Mr. Chips commented in another thread that he learned to drive in a Morris 1100. It brought back memories of my Dad.

For many years, he had a Morris Minor. Drivers seat on the left. Turn signals were flags that popped out of the sides. Its paint was weathered to a powder. Everyone in the family manually polished it to a shine. No buffing wheel.

He loved it in part because it was simple to repair. He fixed the transmission with a steel rod from the local small-town hardware store.
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Here's me checking out my dad's Morris Minor in 1bout 1956, in Silicon Valley (still vacuum tube valley at the time). My older brother, Mark, is in front.

 

So it's mostly used for signaling the driver ahead that it's okay to merge in front of you?

Yes, also a few other indications, for example on a restricted speed limit road, a vehicle coming towards you on the other side might give you a couple of flashes that usually indicates there is a speed trap up ahead.

 

Yes, the historical reason for this; it's all to do with keeping your sword hand free In the Middle Ages you never knew who you were going to meet when travelling on horseback. Most people are right-handed, so if a stranger passed by on the right of you, your right hand would be free to use your sword if menaced by anyone.

This seems relevant still. I think I could transit much more efficiently if I had my dominant hand free to menace fellow travelers with a sword stuck out the window. Nobody would dare hinder me if there was a chance of getting their tires and/or face punctured at the next red light.

 

View attachment 301753

Here's me checking out my dad's Morris Minor in 1bout 1956, in Silicon Valley (still vacuum tube valley at the time). My older brother, Mark, is in front.

That's an excellent picture. Have you done anything to enhance the quality? None of my old family photos look like that. Even the ones of me as a baby in the 80s look hazy, pale, and like they were taken with a film of dog droppings over the lens. I'm talking about all the family photos, from all sides, multiple cameras from multiple eras shot by several different people. I imagine it probably has mostly to do with quality of the camera and film, and I'm betraying my family's collective financial status in this confession.

 

That's an excellent picture. Have you done anything to enhance the quality? None of my old family photos look like that. Even the ones of me as a baby in the 80s look hazy, pale, and like they were taken with a film of dog droppings over the lens. I'm talking about all the family photos, from all sides, multiple cameras from multiple eras shot by several different people. I imagine it probably has mostly to do with quality of the camera and film, and I'm betraying my family's collective financial status in this confession.

My dad was an excellent photographer, and took really good care of his slides. There are a few speckles on this one, as you can see, but otherwise, well preserved.

 

That's an excellent picture. Have you done anything to enhance the quality? None of my old family photos look like that. Even the ones of me as a baby in the 80s look hazy, pale, and like they were taken with a film of dog droppings over the lens. I'm talking about all the family photos, from all sides, multiple cameras from multiple eras shot by several different people. I imagine it probably has mostly to do with quality of the camera and film, and I'm betraying my family's collective financial status in this confession.

Check out VueScan software for scanning. I used that and a Nikon slide scanner to do a pretty big project of all the old family photos. There are optical tricks to remove things like mold spots and scratches, and there are known age-reversing corrections you can apply depending on the brand and type of film. Looks like pure magic compared to a straight scan. It was a one-by-one process for each slide, unfortunately. Some looked like they were taken yesterday but many were a nightmare.

 

Check out VueScan software for scanning. I used that and a Nikon slide scanner to do a pretty big project of all the old family photos. There are optical tricks to remove things like mold spots and scratches, and there are known age-reversing corrections you can apply depending on the brand and type of film. Looks like pure magic compared to a straight scan. It was a one-by-one process for each slide, unfortunately. Some looked like they were taken yesterday but many were a nightmare.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check that out. It would be nice to see those old photos represent what things actually looked like because the brown haze in them starts to taint my memory.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check that out. It would be nice to see those old photos represent what things actually looked like because the brown haze in them starts to taint my memory.

Most of us have a brown haze tainting our memory anyway.