1980's nostalgia

[wolfheze]

 

[wolfheze]

 

[Aviador]

Used to love watching Roland Rat.

 

[Aviador]

Can you imagine that programme now. Everyone would be on their mobile phones Googling the clues.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

That's a beauty 👍

My first car was one of these

My Dad had one of those (I think a 1.6?). I drove it on many occasions, and have to say that the handling and road holding were superb (the old 'wheel in each corner' proving itself once again).

Kevin

 

[Ray Finkle]

Some of the Public Information clips from back then.

 

[Ray Finkle]

 

[Ray Finkle]

 

[wolfheze]

Eighties cheese

 

[Aviador]

Ahhhh!

 

[andyc941]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1406844922756861

 

[wolfheze]

Managed to get in touch with an old mate from long ago. In fact it's the same guy who's girlfriend at the time I had the serious hots for. She later worked for Dan Air cabin crew. Anyway he sent me some photos of my old Yamaha 250 that I hadn't seen since since 1980. View attachment 6979
Photo taken on Meriden village green.

 

[wolfheze]

Also one of me aboard his Suzuki 250 on Brixham beach (note 17 year old slouch) Crazy fool let practice wheelies on his Suzuki. Again Brixham 1980View attachment 6980View attachment 6981

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The first motor bike I had was a 350cc Phelon & Moore Panther. That was in 1960. In those days there was no engine size limit for learner riders. You could take to the road for the first time on a 1,000cc Ariel Square Four or a big Vincent if you had the cash and the nerve, although it's possible that insurance might have been an issue with such types for a young and inexperienced rider.

My next mount was a 250cc AJS Model 14 after which I progressed quickly to a Messerschmitt bubble car. The registration number might have been worth a few quid these days - UHU 8. Just right for those who like their pies. This bubble car was one where the passenger sat behind the driver and could be driven on a motor cycle licence.

It was part car and part motor cycle in its controls and bore an uncanny resemblance to a wartime fighter cockpit as the driver's seat was on an extension that pushed down into the nose before the bubble canopy was pulled over the top. It had a hand throttle like a motor cycle but a foot brake. The gear lever was simplicity itself - a rod on the right hand side and I think the clutch was a rod as well (memory is getting hazy). It was obviously a crash box and there was no reverse on my bubble car.

We lived in a cottage in the country then and one night when I'd gone out without the bubble car my younger brother decided to take it for a spin. It was kept in an old pigsty at the bottom of our long garden. He was 15 at the time and wrote it off against a wall on the outskirts of the next village. There was no injury and no real damage to the wall. The village bobby was the old-fashioned type who didn't like paper work and was nearing retirement. He lived nearby and knew our family - just as neighbours I hasten to add. He said to me, "I know you weren't driving. There was no damage to the wall and no complaint so get the damned thing shifted now" He knew who had driven it without any doubt because in villages there are no secrets with things like that - at least there weren't then. My father arranged for a friend of his to remove the wreck on his lorry. My brother eventually paid me back for the write-off. I could hardly claim on the insurance.

My final two wheels was a 200c 2-stroke Ariel Arrow. There were two similar models; the fully enclosed Leader and the 'exposed' Arrow. I made the mistake of having a fairing fitted to my Arrow. Not only did it increase fuel consumption but it cut the maximum speed considerably. By late 1962 I had progressed to four wheels and never went back to two, although during the next 20 years I did ride larger motor cycles from time to time (legally) but never owned them.