Morris Minor Owners Club

I love and cherish my 1957 minor. I use it when I feel Iike it and sometimes take it to work, BUT I'm getting fed up of idiots following me way too close to my rear bumper! My car has a 1098 engine rather than the standard 948. I dont drive slow, in fact sometimes a little too fast
I don't want to thrash my car just to make the idiot behind feel better. How many of you get this? It's beginning to make my drives less pleasurable. I can take my mercedes out and drive the "same speed" and never have a issue

Take no notice of them if it winds you up.

I try not too, but it's hard sometimes

Maybe they wish to admire your classic?.....

The same thing happens to me. I stick to the speed limits where appropriate and don't drive slower than the other cars but some people are determined to overtake you and speed past just because you're driving a Morris. Any mistakes you make are also amplified in their minds. If you hesitate at a roundabout or something similar in a modern car, people don't take any notice but if it's a classic car, they think "Here we go, typical old car, going slowly!". It's extremely annoying, especially when they honk their horn! And especially when it's a 'pimped' Vauxhall Corsa!

Much worse are the pillocks who must get in front of you, and then drive slowly

simmitc wrote:Much worse are the pillocks who must get in front of you, and then drive slowly

Yes, that happens too. I am then tempted to then get up there backside, but with 7 inch drums, it's just not worth it.

just slow down and make them go past , its the ones that pull out in front of you that wind me up

When you can't see their number plate in the rear view mirror they are too damn close. When you can't see their headlamps @@@@@

Cars getting too close up behind happens a lot here whatever you're driving and at whatever speed. I tend to lift the foot off the throttle slightly in the hopes they will pass. The thing is not to let it get you down.

Some thirty odd years ago I was driving our previous Moggy along the Barking Road in East Ham where we lived.
A mum with a pushchair suddenly stepped out from the pavement and I was forced to slam on the brakes as hard as I could.
Wiggy the Minor pulled up so suddenly it surprised me but even more surprised was the moron in a mark one Escort van who had been tailgating me!
He slammed in to the back of the Minor and totalled the front of his van leaving hardly a mark on Wiggy. We drove away laughing leaving the embarrassed prat standing with his front wheels almost touching each other in a pool of water, oil and various bits of Dagenham dustbin! - built with proper metal the old Minors!

our driver-trainer at work says dab your brakes lightly,and when they see your brake lights come on they'll back off

Just ignore them ! They're behind you and of no interest, if they want to pass just because I'm in a 1959 minor and break the speed limit even more I let them. I find the drivers that pull out in front of you because you're driving an old car more annoying especially when I have to brake as they assume old car going slow.

It often happens although I had the last laugh a while ago . A lady in a top end BMW shot past me only to get stuck behind a large slow moving lorry ahead . We had to follow it for about a mile ! She was not a happy bunny.

I think a lot of the problems everyday drivers have is they don't subscribe to our way of thinking. You are driving along, at a legal and safe limit and it bugs them you can combine your hobby with your daily commute. The bloke behind will probably have to wait until the weekend to don his sad trousers and whack a ball across a draughty open field hoping to get it in a little hole. Hence you smile all week AND all weekend.

Just flick your lights on they soon slow down

I'm certain it's down to car manufacturers and also the majority of todays drivers and way of life. I grew up with minis wolsleys imps minors oxfords and they are still great cars to me. Now my younger brother in law that drives a Honda Civic Type R went to Honda and asked them if they had anything faster than his current car as it's not fast enough ?? To which they said NO !! So he's getting an Audi something or other ? I said to him my minor will do 70mph. People nowadays just appear to always be in a rush and if they find themselves behind an older car they know they've got the power to get past and most of the time feel they must, even if you're doing 35 - 40 in a 30 zone. The other end of the scale is when I go out in my V8 custom Capri. I then get the traffic light drag racing brigade !!!! To which I don't respond, yes it's a V8 and has a fair bit of power but I'm quite happy plodding along listening to the V8 rumble.

sid wrote:our driver-trainer at work says dab your brakes lightly,and when they see your brake lights come on they'll back off

Really, from a trainer?

Used to drive my MGA on local 12 man rallies and was able switch off my brake lights as they gave too much advantage to a car running half a minute behind (I had Cibies on the front but ran without sidelights). Wouldn't do such daft things these days but I wondered if it would be worth running wires from the brake light switch to a switch on the dash - it would be possible to put brake lights on occasionally when being tailgated!
John

If the person behind you notices things like brake lights or know what they mean.