My worst two cars were both Fords. A 3-gear 100E Anglia with vacuum wipers which I hired about 1959. With 4 adults, it wouldn't pull up the hills on the A30 in top, and quickly ran out of revs in 2nd. In either gear, the wipers stopped after about a minute of full throttle, which meant frequent slowdowns to clear the screen. At least there wasn't much traffic then.

The other was a 105E Anglia (with the cut-back rear window) which I had as a works car in March 1967. The handling was lethal - wouldn't hold a line in a corner, and the back end would hop if it hit a matchstick. I managed to improve it a bit by bolting a 100 lb paving slab down in the boot, but it still wasn't good. I put up with it until August, when I managed to exchange with an office guy. The soft-top SWB Land Rover with a 2-litre engine was a much more civilised car!

The most fun was a Citroen 2CV in which I did 60,000 miles in 3 years. It worked well as a site vehicle in the earthworks stage of the M4 - kept up with the foreman's land rover. I can also vouch for Citroen's advertised "70mph maximum, 70mph cruising", if cruising is the right word. With 4 adults into a strong headwind on the M4, I held the throttle hard against the floor from Almondsbury to Heston Services on the M4 - 100 miles flat out. Downhill, it just reached 72, uphill it slowed to below 60. I can also confirm that the 2CV will go all round a roundabout on 3 wheels!

Phil