Re: Everything Classic, Cars, Buses, Trams etc.

I had an Ambassador.

Re: Everything Classic, Cars, Buses, Trams etc.

If only we had kept them Mart.

Re: Everything Classic, Cars, Buses, Trams etc.

Ah yes, the bike would now be worth a lot more than I paid for it. I'm sure you'd remember that it had quite a bit of fairing attached, even on the handlebars. I took it all off in the end thinking that the bike looked better for it. Just a teenage whim I suppose.

I've been to a classic car exhibition for the last couple of years. An outdoor occasion where the town centre is shut to traffic and the exhibited cars line the road. Some really good restoration work was on show. An Austin A35 was there. Close enough in appearance to the Austin A30 I had, 51 years ago now. Looking under the bonnet of that certainly brought back memories.

Edit: Austin A35 photo added (my A30 was a green one).

Re: Everything Classic, Cars, Buses, Trams etc.

Hi Mart, thanks for the picture.

Most lads had fairings on their bikes as like me they were the transport 24/7. Run on the poverty of apprentice-ship money and always purchased on HP. My first decent bike as an Ambassador, cost £48 on HP of course.

The first decent car I had was a A35 Van. Before that I had a dreadful Morris Minor van, 20 to the gallon and 20 to a pint of oil. No real brakes as such, in fact I found my young brother , that is him below on my BSA, pushing it out the garage drive with the hand brake on and he could hardly walk. Still knowing nothing about cars I removed the engine and gearbox and stripped both down and reconditioned them, Gearbox was a nightmare. The clutch was another thing, slipped like hell. If I did not get a decent run at the local small railway bridge it stopped and rolled back, meaning I had to reverse back 100 yards and have another go at it.
Oh happy days but we enjoyed it .