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Original poster

Going for a drive?

43 replies

FourChimneys · 23/04/2022 14:39

DH and I were discussing plans for tomorrow. I was telling him how as a child in the 60s and early 70s we would all get in the car on a Sunday afternoon, maybe taking an elderly neighbour with us, and go for a drive. Thinking back to where we used to go, some of these trips would be 40 or 50 miles but we rarely stopped or got out of the car. No drinks or snacks as far as I can remember.

Did anyone else do that? It seems very strange now with environmental concerns and the cost of petrol.

OP posts:
Shinyandnew1 · 23/04/2022 14:41

We used to do a lot of that as kids with my parents. It was very boring! Petrol was cheaper then.

Lottieskeeper · 23/04/2022 14:45

We do this most weekends. As a family of classic car lovers it seams the natural thing to do. We usually stop and have a picnic somewhere along the way.
Its getting expensive with the cost of petrol but if you compare it to the cost of the 4 of us going to a local attraction or out for a pub meal it still works out reasonably priced.

bringincrazyback · 23/04/2022 14:47

We used to do it loads (I was a kid in the 70s/early 80s) although we did usually stop for a drink and a snack. Lots of lovely scenery around where I grew up, so it was a treat.

emuloc · 23/04/2022 14:47

Why would your parents not stop? Were the tearooms too expensive?

iklboo · 23/04/2022 14:48

Yes, definitely. We took a bag of butties & a flask of tea, though. Sometimes we'd only go about 15 miles away, eat & come back (which I thought was a colossal waste of time), other times further afield like Southport, York etc.

Me in the back of the car with three adults smoking their heads off, windows closed, heater on!

EvilPea · 23/04/2022 14:49

We did this. We wouldn’t stop either
“theres drinks at home” would be trotted out every time we longingly looked at a little chef

Shinyandnew1 · 23/04/2022 14:50

emuloc · 23/04/2022 14:47

Why would your parents not stop? Were the tearooms too expensive?

We never went to tea rooms/restaurants/cafes when we were kids. We never had the money for things like that x 5.

evilharpy · 23/04/2022 15:25

I remember "going for a spin" in the 80s. We never really went all that far - round the country roads or along the coast a bit and back - but it felt like it took forever and was the most boring thing on earth.

Original poster
FourChimneys · 23/04/2022 15:34

emuloc I don't know really. My parents were very comfortably off but endless snacks and drinks between meals were just not the done thing I guess. As EvilPea says, there were drinks at home when we got back. I think we had an occasional ice cream on a hot day.

OP posts:
Papergirl1968 · 23/04/2022 15:45

Going for "a little run," my parents called it. Usually on a Sunday with one or both of my grandmothers, and occasionally an elderly friend too - which meant I had to sit between the front seats on a cushion over the handbrake. Uncomfortable and boring as hell.
My sisters were old enough to stay home alone so it was just me trailing around with my prematurely old parents, and the even older grandparents and friend.
I think we might have had a picnic, with a flask or bottle of pop sometimes. I don't think there were the variety of cafes, tearooms, pubs serving food etc that there are now, and I guess those that did would have been expensive.

Shade17 · 23/04/2022 15:51

Yes, I regularly go for a drive just for the sheer enjoyment of driving, trackdays as well.

midsomermurderess · 23/04/2022 15:55

I remember that from the 1970s too. One particular highlight was stopping near the airport to look at pigs in a field. Oh, the 1970s, simpler times, you might say.

NippyWoowoo · 23/04/2022 16:54

Growing up in the Caribbean (80s) this was a normal family tradition! Always in the evening. Sometimes we'd stop off at a nice site and buy coconuts, other times ice cream, but now always. Very happy memories

FatFilledTrottyPuss · 23/04/2022 17:02

Mum and I have been for a drive just this morning! We had to go out anyway to pick something up for my sister so went 20 miles up the motorway for that then we drove back through the countryside and we had a little explore of the tiny little villages near my house. It was lovely until I remembered the price of petrol now 😱

KangarooKenny · 23/04/2022 17:05

We’d take a flask and some food in the Tupperware. We might stop by a river, or at a scenic spot, and get the garden chairs out.

SierraSapphire · 23/04/2022 17:10

When DD was going through a hard time she'd ask to go for a drive. She often wore her pyjamas so there was definitely no stopping at tea rooms. She can drive herself now, but I kind of miss those trips.

SirChenjins · 23/04/2022 17:10

We used to do this too in the 70s. We’d take a flask, some squash, sandwiches and crisps, or stuff in Tupperware, or maybe stop for an ice-cream somewhere, but going for a drive was definitely a thing. I think it was what we did before the proliferation of tourist attractions sprung up - now we drive to something but there wasn’t the something at the end of a drive apart from something like a picnic or a walk for a change of scenery.

Bagelsandbrie · 23/04/2022 17:17

We used to do that too. In fact I remember one holiday to Wales we basically drove and drove and drove and hardly set foot out of the car! So strange as now everything is punctuated with snacks / drinks / cafes etc. I can’t ever really remember going to any sort of cafe thing. Very occasionally we might sit in a pub garden and had a sandwich!

toomuchlaundry · 23/04/2022 17:23

When I was a child the M3 was built near where I lived. People would come and park on a lay-by nearby and have a flask of tea and watch the cars on the motorway through the fence. That was a day out in the 70s!

BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 23/04/2022 17:24

I do this to get out of the house when I have cabin fever and the young adult dcs enjoy it as well. We get snacks and a drink and head out into the countryside to the moors or somewhere. It's great. We love the scenery and chat about all kinds of stuff.

namechangeanonymous · 23/04/2022 20:43

My Dh and I often do this, just the same route occasionally popping for a mcflurry ... its comforting

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/04/2022 20:46

We called it going for a ‘run’

l just think cars were more novel then! So just going out in them was an experience.

Twospaniels · 23/04/2022 20:53

We used to do that in the 70’s. Pick up my nan and grandad and go to watch cricket on a village green. We would take a flask of tea and maybe buy an ice cream
nowadays my DH and I do go out for a drive on the weekend. We go across country and explore villages etc, get a McDonalds and then take it to somewhere rural to eat it.
we love it

853ax · 23/04/2022 21:06

Going for a spin, really enjoyed it. Actually sometimes I bring my children for spin might stop at a playground somewhere.
My husband does not understand it if I ever say let's go for a spin he asks where can't start drive without destination and he trying to go as fast & direct as possible. Guess he a person who never did this growing up never dawned on me that not everyone does this until reading this now ha ha

fishingpaintings · 23/04/2022 21:14

Ooh I love going for a drive!

When we were kids my dad would take us for a drive to give my mum a rest.

No chance of snack, food from service stations or even a toilet stop! Certainly we never got thirsty apparently as I can't remember any bottles of juice or water being bought or consumed!!!

Sometimes a bit of a wander round.

Lots of classic car fairs actually but always with a picnic - no chance of a burger or anything 'bought' 🤯

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