I cannot resist sharing my father's memory of his first car. I was lucky that he wrote down for me stories of his life in "Family Recollections". Dad was a commercial traveller and in the 1930's got a new job with instructions to pick up a car at Derby and drive 90 miles north to a position in Blackpool. He had never driven before and here is his tale of his first hair- raising journey.
""I had never driven a car before. On Boxing Day, I went to the British School of Motoring and said I wanted some urgent lessons. When I told the instructor I was driving to Blackpool the next day, he nearly had a fit. I collected my car - a four door Morris saloon which I was expected to buy on hire purchase at 18 shillings per week. It was a traumatic journey with me being a complete novice, having had no proper tuition. There was no heating, no radio of course to help pass the time, and the windscreen wipers kept seizing up. I had also been told that the tyres were awful for punctures. Still I made it, as darkness fell - just as well, as I wasn't too sure about the lights!"
""I had never driven a car before. On Boxing Day, I went to the British School of Motoring and said I wanted some urgent lessons. When I told the instructor I was driving to Blackpool the next day, he nearly had a fit. I collected my car - a four door Morris saloon which I was expected to buy on hire purchase at 18 shillings per week. It was a traumatic journey with me being a complete novice, having had no proper tuition. There was no heating, no radio of course to help pass the time, and the windscreen wipers kept seizing up. I had also been told that the tyres were awful for punctures. Still I made it, as darkness fell - just as well, as I wasn't too sure about the lights!"
The photograph shows my Dad, John Weston (on the left) with his brother Charles. I was delighted to get this photograph from my cousin, as it is one of the few photographs I have of my father prior to his marriage in 1938 to my mother Kathleen Danson. John and Charles were close as brothers and often went on motoring trips together.
Copyright © 2011 · Susan Donaldson. All Rights Reserved
An adaptation of an earlier posting for Wordless Wednesday
What a wonderful photo and so cool you had your Dad's written memories.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have seen the look on the instructor's face. :-)
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