"Old Cars" is the theme of this month's Sepia Saturday posts. I have added several posts over the years of cars, both vintage and more modern. This time I turned to my local heritage group, Auld Earlston, for inspiration and feature photographs of traffic in the early days of the motor car, plus entertaining memories of childhood escapades involving cars.
Earlston Market Square - a quiet street for traffic in the early 1920s.
"MOTOR CAR - A motor car passed through the village on Sunday morning. The two gentlemen who were driving it left Newcastle-on-Tyne the previous day en route for Edinburgh. In this neighbourhood one of the tyres got damaged and it was resolved to put up at the Red Lion.
This was done and the car when it reached the hotel, being stopped for a little while was quickly surrounded and examined with no small degree of curiosity, this being the first time such a machine has been seen in operation here. "
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Childhood Memories of John Moffat (1919-2016)
John spent his early childhood in Earlston in the 1920's where
his father Peter, opened the village’s first garage. . John was an adventurous little boy, always getting into scrapes, which he recalled in his autobiography.
"There was almost no motor traffic in
Earlston, and the roads were covered in layers of stone chip spread
over hot tar. The Council road workers came every year to renew the
surface. Piles of grit and barrels of tar were left by the side of the
road, ready to be used. Somehow I managed to get into one of these
barrels and cried for help. My father rescued me and and dragged me
into the garage where he cleaned me up with paraffin.
My father's business prospered . The garage was usually busy, as cars and buses were starting to replace horse drawn vehicles. I enjoyed loitering in the area and became fascinated by engines and anything mechanical. My father bought a chassis from Albion, lorry manufacturer in Glasgow, and had the local joiner build a charabanc body on it. It was the first bus to operate in Earlston and was often hired out to local clubs and church groups for excursions or picnics. The wheels still had wooden spokes and rims, like the horse drawn carts, On very hot days, the wood would dry out and shrink, so the driver had to carry a bucket of water to keep the wood wet and prevent the wheels collapsing."
My father's business prospered . The garage was usually busy, as cars and buses were starting to replace horse drawn vehicles. I enjoyed loitering in the area and became fascinated by engines and anything mechanical. My father bought a chassis from Albion, lorry manufacturer in Glasgow, and had the local joiner build a charabanc body on it. It was the first bus to operate in Earlston and was often hired out to local clubs and church groups for excursions or picnics. The wheels still had wooden spokes and rims, like the horse drawn carts, On very hot days, the wood would dry out and shrink, so the driver had to carry a bucket of water to keep the wood wet and prevent the wheels collapsing."
Crashing the Doctor's Car
"About 1925, my father sold Dr. Young a new car a Model T. Ford, It had been fitted with what was then a very modern invention - an electric starter button as an alternative to cranking the engine over by hand with a starting handle. Motor cars were still a novelty in those days, and I was fascinated by the concept of the electric starter button.
One day the doctor's pristine black Ford was parked outside the big grocer's shop in the Square. I took the opportunity to clamber up into it and pressed firmly on the starter button. To my utter surprise, the car leapt forward and smashed into the plate glass windows of the grocer's shop. There was utter chaos. The shop assistants were screaming, people all around rushed to see what had happened - all this accompanied by my shock and tears at the realisation of the trouble I was in. Then the doctor and my father added to the tumult. My father treated me very sternly. I was forbidden treats and was told I must stay indoors. "
[With grateful thanks to the Moffat family for allowing me to quote from John's book]
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More motor car photographs from the Auld Earlston Collection
Ten
years on from this the first sighting of a car in the village, this is
the official car used by Prime Minister Asquith when he visited
Earlston in 1908.
A vintage car on Thorn Street at the west end of the village, c.1920's.
Driving down the middle of the road on the now busy A68, linking Edinburgh and Newcastle through the central Scottish Borders - here in the early 1930s.
And what was likely to be the biggest danger facing motorists in the early days of the motor car? ? Children playing on the road - Earlston High Street, c.1910.
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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity
to share their family history through photographs.
Click HERE to find out what other bloggers have found
in this week's prompt photograph.
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Hey! Welcome back! We've missed you,. :) Nice post with good representation. I'll bet little John was mighty surprised when that car jerked forward into the window. No treats & being grounded was highly appropriate! I'll bet he never did that again? The car that first surprised me was seeing the new 'tiny' Honda at a csr show and wondering how anyone would want to squeeze into a little things like that, let alone drive it around in traffic. How times change. :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your selection of car stories. The one about the boy pressing the starter button must have been a common accident for many parents to deal with. I've always been intrigued by how people in the early 20th century perceived new technology like automobiles and airplanes. For some folk it must have been a true wonder to witness, while others probably just saw some new problem to complain about. A couple weeks ago I started this old car theme with a post about German postcards that mock some of the same automotive fads and fashions that are in your post. Check out:
ReplyDeletehttps://temposenzatempo.blogspot.com/2023/07/das-auto-part-2.html
I bet a lot of kids crashed cars that started just by pushing a button. No wonder the key system was invented. I suppose it was easy to steal a car you could just start that way.
ReplyDeleteAh, "the good old days...." ;-)
ReplyDeleteWelcome back! This is a grand account of early automobiles and the towns/roads where they traveled. I was struck by John Moffat's description: "the roads were covered in layers of stone chip spread over hot tar." When my family first moved to the suburbs, we had exactly the same roads! The tar would bubble up through the gravel on hot days and my mother was always telling us, "Take your shoes off at the door. Don't track tar into the house." Our driveway was made entirely of stone chip and our car would whoosh when it pulled in. Eventually, everything was paved -- but nice to know that road work from the 1920s was still in action in the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteLovely post and so glad to hear from you again! I liked the story about the starter button, but oh my goodness, how roadways changed from dirt to that sticky stuff!
ReplyDelete