I came out of the pub one night and got into the Mini as my car keys were on the house key ring. I was about to start it when I felt one of those leather glove things on the steering wheel, and realised it wasn't my car !!! I got out and hastily locked it.

I looked around for my Mini and couldn't see it, so I wondered if whoever's this one was had driven home in my car. I walked home to find my Mini on the driveway, I hadn't gone out in it in the first place !! (I know I know drinking and driving is a no no but this was a long time ago and technically I wasn't doing it, I was just confused ... (cough)) :rolleyes:

I pondered on the idea that if whoever owned that Mini in the car park hadn't fitted that steering wheel glove, I might have driven his car home !!! Thus not only would I have been drinking and driving, but car stealing as well !! :eek:

Didn't say a lot for security back in those days, but then you could buy a whole bunch of car keys off a rack in Halfords back then.

I'd just like to say I don't drink and drive, or ride. But I'd be fibbing a bit if I said I never did it in the 60's and 70's. (Bikes went faster after a couple of pints.) :eek:

Must have been a common BMC thing ! As I had a friend that was getting married and I was looking after her car and house, whilst she went on honeymoon. After the wedding reception, I got in to what I thought was her car, an MGB GT. All the keys fitted. When I looked back ready to reverse out, I noticed a brolly on the back seat> As I did not own a brolly I knew something was wrong ! Looking further down the road her car was a bit further along the road ! Oops :D

Fords weren't any better. Around the time the V4 Corsair was launched, a schoolmate got his Dad to visit us in a brand new demonstrator.(His Dad was Stores manager at Reynolds of Dagenham.) My Dad had a 1960 Zephyr MKII at the time. My mate's Dad came in for a chat and a cuppa, and then invited Dad to have a look at this brand new marvel of the Dagenham factory. Dad wandered up to it, and without thinking opened the driver's door and sat in. My mate's Dad was puzzled to say the least, as he still had his keys in his pocket. It turned out that the keys my Dad had been given when he bought his Zephyr fitted almost every Ford on the road. The door key did look a bit worn, so it didn't reflect well on Ford's security in the 1960's.

Keys were a bit fuzzy back then, and locked doors were no real problem. Those little triangular quarter lights would open if you sneezed at them, then they put a little button on them. Steering locks, just a quick twitch.

I avow, I have never taken a car without permission. This all sounds bad.

One of my crewmen was an expert with a wire coat hanger......very handy if you locked your keys in the car.

I did that with a Ford Escort at a carwash. Closing the door while holding the button in locked it, keys still in the ignition. A young lad came out of the garage workshop and opened it in about three seconds with what looked like a steel ruler.

Both the queue for the carwash and myself were much appreciative. :rolleyes:

I did that at the remote house we used to have. I had to ring a garage to come and let me into it, the guy said he was born round there and could find us easily, I had to talk him in, he had no idea there was a house there. Cost, £10 paid before he did the trick, then out with the flat steel hook thing, 3 seconds and he was in. Peugeot 405, the right tool and it is open. I didn't mind paying, you have skills that you work for, you get the money. I did think Peugeot could have done a bit better job.

That plastic strapping stuff they bind around boxes also works a treat ..

Oh dear, more felonious knowledge dispensed.:rolleyes:

Another trick with later Fords fitted with central locking was to cut a tennis ball in half, place it over the keyhole and hit with the heel of your hand. My neighbour woke up one Sunday morning to an empty driveway. The policeman told him "It's a common trick sir, we're having lots of calls lately." He never got his car back.

Daughter and I bought two Holden/(Opel) Barinas in 2000. Identical in every way except that ours was a lemon and hers was OK. Consecutive number plates and all. Got up one morning in plenty of time for early shift and decided to wash car. Washed car and when I emerged after breakfast keys did not fit. You guessed it - washed the wrong car. (Dyslexic bloody idiot)!:o

Opel Senator.
 

A survivor from the Cold War, this heavily modified Opel Senator was used by the British Commander in Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (BRIXMIS). Purchased locally, it was worked on the workshops and emerged with four wheel drive, beefed up suspension, and half a tonne of armour. Extra fuel capacity was worked in, and blinds were fitted to the back and rear side windows so that the activities of the crew could be concealed. Extra spot lights and map reading lights were installed, and the rear number plate lights could be switched off. Infra red lights, and extra tactical lights that mimicked Soviet military vehicles were also fitted. The crew of three, (one specialist driver, an NCO and an officer who was equipped with a top of the range camera and many rolls of film) would tour East Germany for several days at a time observing Soviet military activity. It was fast and quiet, fairly inconspicuous to casual observation, with a decent cross country performance. It was in service during the 1980's and 90's.

For more extensive patrols, that would penetrate deep into Soviet territory, the vehicle of choice was a Mercedes G Wagen equipped in a similar manner.

The Senator can be seen at the RAF Museum Cold War Exhibition at Cosford.

Took this picture of a BSA Despatch Rider's bike at Bletchley Park Museum last year. I was interested because when at college in Leith in the 60's I owned a BSA B32 350cc which dated from the fifties. In general it had a layout similar to this, although better suspension (fore and aft,) overhead valve engine and a later model Amal carb.
Was a good solid bike that carried me up and down from the Midlands to Edinburgh for a year or more.

How about one of these.
No idea what it is or what the red balls and the attachment on the back are for?
Found it in the Technical Museum in Prague 26 July 2012 where there are heaps of other vintage bikes.

That is one scary looking bike !! ... wouldn't want to be wearing anything loose near that belt drive ...:eek:

Here's another without the belt drive.
A Hildebrand and Wolfmüller of 1894.
No belt drive just connecting rods this time.
The rear nudguard apparently contains engine cooling water.
Found it in the Technical Museum in Prague 26 July 2012 where there are heaps of other vintage bikes.

On the left handlebar of the belt driven bike there's what looks like a Morse key !!! :jester:

Yes Bob.
Gawd knows what it, along with much of the remaining gear, actually did :confused:!

Sometimes known as a Derny bike used for pedal cycle pacing, here is the car version.

This is the fairly modern version of the Derny bike which are still used.

I took this picture at a motorcycle show (I think at Earl's Court) in the 70's. I nearly signed my life away in order to buy one of these, I'd have been in debt for years so I chickened out.
This was a replica of the legendary Slippery Sam Triumph Trident which won the TT Production race 5 years on the trot from 71 to 75.
I did own a couple of Tridents back then, but in declining signing a note for one of these I made a classic mistake ... can't think what one would be worth now. But it isn't the money .. it's the fact that this bike was a legend.

A different 'Vintage Vehicle'!
Just for the old (sorry, former) steam engineers. :jester:

One a much smaller scale: While gardening, I found an old metal miniature toy car. It had imprinted on it, ”Gr. Britain,” “Storage Van.” The wheels turn, and a metal flap at the back lifts and folds back, manually. The red paint job is visible in places. (I know a small boy about 3 who lives in the Kootenays in B.C. Canada, who might like to carry it in his back pocket.) There were two small boys lived in this house in the late 1940’s. Another small boy lived here in the 60’s. My guess is that it dates back to the 40’s. Do any of you have any knowledge of this toy in Great Britain?

That's a proper looking bike, Bob.

Some years ago I came across a chap in Bletchley who was restoring a Triton? (Triumph Norton hybrid?) that had been a TT machine. It looked similar to your Trident in style and shape, but was rather scruffy.

Regards,

Yes the 'classic' Triton would have a Bonneville engine in a Norton Featherbed frame, I think that was cartoon character Ogri's bike.

The Trident was a three cylinder 750cc, I think just about the last of the original Triumphs. Here's me on my first Trident just after I bought it in 1972, it cost £750 cash at the time. Sadly I wrote it off in 1975. :(

Slippery Sam was a production racer version of the Trident and I can't remember what price they were asking at the show, but it was well in excess of a grand which was a lot of money back then.

We are not ignoring you, I just think very slowly. Could you post a picture of the van? It should be identifiable if it has some paint left. Does it have metal tyres, or has it got rims that would have had rubber doughnuts for tyres. I remember chewing those, this must be some time ago.