My late father was a sales rep (aka commercial traveller) for most of his life. Each company he worked for provided him with a vehicle which doubled as a family car. This was very useful, because he would never have afforded such a luxury on his salary. The council estate where I was brought up had virtually no cars parked outside, and of course there were no garages, so Dad’s car stood out somewhat. I remember he had to park it a couple of streets away in a private garage. Having a car meant a bit more freedom and comfort for our family holidays, usually taken in a caravan somwhere on the East Coast. On one occasion we had a holiday in Scotland, and another in Wales. I don’t remember much about the journeys, except feeling travel sick and wanting them to be over as quickly as possible; cars weren’t built for comfort in those days! In my parents’ photo albums are a a few photos of these cars, as well as some slides of varying quality.
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1956 and a caravan holiday at Chapel St.Leonard’s. My brother and I are sitting on the car bonnet for some reason.
I don't look too happy. |
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Probably the same holiday. It’s a Commer, about which I know nothing. |
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We think this is a Standard 10, and yet another caravan, this time in Prestwick, Scotland in 1958. |
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Dad perched on a shiny Consul, which was actually a Ford Cortina, so it places the photo around 1962- 64 |
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Hillman Minx late 60s. Mum is posing, as she never learned to drive.
It appears that someone else on the road had a car! |
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The car I do remember. 1970 and the silver Capri. When I was at teacher training college in Lincoln, Dad would sometimes visit if he was in the area, and I loved to see this car pull up in the car park. |
Join us for
Sepia Saturday, which this month is all about coming from, getting there, and travel of all kinds.
I remember having a very old black Capri for a few months to commute down to my new job in Wiltshire when you were still driving around Lincolnshire in the shiny Gold VW Passat GL5 we had bought in Germany, Little Nell. It seemed very old fashioned compared to the Passat, but it did the job.
ReplyDeleteI worked for an insurance company in their automobile claims dept. We had our own adjusters who would go out to inspect the damage to accident-involved vehicles and they were given company cars for this purpose. The adjusters were somewhat free to make their own arrangements with approved dealers within certain limits - one of those, of course, being expense. I don't know how he did it, but one of the adjusters had quite the gift of gab, so to speak, so while the other adjusters made arrangements for plain blue, gray, brown, etc. sedans, the one managed to snare a bright maroon 2-door coupe WITH a radio! When I laughing mentioned the radio he shrugged, saying driving a car without a radio was no better than walking. What a character - and a shrewd one at that!
ReplyDeleteThe capri is a lovely car isn't it? Somehow so stylish.....
ReplyDeleteI could relate so well to your post, as we have so many similarities - my father was a commercial traveller and his work car was our family car. We too had a Hillman Minx and I was prone to travel sickness - not helped if Dad was smoking. Your teacher training college reminded me so much of my primary school - Devonshire Road P.S., Blackpool. My husband always fancied getting a Capri (the desirable car in the 1970's), but in the end, with the birth of our daughter imminent, we opted for the more practical Cortina.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that your mother would pose behind the wheel when she never learnt to drive. My husband's English grandmother failed six times before passing her test after her husband died, but she was determined to succeed.
ReplyDeleteLook at those rear-view mirrors up front - seems so strange compared to cars today. Having a company car must have been a real luxury. We always had our own car, but when I grew up, nobody had more than one car, and most families had that one car forever.
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