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Is This Your Motor?

I had a VW LT 35 van for sale, because it was a class 7 vehicle it had to go to a government testing station (at that time) for the mot test, it failed on the handbrake not being up to standard.

The tester said he needed to discus it with the manager because there was "something specific'" about this model.

When he came back he told me that the vehicle couldn't meet the specification because of its design, so the department of transport had conceded that it would be allowed to pass at a lower level than that required by the UK spec. :mad:
 
The Gough St cars are a 1935-37 Morris Eight, ( Cambridgeshire Aug 1936} a 1953 - 56 Austin A30, (West Sussex, Jan 1953) and an early 50s Morris Minor.

The Fords are a 1953 - 59 Popular, (actually Worcs Jan 1956) and a 1956-8 Consul Mk2. (The Consul has a Croydon plate, but I can’t work out what the all important first letter is.) There was a bit of a facelift on the Consul, I think this car pre-dates it. My first car was a Popular of identical shape bought from Lloyd’s Garage in Stafford for £55. I knew the previous owner, who had traded it in against a new Ford Anglia in 1966.
 
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I had a austin 7, i took it for a mot. the tester said it would not pass. the handbrake had a adjuster on it. i told him one was allowed per cable. after a bit of head scratching hummimg and harring he give me the mot.1595429049133.png
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Pete,

I think you might be more likely to find a gramophone than an engine!

Stan and Ollie must have been very good for the Ford sales figures, thinking of the quantity of Model Ts they destroyed in the films.
 
ROA, 12/54 to 3/55 Birmingham commercial vehicle plate on a Hillman Husky estate.

HOM, 11/47 to 2/48 Birmingham plate on a Humber Super Snipe.

A Fordson (or Thames) 10cwt van shows us its back. There was a name change in the early 50s. These vans were in production from 1938 until 1956, a few even being built during WW2. By ‘56 they were totally out of date, a top speed of only about 35mph making them suitable for urban delivery work at best. The replacement van which used the Consul Mk2 mechanical parts was a much better proposition.
 
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One expects to encounter lots of Austins in Brum, with “the Orstin” being just down the road. These two give the car spotter a bit of a problem though. Just enough of the post war car behind is concealed to make it hard to say whether this is an A40 Devon, or an A70 Hereford, but it is surely one or the other.

The main subject, EOL, Birmingham Oct 1938, is an Austin Ascot or Goodwood, engine sizes, a 1525cc 4 cylinder for the Ascot, and a 1711cc six cylinder for the Goodwood. Since they are both very similar in looks, you need to see the grilles and bonnets to tell them apart.

The lorry is an intruder from outside the city, a Commer Superpoise.
 
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Johnfromstaffs said:
One expects to encounter lots of Austins in Brum, with “the Orstin” being just down the road. These tw give the car spotter a bit of a problem though. Just enough of the post war car behind is concealed to make it hard to say whether this is an A40 Devon, or an A70 Hereford, but it is surely one or the other.
Click to expand...
But what is the car in front?
 
Considering that the 1938 car must have been at least a dozen years old and had seen out WW2 it is in excellent order, but that bald tyre must indicate either penury or shortages in supply.
 
I wonder if EOL 410 was an 'official' car? There are a couple of street threads which show similar cars belonging to the cities various departments.
Back in 1959 I bought a second hand Austin A40 Countryman, a Gloucestershire reg (MDD) which had side windows fitted as an afterthought by the previous owner. I bought it in Great Malvern when at the RRE.(RAF). It fitted in well in that area and a subsequent move to Hereford proved fine as it was said that anything resembling a farmers vehicle was less likely to be ticketed than a private vehicle. True or not I have never been ticketed here or there. ;) Oh! boy, did that vehicle bounce. I used to do a monthly journey from Hereford to Cosford - with a stop for lunch at Bridgnorth. I bet the journey is not as pleasant today.
On release from the RAF I sold it to a cafe owner in Devon and got more that I had paid. Out of the dozens of vehicles I have owned that was the only one I made a profit on.
 
Johnfromstaffs said:
Considering that the 1938 car must have been at least a dozen years old and had seen out WW2 it is in excellent order, but that bald tyre must indicate either penury or shortages in supply.
Click to expand...

You have got me thinking now, I recall in the 60’s you would see lots of cars with bald tyres, but am not sure what the law was then? I recall the 2mm rule being introduced, maybe later 60’s (?) Was it a Barbara Castle thing? I know she introduced some speed limits, breathalysers, and seat belts.

Was there some additional legislation relating to not mixing cross ply and radial tyres on the same axel etc.
 
The pre war Austin was the same as one of my pals, it was interesting in a different way for him,

He was a jeweller and worked in the city, one day the police arrived at his house in Kingstanding, "Is that your Austin outside?",, "Yes that's mine. "..........." No it isn't sir, yours is parked in the jewellery quarter, this belongs to a bank manager." :)
Identical cars and the keys fitted, he'd driven it home and popped over to Lichfield in it and didn't notice.

On a later date he'd parked it in Livery Street and a British Rail truck, trying to do a three point turn shunted it against the kerb bending the axle shaft.

I fixed that for him then a few weeks later he was shunted from behind, he and the other driver looked at the damage decided it was nothing and they went on their way.. or nearly, when he started the engine there was an awful noise from under the bonnet, the shunt from behind had been on the end of the exhaust pipe and it had sheared off the cast iron manifold.
 
Morturn said:
You have got me thinking now, I recall in the 60’s you would see lots of cars with bald tyres, but am not sure what the law was then? I recall the 2mm rule being introduced, maybe later 60’s (?) Was it a Barbara Castle thing? I know she introduced some speed limits, breathalysers, and seat belts.

Was there some additional legislation relating to not mixing cross ply and radial tyres on the same axel etc.
Click to expand...

A lot of the rules came in with the mot, bald tyres and steering joints tied on with wire, handbrake cables with knots to shorten them etc. were pretty much the norm before that.
I was doing mots when they first started and the state of the cars was shocking, rotted away chassis, no brakes, steering that took half a wheel turn before it moved anything. ;)
 
Johnfromstaffs said:
One expects to encounter lots of Austins in Brum, with “the Orstin” being just down the road. These two give the car spotter a bit of a problem though. Just enough of the post war car behind is concealed to make it hard to say whether this is an A40 Devon, or an A70 Hereford, but it is surely one or the other.

The main subject, EOL, Birmingham Oct 1938, is an Austin Ascot or Goodwood, engine sizes, a 1525cc 4 cylinder for the Ascot, and a 1711cc six cylinder for the Goodwood. Since they are both very similar in looks, you need to see the grilles and bonnets to tell them apart.

The lorry is an intruder from outside the city, a Commer Superpoise.
Click to expand...

Where would we be without John the Super-Spotter?
 
Eric Gibson said:
A lot of the rules came in with the mot, bald tyres and steering joints tied on with wire, handbrake cables with knots to shorten them etc. were pretty much the norm before that.
I was doing mots when they first started and the state of the cars was shocking, rotted away chassis, no brakes, steering that took half a wheel turn before it moved anything. ;)
Click to expand...
Weren't they fun though. Funny thinking of old cars I always remember how my grandmother's lodger (they later married) held his choke out on his prewar Ford 8 with three clothes pegs and as the car warmed up removed the one at a time.
Bob
 
Thank you.

In the early 1970s I had a Lancia Fulvia which needed an MoT so I booked it in, and left it with my dear old Dad to take while I went to work in his Austin 1800. Phone call at work, “your heap of Italian junk’s failed, but I have sorted it. It will go back for retest tomorrow.”

The steel brake pipe to the back wheels had parted, and Dad had spliced a new piece in and bled the brakes.

”By the way, George (the tester and pal of Dad’s) says the retest will consist of him driving it at the garage wall, hitting the brakes and if it doesn’t stop in time you can tow it away to the scrapyard.”
 
Reading Eric's post about car mix up's, reminded me of a day back in the late 1970's when I owned an Austin 2200 Princess, red in colour. I had parked, when visiting the nearby town of Paignton. Returning to the car I found the keys did not fit!!!! What the?? Glancing to left and right wondering if bystanders might think I was trying to steal it - I noticed a similar model car (same colour) three spaces away. You guessed it, wrong car. :oops:
 
I haven't tried to get in the wrong car but I have wandered lonely as a cloud around several floors of a multi-storey car-park trying to remember where I had left my vehicle. Didn't learn, repeated this several times!
 
www.midlandspubs.co.uk said:
I haven't tried to get in the wrong car but I have wandered lonely as a cloud around several floors of a multi-storey car-park trying to remember where I had left my vehicle. Didn't learn, repeated this several times!
Click to expand...
Maybe an idea for a quiz? :D Photos of multi storey car parks and you have to guess which one and where you car is! :eek: I believe I have only parked in a few of multi story car parks since their invention.
1. Cambridge 1979 - 2. Birmingham , Bull Ring, open roof level 1980 - 3. Paignton 1990's, just once.
However my most memorable car park was one was in Bristol - 1977 or 78 from memory. Not in my car, but a as passenger with the boss's son in his Rover 2000. We had gone to a trade show and on leaving the street level car park approached a set of lights - which changed from green to red. I shouted watch the lights or some such comment. Too late: a large metal ramp arose from the ground and the car was now immovable having the engine compartment raised up on the ramp. The radiator was punctured and I had to put in a 50p coin in a meter to lower the ramp to move the car.
It was pretty obvious were were not going anywhere in the car so it was pushed back into a parking space.
We had been invited to a party at one of the exhibitors homes at Thornbury (they arranged removal and repair of the damaged car the next day). We were taken to the party which went OK, but being a teetotaller - almost - meant I did not drink any alcohol which turned out to be quite fortuitous.
Another exhibitor decided to lend us his car to allow us to get home - an Audi with Bristol registration with 'L' suffix. We left for home, the bosses son driving!. A filling station was very close by to where we had been and so was the M5. I watched as the car was fuelled and noticed how difficult it seemed to locate the key and lock the filler cap. It was then that I realised the peril that awaited us; he was in no fit condition to drive over 100 miles to our homes. He must have seem my face - it can be quite expressive - or whatever, but to my relief he said "I think you should drive Al". Those few words were some of the best words I have ever heard.
So off we set, with me now as the driver. I never drove an Audi before but had no problems driving the car. The M5 was very quiet (it wasn't holiday time). The only worry I had was that every time I looked at the speedometer it said we were doing 90 mph. As we approached Taunton Dean I had mastered the art of staying below, or trying to, stay around 70 mph. Even so the speed had a habit of creeping upwards! The speed was no concern to me as far as safety and car control mattered. But what if the police stopped me?
Is this your car sir? Well, actually no, officer. What is the vehicles registration? Sorry, I don't know. Whose car is it then? A Mr T******* would have been the reply. Where does he live? In Bristol somewhere, but I don't know exactly.
It was then I realised my answers would probably lead us to spending the rest of the night being in cells at a nick somewhere local.
So with that in mind speed was kept checked until we arrived home.
Two days later the car was returned to its owner ad the repaired Rover brought back to its usual place in Devon.
I think it coast round £200 in total to rectify.
PS: I memorised that car reg next day and have never forgotten it. NAE 1**L (Someone may still have it)
 
www.midlandspubs.co.uk said:
I haven't tried to get in the wrong car but I have wandered lonely as a cloud around several floors of a multi-storey car-park trying to remember where I had left my vehicle. Didn't learn, repeated this several times!
Click to expand...
We did that a the NEC motor show one year. :(

Another incident similar, I had a lady come to 'urgently' buy a car, because hers had been stolen on a visit to London, she bought a Montego, six weeks later she asked if I would buy it back because the police had recovered her 'stolen' car from the place she'd left it, parked two streets away from where she thought.
 
We've all done it, either struggled to open the door of the wrong car or lost ours in a large or multi storey car park. My moment of shame came at Ikea Wednesbury in the pouring rain, 45 minutes before I found it.

bob
 
I think I may have posted this before, but I had the experience in the late 1960s of the car park in the Bullring losing my car. They insisted then in taking it away and parking it for you and then bringing it back for you when you returned. Trouble is they lost it and had me waiting for ages (half an hour?) till they found it. Then, initially tried to charge me for the half an hour I had been waiting!
 
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