My family and old cars.
Discussion
Inspired by recent threads I thougth I'd write up a bit about my family and old cars.
My great grandfather was one of the first to have a car in Bournemouth, a Clyno tourer, apparently it was fitted with a comode, I tried to find out more but all the oldies in the family are now gone or forgotten, apparently one day the Clyno broke down, my Great Grandfather being a ships captain thought the colour green to be unlucky. His Chauffeur (as you did in those days) was wearing green braces, so Great Grandfather, whose name I am strugglying to work out but I think might have been William Hope, took the the braces from the poor chap and threw them over the hedge into a field!
Moving on generation, Great Grandfather's daughter, my great Aunt and my Great Uncle Frank ran a pub in Lymington, at the time part of the pub was the town bus station and a public loo that cost 1 p to get in, my aunt collected the 1p all year and used it to fund a driving holiday in their car following the Rally to Monte Carlo staying in the best hotels all the way, paid for my people who had a pee. I know they had a Ford Pilot and a Zodiac, then in the sixties a Hillman Minx, the Minx was chopped in for a Hillman Avenger in Mood Indigo blue which I drove until about 5 years ago. Later in life Frank became a driving instructor for BSM, I can well remember his cars with the BSM piramid on the roof.
My Grandmother, learned to drive after my Grandad passed away, she failed her test 7 times but passed on the 8th, her bd hips meant she had trouble with the clutch, she used to rev the engine like mad, dump te clutch and wheelspin down the lane patting the dash board saying 'Naughty car.
Granny remarried in 1983, Cyril had been into cars all his life, him and his father built specials to trial in the 50's, he was also a spectator at Brooklands before the war. Cyril is the only one still with us, him and granny retired to Spain about 15 years ago, they took with them their 1986 Rover 213, is going strong and now done 207k miles. I speak to Cyril every week, told him in April about the centenary event at Brooklands and said I'd book him a flight and take him, he's not been back here since granny passed away 3 years ago, he declined the offer of a flight and said he'd drive.
So at the begining of June at the age of 85 he set off for Southampton from Alicante (in the 21 year old 207k mile Rover 213) at 6 AM on a Saturday morning, making good time by mid afternoon up over the Pyrenees into Pau he decided to carry on, to the extent that he no long saw the point that evening in stopping at a hotel, so he carried on all night! Daft old git knocked our door at 2.30 the following afternoon having driven via the tunnel for 32 hours non stop!!!!!!!! 1367 miles non stop at 85 years old!!!!!!
We took him to Brooklands for the day, he had a wonderful time, his knowledge of the cars was impressive after all these years, we did the rounds with the family for a few weeks, I MOT'd the Rover, did a few odd jobs on it for him. He set off back and stayed in Pau with friends for a few days and got back to the Villa a few days ago.
He's also got a Jag Sovreign, a couple of years ago he had his only ever crash in the Jag, its quite badly whacked, front chassis rail bent and boot floor way out of shape, plus crease in back wing, he's taken home with him a new trolley jack, a 10 ton body straghtening kit and a grinder, I dont think he'll fix it ever but it gives him something to be getting on with.
That brings us to me and cars....I'll have to save that for another day.
My great grandfather was one of the first to have a car in Bournemouth, a Clyno tourer, apparently it was fitted with a comode, I tried to find out more but all the oldies in the family are now gone or forgotten, apparently one day the Clyno broke down, my Great Grandfather being a ships captain thought the colour green to be unlucky. His Chauffeur (as you did in those days) was wearing green braces, so Great Grandfather, whose name I am strugglying to work out but I think might have been William Hope, took the the braces from the poor chap and threw them over the hedge into a field!
Moving on generation, Great Grandfather's daughter, my great Aunt and my Great Uncle Frank ran a pub in Lymington, at the time part of the pub was the town bus station and a public loo that cost 1 p to get in, my aunt collected the 1p all year and used it to fund a driving holiday in their car following the Rally to Monte Carlo staying in the best hotels all the way, paid for my people who had a pee. I know they had a Ford Pilot and a Zodiac, then in the sixties a Hillman Minx, the Minx was chopped in for a Hillman Avenger in Mood Indigo blue which I drove until about 5 years ago. Later in life Frank became a driving instructor for BSM, I can well remember his cars with the BSM piramid on the roof.
My Grandmother, learned to drive after my Grandad passed away, she failed her test 7 times but passed on the 8th, her bd hips meant she had trouble with the clutch, she used to rev the engine like mad, dump te clutch and wheelspin down the lane patting the dash board saying 'Naughty car.
Granny remarried in 1983, Cyril had been into cars all his life, him and his father built specials to trial in the 50's, he was also a spectator at Brooklands before the war. Cyril is the only one still with us, him and granny retired to Spain about 15 years ago, they took with them their 1986 Rover 213, is going strong and now done 207k miles. I speak to Cyril every week, told him in April about the centenary event at Brooklands and said I'd book him a flight and take him, he's not been back here since granny passed away 3 years ago, he declined the offer of a flight and said he'd drive.
So at the begining of June at the age of 85 he set off for Southampton from Alicante (in the 21 year old 207k mile Rover 213) at 6 AM on a Saturday morning, making good time by mid afternoon up over the Pyrenees into Pau he decided to carry on, to the extent that he no long saw the point that evening in stopping at a hotel, so he carried on all night! Daft old git knocked our door at 2.30 the following afternoon having driven via the tunnel for 32 hours non stop!!!!!!!! 1367 miles non stop at 85 years old!!!!!!
We took him to Brooklands for the day, he had a wonderful time, his knowledge of the cars was impressive after all these years, we did the rounds with the family for a few weeks, I MOT'd the Rover, did a few odd jobs on it for him. He set off back and stayed in Pau with friends for a few days and got back to the Villa a few days ago.
He's also got a Jag Sovreign, a couple of years ago he had his only ever crash in the Jag, its quite badly whacked, front chassis rail bent and boot floor way out of shape, plus crease in back wing, he's taken home with him a new trolley jack, a 10 ton body straghtening kit and a grinder, I dont think he'll fix it ever but it gives him something to be getting on with.
That brings us to me and cars....I'll have to save that for another day.
I'm loving these old stories, it adds a nice bit of colour to PH. 
My grandad used to have a lot of interesting cars, the one that stood out most for me was his Lancia Beta HPE which he had when I was young, I will always remember the plastic louvered rear window and getting thrown around the back as he was driving 'spiritedly'!
Just looked at your profile, that's a lovely looking E28!
My grandad used to have a lot of interesting cars, the one that stood out most for me was his Lancia Beta HPE which he had when I was young, I will always remember the plastic louvered rear window and getting thrown around the back as he was driving 'spiritedly'!
Just looked at your profile, that's a lovely looking E28!
Edited by bob1179 on Saturday 7th July 04:03
bob1179 said:
I'm loving these old stories, it adds a nice bit of colour to PH.
Just looked at your profile, that's a lovely looking E28!
Thanks, was a barge bargain at 470 quid! 60k miles by an old boy, bit musty inside hence the missus calls it 'Stinky'.Just looked at your profile, that's a lovely looking E28!
Edited by bob1179 on Saturday 7th July 04:03
I've had a lot of cars, the E28 is up there with 911 and P6 V8 as one of the top three.
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff