Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Talk about your cars etc here. Keep it sort of sensible and on topic please.
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by AMCrebel »

Just reminded me - my mate who is now a famous bass guitarist's Dad had a Hillman Husky (the Imp series) for shifting the band gear around (his family were semi-pro musos). Later he got a brand new blue mini van around 1972 - he fitted seats in the back and we used to go places in it.

Mention of that quilted fablon reminded me it was fitted to my Uncle's C-reg Morris Minor van dashboard. That had similarly makeshift rear seats.
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by NorfolkNWeigh »

My Mum and Dad were 16 and 17 when I was born. Their first house was a 2 bed terrace in Smethwick , which is a poor area between the Black Country and Birmingham. My Dad remembers been picked up from work by my Mum’s Uncle Leslie in his blue MK10;Jag and being showed 3 houses , they chose 33 Cemetery Rd because it had access to the back garden for cars. They were too young to get a mortgage so Uncle Leslie who was a solicitor bought it and my Dad had to take a payment to his office every month until he could get a mortgage .
Anyway , there were only a couple of cars in the street, my Dad had a succession of Morris Minors , the best of which he appeared with one night being towed by Mr Avery from up the street behind his E Series Cresta , they ‘ found’ in a pub car park. It had no seats so he was sitting on a beer crate. My Dad fitted green leather seats in the front, the back had red plastic.
That neatly brings me on to Mr Avery, my best mate Gary’s Dad , seemed impossibly old to me , more my Grandads age but Gary was my age and we started school together. Mr Avery only had one eye, he’d lost the other when his tank got blown up in El Alamein, he always had a perfectly Brylcreamed quaff and a fag dangling from his mouth. Mrs Avery, looking back50 years on, was the spitting image of Michael Caine’s landlady in Get Carter, again always with a fag going. In fact I still have a scar from when she burnt my finger gating in their Mk3 Zephyr one day . Their cars were mostly flash The E Cresta, a red and white PB Cresta then a Zephyr which started off light blue but Mr A and my Dad brush painted it Midland Red bus red one Easter- my Dad worked for Midland Red.
Next door to us was the corner shop run by Mrs Sedgley, her husband had a white Ford Classic , that never seemed to go anywhere, my Dad remembers they had it when he moved in in 1964 and they still had it when we left in 1972.




I remember my brother opening the door of my Grandads brand new Triumph 1300 as we pulled up outside the house and it hitting that Pillar box, putting a big red crease right down the middle, he would have been about 4.
There was also a shop on the opposite corner and I never went in it, ever. Seems odd looking back. They had a BMC A55 van in cream.
I remember a girl from the senior school getting run over and killed by a Bedford TK on the “main road” outside that shop, I watched from the front bedroom window as a Bedford J type ambulance and a Policewoman in a MGB arrived, I’ll never forget her Father running down the road crying and his hat blowing off, I was 5 or 6.
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by NorfolkNWeigh »

Not that it matters but the captions on the pics are the wrong way round 33 is the cream one, I went past a few years ago and it’s predominantly Asian now with lots of big extensions and it seems our old house is now joined to what was the shop with the rear of both extended halfway up the garden too.
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by bub2006 »

I grew up on healdswood estate in skegby. My dad had numerous bangers that today would be fetching daft money. Sadly no photos but there wer numerous carltons, Granadas,cortinas,Maxis etc.
I have memories of some certain nails which stuck in my young mind. A 1750 allegro was used briefly for towing the family caravan (18 or so ft monza of 70s vintage) car kept overheating and that was replaced with a granada that had a slipping box then a carlton with binding brakes. Another one was an late 70s Opel commodore 2.8 he had not long after my mum died. 4 speed box with no third gear.
When my mum was alive she mainly ran round on an old honda cub. My mum only had an auto license so had a tendency to nick my dads car when it was raining which annoyed him greatly. He got wise and bought a manual car then decided he didnt like towing with a manual so bought a rather nice mk1 cavalier automatic to tow the van.
Anyone who knows the area around sutton in ashfield will remember kingsmill island which I still refer to even though the lights have been there many years. The island was where the cavalier met its demise when my mum was coming home from work and someone pulled out on her.
Nect door to us we had a family where dad was a trucker and always had jaguars. He still has to this day an xud that he said was second off the production line. He also had a 2.9 xj6 with manual box and tweed interior. There were also many other bangers he ran for work,transit van was one that backfired whenever cold starting.
The guy 2 doors up was known as dirty dennis. Unsure if hes still alive. He had a succession of bangers of varying states of decay from mgs through fords and Van's like old comma and sherpa.
The old boy in the top of the street had a Y plate audi 80 that I can recall from my early days and still had it 3 years ago.
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by Warren t claim »

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I'll work my way up from the other end of our road now.

The last house on the left had a RHD Charlie's Angel's Mustang in red which was replaced by a new Renault 18 GTL in that metallic blue that they all seemed to come in.

Opposite but one house up lived the Cavanagh family. He was one of those men who kept his cars for ages, firstly a bronze Mk Cortina 1.6L on a P plate and when it eventually got written off, a W plate Mk5 1.6L in red with a black vinyl roof. His missus had ideas above her station, although she had a son, Colin, who was my age (that she banned from mixing with a young WTC) she objected to us having a street party for the Silver Jubilee back in '77. We ignored her anyway. She died a few years ago but the family still live there.

The next house up on the left lives the Brooks family. He worked for Broseley the house builders and firstly had a brown Mk4 Cortina 1.6 GL with a tan vinyl roof that was replaced shortly with a metallic red Mk5 2.0 Ghia. A strange quirk was that he kept all of the plastic covers on his interior door panels, the sort Ford delivered the car to the dealers in.

Opposite them lived the Pemberton family. They bought a new Lada every few years.

Next door to the Brooks family lived the Millers. He was a taxi driver with a succession of Mk4 Zephyr/Zodiacs. It was a treat for me to see him hop in and drive away if his current big Ford had a column change. He got badly injured when one popped it's jack when he was working under it.

Opposite them lived the Ross family. He was one half of a partnership in a double glazing firm that went from being hugely successful to bust within a decade. He was a big fan of Datsun commercial vehicles, even making the local papers when he bought a fleet off the local dealers.

Opposite them lived The Captain. Even today, maybe 43 years since he died and the house was sold his place is still referred to as "The Captain's House". A nautical man, he kept an immaculate Borgward Isabella in his garage that I only saw maybe three times.

I have no idea what the name was of the family opposite The Captain but they firstly had a J reg Renault 12 estate followed by a P reg Renault 12 estate.

Opposite them lived The Kleiman family, Gerry and Doreen with their son Howie. A kind Jewish family who not only let us use his garage to set up the Silver Jubilee disco, he also let my elder sibling borrow it for car maintenance duties as it had an inspection pit. Gerry ran a succession of Dolomite 1500HLs before buying an Acclaim. Howie had a black Mini Clubman with a full length Webasto sunroof. Tragedy struck them not long before I was born when their young daughter was killed in a car accident while travelling in the fron passenger seat on her mum's lap.
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by NorfolkNWeigh »

In 1972, we moved up in the World , to a 3 bed semi in Quinton. My Dad had a Bedford HA van by this stage, with a Morris Traveller back seat fitted,but no side windows. Next door at 22 were Mr and Mrs Barnes , Mr Barnes had a brand new Humber Sceptre in light blue, in fact he got anew one each August the 1st . We moved in 76 , so I never knew what he did when Humber died.
The famil6 the other side had a white Corsair and a daughter my age that I played show me yours and I’ll show you mine in our garage in an old Spitfire my dad bought intending to do up for my Mum- that never happened.
In 1973 we got a Cortina 1500 pre-xflow Mk2 estate, and Europa 14” caravan. One of my teachers lived in the house opposite and sometimes if it was raining she would give all the kids in the street a lift home in her beige Anglia van.
I re ember a strange car appearing on a drive a few doors up one day, I thought it was an Alfasud , but had never seen one in real life, the badges had tape over them and my Dad reckoned it was the new ‘1100’- Icouldnt believe something so modern could be an Austin.
At the bottom of the road was a big family that had a bad reputation, I was in the youngest daughter , Debbie’s class , so sometimes went round there. She had 16 old twin brothers, Tom and Mick who let me shoot their arrifle and ride the old Honda C50 around the service lanes that went behind the gardens, I came off it and broke my collarbone when I was 10. I was banned from seeing them after that. Sadly as soon as they were 17 Tom and Mick got a Mini, crashed it and Mick was killed.
Our caravan holidays were quite disastrous, by now I had 2 brothers , so all 5 of us plus the dog, crammed in the Cortina with a bloody great caravan on the back meant steep hills were a bit fraught, I remember one holiday in Wales spending the night camped in a pub car park and my Dad going into town on th bus to get a headgsket , then fixing it in the car park.
This meant a proper towcar was required, so he bought a Vauxhall Viscount complete with 2 speed Powerglide, TMM160F, in 75 we went to North Wales with Ted and Janet from 2 doors up, Ted had a Zephyr Special, the blue with a white vinyl roof special edition 2.5 V6 that he bought brand new in 1972 when he left the army. They had a Sprite Major which we thought wasn’t as posh as our Europa, at one site the exit road was so steep , Teds Zephyr started slipping its clutch, my Dad towed the Zephyr complete with caravan out with the Viscount, me and my brothers loved it! When we got back Ted
chopped his Zephyr in for an L reg Ventora .
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by Warren t claim »

A can't imagine anything fitted with a two speed Powerglide would be suitable for towing? 3.3 litre or not!
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by DodgeRover »

I rode in an Impala with a 2 speed box, it was quite of as it seemed to have an extra half gear between the 2 ratios.
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by NorfolkNWeigh »

I always remember my Dad raving about how good it was towing, but I suppose all he’d got to compare it with was that poor old 1500 Cortina with less than half the power. A few years later he got a 3.0 GXL Granada with the 3 speed auto and he never liked it as much as that old Viscount apart from the fuel economy- he could get nearly 20 mpg out of the Granny!
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Re: Where And When Did You Grow Up And What Sort Of Wob Lived On Your Street?

Post by Warren t claim »

NorfolkNWeigh wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:49 pm I always remember my Dad raving about how good it was towing, but I suppose all he’d got to compare it with was that poor old 1500 Cortina with less than half the power. A few years later he got a 3.0 GXL Granada with the 3 speed auto and he never liked it as much as that old Viscount apart from the fuel economy- he could get nearly 20 mpg out of the Granny!
He was missing the electric windows.
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