CHILDHOOD 1947/48 A NO CAR FAMILY....UNTIL...

1928 Buick Business Coupe

Until 1947/48 my family was a no car family. Our neighbours on either side two houses either way were similarly bereft of mechanised wheels, as were the two houses across the street. We did not feel deprived or underprivileged .Mum certainly would never have considered learning to drive, and my Dad died aged 84 never having driven a car.

However, young and restless, my elder brother Pat who had been forbidden to enlist in the Navy in 1944, acquired his license to drive sometime in 1946/47 and after a heavy fall from a Harley Davidson Motor Bike he had bought , he decided he must have four wheels instead of two.He thus occasioned great parental relief. However there was great surprise and not a little consternation when he opened the double driveway gates ( rarely ever opened) and drove up the side level with the back verandah an IMMENSE Buick Business coupe of 1928.It was colossal and Mum was immediately convinced it was vulgar and ostentatious, my Dad had less to say and simply walked away . As for me , my opinion did not count and was not sought.......but that doesn't mean I didn't have one!! YES, YES, YES!!! I loved it  - it was a pale sky blue with dark blue mudguards - big broad mudgaurds and a looong bonnet ( strangely the "hood"to our American cousins) ending in a majestic radiator topped in that distinctive architectural Buick form with the characteristic ornate white "Buick "script on a blue enamel Badge. And topped off with a solid looking chrome radiator cap. The entire front end composition was set off by a pair of headlights each one worthy of a locomotive, and a pair of somewhat smaller parking lights , one at each bottom corner of the windscreen - a nice touch.. The cabin featured an upright windscreen and gave way to a curved boot ( American "trunk"- that at least made sense) lid which opened back to provide a "Dickie"Seat and the whole was concluded by another set of broad mudgaurds connected to those at the front by a set of serious running boards, This was a car to be reckoned with!

That proved to be too true. For my brother quickly started to complain about its reluctance to go around corners - weighing in at about 50% more than a large sedan to-day, and built about 25 years before power steering became common, it was apparently rather like steering a large ship . But Oh! how I would love to have the chance to drive that wonderful monster of a car!

Sadly, my young and restless brother tired of the steering battle and soon sold it , only to acquire..... but that is another story.