Fleetwood Tram Sunday, 2012

Yesterday we went out for a morning's stroll around Fleetwood as it was Tram Sunday, the town's annual transport festival.

In common with the last few years, there weren't all that many trams at Tram Sunday. But that's not really why I like to go anyway. I like to go because it's a chance to see some of the cars I remember from childhood and my own early driving years.

We'll start off with a 1960s Ford Anglia Super - no that was the name, the word Super replacing the more common Ford term Deluxe. The standard model did not have the chrome trim down the sides.

The owner was sitting by the car and kindly opened the door for me to grab a photo of the Anglia's unique dashboard. I really can't understand why car manufacturers moved away from the dash-mounted keyhole for the ignition. Something to do with the wheel lock I suppose, but how frustrating is it when you can't see the slot and have no idea whether your key is aligned with it! You get used to your own after a while but I'm always driving different cars for work.

An early 1970s Hillman Hunter GLS (another version of Super!) Grandad had one of these and passed it onto Dad once he had done with it. It was a nice car to drive, but my favourite Hillman will always be the massive tank that was the Hillman Minx - my own first 4-wheel car, after owning a couple of old Reliant 3-wheelers.

A couple of Jaguar MkII cars. My brother had a couple of these at one time. One that he used to drive about and another that he poached for parts. A lovely car though. The car of choice in all 1960s British gangster films...

The van that revolutionised vans - the Ford Transit MkI. Here presented in a motorhome variant. This van sold like the clappers when they first came out, they were everywhere. The alternative seemed to be a chugging Bedford or Commer and those just didn't have the same modern lines or appeal. And just look at the size of those indicators!

Not only were trams in short supply this year, but buses and certainly coaches were few and far between aswell. Here a 1955 Leyland Titan PD2/11 gets a wash and brush up ready for the visitors of the day. I'm not sure if I even saw another half-cab bus there...

And finally, a car that wasn't entered as an exhibit. We found this superb Jaguar E-Type parked on a back road as we walked back to our own, far more modest, car.

Don'tcha wish your own car was hot like me - don'tcha?

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Family Transport 3 - Onto Four Wheels!

After the excitement and maintenance of the 3-wheelers, it was a relief to turn 17 and be able to get that all-important extra wheel

The first was a grey 9-year-old Hillman Minx, which was christened The Tank due to its sheer solid unstoppableness! This is not mine, I have no photos of it but the one pictured above is exactly like it.

I paid a princely £40 for the Hillman Minx. It had a bench front seat so three people could ride in the front but a floor gear change so the person in the middle had to put up with me rubbing their leg every now and then. In the age of mini skirts this was sheer hell for the driver... I think I might buy one again... It was old enough to have no synchromesh on first gear and no server-assisted brakes. If you were going fast and had to stop quick you stood on the brakes, pulling at the steering wheel! After the 3-wheelers, this is the car that is remembered the most by old school friends

The next car was an absolute joy - a Zephyr 4 Mk III as used on TV's Z-Cars and, in its day, one of the most sought-after cars on the road.

It too had a bench seat, but this time with an American-style column gear change which I loved. The dashboard and interior were gorgeous and the horn was a silver ring set within the steering wheel.

It did guzzle petrol a bit but - hey! Look at my car!!! The main problem was that the corrosion under the bonnet got to be such that when the bonnet was lifted, on trying to shut it again the hinges, instead of closing, just bent the metal they were attached to. The bonnet closed ok at the front, but the rear, where the hinges were was still halfway up the windscreen...

We bartered it for having the drive tarmacked, but it had stood unused so long the brakes had seized solid and it pulled the bumper off the transit van the new owners tried to tow it away with. They abandoned it two streets away but we had a new drive...

To my great embarrassment the next car was a Czechoslovakian Skoda. Dad bought it for me because he needed help with the football coupon round (see the Teenager entry) and the wrecks I bought (even with his help) were not reliable enough. The L plate was for my brother Frank.

It was before the VW takeover of course, 1971 to be precise and the thing was horribly plastic tacky grot! My mate Barry Lord was really embarrassed at snapping off not one but two of the plastic door handles! And the plug leads used to melt on long journeys and would then fall off leaving the car running on three cylinders...

I ran it into the back of a lorry one night (accidentally I should point out) and wrote it off. Not one of my better nights; I still have a mark on my leg where it snapped off the metal tube that took the ignition key, but at least I was rid of the Skoda.

It was followed by a Mini, the basic 850 model which I absolutely loved. By 1973, when this photo was taken, I'd customised it a bit with yellow metalflake paint and an oversized reversing lamp that I couldn't switch on as it would have been illegal - apart from blinding everyone up to half a mile behind me...

I haven't any colour photos of the wing mirrors which were my pride and joy. This started out as a black and white photo and I've coloured it as best I could to match the actual car.

Unfortunately these custom additions attracted vandals like a flame attracts moths. The wing mirrors got ripped off and at one point we returned to it to find a gang had been dancing on the roof which was bent down and ruined. In the end it was resprayed to the original blue and sold through the auctions. We had it eight years.

By the time "Sapph" left us I was married and had a daughter. Future cars would have to reflect a more mature and responsible person...wouldn't they? Naaaaaaah!!!

Return to Family Memories Index

Reunion

It was the annual reunion yesterday.

Alex, Jackie and I met up in Liverpool - European City of Culture for the year - to... well to get some culture, what else?

Jackie's home town, so she was in charge of venues. In the plural. More than one. Three in fact. And with scenic walks through the streets of Liverpool to get from each to the next. Some of these walks were strangely reminsicent of Disneyland ride queues... as in we zig-zagged up and down streets trying to find where we were going.

Eventually Jackie admitted she was lost and both Alex and I pulled maps from our pockets... "Yes! Pilgrim Street!" she said enthusiastically. We walked along Pilgrim Street. "It's up here!" she said, taking us away from Pilgrim Street. "Well I thought it was..."

Let's not get too far ahead. I was first on the scene at the Fly in the Loaf, an atmospheric pub, which...didn't look open... Ah, wait - as I was on the phone to Jackie the shutters went up!

Jackie walked round the corner, we got a drink, Alex walked in and we yattered as we always do on these occasions - about anything but school funnily enough. Considering we were all friends at school, school didn't come into the conversation much. Old friends got a mention but most of the day was about what we are doing these days, hopes, aspirations, life.

The menu was a bit sparse so Jackie took us to an Italian - a good find, excellent food, haven't clue what it was called or where it was... So a great meal and a bottle of wine which Jackie did very well out of as both Alex and I were driving.

Conversation turned to a day in the Lake District thirty seven years ago. Six of us were piled into my Hillman Minx. It was a wonderful day of teenaged togetherness and fun. We were lucky in the group of friends we had. The bonds are still strong enough to draw us back every year even now.

"We were lucky to come back from that one..." Alex said. Well we skidded a bit round one corner! Six of us in that great tank of a car, no servo-assisted brakes. You put your foot on the brakes, pulled on the wheel until you were standing on the pedal and hoped for the best! No power steering either. With six people in it, steering was a test of strength! I had muscles like Charles Atlas in those days! (I mean Charles Atlas when he was a teenager - you know, the one on the beach having sand kicked in his face...)

Jackie went off to the loo leaving us with her diaries from 1970-72 to thumb through. (See, that's dedication! She even thinks about entertaining us whilst absent for a minute or two!) She was back far too quickly and took (took? snatched!) them back off us.

Then the rather less-than-straight walk as described above to find Ye Cracke, Liverpool's oldest pub, which we did eventually find after asking someone. How do you ask where a pub called "The Crack" is without it sounding as though you want to buy something? Must have looked bloody desperate, three mid-fifties old farts looking for transcendental spacial experiences...

Anyway here it is, loaded with atmosphere, dark, seemingly built of wood and glass - stained glass too and the three old farts on a mid-fifties version of a pub crawl. "Three diet cokes please..."

A great afternoon guys and many thanks to Jackie for acting as hostess with the mostess!

As a follow-on, Jackie left the following comment which I now transfer to here :-

Hi John,
Funnily enough not two months ago I was snapped looking at maps to work out exactly where said pub was and have pic which I will send...

...and with the photo...

Does this scene look familiar?...we were , erm... I was , looking for the Cracke - it is a bugger to find , sober or squiffy...

Which one's me and which one's Alex...?

Oh and don't forget you are charged with finding out about the Heywood reunion in September!