18-07-2019, 07:20 AM
My first car was a 1936 Mk 1 Ruby reg. no. CRA 212 which I purchased from Ken Brockway, a prominent member of the PWA7C in Nottingham. I went down to pick it up with my Dad in his Peugeot estate, as there was apparently 'a few spares' with the car.
I had agreed to buy it just before the A7 Isle of Man Tour 1975? but Ken was taking part so I was to pick it up afterwards. The crankshaft broke just before the IOM tour so it had a different engine when I picked it up.
Arriving at Kens house in Bulwell, Nottingham, we loaded the spares into Dad's Peugeot. The spares filled most of a garden shed so the Peugeot was loaded to the gunnels. I proceeded to drive back up the A1 to Yeadon, near Leeds. You wouldn't do that now!
CRA 212 was an interesting car. There were bed irons under the running boards and rear wings, and the whole body seemed to have at least 1/4" of filler on it, the sunroof had a sheet of 2mm steel riveted on, so it weighed a ton. Performance was not impressive, the slightest gradient requiring at least one gear change. Not that changing gear was a problem as it had a semi-automatic gearbox, as the gear lever would fall from 1st to 2nd or 3rd to 4th at modest engine speed. Other features were the windows, which fell like a stone if the car hit a bump, and the passenger door which opened itself on right hand bends. The semaphore indicators were unable to achieve an erection unless the engine was running, presumably the vibration helped. MOT time was always very tense as the tester and myself waited patiently at each side of the car for the indicator arm to rise. It took about 10 seconds as a rule, you had to allow for this whilst driving, but the self opening windows made hand signals easier.
I don't know where CRA 212 is now but the spares I got with it started me on the special building that has taken up so much of my wasted life!
I had agreed to buy it just before the A7 Isle of Man Tour 1975? but Ken was taking part so I was to pick it up afterwards. The crankshaft broke just before the IOM tour so it had a different engine when I picked it up.
Arriving at Kens house in Bulwell, Nottingham, we loaded the spares into Dad's Peugeot. The spares filled most of a garden shed so the Peugeot was loaded to the gunnels. I proceeded to drive back up the A1 to Yeadon, near Leeds. You wouldn't do that now!
CRA 212 was an interesting car. There were bed irons under the running boards and rear wings, and the whole body seemed to have at least 1/4" of filler on it, the sunroof had a sheet of 2mm steel riveted on, so it weighed a ton. Performance was not impressive, the slightest gradient requiring at least one gear change. Not that changing gear was a problem as it had a semi-automatic gearbox, as the gear lever would fall from 1st to 2nd or 3rd to 4th at modest engine speed. Other features were the windows, which fell like a stone if the car hit a bump, and the passenger door which opened itself on right hand bends. The semaphore indicators were unable to achieve an erection unless the engine was running, presumably the vibration helped. MOT time was always very tense as the tester and myself waited patiently at each side of the car for the indicator arm to rise. It took about 10 seconds as a rule, you had to allow for this whilst driving, but the self opening windows made hand signals easier.
I don't know where CRA 212 is now but the spares I got with it started me on the special building that has taken up so much of my wasted life!