Before the days of air conditioning, electrically adjustable seats and Hi Fi in car entertainment, Mum’s car was better than the bus…but not always a lot better.
My first car memories are Mum’s driving lessons in Mrs Parker’s Austin A40.I would have been only four years old but I remember bouncing about on the back seat as Mum was instructed to emergency stop and reverse around corners. Fortunately, I was able to brace myself for the emergency stop ( seat belts and child seats were notably absent)
Mum’s first car was an elderly Ford Squire Estate affectionately known as Tog due to its registration number. My Dad had very optimistically tried to palm her off with a much more ancient Austin Seven but after a brief and frosty test drive, during which gears were crunched and brakes were tested, a short but deliberate exhale preceded my Mum declaring “Well Michael, I don’t know where it came from but it’s going back!”
So Tog became part of the family. With a wheezy side valve engine persuaded into life by judicious use of the choke, this was the car that took me to school. In Summer,it’s sliding rear windows offered welcome fresh air but in Winter the illuminated heater knob only offered the promise of heat on long journeys.
Tog was succeeded by an Austin A40 which had the rather dubious extra of leopard skin seat covers. Despite their garish appearance they did at least offer some resistance between bare legs and vinyl which was welcome in all seasons.
As I grew up, Mum’s car retained its family importance. I learned to drive in her 1972 Triumph Dolomite 1850 which despite being garaged and regularly cleaned developed the dreaded tin worm quite early in its life and ignominiously shed half its exhaust during one of my driving lessons.
The prematurely rusty Dolomite gave way to a 2.0 Litre S Capri in a fetching dark blue with the gold pinstripes. Mum who was only 5ft 2 thought she was Penelope Pitstop in her Capri which she very generously leant to me so I could be Gordon Spice (google).
Those were the days : the car was part of the family and trips including inevitable punctures and mechanical woes became etched into nostalgic memories.
Reality struck when I acquired my first car : inevitably a Mini but a rather unglamorous Clubman Estate. Despite the excellent 8 track stereo, it just didn’t have the pulling power of Mum’s Capri. Girls who had once seemed quite happy to come to watch racing at Donington in the Capri and sometimes in Dad’s MGB seemed to be “really busy” at the prospect of a trip in the Mini.
Even the reg numbers of Mum’s cars remain stored in my memory : I can’t remember what numbers followed TOG on the Squire but the Dolomite was PRE 252 L and the Capri was VNP 944R.
These stories are so integral to our mission here at the Great British Car Journey as Mums cars are such an important part of our childhood. Thats why this Mothers Day we are offering something very special for your Mum!
