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In those far off days speeding cameras were not required, (cars were not fast enough to exceed the limit anyway.)
Traffic wardens hadn’t been invented (park anywhere you like.)
Drink driving hadn’t been noticed, the breathalyser had not been thought of, (good job, getting drunk was a way of life.)
Policemen were purring about on LE Velocettes (or pushbikes) and uniformed BSA Bantam riders delivered telegrams.
Petrol was as cheap as chips or cheaper (all Garage forecourts had slow attended service.)

Gerald’s Memories.

My first job was in a Worcester garage aged fourteen. The owner was Bert Speekes, a tall wiry chap.
Bert had just had a new Weaver vehicle lift installed of which he was very proud.
The lift was a wheel free; it lifted cars under the bodywork, rather than under the wheels.
Bert said let’s put this van on my new lift; we positioned the van a Bradford belonging to the local grocer a Mr Newman over the lift. Bert said operate the controls, which I did and the lift went up without lifting the van it had come up through the wooden floor. Mr Newman was not very pleased.

Mike (nickname Buzzard)

At Wakefields garage Worcester we all had to clock on at eight o’clock, or we lost a quarter. Buzz had found that the clock, (in a wooden cabinet) had seen better days, if you pushed the door in a certain way it would spring open, and the clock could be reset.
This ruse saved Buzz many a quarter.

Jeff’ should have disconnected the battery.

Jeff had stripped the sump off a Sunbeam Rapier, to replace big end shells, when an urgent job came in and needed to be on the lift.
Jeff pushed the Sunbeam off the lift and into the middle of the garage, so that the other job could be put on the lift.
George hicks the under manager came into the garage, jumps in car unaware the engine had been dismantled, but Jeff had left battery connected.
George tried to start the engine, resulting in a horrible clanking noise.
The customer had a few extra parts on his bill.

Brian’s amazement.

Mike had overhauled the engine on a Singer Gazelle, and told the customer to bring it back in five hundred miles to tighten the cylinder head bolts
When the customer brought the car back in, it had developed a noise, as Mike was away on holiday, Brian had to check the engine, upon removing the rocker cover, he found the cause of the noise, Mike had left a seven/sixteenth half/inch ring spanner, on the cylinder head, and it was moving up and down on the rockers.

Fred’s Recollection.

We all had to take turns collecting clean overalls from Quality Cleaners, on the other side of town.
On the way back we all used to call in at a café in St. Johns and spend half an hour drinking coffee.
One day Fred called in and as usual went into the back room, who should he see waiting for him, but Alfie the foreman, who had been tipped off.

Bill’s last job.

A Sunbeam Alpine came into the garage with loss of braking. The car had disc brakes, (in those days quite a new thing.)
Bill was given the job to repair the Alpine brakes, and quickly found the disc pads were worn out and required replacement.
Upon doing this job Bill realised the brake calliper pistons had to be forced back into the callipers, to allow the new pads to be fitted. He did this dropped in the new pads, fitted new pins and the job was done.
Just then the owner returned to see if his car was ready. Bill said he would just test the brakes. Started the car up and accelerated across the garage, applied the brakes, and nothing happened, he hit the garage wall at a fair speed, damaging the car with the owner looking on in a state of shock Bill had omitted to pump the pedal to restore travel.

Tom’s shortcut clutch job.

In the Fifties, on most new cars, separate chassis and body construction was replaced by a single unitary structure, making production easier and cheaper, but the mechanics job was made much more difficult.
Clutch replacement for instance meant taking the gearbox out from underneath the vehicle, prior to this, gearboxes were removed from inside the car.
Tom who owned a small country garage near Worcester, had to replace the clutch on a 1954 Standard 8 (a car new to Tom.) He proceeded to lift the carpets to remove gearbox from above, but was dismayed to find the floor had no access panel, undeterred Tom took his oxy-acetyene gas cutter and cut a hole in the floor large enough to take the gearbox, duly replaced the clutch and fixed back the “cut out panel” with screws.
The owner brought the car back a week later, complaining that since the clutch had been replaced, there was a terrible draught and that he got his feet wet when driving in the rain.

Tony’s Trauma.

Tony’s next door neighbour’s car had failed the MOT. The failure being for a rusty sill.
Tony volunteered to weld a new sill in place, and said I will do the job at your house.
Whilst welding, he caught rubber fuel pipe at back of sill with the welding torch, the result being an instant inferno, which destroyed the car, fence and carport, before the fire brigade brought the blaze under control.

Alan’s Amazement.

A Lady rang from her house in Lower Broadheath, Worcester and asked if I would go and have a look at her car, as there was something the matter with the gears.
I called to see the problem and found the car jammed in reverse, due to the gearshift becoming detached.
She said it happened when out shopping.
Did you get the AA to recover and bring you car home, I asked and was astonished at her reply, oh no she said “I reversed all the way” (a distance of three miles.)

Raymond’s Hangover.

Raymond was working at the local Rolls Royce Agent. The firm was situated in Farrier Street Worcester, in the Fifties.
The main vehicle lift was in the centre of the garage in an old building that had previously been used for many other purposes, it had a low-pitched roof.
The foreman told us to reverse certain models onto the lift in order to avoid the vehicle hitting the roof of the workshop, as there was a beam above. (If you reversed onto the lift the beam would miss the roof of the car.)
One day I went into work with a hangover, without thinking I drove the Roller on to the lift, and sent the vehicle upwards, I was horrified when the roof of the Roller came into contact with the beam, and left a lovely crease.
This did nothing for my hangover and to say the foreman was not pleased would be an understatement.

A Dogs life.

My transport was an old Minivan; the family pet was a Labrador called Sandy. He used to like coming with me in the van.
One day I was collecting parts from Barkers Store in Lowesmoor Worcester, when a chap came in and said he could not believe what he had just seen, he said a dog had his paws on the steering wheel and was pressing the horn button in a Minivan, I had to go outside and tell Sandy to be patient.
Express Factors Worcester, can suply any part for any car. Tel. 01905 616611