Sparking an oil crisis on road for first time
DO you remember your first car? Of course you do. Everyone does. And you probably have fonder memories of that first car than of any one you’ve owned since.
Mine was a 1957 Austin A35, bought for £50 in the early 1970s. It was my second choice, because the back street garage also had a Mark II Jaguar (3.8 manual with overdrive) on the forecourt and that was £50 too.
Obviously the Jag was a far more attractive option, but as I was 19 and a student couldn’t find anyone foolish enough to offer me insurance.
So the Austin it was. Not as cool as a Jaguar, but insurable.
I soon discovered my recently acquired pride and joy had unexpected extras. Air conditioning for instance.
When I say air conditioning, there was a tin tray under the carpet in the floor well on the passenger side placed over a rust hole the size of a dinner plate through which could be seen the road below.
And when in motion this allowed a cooling breeze into the car that any occupant of the nearside seat found welcome in warm weather, less so in the depths of winter.
Another foible of the A35 was its insatiable thirst for oil.
It used more oil than petrol. So there was never room for anyone to enjoy the spacious accommodation offered by the leatherette back seat as this was always home to 10 litre cans of Duckham’s 20/ 50.
The adverts for local dealers you see on this page come from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
The one for Steels first appeared in 1969, which was about the time Arthur Negus became the proud owner of a Rover 3.5 litre coupe like the one illustrated.
Everyone’s favourite antiques expert, Arthur lived in Queen’s Road, Cheltenham, not far from the railway station.
He was a regular on BBC TV programmes talking about the marquetry on this Victorian commode or what a nicely-turned leg there was on that Georgian hat stand. But when not on the telly he was often to be seen purring about town in his splendid Rover P5B, progressing in stately fashion like a gentlemen’s club on wheels.
Less pricey was a Vauxhall Velox, seen in the advert from 1963, which could be bought new from Hough and Whitmore in Gloucester for £840-7-1 including purchase tax.
Also from 1963 is the advertisement for the MG 1100, priced at £580 and available from Regent Motors in Cheltenham.
The premises stood pretty much where the Regent Street entrance to Regent Arcade is today and was the garage where development work on the Whittle jet was carried out by the Gloster Aircraft Company in the Second World War.
Look closely and you’ll see the advert announces the MG 1100 comes with a 12-month warranty backed by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) Service.
Such was the reputation of BMC at the time that this supposed benefit probably drove custom away.