Juvenile Wrecking Crew.

A Memory of Luton.

I think it mite have been one Sunday in 1954 (cos the plant was nearly deserted) when me, my older bro Roy and 2 or 3 other kids from Hart Lane wound up in the new car parking area of General Motors Vauxhall.
As all the cars keys were left in the ignitions, this backlot was about to become Pleasure Island for Pinocchio and the naughty boys!?
Most of us 6-8yr olds had never even been inside a car before, so it was a real kick turning the key and bunny hopping the beasts into the bumper of the one in front. (all the cars had been left in gear). l dont recall if this shunting eventually gave us room to take one out on the road, or if Roy found one that was in a drive away position. Anyroad, after a few hops the engine fired and much to our glee we were off and running.
I suppose it cud have turned into a demolition derby, but it ended at the first hard corner when we T-boned into another of the Generals expensive Anglo Yanktanks.
[Velox's (apparently without power steering) were twice the price of the Ford Popular or Prefect of the day].
It was about this time that the Generals cavalry appeared on the horizon. Roy immediatly went into damage control mode.
This involved me taking the blame for everything!
On the face of it, quite the unbrotherly thing to do! However, Roy and l had used this ruse before and it worked. The dodge required me to ruefully confess to "whatever", and merely get yelled at, whilst Roy would get a clout for not looking after me, instead of the flogging he deserved for being the culprit.
2With this expedience I was assured his contined (and much called upon) protection and brotherly love... quid pro quo! Easy squeezy!
The rest of the crew seemed 100% agreeable with this solution to our dilemma.
However, there were a couple of flies in the ointment of the group's alibi.
Roy was obviously the leader of this pack and l being 2.5 yrs younger, was the runt of the litter. (My nickname was "boneyard"). Therefore expecting the law to believe that I was the wheelman, when l couldn't even see over it was a big ask?
Puzzlingly, in spite of us ending up in the Vaux cop shop, the upshot of this episode is a blur to me now. I figure the Vaux police canned it on account of our ages and/or possible bad publicity, so hopefully our long suffering father never got to hear of it?
Curiously, I actually came to believe it WAS me who pranged the car and it was years later before Roy finally told me the truth.
Pooey!! I wanted to be the wheelman!