Latest Moan From You and Me 2023

Cars are also much, much bigger now than they were back then. We considered a car like a Sierra to be a big family car - yet the current Focus would dwarf it.

When I last went to Scotland, I went down roads that I know I used to fly down (my Dumfries to Edinburgh average time was around 65-70 mins back then) and there was no way I could hustle the Volvo at those sort of speeds on those roads; you're right, some of it is down to being older, wiser etc, but also some of it was definitely the size of the car - - it felt so fat/wide at times it was almost uncomfortable - and bear in mind that I used to chuck double deckers around as though they were Tonka toys.

 

I had a Mk 1 Golf that had been fitted with a bigger engine and had been 'breathed on'; from a standing start it could climb trees - stupidly quick off the line, but with only a four speed box, by 80 it was screaming its head off.

Only one car scared me back then - Fiat Uno Turbo ie. Absolutely nuts.

 

Volvo 360GLT was the same - an absolute hoot in the snow if you had wide open space (car park) but literally like Bambi on icy roads. I wrote it off in deep snow - was following a neighbour to his work to take his bosses Audi back as the snow was just getting worse; the Audi being front wheel drive went round this wee bend, but the Volvo chose not to and I was presented with a choice - - a brand new Peugeot 205 or the hedge, so I took the hedge. In that hedge, however, is the end post of a fence that was essentially a tree trunk with the bark knocked off and some holes bored through it. Devastated the front of that Volvo.

 

That was you, was it?

 

My first new car was a 1964 Ford Anglia 123E Super with a 1500cc GT engine - built specially (think it was built in S. Africa) for one of the Ford junior execs and sold to me by mistake. They didn't find out for a few weeks and wanted it back - no way! .

Went like a rocket but was a rust bucket!

It lasted (only just) until 1974 and by then was only held together by rust. That was just in time for me to go to the motor show in 1974 and buy the first Volvo 240 off the show stand at 50% discount - as seen. It was the only one in the country as this brand new model (replacing the 140) was held up in the dock strike for a couple of months.

 

Can't you knit one whilst you're sitting there?