TEAM ADVENTURE
For Mother’s Day, the PC team celebrates the memory motors that our mums loved
Ford Fiesta
After various smaller cars, Matt's mum, Julie, found her way to the world of MPVs and is currently on her third Renault Scenic.
Mini
Anna Melton's mum was a Mini gal. She owned four in total including a Minivan. All were driven (and crashed) with verve!
Ford Cortina MkI
Danny's mum, Pat, drove two MkIs in the mid-Seventies. Both 1200 versions, they were family hacks used for every task.
Hillman Imp
Matt Tomkins's mum's Imp taught her basic mechanics and also car control thanks to its odd weight distribution.
Ford Capri
Richard Usher's mum's Capri 2.0S with vinyl roof was the car love of her life. The one she always talked about in her later years.
Honda CRV
Steph's auntie Ash chose the CR-V when she emigrated to Australia. Reliable and practical, it was perfect for the task and terrain.
Austin 1300
Charlotte Vowden's mum Jan came along to the shoot to be reunited with her car favourite. A little red Austin 1300GT.
If you require a pure nostalgic ‘hit’, a truly intoxicating childhood motoring memory, you should really sit on the back seat of your classic. It is the spot from which our earliest car-borne experiences were had – looking at the back of grown up’s heads… listening to grown up conversations or their music. Our relationship with car travel started right there, on those journeys, from that place. Often, the back of a grown-up head belonged to mum. So why do so many of us only celebrate our dads as the car influencer when so often it was mum in the driving seat? For Mother’s Day 2023, PC is fighting back, putting mum behind the wheel again, as four members of the team (and two of our hosts at the magnificent Great British Car Journey museum) reacquaint themselves with the cars that were loved by their significant female elders. Mums’ cars.
DANNY HOPKINS
MUM’S CAR: FORD CORTINA MKI
Living in a Vauxhall town was a bit tough for the majority of the Seventies. Simple reason, we owned Fords. First a pair of 100e Populars (white and dark blue) and then a brace of Cortina MkIs, both 1200s, filled the driveway at 48 Austin Road. It was noted by dad’s Vauxhall employee friends, but he was unapologetic – he knew his way around a Ford engine.
It was my mum who did most of the running around in these excellent secondhand steeds though, dad fixing them at the weekend to prep the aged engines for another cold start. His payback was a lift to and from Luton Railway Station each day for his commute to London.
This provided my morning soundtrack, particularly in winter. The endless churning of the Ford’s starter motor, hoping for a cough, anything to show there’s a sign of life. Once running, the ten-mi
