I took my 4.5 year old son down to Cornwall today, to watch my younger brother doing a local car rally....(Boconnoc House, near Lostwithiel, nice place).
At one point, when all the rally cars were coming back in to the paddock area, I thought the safest place for the boy, was the front passenger seat of my brother's van...so in he went.
Now yesterday, said kid wanted to know how the fuel filler cap opened on our estate car, so I showed him the lever on the floor by the driver's seat...and then he's all smiles, because A, he now knows and B, he's going to practice it...
...so what confused him in the van?
The manual window winder, he didn't know what it was. Can you believe that? So used to cars with 'leccy windows, he doesn't know what a manual window winder is or what it does.
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Kids eh? ;-) Pretty much a rare thing now. Not very many new cars without leccy windows. Have you owned a car since a parent without leccy windows?
Well at least he asked, you know what they say the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.
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>> Have you owned a car since a parent without leccy windows?
No, but then parenthood has come to me relatively late in life.
I'm not counting my old car either, the kids can't go in that one, no seat belts in the back.
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>> >> Have you owned a car since a parent without leccy windows?
>>
>> No, but then parenthood has come to me relatively late in life.
>>
>> I'm not counting my old car either, the kids can't go in that one, no
>> seat belts in the back.
>>
Since parenthood have actively sought cars with all-round electric windows and that all important isolator switch for the rears.....
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>>Boconnoc House, near Lostwithiel, nice place<<
Know it well Wp, some nice barns came up for conversion on the Boconnock Estate a few years ago.
We stayed here 15 years ago when we were hunting for property, nice people the Aldermans.
The Apple Loft where we stayed is now from £250 pw, we paid £60 when we were there!
www.cornishcottageholidays.co.uk/html/property_detail.php?pid=163
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My car has wind up windows.
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They are growing up in a very different world.
My 5 year old asked me something the other day in passing, to which I responded "I don't know." Without so much as a hesitation, she replied "Daddy, why don't you Google it?"
I think both of mine would be foxed by window winders too, if it's any consolation. :-)
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Due to my lovely Vectra being pensioned off over the weekend I'm now driving a 2003 Astra SXi with windy up rear windows, the kids think they're a great novelty. Bit of a culture shock not having heated mirrors mind you.
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>> We stayed here 15 years ago when we were hunting for property, nice people the
>> Aldermans.
>>
>> The Apple Loft where we stayed is now from £250 pw, we paid £60 when
>> we were there!
Must have been a wrench moving from there, place looks lovely.
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The actual Farmhouse is, the Apple Loft leaves a lot to be desired though :)
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My own kids think it's novel getting in Dad's old car with the pull-up lever (handbrake) and joystick (gear lever).
My daughter keeps enquiring when I will be getting rid of my "little" car and getting a new one.
She's too young for my sarcasm so I bite my tongue.
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 29 Jul 12 at 22:41
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>> My own kids think it's novel getting in Dad's old car with the pull-up lever
>> (handbrake) and joystick (gear lever).
That is something, electronic h/b are still pretty new, I think I've only driven one. What else besides a gear lever could you use?
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For the last four years (I've got a six and four year old) they've been ferried around in a car with electronic handbrake and auto-shift on the column (think 70's American cars selector in plastic) connected to EGS with paddles on the wheel. That's normal to them.
Come to think of it even a centre console is unusual as they are used to being able to walk between the seats when we are parked up.
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 29 Jul 12 at 22:51
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Good guessing game there, Gmac - Citroen Picasso?
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I was going to say american but not with flappy paddle. A jap import? It has to be something unusual, column mounted lever and paddles.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sun 29 Jul 12 at 23:05
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Yup got it Avant, Citroën C4 GP 1.6 diesel on the second one now.
SWMBO insisted when the lease was up.
Go figure ! Women and shonkey French products. She loves it and I have to say other than the early glitch with this one, both have been up to the task of ferrying kids and removal van.
I've come to the conclusion there is no perfect family car. This one has just under 2,000 litres with the seats down and we still have roof bars and an almost 500litre roof box.
Transit with a mattress in the back will be the next upgrade.
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 29 Jul 12 at 23:08
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When I was a modern kid, age 5 or 6 I guess, a bit older than Westpig's sprog, the doctor's locum, a friend of my parents, took me on his rounds to give my mother a rest. Somewhere on the outskirts of bath he parked his car, a Morris 8 I think (but it was a long time ago) on a dirt slope outside a patient's house. I was left alone and enjoined not to touch anything.
Remember old prewar handbrakes? The ratchet was worked not by a button but a lever, so the top of the brake lever had this y-shaped look, absolutely irresistible after a few minutes. So I operated it and the car started to roll forward. Even at that age I had the sense to reapply the brake and no harm was done. But the doctor saw the car move, rushed out and wasn't best pleased. Oo-er!
I've certainly posted this before but you can just be bored.
I don't mind wind-up windows at all, although they are a great nuisance when they wear out or break.
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That's how I learnt what the little button was on the handbrake in my Dad's Viva HA130 van.
I also remember whipping out the indicator repeater light which was just stuck in between the two instrument displays.
There was something about the indicator stalk too which I recall stripping but don't remember what it was I was stripping now.
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 29 Jul 12 at 23:26
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Looks like a cracking rally venue.
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>> Looks like a cracking rally venue.
>>
It was....not least of which was the fact it was specifically set up for spectators to see all the stages i.e. the paddock and viewing field were right in the centre of proceedings and all the stages set up to come near them.
My highlights are:
1, mk 2 Escort coming up a tarmac drive belonging to the house and then when needing to go through an 'S' bend created by where the road joined other roads...left big black lines where he powered up through the 'S' bend. I thought an understeer into the first set of metal railings was a possibility...or an oversteer into the second set. It was a real art to witness and top quality driving if he meant to do it...and lucky if he didn't.... difficult to say which was the case, although he was much, much faster through there than any other competitor.
2, mk 2 Escort again, coming up same bit of tarmac drive on the same stage, overcooks left hand bend and wanders out wide, hits grass verge and very small grass bank, gets slightly airborne up through a fence, comes into grass area in front of spectators (heading right for us at one point, enough for me to grab the boy and get ready to run for it), keeps foot in, gets grip on dry grass...and heads off back to the tarmac through another part of the fence, no lifting, no appreciable loss of pace and still remained 4th overall at the end of the stage. The marshalls then had to run for it to remove all the fence wire, before the next competitor came through.
The weather was kind, it was a good day out.
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When I was young (I was born in 1953), my father had a succession of Bedford CA vans (which I used to call his "piggy snout" car :-)). They all had a starter button on the floor. I was in my early teens when I first saw someone turn the key in an ignition switch and the starter whirred. I was gobsmacked and wondered what was going on! So it's the same sort of thing.
No seatbelts either, so when he had to stop quickly he used to throw his left arm across in front of us to stop us shooting off the seat and into the dashboard or worse.
Learnt to drive in one of these when I was 17, in 1970!! Column change, 3 speed, unservoed brakes....
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When one of my daughters was about 8 she managed to put in a bid and won a mobile phone on ebay. To be fair the account was already logged in.
Hit the roof for a brief moment but it was quite funny really and the phone was not overly dear, she got a bargain.
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The first time my daughter rode in my new Series landrover she couldn't open the window.
She had never seen a sliding window before- kids these days, they think all windows have winders!
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Windows? Not on my vintage car...
Ditto doors and a roof - much more fresh air that way!
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I was waiting for someone to mention sidescreens or perhaps fold-down 2CV windows, but no windows at all trumps everything. :)
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>> Bedford CA vans (which I used to call his "piggy snout" car :-)). They all had a starter button on the floor. Column change, 3 speed, unservoed brakes....
Same as the earlier Bedford Dormobile then. Some restaurant-owning friends had one with windows, sliding windows in sliding front doors. You could drive it with the door open if you wanted.
They appointed me to drive our late friend Rene somewhere for some reason. I didn't have a driving licence at the time and couldn't really drive, jerky as hell, but soon got the hang of it and fortunately didn't break it, crash it or get pulled... anxious moments from the distant past.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 30 Jul 12 at 15:00
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>> I didn't
>> have a driving licence at the time and couldn't really drive, jerky as hell, but
>> soon got the hang of it and fortunately didn't break it, crash it or get
>> pulled... anxious moments from the distant past.
>>
>>
Wish I knew where you lived in the early 80's... I could have nipped up there and helped my figures out...;-)
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Early 60s Westpig... doubt if you'd graduated from swaddling clothes to short trousers yet...
I have met one or two coppers who seemed as if they had been running people in since they were in nappies, but you don't seem to be one of those.
:o}
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>> Same as the earlier Bedford Dormobile then. Some restaurant-owning friends had one with windows, sliding
>> windows in sliding front doors. You could drive it with the door open if you
>> wanted.
>>
That's the one, the CA was the dormobile. Did a quick google earlier and came up with one for sale as a classic at £6,000 and a Romany Dormobile motorhome conversion for £11,995. We had them with and without windows, the windowed ones were badge as Workabus IIRC. Very basic seating arrangements in various formats!
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Wasn't the CA the one where about 75% of the passenger footwell was taken up by the wheelarch or am I thinking of something else ?
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I think it was a Bedford Dormobile that I used to go to Sunday School in. Sliding doors and I just had to sit in the front.
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As a child, my father worked in a marine research lab which had a transit with sliding doors. It was fitted out as an ambulance, with blue lights. I used to love riding in it, with the doors open. Wasn't allowed to use the blue lights, alas.
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Just got me computer back after a couple of days in Herr Doktor Rattle's sick bay so not caught up with you lot yet.
Been driving round in a '10 reg motor with front winding windows today. A pain, really, as they take about 12 turns to get up or down.
Any guesses ?
Ted
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VW Fox?
Apparently the base Up has winding windows.
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>> Uses the same winder.
>>
I know some people pronounce it "winder" but it should be "window" when writing it.
:-D
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Rented a Skoda Citigo two weeks back - That had wind up windows. Not really a problems since it had Aircon as well. Who opens the windows, except to get a ticket at car parks, these days?
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Mrs F hitched a ride in a colleague's 1 Series the other week and was surprised to find it had winders (in the back I think).
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Understandable. If it was a black 3-door with privacy glass she probably assumed it was a van.
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Not a VeeWee Up, but right make. VW van....you'd think with the cost of those, they'd stick a couple of leccie windows in.
After all, there are only two of the things to pay for !
Ted
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Our daughter's new VW Golf has manual rear windows. Pain, actually, as grandaughter knocks the one on her side with her foot from her child-seat.
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Modern kids - sooty123
