Our first car, a wedding present, was a white Morris Minor called Mildred (though years before that my Dad had gone through a couple of Ford Anglia three-speed biscuit tins and the first generation Vauxhall Viva - I passed my test in one of those). I spent many a happy weekend removing the Morris Minor cylinder head in order to grind burnt valves. Tappet noise was a very comforting sound after you'd put it all back, I seem to remember. The only special tool needed was a wooden stick with a rubber sucker on the end. There was so much room under the bonnet that you could almost get in and stand next to the engine. I open my Ford Focus bonnet today and I haven't a bloody clue what I'm looking at.