Every car bought had a story to tell

The Way We Were article about the car auction in Flintshire during the summer of 1961 ( CCW, 8 February), brought back memories. During that year my dad decided to have a go at selling cars from home. Various cars were purchased usually at either Hargood’s or Arnold’s auction houses in Manchester and after a checkover and valet were offered for sale in the Manchester Evening News.

I was 11 years old and sometimes allowed to accompany dad to auction sales. On one of these jaunts I remember having a very jerky ride home in an Austin A40 Devon that he had bought. The throttle cable had snapped and in its place was a piece of string attached to the carburettor linkage. The string exited the side of the bonnet and then entered the driver’s side window and was pulled as a crude substitute for the throttle. On another occasion a Vauxhall Wyvern was purchased at auction and seemed excellent until it started to rain. When the windscreen wipers were deployed a whirring noise could be heard but the wipers remained motionless. It turned out that the splines on the shafts the wiper arms were attached to had stripped and were unable to operate. Once back home a hole drilled through the wiper arm and shaft allowed a quick fix with a small nut and bolt.

Quite a few cars were bought and sold and each had a story attached to it. I am not sure much money was made out of this enterprise but many happy memories endure.