This was my very first car, given to me by my brother Des in 1964. A small British car, the Austin 10 for 1939 was completely redesigned and very different to any previous Austin.

The car had a 1140cc four-cylinder flat head engine, it produced 32bhp (24kw) and could reach a sizzling 60 mph (97kph).

Other interesting facts, it had rod brakes, the foot pedal was connected to each wheel by a rod, pressing on the pedal forced the shoes apart inside the drums and the car would come to a stop, eventually!.

It was actually quite a comfortable little car with its four doors and real leather seats. I drove many miles in this car. Oh, there was no radio or air/con. not even a heater. This car, along with my brother Jim and my dad's help, taught me everything I needed to know about fixing something when it broke, and I think almost everything did break at some stage. Other important lessons I got with this car; the importance of using quality tools, the temptation to buy cheap tools is very strong, especially when the wages are low but the first time a poor quality wrench slips on a nut and the message gets through, tool maintenance, like putting them away after a job.

Another distinctive feature of this car was the monster chrome headlights. I fondly recall polishing those things.

When I first got this car, it was black. I painted it light blue, I used a hand brush and painted it myself, and I was actually quite proud of the job I did.

The black car to the left above is not my actual car but it is a better shot than I have, the one on the right is my car, white sidewalls, pretty smick!. This photo was taken around 1965, in front of our Nelson NZ home, the Vauxhall is my brother Jim's.

The brickworks (long gone) were the location of many childhood 'cowboy & injun' and 'battleground' scenes.

The Austin 10 was produced from 1939, right through the war and was replaced by the better known Austin A40 in 1947.