Motoring

The Vehicles

Leslie Knight’s first car was reported to be a Morris 8 bought for £10 from the estate of a fighter pilot stationed at Christchurch at the end of the war. It was also said that its purchase was not a great success; partly because Malcolm was frightened of the noise it made and partly because petrol was almost unobtainable. When the Knight family lived in Christchurch is uncertain but Malcolm remembers two things about it; the trolley bus turntable in the town centre and looking into a department store shop window after dark. If the latter recollection is correct it suggests 1945. 1944 would definitely be too early to remember and by 1946 Leslie was away in India.
After that brief flirtation with motoring, the family was car-less until (probably) 1952 when a 1936 model Austin 12 was purchased for £75. It looked almost the same as the Austin 18 pictured below. The 12 was sold to a garage in Crowthorne for the same price it was originally bought for and the 1937 six-cylinder model Austin 18 cost another £50.

1937 model six-cylinder Austin 18.
Most neighbours owned cars of a similar vintage. The Aldrich’s a Vauxhall, the Macks a Morris 8 and the Craigs a ‘Bull-nose’ Morris. Joint trips to Hayling Island were commonly undertaken and if the road was clear a race down Butser Hill could sometimes see 60 m.p.h. register on the speedometer.
Car maintenance was generally undertaken in the road but by 1956 Leslie had managed to rent a council owned garage at the bottom of Broomhill Road. Just before the Aldrich’s were due to move house to Aberystwyth (where the R.A.E. tested missiles) a tooth came off the main gear wheel of his differential. Leslie welded on a new tooth and although it wasn’t expected to last it was good enough to get the family to the their new home.

The Ford Anglia. A slightly up market version of the Ford Popular but basically a rattling tin box. It once took us on a day trip to Weymouth at the amazing average speed of 40 m.p.h. but the effort caused it to burn off most of its oil. At the end of 1958 its engine was changed causing complications with the registration book.

Circa 1963.

Leslie swapped the Standard Vanguard for an Austin 1100 Traveller in 1969 and later an Austin 1300. Olive took up motoring in 1960 with a Morris Mini-Minor but was not an enthusiastic driver. She passed the car on to Malcolm in 1976 with only 4,000 miles on the clock.

Leslie’s last car was the Honda Accord pictured above in 1983.

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