Three men worked there. The manager who manned the office (I don't recall his name). Dave, the angry looking mechanic, and John who was Dave's assistant, who appeared to do all the cleaning up and vehicle washing. I sat with Dave and John at lunchtimes. Dave didn't say much, but when he did it was always about something he was currently furious about. I was young at the time and I learned most of my swearwords from Dave. John on the other hand was quite chatty and as it turned out, well read. We became friends.

The manager had a dark blue Anglia Estate and I noticed John cleaning it on occasions. John said he was also a Ford man and had some E494A's and a Prefect, all side valves.

Over time, when I passed my driving test (first time) I used to go and help John with his reconstruction projects, learning at the same time the rudiments of car mechanics. When it came to me buying my first car, John offered me one of his for a nominal price. I was a young married man with a brand new crippling mortgage, so I basically had no money, and near free car was a tempting offer. Trouble was, I never saw John actually driving any of his fleet, as he was normally under them.

I remember thinking that John's manager had a nice looking car, the Anglia Estate. It was 1976, so I should be able to find a decent second had one for not too much money? I was right and I was wrong at the same time. I did eventually find my Anglia Estate, a pale blue 1200 with a white roof, for £100. It was terrible! Rusty and dented and unreliable, but it was mine. A 1967 model OLM 917E. Thanks though to my newly learned car mending skills and with the help from John, we managed to bring the car back up to road legal and MOT worthy in no time. It would not have earned any prizes in a car show, but it served me very well on driving holidays to Wales (with only minimal breakdowns) and went on to help us move house when I got to use it as a van.

In 1978 I sold the Anglia to John for a nominal price. John had previously scoffed at what he called 'modern cars', but as he worked on the Anglia with me, he got to like it more for its simplicity and relative ease of maintenance. It turned out to be one of the few cars that John actually drove around in while still coping with his side valve collection.

I bought a clapped out 1700 Ford Corsair next, NJL 820H and rebuilt that up to a decent condition, engine, gearbox rebuild and body respray, and drove that around for the next five years.

In 1979 my wife wanted a car to drive as she was expecting our first child, but didn't like the Corsair because it was a bit scary. I took myself off to my local scrapyard (my second home) and bought a complete Anglia that had just come in for scrap. A 1965, ELB 796C. It was a rusty, rather tired 997 in faded mid blue with a white roof and side stripe. Before the baby was born, I stripped the car and obtained two better doors, a boot lid, carpets and chrome fittings from three scrapped cars at the yard. Those parts lived on in my 'newly recreated' Anglia. While pregnant, my wife learned how to drive by using the Anglia with me, between proper lessons. She passed her test, the baby was born and I installed a baby seat in the back of the car. It was our daughter's first impressions from the back of an Anglia. I sold that car to a lad in 1983 and bought an Escort.

I would then turn right around and see the light's run along the rear wing top's off too the chrome light surround's as well as down the top of the bootlid.

I also remember our Anglia having separate side light's next to the indicator's, what a good looking car this one was, and equally lovely to look at when the sun shone off all the chrome, another trip I remember was when we went to one of those drive through park's, again, a memory of reflection's, though this time the sun peeking through the leafy tree's, up the bonnet and windscreen, it was nice, and at seven I appreciated what I was seeing.

We had this Anglia Super until early 1975, the car was then taken away, it failed badly at the M.O.T, would you please log our Anglia in your didn't survive page.

It is probably the earliest car I recall with any definite memories, the most distinct being stripping the engine with my dad and then re-building it, I thought at the time I was being helpful but more than likely being a pain except when using the winch to lower the engine back into the backward facing engine compartment.

Then there was the time it was decided to go at 60 m.p.h (a mile a minute my dad said) the car probably rattled a bit but in all the excitement of going a mile a minute we didn't notice. I do remember being sat on mums knee at the time (very naughty in todays world)

Lastly was the back seats which amazingly folded down leaving no seats for my brother or I to sit on during a holiday trip from Glasgow to Cornwall and back, but where were my brother and I to sit ? ... Well we ended up sat on upturned sleeping bags one behind dad and one behind mum.

Just imagine kids of today being told to do that !!!

Dad got rid of it when we moved south in 1973 and I still remember it being sat at the top of the road waiting for it's new owner to pick it up, I don't think he ever really forgave himself.