Life before 8s - What's your story?

[moltuae]

Originally Posted by tonupkid

Singer Chamois (Hillman Imp).

My Dad had an Imp for several years. I have a lot of fond memories of going on family holidays, car and roof-rack full of cases and my sister and I squashed up in the back. I remember one time a hole appeared in the floor (due to rust) where I was sat. Until my Dad was able to fix it (which he did by pop-riveting a sheet over it), I can remember sitting with my feet either side of the hole, watching the road below. At times, I felt like sticking my legs through it, Flintstones-style, to assist the tiny engine.

One thing the Imp had in common with AWD Audis (and possibly the only thing they had in common) was good traction in snow and ice. I can remember snowy days cruising by stranding vehicles in our Imp, thanks to its rear-engined RWD layout, at a time when most vehicles were front-engined RWD.

Originally Posted by The_Laird

My first car was a 1965 mini, bought when I first went to university in 1972.

My sister's first car was a mini of a similar vintage, an early 70's model I think, a mixture of bright orange and rust (my Dad warned her how rusty it was before she bought it, but she insisted on buying it because she liked the colour). Until I was old enough to drive, a couple of years later, I did a few repair jobs on it for her and fitted radios, etc, in exchange for the occasional lift. One thing I remember about those old Minis, and something which probably applied to a lot of the cars of that era, was how poor the lock security was. On one occasion, she came out of a pub and got in the wrong car. Her keys fitted the door and started the engine; it was only as she was about to drive off, when she noticed the car had a more sportier steering wheel then her car had, that she realised there was something amiss.