Under the Bonnet: Confessions of a 1970s and ’80s Car Mechanic
£9.00£12.30 (-27%)
These days, a nice original Vauxhall Viva costs an arm and a leg, but back in the 1970s, £100 bought you a ‘good little runner’, with the rust, bald tyres and dodgy MOT thrown in for free. All you needed was someone who knew how to fix it when it broke down!
Brian Cunningham is that someone – or, at least, he used to be. Under the Bonnet is the totally true* story of being a car mechanic in the old days, when fixing a car was one thing, but keeping it fixed was something else entirely. These are the tales of a bygone age, full of secret scams, chaotic characters and cars almost bursting with personality.
* some tales may be taller than others
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Additional information
| Publisher | The History Press (24 May 2021) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 160 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0750995661 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0750995665 |
| Dimensions | 15.6 x 1.27 x 23.39 cm |
by JT53
Some amusing and interesting bits in the book, but I couldn’t follow the timeline.
It just seemed like a load of random tales. Maybe that was the idea but it was lost on me. Sorry.
by Amazon Customer
Having been in the trade during the years covered by this book it certainly brought back a few memories. Written a very candid style it’s just like it was (and probably still is some places). A great read for classic car fans.
by D. Hall
A fair reflection on 70’s motoring and cars. I can relate to these stories every page, did we really do all those things to our cars.
Funny and easy to read.. looking forward to the next episode..????????????????????????
by martin penny
Ah… This book is a must for any of you who yearn for the proper golden age of motoring. Written with honesty, humour and knowledge.
by SW
I couldn’t get into this book, and it was hard to have any time for the author. The author mentions many things that he got up to in his young days; however, I didn’t find any of it amusing and I couldn’t be bothered with this nonsense. Just not for me. I gave it away to a charity shop without finishing it.
by Jack me tickler
Much better than I anticipated. Well written and gives an inside view of dealing with some old-fashioned (1970s, 80s) car maintenance that some of us can relate to, and the ‘scam’ that is the car manufacturing, retail, and servicing industry of today.
by snowflake
Bought as present for husband. He enjoyed it, lots of stories he could relate to.
by Mrs. Olga A. Danes-volkov
I am a bit older than the author of this book but as my father explained the workings of the internal combustion engine on the back of a cigarette packet, I suppose I was doomed to do a lot of DIY mechanics.
This book reveals very amusingly pretty much every problem Ive had with a car, even cutting out the roof of a. Renault R4L with tinsnips and replacing it with a convertible roof from another, sandwiched with mastic and pop riveted it. It worked!!
For all of us able to remember the wonderful, unreliable, but