The Triumph Herald

The first car I ever had was a (G-reg) Triumph Herald 13/60. Not a convertible but it did have a sunroof. I bought this in 1980 when I was at University in Cardiff. I paid £110 for it which it probably wasn't worth. It had a terrible oil leak around the sump gasket and the oil level dropped dangerously low just once too often. In the end the MOT ran out and it developed a terrible piston slap noise when it was started.

My girlfriend, Karen and I loved that car but looking back it really was a heap. About a year later we took it to a breakers in Hanley who gave us £30 for it. Never do this, it breaks your heart, just give it to some gypsies or something instead!

The second car I had was also a Triumph Herald 13/60 (a newer K reg one), but this time it was a dark blue convertible. I bought it from some real rough council estate in Cardiff and I was totally aware that it had filler around the windscreen and it had been resprayed (most probably had been rolled at some stage). It also jumped out of gear when reversing, I shouldn't have bought it, but a really wanted a Triumph Herald 13/60 Convertible!

It was never to be a lucky car, 3 weeks after buying it, I had a collision with the Chief Inspector of CID for South Wales. I wrote his car off and put a huge dent in the rear wing of mine.  My license was endorsed and I had a fine about as big as the £220 i paid for the car.

My friend Chris Cooper (who was an Escort Mk1 boy) helped me fill the dent and then repaint the whole car, bright red. This seemed to give it a new lease of life.

I failed the first year at UWIST (University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology) where i was doing BSc Electronics, so I went to live in Aberystwyth where I played bass in a R&B band called "Tony Lamb's Boogie Box". I kept the Herald for quite a while, but it didn't like the salty air by the sea and it rusted very quickly.

The gearbox finally gave out, but someone gave me a gearbox and two doors that me and my mate Eddie Castellan fitted. In 1982 I just couldn't afford to keep the Herald going so I swapped it for a 10-speed Viking Bicycle with a Reynolds 501 frame, probably not a bad swap!