The Daily Mail have been running an "All Creatures Great and Small" series from the books by James Herriott which was also made into a TV series. When yesterday, I opened the paper to this double page spread the story was illustrated by this sketch of a 1936 Austin Seven Ruby convertible This is exactly the same model and colour of the first car I bought at the age of 17 in 1958. I paid £35 for it. It was to be a a "trade in" at the garage where my older cousin worked, he tipped me off about it, so I approached the owner and got it at a good price. The same amount a late friend's father paid for some naff looking seat covers for his new Morris Oxford saloon. The owner was an architect who lived on Wimbledon hill. He's bought it for his wife and had it done up, engine rebuilt and new hood and seat covers. But she couldn't manage the Bendix cable brakes, the stopping power of which was the amount of pressure you could apply to the pedal. It didn't have the luxury of "real windows." It had side screens, four metal framed fabric covered screens with two plastic windows in each. These could be fitted into sdlots in the doors and sides, folded in half in situ to open. The windscreen hinged at the top and folded forwards. I and my girlfriend at the time on trips out, used to swing it up and lock it in the horizontal position and use it as a picnic table, sit on the bonnet with our legs dangling in the car. I changed the semaphore turn signals to those "modern flashing indicators." The illustration doesn't show the windscreen wiper or the motor which was attached to the top of the windscreen frame. From it a rubber tube ran to the inlet manfold as it was powered by the induction. This was a problem in heavy rain if you were driving uphill. As the engine was working hard with the throttle fully open, no air was being drawn down through the tube so the wipers would stop. You had to briefly take your foot off the accelerator, which would cause the wiper to thrash wildly for a brief second to clear the glass but would stop again as soon as you put your foot down. I drove hundreds of miles in it. Apart from petrol and oil all I spent on it was for a set of remold tyres and 5p for a bearing for the dynamo. I can still remember its registration number. DPA 227. I bought it at the beginning of February, drove it around for a couple of months (insured but without "L plates") ... well... I was only seventeen... and passed my test first time in April. Neither of my parents could drive.. Sadly I lost all the photos I had of it in a house move.
You might enjoy this video I once made, of the annual exhibition of our Vintage & Car Club of Pakistan.
An amusing story about my car, one of many. It must have been around the May of the year I bought it. I had a friend five months younger than me (who sadly died of a heart attack this time last year). His dad was teaching him to drive in the new Morris Oxford I mentioned. But he wasn't getting much mileage in so as we went out together a couple of times a week. I used to let him drive. As I was now "legal" I put "L" plates on the car when we went out together and took them off afterwards. One Saturday morning as I was about to go out, there was a knock at the door and when I answered it, there was a young policeman standing there. He said "I've come about your car." So I immediately thought, how how did he know it was mine and not my father's? "I need to see your licence and insurance." I produced my cover note and then my licence. He looked at the licence and said. "This is a provisional licence." "Yes, but if you look in the back you'll see a pink pass cerificate." In those days, having passed your test, you didn't need to get a full licence until ther provisional ran out. His response was "Oh, that's OK then." "So how did you know it was my car, who reported it?" "Oh! I can't tell you that." We were standing on the doorstep, so I closed the door behind me and began to walk towards my car. He said, "Which way are you going? You couldn't give me a lift back to the station could you?" So I did.
Thing about classic cars is, one could fix them up with the most basic of tools. All you needed were these: A flathead screwdriver. A Philips head screwdriver. One basic combination and needle nose pliers with wire cutter built-in. One adjustable spanner, or a basic set of half a dozen ring fix spanners. And one 12 volt test lamp probe. That was all one needed to have in his toolkit. Nowadays? Car manufacturers have gone out of their way to make sure, that we can never get our cars fixed on our own... And they hide behind nanny state rules, that "for your own safety" is it now mandatory to have the car fixed and maintained by "qualified" so-called professionals. It's just another scam if you ask me.
So true. A classic example were pre-war Rover cars. It didn't matter where was a nut on the car, you could always get at least half a turn on it with a spanner. Back in the eighties, I had a 2ltr Alfa Romeo Guilietta. I did have and still do have, a complete set of ring spanners both AF and metric. I changed a valve on it, re-shimmed it which was a pain as was always able to balance the two twin-choke Webber carburettors and did my own servicing. This is a look under the hood of my fifteen year-old Honda CRV. I wouldn't know where to start. Mind you, they just hook up a computer and with much of the servicing it tells them what to do. .
That too is a scam - Car computers... Let me share with you a recent true story. Friend of a friend bought a new diesel 4x4, (Toyota Prado 2019 model). Eventually, (like any other car), it too needed an oil change. Also, in new diesel engine cars, there is this special liquid which is injected into the exhaust manifold, (to reduce pollution). The car computer just refused to start when that liquid ran out. I mean the car computer had overridden the will of the driver??? Like how in the hell is that possible? What if there was a medical emergency? Or a natural disaster situation where people needed the car to go somewhere to safety? Yet the car computer had the ultimate authority? This is just unacceptable... Yet, this is what happens when nanny state inspired rules are applied in reality... So the guy went back to the dealership. Keep in mind that this was just after the 6 months period of free maintenance had expired. So he now got billed for 25,000 Rupees! Yes, twenty five thousand Rupees, (this is not a typing error). "I would have actually appreciated it more, had the manager of the dealership stolen my money from me at gunpoint, and had also given me a tight slap across the face, (like a typical urban bandit). At least that way it would have made more sense" - The owner said to me later. This did not make much sense to me either. Because as far as I knew, that particular dealership had a very good reputation in the past. So I did my own investigation. I soon found out that now the dealership was under the "official company management". Normally this would mean better service, as now you would be dealing directly with Toyota. With just a handful of people between you and the management in Japan. So less middlemen in between. But here the exact reverse opposite was happening... Before the owner of the dealership would insist that you have lunch with him, or would at least offer you refreshments while his tram would be working on your car in their workshop. You could watch TV in their waiting area also. Nobody ever complained about over billing either. And you could see exactly what they were doing to your car. Now it is strictly forbidden for you to be around your own car in their workshop, (another one of those nanny state type rules). And staying over there, impossible! Just park your car, give them your keys, sign a paper that there are no valuables in your car, (so that you don't accuse them of thievery later). And then you are expected to just get lost!!! They will call you whenever they decide your car is ready... Anyway, I did my own investigation, and found out that it takes less then 5,000 Rupees to have a big SUV serviced elsewhere. This includes vacuuming the inside carpet, which is 600 Rupees only. Pressure steam washing it from the underneath. And waxing the paint afterwards. Is just another 1,000 Rupees. Checking and changing the engine oil, which is around 1,800 Rupees if you change it, (and 450 Rupees for the new oil filter). Power steering hydraulic fluid topping up is another 500 Rupees (if required). So why exactly did the Toyota dealership bill this person 25,000 Rupees??? In fact, why take the car to them, if they are in the habit of over billing? Well, God help you if you take your car for servicing elsewhere, which is not a Toyota certified service center... As then the car computer will rat you out later! Whenever you do need to take it to the official dealership. Also, once in a while the car computer will see to it, that you have no choice but to go to the company certified service center or dealership. How and why? Well, since everything is now routed through the car computer, which today also has the final say if your car will start or not, (to hell with if there is an emergency or whatever). Means that now you are a slave to it, (the car computer) - You really can't fix anything, even if you know how to. As the car computer will say, such and such thing has been tampered with without authorization. So unless you input the correct code in the computer also, (which Toyota doesn't share with anyone). The car computer will not let you start your own car! You actually can't even change the engine oil yourself either, (believe it or not). Remember the car owner saying to me, that he would rather have graciously excepted a humiliating tight slap across the face in full public view - Yes, please keep that in mind as you continue to read further... So I went to that particular dealership, and politely asked why did they bill my friend so much? They (with great joy) told me that the "special liquid" in the car, which is sprayed into the exhaust output to reduce pollution - Is something very costly, (as it is imported directly from Japan)... So that's how they justified their ridiculously high servicing bill. Listening to this actually made me very angry. So now I took it upon myself to get to the bottom of this... Some of you over here already know that I am most productive whenever I am super angry. So this just put me in the right mood! Doing some basic searching on the internet, I quickly found out that this "special liquid" imported only from Japan - Is actually nothing but ordinary water with a little urea mixed in it. So after getting the right percentages online. I went to the chemical market and bought a kilogram of urea, (I think it was just 300 Rupees from the industrial chemical supply shop). Soon I created enough of this "special liquid", to last the entire lifespan of the car! Next issue was oil. How could one change that without the car computer screaming foul!? Again, I did some researching online, and from a Russian website found out that there is this hidden reset switch under the dashboard. You simply press it once, and the oil life counter inside the car computer will again go back to zero. All of this was practically done for free! But one bloody thing which I could not find a bypass around, was the official service station slip from the dealership. Without this, the resale value of the car will suffer, (as it would mean that you had 3td part servicing, or not any at all). Insurance companies too will start to frown upon this, (another nanny state trend) - Therefore this is yet another thing, where you are legally forced into paying extra through your nose. By going to the official dealership... Anyhow, this whole experience disgusted the owner of the car to such a degree - That he decided to sell the SUV, before it would be time for another oil change, and so another trip to that company managed dealership and service station... This guy, exactly like me, today drives a vintage 4x4. Which he now maintains himself (with pride)!
I usually manage to find a good mechanic to service my 2000 Saturn Wagon, thankfully. Regarding the "All Creatures Great and Small" series. I have a copy of the book. Also have watched the entire series twice. One of the best.
Great postings (and texts), Doghouse. The All Creatures reference was a bit of a bonus to read. The story about the constable's visit was rewarding to read as well. Growingpains--I liked the series and books as well.
I love the British TV and "All Creatures Great and Small" was among the best. Another is "Last of the Summer Wine", and "AS Time Goes BY."
Yeah GP--We get the BBC channels as part of our cable package, and so we get to see some fantastic programmes. There are so many older shows and newer ones that we so much enjoy.
We get those as well. Have you ever seen the series called "Endeavour"? It is about Morse when he was younger. Also if you like crimi's you may like "Vera". Do you see the "Watches"? (Like Autumnwatch and Springwatch)
Oh yes, Endeavour is excellent, and how could I not have mentioned "Vera"! I absolutely love her series. The American series are mostly lame by comparison.
I've watched most of those mentioned, I don't watch Vera as I can't stand Caroline Quentin. But there are a lot of USA/Canadian programmes I watch, or have watched. The entire series of Suits and all of Blue Bloods. Jesse Stone and Justified Lately Homeland and a new one for us Emergence
