Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[clan chieftain]

I never really knew my grandparents on my mothers or fathers side as I was very young when they died but I used to love listening to stories from my wifes grandmother who was born in 1887 and was still very alert when she died in 1979 at the age of 92.
I used to talk with her for ages. She lived through 5 monarchs and could remember clearly when Queen Victoria died and subsequent coronations of the 20th Century.
She would tell me where she lived in Motherwell and about her parents and where her dad worked. They had a hard life then. She could remember when she saw her first car and aeroplane and a lot of her friends lost their husbands in the Great war. Living during the Depression was rough for her and many of her friends. I could go on and on about the stories she told.
Have you ever spoken at length to an elderly friend or relative.
I suppose it would be the same as a young person talking to me about the 50s.
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The Clan Chieftain

[pigtin]

My mother used to tell me about the family motoring exploits back in the 20s. The vehicle shown in the picture is an Overland (I think) and they used to live somewhere in the wilds of Pembroke.
I was told the brakes didn't work well in reverse and my teenage mother and aunt had to 'bale out' when it started running backwards down a hill with a harbour at the bottom.
When it got to the bottom my grandfather managed to steer it away from the jetty and stop it, which annoyed them because they were both covered in grazes from jumping out.


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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[clan chieftain]

That is a cracking looking vehicle, whatever happened to it.
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The Clan Chieftain

[emmerson]

The only trouble is Larry, we're now "the old folks"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pigtin]

A hard working commercial, few of them survived the scrappie and WW2 when that sort of vehicle was strung out across fields to stop enemy aircraft landing. For years after WW2 they could be found in hedges and corners of fields. Vandalized a few myself when I was a kid I'm ashamed to say. A later vehicle my grandfather had, a Morris 15/6, was my 2nd car.

My uncle taught me how the internal combustion engine worked and about a car (A Graham Paige I think)he pushed off the jetty with many others when Jerry was about to invade Jersey.
I was there at the time but only about 3 years old and didn't see it happen. Otherwise I would have been traumatized for life.
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL