1940s: Motoring memories from half a century

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A Bygones picture of three youngsters playing at Junior Home Guard in wartime Derby brought back memories for Audrey Reeson (nee Bilson) who spotted her own golden locks and her 1940s playmates, as she recounts here.

Author Leslie Ives, of Tavistock

Author Leslie Ives spent many happy years living in Derbyshire, where he enjoyed his first motoring experiences driving round the Peak District.

Now living in Tavistock, Leslie has written a book entitled 53 Years of Motoring Memories, encapsulating a lifetime of amusing stories about life at the wheel.

He told Bygones: “Mention older cars to anyone and you can be sure that they will tell you about some idiosyncratic vehicle that their father or uncle, or some other relative or friend, had once owned!

“My love affair with the motor car started some 55 years ago when I was being given illicit driving lessons in the CO’s Jeep by an Army chum who was later shot in a roadside ambush during the Malayan campaign! Happily ’Ginger’ survived but my driving lessons ceased until I came home in 1951.”

Leslie’s first car was a 1937 Ford 8 Popular that cost the princely sum of £20 and ran for years with very little trouble but also with very few creature comforts – no heater or radio and indifferent windscreen wipers.

From then on, he had a string of old but “interesting” cars, some of which became minor classics – a Rover, Austin Wolseley, Jowett and Daimler and later, an Alfa Romeo and Lancia. Many funny stories go with these vehicles. This is certainly not a technical book but more of a nostalgic look back at a time when 50mph was considered a bit on the speedy side!

If you remember cranking up an old Ford 8, Austin 7 or a good old Morris 8 and the joy of a leisurely drive on uncrowded roads, you will enjoy this entertaining book.

53 Years of Motoring Memories is available from 7 Elm Close, Bishopsmead, Tavistock, PL19 9AP. Price £8.50 inc p&p.

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This article is from the Derby Evening Telegraph and is reproduced online here.