Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms What car did you pass your driving test in??

Aqua Blue and Ermine White 1963 Mk1 Cortina 1200. Sat test and passed 3 weeks after my 17th birthday in 1964.

OK to take this further what was the first car you bought after passing test

For me a Austin Maxi, white and Brown( rust) for 300 quid, it was a terrible car and not even the radio worked so carried a battery cassette player on the passenger seat and had one tape< rainbow !

Late split screen Morris Minor reg 57 JMM, paid 35 pounds for it. I had break fluid loss at Blackfriars Bridge, London and drove all the way to home to Hayes using gears and hand brake and prayers.
Had to replace engine as the distributor kept braking up, never did know the cause.
I still use the amount paid for the car as reference to the cost of things these days.
ie a washing machine would be I could buy 10 Morris Minors for that.

After passing my car test I carried on with my motorbike then after the accident (big one) I was in a 3 wheel Reliant van until I bought my first real car which was a Ford Corsair 2000E. I loved that car to bits and after a Reliant I thought I was in heaven, I used to drive from Birmingham to Newquay Cornwall on a Friday night in the days before the Motorway just for a weekend and thought nothing of it. I put 10's of thousands of miles on that car, in 3 years apart from tyres I changed the water pump, inlet manifold gasket and clutch....massive mistake to trade it against an MG Midget.

1963 in a Farina A 55 Cambridge. Lessons paid for by Charles Cruickshank motors who were the Mercedes agents in Bristol and my employer at the time. We had a showroom opposite the Hippodrome Bristol city centre. No Mercedes cars - these were to order only . The showroom held about 3 used cars, I remember we had an XK 150 f/h in Sherwood Green and a Midnight blue Bristol 405 that had been p/x for 300 Mercs. I took Lord Bath to have his record player (45's mounted under the dash)repaired in his 300 se cabrio to Radiomobile to be repaired - a real gent he tipped me 10 shillings - a fortune in those days for I was only earning 4£ a week. Things have changed a bit now!

Motorcycle test in 1964 on a 650cc BSA Golden Flash combination. Passed first time
Car test in 1968 in an Austin A40. Passed first time.

On my car test I did the emergency stop when requested and when the car came to a halt I applied the hand brake as we were instructed to do.
When I pulled away after this, the car seemed to be very sluggish and when I came to the next point at which I had to apply the hand brake, to my horror I found it was already on (after the emergency stop). I thought to myself then that this was a dead cert failure.

When my test was over, to my surprise the examiner said "I am pleased to tell you that you have passed and oh, by the way, they do go better without the hand brake on".

1958 DKW Sonderklasse 3=6 Coupe. £17.50

1970s basic Mini for the car test. Honda CB200 for the bike.
first car a 1968 Triumph Spitfire

My brother and i had bought the Morris Minor split screen drop head for £10 - it was in a field in a village called Tugby and was been partly used as a chicken coupe!

we somehow got it going - and my brother bought a new tan hood from Don Trimming. We sprayed the car ourselves on our drive - Bright Red. Talk about Heaven - we were there!No MOT in those days!

We kept this car going on Scrap Yard parts for about 2 years. I used it for 3 months to drive to Southampton School of Navigation at Warsash from Leicester - quite a journey. it did have a heater - but it also had a neat hole in floor where the loud pedal emerged. My right foot would get frozen in Winter and I could hardly stand when I got out!! What larks!!

My twin and I then had Triumph Spitfires - both Mk1s.

Two little boys ...with two little toys!

I have a great pic of us sat in my brothers car. We are going to recreate this shot 50 years on - using the Mog and his S2000.

Super dooper, wish you had kept it!