The Framers Forum

To follow on from Keiths excellent topic - what was it ??????

without question the worst car i ever owned was a s/h lancia auralia gt 4th series (goodness knows what 1,2 & 3 were like). great looking car but the brakes juddered and finally seized and no spares were available - the front 'pump up' suspension had a leak and the car was then lopsided. the front seat would not lock into position and kept going forwards and backwards. the column gearchange handle came off (pulled out when trying to engage reverse). and a lot more - the car had to be towed to a scrapyard as too dangerous to drive - never had a lancia since. The best car i ever had (again s/h) was a mk1 3.4 jaguar auto i bought it after geoff keiller gave me a lift in his. it was a complete joy although s/h had that smell of wood and leather all the time i had it - and the car never let me down - i probably spent more time cleaning it than driving - but i loved that car.

An Austin 7 special with a Silverstone fiber glass body.
Within minutes of buying it, drove it down the drive and couldn't find the brake, so crunched the front 12 inches into the garage doors. Soon became expert at fiber glassing.
It was an omen.....
Few days later at New Brighton didn't know the sea had flooded the coast road . Hit this huge puddle and all the floor boards broke up and flew past me.
My passenger was wearing his first suit and was soaked in sea water.
Broke down a few times in Wales and had to be towed home by a mate in his old Jag. That was the fastest it ever went!

I borrowed an old Renault 5 from a friend, because my car was in for a major service ,in the late 70's.
The one with the umbrella handle gearstick coming out of the dashboard.
It had an electrical problem so either the headlights were on, or the wipers were on ~ just not both at the same time
So going out at night was fine so long as it wasn't raining
I was stopped by a police car, which was being driven toward me, one wet evening.
The bobby said he didn't know what was going on. One moment a car with headlights was driving towards him - next moment it had disappeared. When I explained the the lights had gone out because I'd put the wipers on, he started to look around the car.
When he and his mate had stopped laughing they eventually decided that it wasn't road-worthy and ordered a truck to come and collect it for taking to the knackers yard. They lifted the front end to tow it & it snapped in two.
By now, I was laughing so hard I needed the loo & the bobby's were just about apoplectic.
Fortunately, it happened just outside the college where I taught, so I got to work OK, but had to cadge a lift home.
I never saw the Renault again, I'm pleased to say.
I think my owner friend was quite relieved too