Hillman, Morris

We were the proud owners of a 1938 Hillman, the sort that you see in the films, big square and black. We did not use the Hillman much because my father was not keen on driving, either that or he thought it would break down on him. I remember whenever we did venture out he would drive with the window open so that he could notice any unusual smells that might be coming from the engine. Although dad told us that he was going deaf, he would listen out for the slightest differing engine noise and stop to investigate. We spent more time smelling and listening than we did driving.

Batteries were not perfect in the fifties and this was another reason for concern. Dad always turned the engine over by hand as he said it was to save the battery, I did not think to ask what he was saving it for.

I remember one of my rare trips to Maidstone market in the car, while dad was doing the buying he left me to sit in the car, with strict instructions do not touch anything, I could not resist the window wiper motor that hung down from the front windscreen and decided to start it up. I did not tell my father what I had been up to and when he returned with a live chicken and the engine would not start, the air was blue. Dad noticed immediately that the wiper motor lever was set to on and I got a clip round the ears. It was my fault I should have known, he never used the wiper motor, and we would stop driving if it started to rain.

This is a much newer car than the one I owned and a lot cleaner.

My first car was a Morris 1000 1958 vintage, not a flying machine by any means; still it did go for a while. I blew the engine up after a flat out 50mph run down to Ashford. I replaced this with a Gold seal re-con, which was not much better. I remember driving to Cornwall in this car and not being able to drive up some of the hills.

This is an example of a lovely old Austin 7