Hi. I’m New Here

[Pumper72]

Hi. Hope I can contribute lots. I’ve been into cranking and stalling almost 60 years. Since I was 3 and my parents owned a stalling Hillman Imp in Scotland. I was eventually lucky enough to own my own first car at 16 years and 10 months. My Granny left it to me in her will. It was a 1977 Vauxhall Chevette. The morning after we’d got it to our house, my Mum took me to a disused airfield for my first driving lesson - off road as I was still 16. She started it from cold and it went first time. I was quite sad about that as I’d have liked my first car not to have done so. She reversed off the drive and drove away with no stalling or issues. Boo! In no time, there was a downhill stretch of road into a T junction at the exit to our housing estate. I was still alert to any potential stalling. She had the choke in a bit now. On the final approach to the junction, the ignition light lit up. As the wheels stopped turning, the oil light lit up on her too. Ha! Stopped!! I thought my heart was going to explode. It went on to be a wonderful car. Full of failed starts and much much stalling!

[CrankieMonster]

Hi there and welcome! 60 years is quite impressive! I know exactly what you mean about the warning lights coming on in sequence during a stall, just something about that isn't there

Thanks for sharing!

[Pumper72]

(01-18-2022 06:04 PM)CrankieMonster Wrote:  Hi there and welcome! 60 years is quite impressive! I know exactly what you mean about the warning lights coming on in sequence during a stall, just something about that isn't there

Thanks for sharing!

Hi
Thanks for welcoming me as you have. I’ve got loads to share I think. It’s just a case of having the time to type it all up. It all stems back to The Hillman Imp my parents had when I was 3. I remember it like yesterday! Both of them struggled to start it, and it simply would not stay running. My memory has it that we stalled at EVERY junction. There’s the odd comment here and there on the internet to back up that all early Hillman Imps did this. Both my parents got frustrated and cross with that car, and they also often cranked it in the cold with a coat on. Both wore long trench coats which used to whistle against the vinyl seats - and their coats smelled strongly from the rain too, in the cars enclosed space. It set me up for a lifetime of loving cranking and stalling, and I still like it particularly if someone cranks with their coat on. I’m heterosexual - so I prefer women cranking to men, but I can still get very excited by a man doing it too. It’s the process as much as the person for me, and the foot pumping thing isn’t really my driver. It’s the frustration and the key and choke fumbles I like most.

[Pumper72]

(01-18-2022 06:42 PM)Pumper72 Wrote:  [quote='CrankieMonster' pid='5436' dateline='1642493070']
Hi there and welcome! 60 years is quite impressive! I know exactly what you mean about the warning lights coming on in sequence during a stall, just something about that isn't there

Thanks for sharing!

My earliest cranking/staling memory dates back to when I was just 3. It was a cold and wet Saturday morning - and the memories are vivid for something so long ago. This was the start of the main effect on me. We all got in the family Hillman Imp and my Dad tried to start the engine. It proved difficult. We were all in the enclosed space of the car with our coats on. Dad had taken the dog for a walk just before - so his coat was already sodden as it was raining hard. His coat smelt very strongly of this dampness, all mixed in with the petrol fumes. It was an intoxicating aroma. The coat he was wearing was a thing called a Gannex Mac. A lot of men had these at that time. Prime Minister Harold Wilson had one which he wore, and Internet research tells me that lots of men bought them because of that. This coat was made of extremely robust material and the sleeves whistled as he reached repeatedly for the choke and the keys, and the “skirt” of the coat also whistled as it rubbed against the vinyl seats. He quickly became cross with the car - which I found frightening and exciting in equal measure. “DAMN! Start!!” So we’ve got two senses aroused so far. The smell of the coat and petrol, and the sound of the whistling raincoat, his cursing - and the telltale rasping cranking noise… “Galla lalla lalla lalla lalla… DAMN AND BLAST!” The sense of touch was also at play though. The Hillman Imp had a rear engine - and I was on the back seat. A cranked engine made the seat shudder under my small frame, vibrating against me - and sight was also at play. I could see the looks of anger on his face - and the ignition/oil lights pulsing on the dashboard, only to re-illuminate fully each time he released the keys to confirm the car was in defiance of the authoritative figure that was my Dad, in his almost military style raincoat! Those ignition and oil stall warning lights btw? My parents always referred to them as “the jerking lights.” No idea way - and I’ve never heard anyone else call them that. Apart from me. I rather like the terminology! More sounds would stimulate my hearing too. The keys jingling noisily in the ignition as he turned them, and the gentle click-click after each failed crank, as he quickly switched the ignition off, then back on before trying the starter again. So cranking was a sensory experience then. It was then. It still is now - and I still love watching people stall and crank, and when they’ve got their coat on it’s best of all for me! In the end that day, he must’ve got it started, and I just know that it will have stalled again every time he pulled up somewhere, because that’s what it always did. One thing does stand out about this particular morning though. We lived in a little market town called Brampton - in Cumbria then. Dad had decided to park on The Market Square. There were just a small number of spaces there and they were often full. When we got there every space was taken. You could drive right round The Market Square though. The main road through the town ran along the bottom of it, and there was a minor road that ran right round the rest of it. Looking at Google Earth - it hasn’t changed to this day, so I know my memory isn’t playing tricks. Because of the way the road is configured, there are only 2 places where a driver has to give way, and these two places are just a few yards apart on the circuit. I remember we had to drive round many times, in the downpour, before he eventually got a space, and each and every time we came to one of the two junctions, the back seat gave its tell-tale little shudder, and a split second later, the jerking lights came on. “Damn, damn, damn and BLAST!” He always said something like that when it happened, and with the two junctions do close together - he’d barely get re-started at the first one before we stalled at the second one. Each time, the coat sleeve would whistle as he reached for the keys which jingled, and then there was that little click-click before the cranking started as he switched the ignition off and then back on. The Imp’s cranking noise was staccato and the car sounded as angry as him. “Galla lalla lalla lalla lalla lalla…” That sort of noise. It often took 2 or 3 goes to restart too. So you’d get something like this. “BLAST! Whistling coat… Jingle jingle. Click-click… Galla lalla lalla lalla lalla lalla BLAST!” And repeat. And so on… The Imp had another trait too. It never seemed to stall with a big lurch like some cars do. I’d just feel that slight shudder in my body through the back seat, then it would roll almost silently to a halt. Not quite silently. It made a little noise like it was exhaling with delight! No wonder I was hooked. I’ll type you up some more when I get a minute but it really is no wonder that the whole cranking stalling thing became so big for me given this beginning.

[Victor101]

(01-18-2022 07:31 AM)Pumper72 Wrote:  Hi. Hope I can contribute lots. I’ve been into cranking and stalling almost 60 years. Since I was 3 and my parents owned a stalling Hillman Imp in Scotland. I was eventually lucky enough to own my own first car at 16 years and 10 months. My Granny left it to me in her will. It was a 1977 Vauxhall Chevette. The morning after we’d got it to our house, my Mum took me to a disused airfield for my first driving lesson - off road as I was still 16. She started it from cold and it went first time. I was quite sad about that as I’d have liked my first car not to have done so. She reversed off the drive and drove away with no stalling or issues. Boo! In no time, there was a downhill stretch of road into a T junction at the exit to our housing estate. I was still alert to any potential stalling. She had the choke in a bit now. On the final approach to the junction, the ignition light lit up. As the wheels stopped turning, the oil light lit up on her too. Ha! Stopped!! I thought my heart was going to explode. It went on to be a wonderful car. Full of failed starts and much much stalling!

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Hi, wonderful memories, my neighbours daughter had an ancient early chevette in the mid 80’s that regularly used to refuse to start on winter mornings, it was an N reg, with lovely check half vinyl seats