My first car had its quirks.
First a “why” I bought a car.
I had been to a dance in the next city over, all of 35 km away.
There I met this absolutely fabulous girl, a number 10 all around. We danced many dances, were outside and talked - and decided to meet next weekend again.
It was springtime and not warm yet. My 120 cc Italian Parilla 1958 scooter was not perfect for a first date.
I was fresh out of the army and worked pumping gas then. One of the mechanics had just fixed up his 1954 Moskvitch.
I bought it for 300 kronor, about CAD 300 in today’s value.
Mine was exactly like this but had K-plates (AA is for Stockholm)
It was newly polished and ran smooth as silk as I drove to the girl’s home.
I parked by the curb and started walking towards the front door - it opened - and her father came out.
“I certainly don’t approve of my daughter going out with any boy with a car like that.
Leave now.”
I drove home, severely downtrodden. Once home again, all of 35 km away, I called her on the telephone, a long-distance, operator dialed, and very expensive call in 1959.
She told me that she was sorry but could never see me again.
The car?
- It had lights that would have honoured a fast bicyclist, pedaling as fast as he could to drive the front wheel dynamo. Driving in the dark was scary.
- The three-speed transmission had no synchronizing rings, you had to double-clutch at every gear shift. At this time, only VW “standard” owners and heavy truck drivers knew how to shift this way. I had learned in the army.
- The brakes were very hard to push. I had a wooden box behind the front seat and would stop with the gearshift in neutral and both feet on the pedal, pulling on the parking brake as hard as I could.
- The noisy heater blew a lot of hot air that would only heat “one little dog” on the right side. The driver would freeze, but my dog was cozy.
- Why only my Cocker Spaniel Lou-Lou? All the door rubber seals had dried out and fallen out. The ride was windy, to say the least.
- The windshield wipers were driven by a Bowden cable from the distributor shaft. The wipers slowed to a crawl when driving slowly and the cable would, occasionally, fall off. Then I had to stop by the side of the road, open the hood and laboriously reassemble the drive.
- This, being a Russian car, had a very high free-board. You could drive over a plowed, frozen field and not hit the bottom.
- The springs? They were as hard as the steel they were made from.
- We were joking that a kidney belt should have come as original equipment, perhaps it had.
- Speed?
- 95 km/h - only downhill, with the wind and the sun in the back and a strong wish to get home.
- Acceleration of this 1,100 kg car with a19 hp engine? How do you spell that word?
- The origin? The Opel Kadett model 1938.
- The invading Russians took over the factory and convinced some of the old hands to show where the original metal stamping molds were buried, well oiled and covered, after the war had ended
The Opel Kadett drivetrain had been turned around, drive wheels up front, and used in the German Kattelrad three-wheeler, still in production as WW2 ended.
I loved my Moskvitch. The “other girls” that came later loved it too, especially the rear seat, very spacious when the front seats were pushed all the way forward.
Oops, too much information???
