I just read Rowan and Peter's rants about modern driving and thought, well ok let's start a thread about it. I have to agree with Peter. I started driving in the 70's when there were very few cars on the road. And yes I've had my moments as well when I was younger. In those days though cars were a lot slower and if you wanted performance you had to pay for it. I drove a Transit (well several actually ) all over the country for twenty years in my job as a lift engineer but I don't think I would want to do it now.

I remember watching Clarkson on Top Gear a few years ago. He said young drivers felt supremely safe and isolated due to their ABS, traction control, skid alert, airbag,retracting seat belts etc etc. He too was complaining about bad driving. What they needed he said was a big spike attached to the dashboard and pointing at their chest! That would slow them down, he said.

Hi Dave,

I was driving on the M20 yesterday afternoon between Ashford and Maidstone and there was a car in front of me on the inside lane who kept swerving onto the hard shoulder (doing about 60mph). I pulled well back. He continued to do it with alarming regularity and then began crossing the line into the centre lane too. Eventually when the road cleared I pulled over into the outside lane and passed him carefully. He (mid 50's) was on his own in the car with his head right back on the headrest - clearly dropping off to sleep.

It's absolutely insane the way some people behave behind the wheel.

Roy

Hi Roy

Nothing surprises me any more. I was reminded by your mail that the stretch of dual carriagwey which bypassed Ashford was the first piece of 'motorway' that I ever drove on, well before the M1 was built. I was driving a Vauxhall Cresta then, reckoned to be a fast car, straight six, but it wasn't capable of much more than 80 mph. I was born and bred in Kent. I remember seeing pictures of the M1 on the day it opened, it was littered with broken down cars with blown up engines, they just were not capable of sustained high speed. Although not capable of the speeds of modern vehicles, I saw some nasty accidents, probably due to exhaustion from trying to keep them going in a straight line.

Peter.N.

When was the M1 opened Peter? How did the UK compare on motorway infrastructure with other EU countries at that time? I believe it was Germany and Italy which were pioneering motorways? In a recent trip to Italy, I couldn't stop being impressed by the extent to which they have altered natural landscape. The coast from Genova to Florence is plain mountainous and cliffy, still they have managed to pass dual carriage motorways throughout the mountains through a series of bridge-tunnel-bridge-tunnel-and so on...As much as it connects people in this otherwise rough terrain, I didn't like the idea much, to be honest. But I imagine it can be fun if u've got a Ferrari, or, even better, a Ferrari and a friend with another one...

regards
George

Hi Peter.

Used to have an alternating weeks drink / driving arrangement with a chum who had a PC Cresta, which he tooled along in at a rate of knots. Always used to be cowering in the back thinking that if ever we had to stop in a hurry -- or worse, go round a bend --- that would be it ! Quite liked the Crestas and Viscounts I had, but stopping and precision steering definitely weren't their strongest suit !! I reckon in terms of space, the handful of PC estsates they did would have been coming close to a match for the XM.

Mike.

Hi George and mike


I just had a discussion with my wife regarding the opening of the M1 and were both of the opinion that it was sometime in the '60s, then she said, why dont I look it up on the net?, I'm sitting here at the computer and that hadn't occured to me! So I did, and it was actually opened on the 2nd Nov '59 but only 80 miles of it between London and Birmingham. I am afraid I didn't at that time have any experience of other countries, only rich people went abroad then. Most cars then had 1000-1500cc engines and were geared at about 15 mph per 1000 rpm, and only produced about 35 bhp per litre, so you can imagine what happened when all that power was unleashed on the motorway


I drove the whole range of Cresta's and Velox's. My first was a '55 E model LHD I paid about £350.00 secondhand, that was equivelent to about 9 months wages! There were very few teenagers that ran cars then, but in those days TV servicing was a very good job and it was mostly TV engineers that had them. I subsequently had a '56 model (bigger back window) then a late '57, the first of the PAs, it was pink with huge wrap around windows, quite a sight to behold in those days. Later I had a '62 PA, then after we moved down here a PB and PC to which I fitted diesel engines.

They were fast cars in their time but the E model was 2262cc but only produced 60.5 bhp, the same engine in the PA was uprated to 85 bhp by the change to a multi port head. They were bored out to 2.6 and them 3.3 litres by the time of the PC/Viscount and were becoming seriously fast (for their time). And, yes, their stopping ability was abysmal, as the number of new wings I bought will testify! Due not to inefficient brakes, but lack of weight on the front wheels.The steering was very light and they must have been the first car to have a really good heater. I always aspired to the Friary estate - but I got married.

Peter.N.