[quote=RobCol]I remember sitting on my dads knee and steering a Bedford van on some quiet rural roads in Cumbria when I was probably 7 or 8.

I too remember sitting on my Dad's knee in his 1936 Jowett. Aged about ten I couldn't reach the pedals (which Dad operated) and I had grown since doing it last, meaning that I was wedged between him and the steering wheel. He didn't believe me when I said 'I can't turn it Dad' so he didn't ease off or brake, with the result that we ploughed up the steep bank on the nearside, hung on the edge of the top for what seemed like minutes before he calmly said 'Here we go' and the car fell on it's side in the middle of the (public but little used) narrow lane. A passer by helped us push the car upright again but it was a couple of days before Dad got it running again. It was to be another eleven years before I was to roll my next car . . . a (pre-war) M3W !


Johnny Vans

Brooklands Edition M3W
1935 F2
2021 Mini Electric