I thought the wipers on those were vacuum operated? Stopped going uphill and almost took off coming down hill!
Took my test in a Austin Champ in the T.A. in 1966. They had the same wipers but fortunately it did't rain on the test. No indicators so all hand signals..
I remember having to show my examiner my knowledge of the range of hand signals required if the indicators didn't work or, if they broke down, when I did my driving test. Kids today wouldn't have a clue.
It was a bit of an art doing hand signals in those days. No power steering or brakes, & a crash box. You really had to plan ahead before arriving at a junction.I remember having to show my examiner my knowledge of the range of hand signals required if the indicators didn't work or, if they broke down, when I did my driving test. Kids today wouldn't have a clue.
I was talking to a friend the other day about the difference in traffic. Back in 1989 I lived in Sheffield and regularly had to drive to London the be there for midday Monday. If used to take 2 hours pretty much every time over the 2 years I had to do it. These days it's closer to 4 at that time/day of the week!
Late 60's I lived in Germany & regularly drove the Wolverhampton Dover run, always did it in 3 hours. No M6 round Birmingham so used to drive Birmingham New Road down to the A45, past what was Elmdon airport then. On to the M1 no M25 so straight through the centre of London, on to the A2 to Dover.
Sliding windows & massive door pockets for stowage!My first car was a heavily modified Mini (850 I think) 1959 vintage. It was a couple of months older than me at the time, I bought it off a mate at work when I lived in Ipswich and worked in Copdock. Arrr...when a was a lad, lol.
It had six guages in the home made dash which was foam padded, speedo, rev counter, voltage guage, water temp guage, vacuum guage and I can't remember the last I think it may have been a clock. It was ahem...nearly 44 years ago after all, lol.
It had more lights and flick switches fitted than I can remember the functions for, with the big plastic/rubber extensions on them. The thing I loved most was the indicator switch which had a little green light on the end which flashed when you were using them. Brill!
The 10" steel wheels had been banded and were nearly twice the width they should have been, I loved them. Just as well that it had the wheel arch extensions on too, as the tyres stuck out almost three inches from the bodywork. 175/50/10's I think? God we used to think that was so wide, lol
It had the old fashioned push button starter in the floor between the front seats which were sporty types but I can't remember the make, I had also fitted the sheep skin head rests to them, anyone else have a set of these on a car? Oh, and it had the sliding windows too.
This sadly, was in the days before I owned a camera, I would have loved to have a picture (or ten) of that car.
It was a never ending work in progress, hardly a day went by without something needing fettled.
Ah, the fun, we'd never put up with it now-a-days though.
...and ten inch wheels and a glorified piece of string as an interior door handle.
Sadly mine came to a sticky end...
. View attachment 49279
