You Will Never Be The Driver Of Your Father

VanhireBoys

Well Gents
Just thought Id share yesterdays mission with yous ! I went to Westport to meet with Donegal Vintage and Classic Car Club for their Autumn Run. I came up with all good intentions of going for a nice run of County Mayo/Galway in my beloved 944. My mothers first cousin is 73 and has a 1959 Vauxhall Victor... He was along with his 69 year old sister plus Rover the dog.... Don wasnt feeling up to the drive so I was comandeered as a driver...

The car has no belts, a bench seat, drum brakes and a 3 speed gearbox with column change.. All foreign to me ! Find the choke.. Pull the choke.. Wheres the key..? Wheres the wipers ...? Wheres the lights ...? You get in sit down and drive.. Nothing to adjust - no toys to play with......!

Off we set .. out into Wesport traffic... Brakes are unassisted drums all round... You have to stand on them by levering against the steering wheel !
You really have to hang on to keep youself from falling into the passenger side.... ! You have to time your gearchange correctly and think all the time... oh yes and find the gear you want.... I had a few junctions where I was looking for first and found third... Blind panic sets in.....Going down hill and you have to take it nice and steady, use the gears and feed her into the corners.. Situations you would see as normal all of a sudden become a real challenge...

This is how much gets cleared by the one speed wipers


Outside Ashford Castle with the Victor..!


I must say I have to take my hat off to drivers of the past... I have experienced all sorts of various cars but this one was definately a challenge... Todays drivers (me included) have very little skill at all - this lack of driving craft is largely compensated by modern technology. Fare enough we can go around roundabouts, change lanes and use box junctions but this isnt skill....
I drove about 75 miles in total and I was shattered at the end. Fun ? definately.. Tiring .. definately

It is true we will never be the drivers that our fathers are !

I didnt get an oppertunity to take many pics - Too busy thinking of the next section I had to negotiate !






Left alone all day

_Conrad_

My father is a useless driver compared to me. I'm not exactly saying i'm on par with legandary motoring demi-gods like walter rohrl or anything, but my father doesn't pay attention half as much as i do, is always missing turns, brakes too late, can't drive anything even remotely old or complicated without giving out constantly about how it's so unruly or so much hassle and has gone soft from years of driving modern saabs and mercs. He's never had a serious accident, but he does have 6 points, all for speeding and despite him always giving out to me telling me i drive too fast or too hard i don't have any points at all.

If you put him back in the cars he had in the 70s he'd end up calling me going on about how it "won't go into gear" or "has no power" or "the brakes aren't right on this". He's done serious amounts of driving, at one stage 70-80k per year but whereas i'd like to have the cars he used to drive, and actually drive them, he' dlike to have them to just look at, and get me to drive them.

Stained Class

A couple of years ago I was drafted in to drive a '50s Ford Popular back from a Classic show.

3 speed box. Reverse where First usually is. Took a bit of grinding to figure it out!:D

On the open road, anything over 40 seemed lethal. It pitched & rolled like an old Galleon in a Force 10 gale!

I'd hate to have been at the helm on a dark rainy night.:eek:

Still, I spose it would have better than a Pony & Trap, which would the most common alternative of the day.:)

carchaeologist

VanhireBoys wrote: »

Outside Ashford Castle with the Victor..!

Thgat Victor is a beaut. It has that great condensed American styling to it.

Great story VanHireBoys.

RobAMerc

my Dad had a Victor at one point - he said it had the worst brakes of any car he ever owned ( and he built many of his own 'specials' to go hill climbing in ) and was one of the worst handling he ever remembers ! So maybe they are not all as bad as you experienced. As to your admiration for their ability, well not only were the drivers of the past far more skilful they had a far superior technical ability ( ie they understood and could fix things mechanical ). My dad also has a press full of trophies for winning races in cars I would be afraid to go as far as the shop in, built from tin, gum and pure hope with near an airbag in sight !

ep71

hey i saw you guys pulled in at cosgraves filling station on the westport road out of castlebar this morning! i was passing in my gold 85 charmant

_Conrad_

ep71 wrote: »

hey i saw you guys pulled in at cosgraves filling station on the westport road out of castlebar this morning! i was passing in my gold 85 charmant

Ooh nice.... charmant. Cool motors. I bet you know a friend of mine who has a red one down this (limerick) part of the world. If you don't you should.

carchaeologist

_Conrad_ wrote: »

Ooh nice.... charmant. Cool motors. I bet you know a friend of mine who has a red one down this (limerick) part of the world. If you don't you should.

That the one on the ZX plate?

_Conrad_

carchaeologist wrote: »

That the one on the ZX plate?

PM for you

ep71

indeed i do know jack!

VanhireBoys

Thanks for the replies lads - We had a Charmant years ago.. It was a really nice car and well finished ... !

I started to look at stuff now like Rovers and Austins ! This is strange for me to be looking at pre 80 cars....

Victor Meldrew

Funny, have a fair bit of experience years back with the original mini, and whilst the drums all round were brutal and would fade, the rest of the car was easy to drive..... BADLY...

Only remember being intimidated by a 1972 Chevy Impala (brakes, weight, tyres, no feel from the steering)

The Mini was really incredible, the Vauhall victor was pre-historic compared to the mini to be fair...

But, I stopped driving old cars years ago, and now anything designed in the early 90's feels pre-historic.

Passive safety has made us all false driving gods..

galwaytt

Hi Donal - glad the spin went well.

What I want to know is........how did you drive your 944 AND the Victor.........that is yours in the pics, above........ ??

Dades

Enjoyed that post!

Looked like a rewarding day out.

ahal

That's a very interesting perspective Donal.

Nice selection of cars there, though as you'll appreciate I'm disappointed not to see my favourite classic among them :pac:

VanhireBoys

ahal wrote: »

That's a very interesting perspective Donal.

Nice selection of cars there, though as you'll appreciate I'm disappointed not to see my favourite classic among them :pac:

Just for you Tony - Hughies 77 Volvo 244DL !


I know you like the SAAB as well.. Michaels 96V4 Estate

galwaytt wrote: »

Hi Donal - glad the spin went well.

What I want to know is........how did you drive your 944 AND the Victor.........that is yours in the pics, above........ ??

I had to leave the 944 in Westport for the day John unfortunately

peasant

VanhireBoys wrote: »

You have to time your gearchange correctly and think all the time... oh yes and find the gear you want.... I had a few junctions where I was looking for first and found third... Blind panic sets in.....Going down hill and you have to take it nice and steady, use the gears and feed her into the corners.. Situations you would see as normal all of a sudden become a real challenge...

Reminds me of the time when this was among my daily drivers



add non-syncromesh gears and a few extra tons to your described scenario and you get an idea

ahal

Ooh, liking that Saab Donal ... even more so than the Volvo (don't tell the lads )

No ... um ... Lanos? You know me and my love of the Daewoo Lanos :pac:

Marlow

I think, the thing is, that cars also were driven at a slower pace, than today.

Everything has to match. The roads, your driving skills, the car you're driving (engine / brakes ) etc.

Even with a "modern" car like my '89 Audi 200, I feel the brakes are not up to par compared to the newer cars I have.

The Victor then seems to have the worst brakes compared to other cars from the same era.

/M