The AA Book of the Car

Remember this?

When I came on the 1977 edition of the AA Book of the Car buried in a cupboard it brought back memories of tinkering with cars in all weathers to save me a bob or two at the garage. After passing my test my mother and I got ourselves a Mini 850. A rust bucket of fun with nonexistent engine mounts. Best forgotten!

Then I moved up to a very nippy Mini Clubman Estate. A few years after that I couldn't resist my cousin's fantastic 2-litre Opel Ascona. But, like many other young men before and after me, I had to cut my cloth and sell it on when my precious daughter came along in 1981. It was a long time before I was rolling about below a car again.

Points and plugs, air filters, oil changes and occasionally swapping tyres around were about my limit back in the day. Probably in moments of desperation I can remember thumbing through the AA book trying to learn something fast that would get me back on the road.

Maybe you've dropped on this page after a search. If so I hope the pictures below bring back happy memories. Or it could be you're a modern-day mechanic and you've an interest in vintage cars from the 60s and 70s. Either way, enjoy.