You can click on any image for a large picture.
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This was the second scooter I owned. Metallic blue,
covered in chrome, ah I must go and watch Quadrophenia all over again.Summer
1965 and I was on my way back from Pride and Clarks ( Scooter Mecca
in South London) with a newly purchased chrome front rack. As I rode
through Dalston I knocked a girl over, on a crossing. A scruffy man
rushed up and said he was an off duty policeman. He had no ID so I said
"Okay then, if you're a policeman lets go down the station". We
did. He was. Doh! This photo was taken in the woods near Celle during
my time in The Army.
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I swapped my Cortina Estate for this. As
far as an anecdote goes. weeeell, after one gig we were driving along
the Staines bypass and all the two girls we were giving a lift to could
say was "I wanna look aht the windah". So we stopped and let them out.
On the bypass. Ah well, it was funny at the time. Checkout
The Mike Williams Roadshow
for more about the Van.
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One day I arrived home, soaked to the skin,
looking very miserable, and with the gearstick in my hand. My wife burst
out laughing. My neighbour who luckily was a mechanic, came back to
the car with me, pushed the gearstick back in, and I drove home. It
was a common problem with the Mk3 and on mine we fixed it for good
with a bit of plumber's Boss White around the thread.
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This was a company car. On the day it arrived I asked my son not to ride his
bike in between the car and the fence. He did - one big scratch down
the side. I touched it in very badly then complained about the state
of the paintwork. It was taken back and re-sprayed. Sorry Ford, but I
really liked that car. It only had to go because I was working at
Austin Rover in Cowley and they would not let me in, driving a Ford.
Since I was on call to fix the computers ( which when broken stopped
production), this was very silly.
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So I ended up with this, a talking car! I liked the MG version so much
that I had an MG spoiler fitted to the back ( it was a Vanden Plastic
model). One week end all it said was "warning - low oil pressure!. Drove
me mad. On Monday the oil pressure sensor was changed which fixed it.
I watched the guys spend one night swapping the speech units from car
to car because they all spoke the wrong language. I didn't have the heart
to tell then there was a switch on the side to sellect what you wanted.
Ah, British Leyland.
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Another company car.The TV ad at the time made
me really want one. The radio crackled like mad. I took it to the dealer
who said "Well, its got a plastic bonnet and a crap aerial." Can't beat
that old legendary Gallic service. A friend of mine was leaving the company
so I swapped with him for his three year old Sierra. The Cirtroen went
in the car pool. He left. Because 'my' car was three years old I had to
have a new one, but I got promoted and it was time for the first Mercedes.
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Not really my car, but the wife's. She had an Austin
1100 to beging with, but then she got this which we kept from new for
two years, right up to its free 600 mile service ( she didn't do a lot
of driving), when we traded it in for the Metro MG......
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.....and this is the Metro MG. I really liked this
car. Good fun to drive. We kept it for a few years until my wife decided
she did not want to drive any more.
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My first Mercedes (company car). I took my oldest
son fishing one day. When I went to pick him up the rain had filled a deep
hollow in the ground, a very deep hollow. I drove in and the car floated
off. The water began to rise ( the rain was pouring down). When the water
covered the bonnet I panicked and turned the key. It started, and I reversed
out with the wheels going like paddles until they hit the ground. The U190E,
can't beat it. Oh yes, and just a tiny bit of water in one footwell.
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Well I always wanted a Jag, and I got one. What
a mistake ! I kept it for six months and then got rid of it. Nice car to
be driven in, but not to drive, not when you have sat all day at the roadside
for a recovery truck because the water pump has failed, and then find
out the pump manufacturer has gone bust and you can't get a water pump.
So it had to go. There will bne a later page on how to fix these things.
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Back to the 190E. I bought this with a 115000 on
the clock, but can you tell, no way! 190s go on forever (and this one
is still going). Just another great car that never let me down. But I
wanted something faster. If they still made them I would buy one now.
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This was something faster. A manual 2.6 190E with
air-con (quite rare) and only 25k on the clock when I bought it. I wish
I still had it but I cannot afford to run two Mercedes, and in the end,
it went too. I did get rear ended at 60mph in it, hit so hard that I totalled
a Volvo that was in front of me, but the car was rebuilt and its fine
now. Me ? I have a permanent whiplash injury.
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So the last 190e went, for this, my current ride.
Fabulous. Oh yes, its had the a front wing repair, then two new front
wings, a boot lid and one door, and one whole side. Why ? Rust. It was two years old when I
bought it. Mercedes lost the plot with this model, but I see they are back
on form now. Still a lovely car to drive.
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I at last retired on 3rd April 2013 - my 65th birthday,and my present was this.
It is, as they say, more or less fully loaded with a list of extras as long as
your arm. Since the pic was taken the radio has been upgraded to full command on-line.
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