Cars - 1

 I thought that I might take a break from historic events and try and explain my trip through a variety of cars. This will be a simple list with a few comments about each. Although I am only up to the late 1970s with this blog, this list will come up to date.

1.  Circa 1963 - 1947 Austin 10 - brought from one of our assistant scoutmasters - the one that we called "Asm". It was a nice little car  with a registration that I would like now which was DPX52. It had dodgy brakes and variable steering and cost me £10.
   
   
   
   
   I took Valerie out in it one day and we had a bit of trouble stopping it on one occasion. I tried to insure it but that was also £10, which was more than one weeks salary for me at that time and a cost that was out of my reach so I sold it and got £10 for it!
2. Once we were in Norbury and me settled in a much better paying job, I started hiring cars for various weekends and bank holidays. The cars of choice were either a Vauxhall Viva or a Ford Capri. I have a memory of taking the cars back with a little pile of cigarette ash on the floor by my right foot! I stopped smoking not long after
3. Once I was at Woellwarth and living in Billericay, it was obvious that we needed a car. Mistakenly, I bought a Ford Escort from Roy Jarvis, one of my Spot DM colleagues. This was a converted van and was awful. Reversing out of the garage at my house, I tore the exhaust pipe off so it had to go - for scrap. It's number plate was OO 7303 - what a great one to have nowadays.

1. Brian next door had a friend that had a Hillman Imp going cheaply so that was next. It was a nice little thing in pale blue. The back seat could be folded down  but how we coped with both Sam, who was  around 3 then, and Simon who was 1 I cannot remember.  You can see Sam and me below.

1. Eventually, we decided that we should get a decent car, so we went down to Allens of Romford, the local main ford dealer and bough a 2 year old dark metallic green Ford Escort GT. Not to quick by today's standards but very snappy for those days.
2. I got very excited about the Ford Escort Mexico and fancied doing a bit of rallying if I could get one but... It only had two doors and the insurance was very expensive. Hence, I bought a brand new Ford Escort GT in a strange shade of red/pink. I took this off the road one night and bent the suspension showing Valerie's younger brother, Terry, how good it was. It had new had Pirelli tyres that didn't like a greasy road! Oh well.
3. We were moving up in the world and my salary was expanding very quickly so the Ford went quite quickly to be replaced by a Triumph Dolomite.
   
   
   
   
   SGX663L - so close to SBX it makes my head turn :-)
   
   What a nice car. What a terrible gear box. By then I already had arthritis in my neck causing issues with my left arm and this gearbox was very difficult. It went into Triumph on about 5 occasions.
4. It is now late 1973 and, in addition to our two children, we now had a fast growing Golden Retriever. Triumph Dolomite? Too small! All of a sudden, we can afford a much bigger and more expensive car.  Average annual salary in the Uk was around £1,980 per annum.  A brand new blue Volvo 245 estate? £2,499.00! I went off to Munich soon into the new year and, while I was there, I purchased a nice set of sheepskin covers for the front seats. Goodness knows why. When I came back, Mum had run the car down against Grandad's gate in Romford so there was a lovely gouge all the way down the offside of the car.
5. It turned out that, with the big petrol crisis, keeping the Volvo was quite difficult so it got swapped for another, red, Dolomite. I had some trouble with this (I should have known better after the previous experience) so it got sold off for one of the new VW Golf range. This was a nice little car for four of us and Cindy could jump in the back.
6. 1975 brought Wendy along and, once again, the car was too small. The local Volvo dealer had a high mileage 245 that was only a couple of years old and was sold with a warranty. This one was a nice dark green and ran perfectly. 
7. Inflation kept roaring away and now we had two lots of school fees to pay so, under pressure from the bank manager, the Volvo was swapped for an Austin Maxi which I could get for cash and all paid up. This was one unreliable car. We are now around 1978-9.
8. I am now working at Nordic Bank and enjoying life even though, again, we are under a little pressure. At lunch, one day, I was offered a new job that came with a company car and more money.  We now have - guess what - a dark red Volvo 245! This was a three year deal so I couldn't think about another car throughout that time. 
9. After 3 years, the car came up for renewal. We had a new, less generous General Manager so there was a tighter restriction on the cost of company cars so I had to be a bit creative. Again, I fancied a Ford RS Escort but, again, there was the issue of two doors! Hence, I got a nice bright red 1600 Ghia with wider wheels and an RS steering wheel. It was a dream after the Volvo. We had four children by now and the car was a bit cramped but Sam was now 14 and Simon 12 so they had quite a lot of other things to do as they were both active in the Scouting movement.
10. The bank closed down about 9 months later so, again, cars were on the move. I became Treasury Manager of the follow-on bank with a new company car, again! (Sorry about all the exclamation marks). There was a tight budget for a company car but Ford were just launching the Sierra and I was able to get a red Sierra Ghia which was larger than the Escort and more luxurious. The Escort went to one of the dealers from the old bank who transferred with me to the new one.
11. One last car from my banking career. I joined Banque Francaise du Commerce Exterieur as chief dealer in September 1994. I felt that it was better to be a smaller fish in a big tank than a big fish in a small talk, as it were. Again, I had to change cars and along came another Volvo 245. This time a nice metallic silver GL - a very nice car that I managed to back it up against a post outside the curry place at Gidea Park Station. (This is a sample - not my one).
    
    
    
    
    
    

I think that this is enough for now. I will continue with the next edition.