The Family Car

[amateur51]

My dad's first family car was a Triumph Mayflower, an example of the fleeting fashion for razor edge design. I remember it as being rather slow and cumbersome, an aspect revealed in this fillum as Merv (I assume it's Merv) tries to get the front wheels to turn whilst at a standstill - no power-steering in those days).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqDcCJsubO4

I think I'm right in saying that it had a column gear change and a bench front seat.

My dad's was black and registered as RFM 104

[vinteuil]

My dad's first family car was a Triumph Mayflower, an example of the fleeting fashion for razor edge design.

“I first went to France in the summer of 1959 at the age of thirteen. My pre-adolescence had been car-free and island-bound; now there stood in front of our house a gun-metal-grey Triumph Mayflower, bought secondhand, suddenly affordable thanks to a £200 grant from Great Aunt Edie. It struck me then — as any car would have done — as deeply handsome, if perhaps a little too boxy and sharp-edged for true elegance; last year, in a poll of British autophiles, it was voted one of the ten ugliest cars ever built. Registration plate RTW1, red leather upholstery, walnut dashboard, no radio, and a blue metal RAC badge on the front. (The RAC man, portly and moustachioed, with heavy patched boots and a subservient manner, had arrived to enrol us. His first, preposterous question to my father — 'Now, sir, how many cars have you got?' — passed into quiet family myth.) That cars were intended not just for safe commuting but also for perilous voyage was endorsed by the Triumph's subtitle, and further by its illustrative hubcaps: at their centre was an emblematic boss depicting, in blue and red enamel, a Mercator projection of the globe.“

[Julian Barnes, opening paragraph of Preface to "Something to Declare", 2002 ]

[Stillhomewardbound]

Excellent sourced quote, Vinteuil!

Very pleased that The Photo Booth seems to be taking of nicely but there are a couple of thread still on the starting blacks. I hope people will get to them in time and indeed start their own.

[amateur51]

Nice stuff, vints!

Dad's next car was black Wolseley 1500, which he liked a lot because "it was very nippy" in second gear (useful for overtaking on the uphill parts of twisty North Wales roads of that period). Sadly it was also prone to stalling in lower gears when the engine was hot which led to lots of ripe language and red faces on trips to see the grandparents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ3q5Rjbi2Y

[MrGongGong]

If anyone owns a Volvo, please don't post a photo of it.

I was given one of these



in exchange for wiring up someones house for multiple speakers and building a speaker switching unit !
Used to be very popular amongst musicians (though not enough space for the harp like the 940 or V70 Volvo that you love so much !)

[Stillhomewardbound]

My father was looking at one of these as he needed the capacity for his brood of five and I was very excited because Saab was (and still is, I believe) a plane manufacturer. He was also investigating the Peugeot 104 Estate which my mother, as a big Francophile, would have approved of, but finally he settled on a ...

VOLVO!!!

... but dammit, I have pictures of it somewhere but can't I find them. Oh, drat and double drat, and I so wanted to make Beef Oven's day.

[MrGongGong]

I think what happened was that Beefmother had a job lot of these and dressed the little Beefettes in them ...... hence the phobia in "adult" life

[Beef Oven!]

I was given one of these



in exchange for wiring up someones house for multiple speakers and building a speaker switching unit !
Used to be very popular amongst musicians (though not enough space for the harp like the 940 or V70 Volvo that you love so much !)

Lol! Time to fess up, I had one of those c1980 - an ageing beaten-up grey saloon version.

[amateur51]

I think what happened was that Beefmother had a job lot of these and dressed the little Beefettes in them ...... hence the phobia in "adult" life

This would account for Beefy's Pauline Calf obsession?

[Beef Oven!]

The sums of money involved will give a clue to how long ago the deal was done. The price of the Abarth was £275 and I allowed the buyer £15 on the Goggomobil.

I would guess that the Rover 2000 in the background is about 1968.

Edit: I thought I saw the spare atop the boot. Maybe not. 1973?

[anotherbob]

There's alot of unjustified prejudice against swedish cars it seems to me. These two pictures show that both SAAB and VOLVO have a degree of street cred.
This VOLVO would be a credit to anyone's drive.....

.... and this SAAB was driven by the original STIG.

[Stillhomewardbound]

The volvo shot looks like its in a World's Fastest Milk Crate Race.

[Beef Oven!]

The volvo shot looks like its in a World's Fastest Milk Crate Race.

That's exactly what I was thinking lol!

[teamsaint]

That's exactly what I was thinking lol!

headed for the summit of Benny Hill.....

[Boilk]