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by Glenda Atley, IAM Newbury Group
My first car – a Ford Prefect; date of first registration – 1959; acquired by me February 1972. Registration numbers were quite simple then, three numbers followed by three letters – in this case, 576 EHT. A stark difference then and now: my insurance cost £20.80 then, £200.00 now. Similarity is in the MOT Test Certificates – one dated July 1971 is almost identical to those issued today. Also 'discovered', a couple of the annually-issued driving licences, housed in small red books not at all like those of today.
Since that first car, I have owned and driven many, and have had no luck with any of them! In fact, I probably hold some sort of record for 'motoring breakdowns'. One instance, 26 years ago, saw me slow to a halt on the Oxford bypass, and nothing would induce the car to start again. I and a crying, hungry baby were rescued by a couple in a camper van, who kindly towed us to a garage, where the mechanic was visibly embarrassed by a mum who breast-fed the baby while he repaired the car! Being towed on a rope was a scary experience, and one I was to repeat.
Being towed on a rigid metal bar (I don't know what they are called) is also unpleasant, with the words of the AA man fresh in my mind: 'Just keep it squarely behind me or it will jack-knife'. No easy task given the speed he towed me at, the pouring rain (with no electrics, so no wipers), and his orange lights flashing just a few feet in front of me in the dark, almost totally blinding me, his van so big that I had no view of the road ahead.
A 'mechanical failure' in a multi-storey car park in Swindon caused me acute embarrassment, holding up a string of vehicles wishing to park. I had conked out on the circular 'up' ramp and no-one else could move; I was clinging tightly to the handbrake. A sympathetic car park attendant made everyone behind me reverse so my car could roll onto a level and park to await repair. Even my IAM Observer, Rosemary Smith, was not spared, as we broke down on an observed run and had to sit and wait for more than an hour for assistance.
The AA must be the best ever investment for someone with my 'luck'. One particularly bad year, whilst driving a G Reg Rover 216, I had to call them out no less than 8 times, and was told that I would have to pay for any further call-outs. I guess I had good value for money that time. This car refused to start in the rain, and having run it around, it would then refuse to restart until it had been left to cool down completely. Many times, having gone to Tesco to shop, I had to put shopping in the boot and walk home, to return several hours later to restart the car. Since the Rover, I had fun with a Golf GTI, which managed to break down on the B4000 in the middle of nowhere. On this occasion, a passing motorist in a Range Rover stopped and offered me a lift to the nearest phone, for which I was most grateful.
My children, grown up now, will do a running commentary wherever we are driving in the south. 'Oh look mum, we broke down there, didn't we?', or 'that was the phone box we used to call the AA'.
My favourite car? Do you think I have one after reading the above? Well I do. When the Golf GTI had to go, I acquired (another) Rover 216, also G Reg. It came with a huge dent in the rear passenger door and a leak in the sunroof which soaks the drivers seat when it rains. It is rusty and has many, many miles on the clock. The good news is that I have been driving this car for 15 months, it has never let me down, starts every time, and the AA have not been called once! So this car gets my vote, at least until the lottery win...