Eddie Benham: My First Car

FishingMagic · Apr 28, 2016

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: Eddie Benham: My First Car

http://www.fishingmagic.com/fm-features/18317-eddie-benham-my-first-car.html

There must be hundreds - nay, THOUSANDS of fishy stories out there, involving 'my first car' - let's have 'em then! Remember, there's a writing competition on until the end of May. There are 3 super prizes to choose from: overnight accommodation and a day's barbel fishing on the Wye with former guide, Graham Elliot; a Wychwood Carp Rod and Reel combo and a box of 21 Rapala lures.

Cliff Hatton · Apr 28, 2016

Cheers, Eddie - great stuff!

Michael Loveridge 2 · Apr 28, 2016

Excellent Ed , my first fishing trip by car was in my Father's 1949 Jaguar to a pit in Beltring Kent , we used the Blackwell tunnel from South Ockendon .
There I caught my first Pike , all of 5lbs .

barbelboi · Apr 28, 2016

My first ‘car’ was a ’53 Tiger 100C – it used to get me all the way to Billing and back from the Colne valley for the specimen carp during 1964/5. I then graduated to a Dominator 99 and Goldstar 500 for a couple of years before I bought my first 'proper' car, a ’59 MGA in 1967. As I usually travel light I never really noticed the extra carrying capacity – just the fact that it took a little longer to get there...........

floatfish · Apr 28, 2016

To fish local ponds and Rivers when I got full license borrowed my late fathers Vauxhall 12/4 (1947) three speed box and crash bottom gear.(Double de clutch or get the revs right and thump it in).
My own first car was a side valve Ford Anglia with the funny vacuum driven windscreen wipers. Going up hill was fun,wipers slowed down to almost a dead stop at times.
But they got us to the fishing and back.!

slaphead · Apr 28, 2016

Really enjoyed that, Eddie, Thanks.

rubio · Apr 28, 2016

Another fine tale. Thanks

robtherake · Apr 28, 2016

One of my fishing pals was the first in our peer group to pass his test, so off we'd go in his Mk 1 Escort that smelt like a petrol bomb. It smelt even stronger in the back - enough to cause a headache - but that was preferable to sitting in a passenger seat uncoupled from the floor, hanging on to solid fixtures for grim death.

My own first car was a Suzuki GSX250, so I relied on lifts until I got fed up of riding to work through a typical British winter. The Mk2 Escort estate that came later opened up the possibility of 7 days a week fishing, and boy, did I make the most of it.

I loved that car.

john step · May 1, 2016

Nice read Eddie. Just think, when you were escaping South Ockendon, I was striving to get there to fish on my Dads old pedal bike.

My first car was a Morris 1000, a rebuilt write off, bought from a bloke who worked at the breakers. It opened up many fishing horizons. We even took a tent and went to Spain in it. We even took it across the Ebro on a sort of raft/ferry sort of craft.

Unfortunately the bloke didn't straighten it properly and when we got back after about 3000 miles on a set of brand new tyres they were completely bald.

From then on it was disaster after disaster with unreliable wrecks bought with budget in mind until I took a loan and bought a brand new Renault 4 hatch for the princely sum of £2000. It was very reliable until IT RUSTED AWAY

mg:

Graham Elliott 1 · May 2, 2016

My first car was a bright red mini. The hinges on the door were so rusted you tied the door in from the inside!

I later discovered the magician David Nixons wife Pala had crashed and died in it! I swopped it to someone in exchange for building me a drive for my deluxe 13/60 Triumph Herald that turned on a sixpence.

I much preferred my rich mates Cortina 2000E.

ken more · May 2, 2016

First Car was a sky blue VW Beetle in the late 70's. Had to have at least two people in it as there was no front passenger seat and the second person had to sit in the back and push the back of the driver seat up against the driver as it was knackered, so as the driver could see where they were going.

Also, it had no ignition key just some wire's you shoved together and you couldn't lock the doors. Think it cost about seven quid from the car market

mg: Couldn't put any fishing gear in the boot as the last owner had left a load of old engine parts in there and i couldn't get them out as they seemed to be stuck

john10 · May 2, 2016

floatfish said:
To fish local ponds and Rivers when I got full license borrowed my late fathers Vauxhall 12/4 (1947) three speed box and crash bottom gear.(Double de clutch or get the revs right and thump it in).
My own first car was a side valve Ford Anglia with the funny vacuum driven windscreen wipers. Going up hill was fun,wipers slowed down to almost a dead stop at times.
But they got us to the fishing and back.!

I had a Ford Prefect with side valves and the vacuum drive wipers. I'd forgotten about those until I saw your post. What a pain they were!

Skoda · May 3, 2016

Great read Eddie, many thanks. To think you did all that at 4 bob a gallon, about £2 for the round trip! My first car was a Triumph Herald but I only had it a week before the chassis disintegrated, someone saw us coming. I was lucky, my Dad bought me a demonstrator Vauxhall Viva (Firenza Red) in 1971, but then I'm younger than you lot

Andy

Cliff Hatton · May 3, 2016

Ken More: thanks for giving me such a good laugh this morning...two occupants required in your VW - one to drive, the other to hold his seat up....that's absolutely bonkers!!

floatfish · May 3, 2016

john10 said:
I had a Ford Prefect with side valves and the vacuum drive wipers. I'd forgotten about those until I saw your post. What a pain they were!

Yes right pain, uphill ,slows right down, downhill off like the clappers.!
Three speed box but the cars were reliable.!

ken more · May 3, 2016

Cliff Hatton said:
Ken More: thanks for giving me such a good laugh this morning...two occupants required in your VW - one to drive, the other to hold his seat up....that's absolutely bonkers!!

Bonkers and absolutely true Cliff, i still cringe at the thought of it. If anyone starts a "your 2nd car", i might spill the beans on the communal Mini Clubman me, and about fifteen others chipped in for from the very same Car Market

It cost a fiver

mg:

Cliff Hatton · May 4, 2016

Back in the 70s, a friend, Alan (who sported a perfectly spherical mop of frizzy hippy hair and round John Lennon glasses, giving him the appearance of an owl) was contentedly cruising his mini down South Ockendon's answer to Sunset Boulevard - Daiglen Drive - when he found himself cruising to a silent halt. Utterly mystified, he scanned the engine bay for leaky hoses / cracked rad / loose fan belt (whatever) but could find no problem. Battery, maybe? He opened the boot......and there WAS no battery - only a gaping, rust-fringed hole and a nicely framed view of the tarmac beneath! The truth began to dawn and Alan disbelievingly turned to see his battery 100 yards away in the middle of the road!

binka · May 4, 2016

It's funny what kind of a mess you can end up in with cars.

Back in the eighties I was sent out on a local delivery and took the pool car, I can't be sure but I think it was a Ford Orion and the battery was tight up the engine bay towards the dashboard.

I took a wrong turn down a cul-de-sac and swung around in the turning circle at the end but failed to notice the entrance to a new development along with a wagon fully loaded with bricks that was thundering down the cul-de-sac with the intention of going on into the development through the open gates.

As I spun the car around the wagon ploughed the front end of the car side on and literally took the front off of it, the bonnet swung around on one hinge and smashed through the passenger side window and the car was left resting front down minus the front wheels, engine, the lot!

As I got out a bit dazed along with the local residents who had heard the almighty bang there was an eerie silence which was broken by the ring of the car phone which was miraculously still working.

I gingerly leant back into the car and picked up the receiver and of all the people to hear from at that moment in time it turned out to be the voice of my boss asking how long I was going to be?

mg:

john10 · May 4, 2016

floatfish said:
Yes right pain, uphill ,slows right down, downhill off like the clappers.!
Three speed box but the cars were reliable.!

Too true Eddie! The head gasket went after a long trip round Dartmoor whilst on holiday. Fortunately it went as we pulled in at the place we were staying at in Torquay. My first experience of changing a head gasket, it helped that the valves were below the head so it was relatively an easy job to do. Not something you want on your holiday though.

Later I hand painted it using an enamel paint in a corrugated garage which was quite rusty. I used to pray for no wind overnight as I could guarantee a rust covered surface the following day. The daft things we do 'eh?

Eddie Benham: My First Car

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