In search of a reminder from the past

For quite some time now I have been wanting to go back to my youth, and when I say go back I mean about 40 or so years. You see when I was a young lad of around ooh I would have to say 10 or 11 years of age my dad bought me a car. Now I am talking a proper car not a Dinky or Matchbox. No, it was a Classic T1 shaped VW Beetle. The car was a light blue, a bit like a baby blue and although it was nothing out the ordinary, for me it was a very special little car.

Similar to the car I had

Both my dad and I were just talking about this shared memory of this car the other day, with fond memories and also having a chuckle. You see my dad had been told about this car by one of his best mates at the time Ray. Ray arranged to buy the car as I understand it from this slightly dodgy family that he kind of knew (no names mentioned) who lived over at Dipton. My dad seems to recall paying around £60 quid for said car.

Now you have to remember if I am going back to when I was, say 10 that would have been around 1978'ish. Upon receiving the car as I can remember it looked in canny good fettle. My dad was to tell me years later the story of what he discovered under the back seat of the bug. Remember again this was in the late '70s. Apparently, under the back seat, there were a bunch of what would have been then the GPO or General Post Office rather large handsets. Obviously, mobile phones had not even been invented. These handsets were used I believe to test the lines. Well of course my dad being the upstanding gentleman he was/is kind of panicked, obviously he couldn't ring Ray as the mobile phone like I just mentioned had not been invented, so he had to drive over and inform him of his discovery saying "Errr we will keep the car, but bloody get shot of these things".
 
So anyhoo at the time, my dad was working out of a garage over at Dipton, working for himself as a mechanic. He had an agreement with a lovely bloke called Bob Harrison, who used to run a removal business. My dad would service Bob's wagon and in return, he got the use of Bob's premises. The garage had a pretty large forecourt and my little bug was kept here.
 

Here's the Bug I missed out on

I never really got to drive my little bug, but I can remember sitting in it making those "Brrrmmm Brrrmmm" noises you do as a child and honking the little "beepy"horn. Fantastic memories I treasure.

It's weird looking back going to my little boy's mind. I was always closer to my mam, my dad would agree with this, as in reality, he used to work so hard and such long hours that I never got to see him much. I think that made the time I spent with him all the more special. I would pass him spanners and other various tools when he was fixing stuff, and as I got older he would show me what bits to either have a go at removing or put back on. I can remember crying with the cold when I went on a trip with him to mend a wagon for a customer and also being scared to death upon a trip up to Glasgow to tow another wagon back. I didn't have a clue what this Scottish fella was saying to me and just hid behind my da.

And so to the present, this last week has been a one where I have been proper disappointed, you see I got my eye on a VW Beetle, only to discover someone beat me to it. At first, I was not sure I could afford another car. I then sorted my finances and thought "yeah I could", obviously I would have to sell Tango my faithful little Smart car and use my savings. 

Of course, there is another problem, besides now having to find another decent car. The fact I cannot drive a manual car. Most smaller classic cars did not come with automatic transmission. And the ones that did well if you are going back to the 60/70's they were not very good. I have therefore been researching all week how to adapt a manual car.

I have been in touch with a couple of companies online. One is called David Relph, they offer the Duck Clutch and the Syncro Semi-automatic clutch. The only problem being David Relph is way down the country in Norfolk. That said the gentleman who emailed me was very helpful indeed. I then discovered a company called Guidosimplex and after contacting them, they informed me of a company called Berwick Mobility, the gentleman who I spoke to via email, Matthew Burns was very, very helpful, and gave me some fantastic advice and info. Matthew even informed me I may be able to get a grant for a conversion of a potential vehicle, via the Access to work scheme which the government runs. Something I will look into once I sort out a car.

I have now been looking eagerly for just the right car. There are loads of Bugs for sale, however very few that have caught my eye. I am after a very specific looking car you see. It kind of has to call out to me.