! The VMR and its web site rather took the wind out of the project's sails. I am however being encouraged by other members to get on with it. It will of course cover cars other than my own and have some history. I have spent a lot of time reseaching and gathering material on the use of Minors in contemproary motoring trials etc, including an inordinate amount of time on one person with unsatisfactory conclusions ...so far...
I am always pleased to receive further material for the book - personal and other types - photos etc. ancient and modern. (Thanks very much to Highlander for passing on some early Motor Sports at an enjoyable meeting in the glorious Cotswolds last week).
Ken

[Ken Martin]

Sorry - I unfortunately seem to have klled this subject off which is a pity as it is potentialy a good one for people to add to. Short journeys can be very memorable - like the one I had when three young friends of mine were in my Minor going to a pub near my home in Essex in the 1960s when an explosion ripped the silencer from end to end due to a leaky manifold. My shock was nothng compared to that of the girl in the pasenger seat!
Ken

[chris lambert]

I know this is not a memorable driving story involving a Minor, but it has stuck in my memory and may be worth recalling.

In 1964 I had just met a new girlfriend and was desperate to impress her (Pauline B. - where are you now!) At the time I owned a 1934 Morgan Family Four, with a lovely torquey V twin 1000cc Matchless side valve engine. Like most, if not all 3 wheeler Morgans, it's Burman gear box resided at the rear of the car, gear changing being affected via a cockpit gear lever, which moved two steel shafts connected to the changing mechanism on the box itself. Our first non pub date was a planned visit to Windsor Great Park for a picnic. I duly picked her up from her home in Slough sporting my new brown cord jacket and beaten up ratting hat. She looked stunning in a waist hugging fitted jacket, period length tight skirt and a John Lennon/Bob Dylan style cap. The hood was down and it was a beautiful late spring day. We ambled through Slough and Eton High Street before crossing the Thames Bridge into Windsor. There were plenty of tourists about and we did look pretty cool as I glanced at our reflection in the shop windows. The car was running perfectly.

About 300 or 400 yards further on we needed to make a right turn into Peascod Street. The junction in those days was controlled by a set of traffic lights and is situated right opposite the castle. I had to stop in the box junction to enable some traffic to pass and put the car into neutral. When the cars had cleared, I jammed the lever into first in order to make a noisy and impressive getaway passed the Star and Garter pub and onward to the Great Park. I advanced the hand throttle and released the clutch pedal and nothing!! I tried to move the gear lever into neutral in order to try again, and it wouldn't budge. Mild panic was beginning to set in and the car and its occupants were beginning to attract puzzled attention from the tourist throng. Pauline made herself smaller in her canvas seat whilst I frantically looked around for the cause of the problem. I glanced down at the gear lever and could immediatly see what I had done. The bottom end of the gear lever was designed to apply pressure onto the gearbox connecting shaft ends, which then in turn affected a change in gear. Unfortunately my heavy handedness had jammed the badly worn gear lever end in between the two shafts in question. I tried manfully to extricate the end by the use of brute force on the gear lever, but it would not budge. Car horns were now beginning to sound and Pauline had all but dissapeared from view when I had one of those few moments of inspiration life allows you. The starting handle lay inside Pauline's foot well and I made a grab for it (please conjure up a mental picture of what this probably looked like from outside of the car!). Pauline looked at me in horror as I took the handle and commenced hitting the top end of the gear lever with it. Miraculously the lever freed up and I could engage a gear again. Halleluja!! My nightmare did not end there as the traffic lights had to complete another cycle before I could drive off very uncooly this tme down Peascod Street.

However, the day did get better, Pauline enjoyed a couple of glasses of Merrydown and my Mother's egg and cress sandwiches, consumed on a tartan car rug in the corner of the Queen's park, before we ambled home via Staines and Egham - there was no chance of me driving back through the streets of Windsor!

[Ian Grace]

An adjunct to this topic might be great roads we have driven. There used to be a superb road from Wargrave into Henley (the A321) - winding and hilly, and with a single track hump back bridge half way along which was fun to take flat out as you could JUST see far enough the other side to check for oncoming traffic. It was replaced by a motorway standard road about 20 years ago - possibly more.

Another fine road used to be the old A272 across Sussex, but much of that has been modernized now. Anyone got other favourites?

[Highlander]

m MEMORABLE ROADS There can only be one road in the British Isles which is memorable and scarrey. If you leave the main(?) A896 from Lock Carron on the West Coast of Scotland and take the ist left on an unmarked road across to Applecross, this road rises to 26oo feet in half a mile and is the speepest climp in Britain. It is a zig zag with shear drops on each side and must be like the Alps. We first climbed this road over 40 years ago in a 1923 Alvis. It was a sunny day and we were in our 30s, young and daft - no bother. Six years ago we re-enacted this journey in a 1923 20 hp RollsRoyce. It was raining, roof up, steamed up, wipers slow and the climb seemed a lot steeper than 40 years earlier when a milk tanker can down the other way - single road by the way, we backed down to a passing place and the tankard passed. Off we went again when a coach can down and the same this happened. By this time Molly is out of the Rolls and walking and how we got to our 50th last year I do not know!!!!!. Our most memorable journey was the homeward trip from Crimond, Aberdeenshire to Epsom in Surrey - 600 miles on A and B roads in a 1927 Humber, 9.20hp Saloon with two young daughters and a large dog. It was done in one bite and took 23 hours. In those far off days these cars were our everyday transport and we thought nothing of it. We could not afford the train and we thought it was fun (ther daughters did not!!!) Happy days, Highlander.

[Ian Grace]

Here's a couple of links to some interesting roads.

http://www.rural-roads.co.uk/

http://www.wetroads.co.uk

[ian judd]

Highlander is dead right about the road to Applecross. I went up there many years ago in my M type and it is the only time, despite not having a fan, that the water in the engine has boiled. Good brakes and a head for heights recommended! Of course, the key to interesting journeys is to use your car and not cart it about on a trailer. If you can avoid motorways, ours cars are still usable as everyday transport. Amazing really.

Ian