Jim Allen recalls the hazardous business of the daily drive into pre-war Bristol.

A FRIEND of mine thinks nothing of commuting 100 miles to Birmingham daily by car and a visit to Temple Meads early in the morning will find a train full of commuters off to London. How different it all was 65 years ago. Most of the working men in my home village of Upton Cheyney, near Bitton, in the 1930s had jobs within four miles of home and either cycled or walked to work. For those employed in Bristol, commuting involved a cycle-ride or walk to Bitton station, a train (LMS) to Mangotsfield, and then a change of train to Temple Meads.

In 1935 my brother learnt to drive in a Morris Cowley, the property of the Squire's wife, who was not a skilful driver and had managed to burn out the clutch. A venture down the hill from Upton Cheyney to Bitton or beyond was fraught with the difficulty of getting back up the hill again. My brother solved the problem by reversing up the twisty hill, the friction plates operating fairly efficiently in that gear. (People used to get up the notorious one in four Porlock Hill in Somerset the same way.)

The Morris therefore was a dubious starter for commuting, so when I joined him on the daily run to Bristol in January 1936, we bought an Austin 7, registration AHY 309, for £100. Our travel problems seemed to be over. Of course they weren't. There was the weather to contend with. There was no anti-freeze, so the radiator had to be drained every night and refilled with lukewarm water in the mornings. In less severe weather a paraffin lamp hung under the radiator sufficed. In severe cold the radiator needed a muffler to prevent freezing during travel. AHY 309 had a piece of cardboard jammed across its grill. After cranking the engine to life and letting it warm up, it was choke out and time to start the 10-mile journey to Temple Gate.

An early start was essential. If we left Upton at 7am we had a clear run through Bitton and Keynsham and along the A4. If we left at 8.05am we trailed along the Willsbridge-Keynsham road behind Farmer Clapp's cows who, after milking, made a leisurely progress, undriven, unattended to their allotted field, spattering the tarmac with 'detrimental to coachwork' deposits. Apart from cows, horses posed problems, casting shoes and nails, which led to punctures. There was a lot of horse-drawn traffic around Temple Meads in those days.

On Tuesday, December 21,1937 we traded in AHY 309 in favour of an Austin Big 7, registration CDF 845, whose list price was £149 10s. The Big 7, still named Ruby Saloon, was a glorified Austin 7, with a sliding roof, a hinged windscreen for ventilation, trafficators to save winding down the windows to give hand signals, a self-starter if the battery was charged and a drop-down luggage carrier. Our first purchase was four gallons of ethyl for 6s 4d. Speeds were restricted through the gears and 50mph was the maximum in top gear. On our first trip the dash-lamp burnt out. We replaced it, but they kept burning out and 10 days after purchase the whole electrical system failed. Loose solder in the fuse box was blamed and we had to resort to AHY 309 again, still sitting on Anstey's Garage forecourt in Bitton.

At 500 miles CDF 845 needed an oil change, five pints of Castrol for 4s 3d. At 900 the gearbox and back axle oil was changed, using 1pints XL and one pint HP at a cost of 2s. Greasing the 10 nipples was a weekly necessity. Adcoids were a recommended additive to petrol at that time, a tablet for every two gallons. I remember ordering four gallons and two Adcoids at a Bristol petrol station, 'Adcoids!', the attendant said as he wound the pump handle, 'What's want they for? I wouldn't put them in my ... wheelbarrow!'

At a mileage of 2,350 the car was decarbonised (costing £110s), the first of many de-cokes in its lifetime. The car was in daily use in the pre-war years. There were hazards on our journeys, floods, icy roads and fogs. I particularly remember freezing fogs. There were no white lines, no cats' eyes and the beam from the headlights reflected off the fog and dazzled the driver. Along the Keynsham-Bitton road, where the fogs were often worst, I would walk by the grass verges where my brother could see me through the open windscreen and side windows and we would creep along in bottom gear, often leading a procession of other cars and lorries.

A big hazard in Bristol was the tram lines, in which wheels could become trapped. The trams themselves were a menace as they swung and lurched out of Brislington Tram Depot. Trams had priority over other road users. We often saw Brooke Bond Trojan vans, whose wheel gauge seemed to be the same as the tram wheel gauge, getting their solid tyres trapped in the lines. Trojans were chain-driven to the back axles and with no differential, they had the habit of jumping sideways and skidding on the cobbles as their drivers steered out of the tramlines. We were careful when following Trojan vans and swaying trams.

On the outbreak of war, restrictions on lighting were introduced. Sidelights had a circular hole about a quarter-inch in diameter: headlights were fitted with metal hooks and the glass was blacked out to allow a one-inch strip of light to pierce the gloom. Petrol rationing was introduced early in the war, with industrial petrol dyed red so it could not be used in private cars. Private cars could get four gallons a month on special coupons if licensed. We kept the car licensed for use on our wartime leaves from the forces, and for my brother's honeymoon in 1940 and my own in May 1941, we managed to get to Porlock and back. Otherwise, the Big 7 was kept jacked up on wooden blocks in an old cart shed.

By 1942 our circumstances had altered and the car was laid up until May 1946. Never again did we commute together. The war years had done the coachwork and chassis no favours and the brakes, transmission and engine were in constant need of attention, but CDF 845 gave us good service into the 1950s. I have no records of car insurance, but in 1938 an annual car licence was 15s per horse / power, petrol was 1s 6d a gallon.The average wage for men was £2 per week but parking in Bristol was free!