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I've always been interested in "trains, boats and automobiles", indeed my mother claims the first word I uttered was "Volkswagen", I of course don't remember it but she could have been correct! I am alos told I cried when the man came to take away "my car", a Standard 8, sold because it was being replaced by a Standard 10.
Anyway that was way back in the early 60s. This pic shows me and my first car. I had been driving since I was 18, but had been in the fortunate position of usually being able to borrow one of my parents cars, so had spent my money on motorbikes instead! I got this at the ripe old age of 24, but being a Lancia, most insurers required a minimum age of 25 for the drivers, however I was working for a broker and knew some of the insurer's Inspectors - reps - and got to drive it that way!
It was a 1600cc Lancia Beta HPE, great to drive and spolit me as far as cars were concerned. Lancias of that time gave the secondhand buyer an awful lot of car for their money. They had a well known problem with rust! The steel used was poor - reputidly from Russia, taken as part payment for the Fiat (Lancia's parent company) 124 production line they bought - and a lack of coordination between design teams meant the engine sub frame mounts rusted VERY quickly, resulting in the engine unit trying to drive away without the rest of the car!
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