One for the senior gentlemen of this parish Anyone remember petrol rationing books from 1973/4. Ive still got a couple, but I think they're out of date
I do indeed, I had two vehicles with ration books Honda 250 K2 with a blue & white tank, paid £40 for it from Skipton with 11k miles on the clock. Brilliant bike, wish I still had it. One amusing incident on this bike was when I went to Bolton Abbey with my girlfriend riding pillion. For some reason there were no rear footrests on the bike, on arrival I said "right get off then" Her. "I cant" Me. "Get off, stop pissing about" Her. "My shoes are stuck" Me. "You what?" After unlacing both shoes and lifting her off the bike, I had to prise both shoes of the silencers. Lovely groove from the silencer seam and a totally reformed sole shape, (pleased to say both identical which proved I'd set the carbs up correctly) Me. "look at the mess you've made of my F***ing silencers Start to a splendid day out as you can well imagine! I also had a Vauxhall Viva HB, paid £360 for it with 41k miles on the clock Both vehicles served me well for years.
You've got me thinking now Mick, what did I own back then. As we'd just started a family and the wifes family were spread around the UK we required an estate car to carry all the baby parafanallia so I bought a Hillman Avenger Estate 1500cc in metallic dark green. Can't remember what I paid for it but it was only 12 months old. Can remember what bike I had back then, possibly a Yamaha AS3. Just remembered it was a BSA C15 in maroon.
Wasn't there a song written about that incident in the 70s. "Wrap a yellow Bedford round the old oak tree" Or is it my memory playing tricks on me ?
Yep remember petrol rationing. Had a candy orange and white suzuki t250r hustler at the time, seemed to run forever on 50 pence worth of fuel. Think my dad (god bless his soul) had a fiat 124 at the time.
They were nice bikes, my mate had one, fastest bike I had ever ridden at that time, must have been 1972 ?
It wasn't maroon, XAJ 388 was it , cos if it was we are brothers. I've still got mine, and the three-fold green reg documents. I had a puch maxi, a James Cadet 150, and a Triumph 3TA in an Enfield Continental frame. The Puke was a leftover from learner days, the James Cadet disintegrated on hitting a hump back bridge at the awesome speed of about 30mph but the back wheel came off the ground and it over revved to rod through the case point. The Triumph made way for something else, I don't remember. Incidentally, my old man never drove and so mum sort of adopted that role, actually really kept a pair of gloves in the glove box. When I was about thirteen and we got the Anglia, I saved up the paper round money and bought Mum a nodding dog... duh! the Anglia didn't have a parcel shelf .
Puck maxi, now there's a blast from the past. First bike I ever had at 12 yrs old was an NSU Quickly, Christ knows how it ever got that name but great fun down the fields and back roads at that age. Fantic moped at 16 which used to melt pistons, but only when it knew you'd be stranded 40 miles from home.
Thereabouts, my reg was TEN 315L. Sold it to buy a Mk 111 Cortina. Sad thing was the lad that bought the bike didn't have it long before he ran into some old guy and killed him. He hadn't made the final payment either, I had to go round to his house and his dad settled up.
Had a 1972 Suzuki GT550J (one of the first ones) when the petrol rationing books were issued. Seem to remember I could fill it up for less than a quid ... about 3 gallons or so. Or was that something else even further back in time??
Probably about right that, you never even had to think about setting off anywhere due to petrol costs. Nice bike by the way, one of our lads had a 380 GT, did my first proper wheelie on that completely unplanned, how I didn't come off it I will never know.
Aahh ... that first wheelie!! Sigh!! And on a 50cc Suzuki Sportsman!! Had to go home for a change of underwear!
i never had a bike in the 60s (too young!) but my mate had them and he says the longest runs they went were about 40 miles..any longer than that and there was a good chance they would break down,changed days when a sunday run for us can be 400 miles!
