The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

My dad used to have to start his first car with a handle, Austin 8 I think it was. His next car it was optional (A40 Somerset) - but he did use it quite a lot of times when the battery was flat or possibly mid winter when it needed a bit of oomph.

I can remember my grandfather having a starting handle. Don't know what the car was, but it had a running board!

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

Sometimes, if I'm loading the car with something where I only want to make one trip to the car I'll try to unlock it, put the keys down on the path, then get to the car ... before it clunks and locks itself again. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't.

What IS handy though is if I'm not sure if I locked the car or not, I can just press the button ... and it'll do it for me. From the house/garden I just press the button and listen for the clunk.

- if it was locked, that'll unlock it then it'll automatically re-lock.
- if it was unlocked, that'll lock it.

Plus, you can do it from inside the house, so no need to go out into the cold or wet (not now, obvs!)'to do it.

Jackmydad

PasturesNew wrote: »

My dad used to have to start his first car with a handle, Austin 8 I think it was. His next car it was optional (A40 Somerset) - but he did use it quite a lot of times when the battery was flat or possibly mid winter when it needed a bit of oomph.

Batteries weren't what they are today, and they got used until they were more or less useless because they were relatively expensive.
Winding the engine by hand not only gives a decent turn over to crank the engine, but it also maximises the battery voltage getting to the ignition on older cars, giving a better spark, in the days before ballast resistors and so on.
I'm only half joking about making things more difficult.
I reckon cars being so forgiving to drive have made a lot of people blase about driving.

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

My dad used to have to start his first car with a handle, Austin 8 I think it was. His next car it was optional (A40 Somerset) - but he did use it quite a lot of times when the battery was flat or possibly mid winter when it needed a bit of oomph.

My A60 Cambridges had a starting handle (which doubled up as the winder for the spare wheel tray) and I also sometimes used the handle when it was cold weather - not to actually start the car but to make sure the engine was turning freely with no oil gone a bit sticky in the bearings and, of course, to draw some fuel through into the cylinders.

PasturesNew

Years ago I had a mate who had a remote control alarm. "For fun", late in the evening, we'd often stand about 50-60' away from the car and as people walked past he'd click the button and set the alarm off.

I sometimes have wished I had something like that, so I could set off the alarm, annoy the neighbours and "get the kids told off" for setting off the alarm ...

When alarms go off, parents sometimes look .... see their kids, then tell them to move away. Only sometimes though... some are still so glued to the telly/Facebook they'd not notice if their kids had set off a nuclear bomb and the SAS had helicoptered in and surrounded the road.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

Years ago I had a mate who had a remote control alarm. "For fun", late in the evening, we'd often stand about 50-60' away from the car and as people walked past he'd click the button and set the alarm off.

I sometimes have wished I had something like that, so I could set off the alarm, annoy the neighbours and "get the kids told off" for setting off the alarm ...

When alarms go off, parents sometimes look .... see their kids, then tell them to move away. Only sometimes though... some are still so glued to the telly/Facebook they'd not notice if their kids had set off a nuclear bomb and the SAS had helicoptered in and surrounded the road.

Maybe an alien abduction should be the order of the day.

Jackmydad

chris_m wrote: »

My A60 Cambridges had a starting handle (which doubled up as the winder for the spare wheel tray) and I also sometimes used the handle when it was cold weather - not to actually start the car but to make sure the engine was turning freely with no oil gone a bit sticky in the bearings and, of course, to draw some fuel through into the cylinders.

That generation of cars was about the last to have starting handles wasn't it?
My '65 Cortina didn't have one, wife's grandad's Minx from about the same time did.
Then bonnet lines went lower, and /or engines went transverse, and i suppose people were getting better off.
I can remember a teacher at school having an old Mini. He used to jack it up and spin the wheel in gear to start it. Not very H & S but it worked!

chris_m

Jackmydad wrote: »

That generation of cars was about the last to have starting handles wasn't it?
My '65 Cortina didn't have one, wife's grandad's Minx from about the same time did.

Not really sure when starting handles went generally. The only other fore-aft engines I had were Mk4 Cortinas. I don't think Dad's '61 Zephyr Mk2 had one so it could be that Ford dropped them before other manufacturers.

I can remember a teacher at school having an old Mini. He used to jack it up and spin the wheel in gear to start it. Not very H & S but it worked!

Neat idea

Jackmydad

chris_m wrote: »

Not really sure when starting handles went generally. The only other fore-aft engines I had were Mk4 Cortinas. I don't think Dad's '61 Zephyr Mk2 had one so it could be that Ford dropped them before other manufacturers.
Neat idea

I was trying to think about my dad's various Mk 2 and Mark 3 Zephyr / Zodiacs when I typed that. I don't think they had a handle. He used to run them until they dropped, and I can't remember him winding them up. They were mostly autos as well, so he couldn't bump them!

chris_m

Jackmydad wrote: »

I was trying to think about my dad's various Mk 2 and Mark 3 Zephyr / Zodiacs when I typed that. I don't think they had a handle. He used to run them until they dropped, and I can't remember him winding them up. They were mostly autos as well, so he couldn't bump them!

Looking at the pics on wikipedia I'm pretty sure that none of the various marks of Consuls/Zephyrs/Zodiacs did - at least I can't see a hole anywhere in the front suitable for inserting the key.