Peter Simpson looks in to the changing contents of car enthusiast’s car boots over the years.
How much stuff do you carry with you in your car’s boot?
And how much of it do you actually need?
Once upon a time, I carried a complete toolkit; a full fivetray cantilevered box which contained, basically, all my hand tools. On top of that there would be boxes-full of ‘essential’ emergency spares; fanbelt, bulbs, spark plugs, oil and water plus, because we’re talking about 20-25 years ago at least, a dizzy cap, coil, rotor arm and a set of contact-breaker points. Oh, and the most essential item of all, a can of damp-start or similar. And jump leads. And a petrol can. And a tow-rope. I’m sure you can see where this is going.
Even that, though, wasn’t always going to be it. There was a time when pretty-much anything I had that was car-related, including my trolley jack, went into the boot ‘just in case’. It was very much a case of ‘if in doubt, put it in.’
All of which impacted on luggage space and, I’m sure, economy. So much so, that when I was about to go on holiday or similar, some of the emergency stuff had to come out. In other words, it had to stay behind at exactly the time it was most likely to be needed. There was also the issue that because older car boots were rarely 100% watertight, stuff left in there long-term might not be fit for purpose when needed.
Nowadays, I don’t really feel the need to carry quite so much stuff. In part this is because the cars I drive daily nowadays tend to be more reliable; a combination of car-reliability generally being better, and the cars I use regularly being younger. With widespread mobile phone ownership, it’s far easier to summon help if it is needed.
That, though, doesn’t mean the boots are empty. My daily driver boot always contains a proper warm reflective jacket, and I still carry a spare auxiliary belt, plus a set of bulbs and fuses. Oh, and a couple of pairs of surgical gloves and, as much for old times’ sake as anything else, a can of WD40 plus a small bottle of anti-freeze. There’s also an official recommendation to carry a blanket when travelling in winter. If you do that, put it under a seat or somewhere else in the passenger compartment rather than in the boot. That way it’s accessible and hopefully still clean enough for people to be willing to wrap themselves in.
None of this takes up much space, and even if I never need any of it, knowing that I have it is reassuring.
But when it comes to the older cars, I still carry a few useful spares, on the basis that while breakdown assistance may now be only a mobile phone-call away, the chances of the AA, RAC, StartRescue or whoever being able to locate spares for a 1990 Volvo 240 or 1992 Rover 827 Coupe, let alone a 1958 Hillman Minx or 1970 Rover P6, are slight.
Accordingly, all four have w
