Topic: Name your favorite ride from the 1960's

[nicanary]

I still remember the sheer joy of the thing;...it cornered like nothing else I had ever driven. What if the gear lever flapped about like a swashbuckler's cutlass?  What if the seats were made from paving slabs?  The tiny engine was so out of date that it was already museum-worthy, but it revved its little heart out and added to the impression of speed.  The suspension, if indeed there was any, was so useless that it was vital to avoid even the tiniest pothole, but the steering was so responsive that such manoevres were part of the joy.  I had borrowed it for a day, and I kept thinking of excuses to go out again.  When it was parked on the driveway, I would go to the front window of the house and gawp at it in admiration. I had experienced the manifestation of genius. The 848cc BMC Mini!!!

I'd saved every penny I was given or earned since being a small (car-loving) child and bought one of these on my 17th birthday.
It was followed fairly soon by a 998 cc Mini-Cooper; smiles-per-pound it provided the greatest pleasure of any car I've ever owned!

I've been a motoring enthusiast all my life, and a driver for 48 years, and I've never driven a Mini or Mini variant. Amazing really - I don't know how it ever came to pass (or not pass), but that's the way it is. I have owned an Austin 1100, which had similar characteristics, and I remember a rubbery gearchange, and a weird pitching motion on country roads due to the Hydrolastic suspension.

My next car after it was a 1972 (1275cc and RWA) MG Midget, and I still hanker for that little gem.  I loved it. It's still out there - I did an online check once, although it could well be reshelled now.

I doubt if I could stoop down and get in a Mini now, let alone a Midget.

PS The MG wasn't from the '60s, so I'll have to say my friend's dad's Standard 10, although that was from the '50s. It had a long and inaccurate gearlever, a willing but gutless engine, and an interior retrimmed in black "borrowed" from the Lotus factory at Hethel. I'd only just passed my test, so any car was a treat to drive, and I had a lot of fun in that little thing. Stirling Moss had one, so it can't have been that bad.

[FrontMan]

At the other end of the scale from the Mini, a Buick is forever burnt into my mind.  It was an Electra 225 in white, and it tried to kill me....twice. To quote the late, great Uncle Tom McCahill, it was "as smooth as a pocketfull of Jell-O".  By the time I took on this dinosaur it was well past its best, and it contrived to cut out just as I was driving into a filling station. Instantly, the brakes and steering demonstrated solidarity with their brother, the engine. By some miracle, I JUST avoided demolition of a line of fuel pumps. After its feed, all was peaceful for a couple of weeks. And then, that homicidal nature re-emerged. Heading out of Altrincham (Cheshire) and approaching the Lymm circle I had stoked it up to about 65 or 70mph when the brake servo gave up.  With both feet stamped on the brake pedal and copious windmilling at the steering wheel we broadsided onto the roundabout and into a supremely serendipitous gap in the traffic. Under the circumstances, the handling was really impessive.  With composure regained we trundled calmly on our way, and the servo gave no further trouble. For some reason, my passenger, whose eyes were bulging like a frog's, remained silent for quite some time.

[Carnut]

I suspect he was busy thinking about how soon he could change his trousers...!

[Allan L]

I suppose I should say that the Daimler SP250s that I owned must have qualified as (a) they were built in the 1960s and (b) I owned the first one from 1966! I had four of 'em at one time or another until 1979. Photos on the "cars I've owned" thread.

As for the Mini (real one, not the elephantine BMW thing) I hired one in about 1961 and although it went well I found the driving position difficult (I'm taller than Alec Issigonis was!) and the FWD understeer frightening. Later on I had an Ogle based on a Mini and that had a better driving position but similar understeer.

[FrontMan]

The Mini's faults were many and various, and understeer was certainly one of them.  The instant cure was to lift off the throttle in mid-corner and let the torque re-action tug the thing back to the originally intended path! A firiend who owned a 1275 Cooper gave me a demonstration, and pronounced it the safest car in the World.  To chicken-out in most other cars would be to spin backwards into the ditch.

[longtom]

Borgward Isabella Coupé:

[Paul Jaray]

Nice choice!
Welcome to Autopuzzles!

[mekubb]

Definitively one of my favorite rides !

[Allemano]

Maybe a bit old for the sixties...

[mekubb]

Oops.... you are right, hadn't read the header. For the sixties this is my car 

[nicanary]

This is possibly the most defining car of the period, leading as it did to the great motorsport programme of FoMoCo. Can't say I've ever driven it  !

[norberthanke]

My favorite ride (?)

Name that car. Car? Sorry, not from the sixties, maybe eighties?

NorbertHanke