Basics:-

- taken before the white streak really took over and became global!

• David Edward Hockin, elder son of Beryl Beach Griffiths, of Welsh parentage, and the late Cecil Edward Hockin, of Cornish ancestry.
• Age - 63
• Home - Portishead, North Somerset, Gt. Britain. {(Was "Avon" for a while (:-)}
• Study - B.A.(Hons) Open - Science & Technology, Licentiate of the The British Institute of Professional Photography.
• Work - Professional Photographer, (recently retired from the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol.) (one-time Quantity and Land Surveyor).
• Hobbies - please note: all my quoted units are in yards, feet and inches, miles per hour, and any other non-metric units I can find.
  
  • Photography (just about!)
  • Amateur Radio - 'A'-class licence G4UGT. Member of the Radio Society of Gt.Britain.
  • Member of the Gordano Amateur Radio Group.
  • Member of the Bristol Society of Model and Experimental Engineers.
  • Family History - member no. 2582 of the Cornwall Family History Society.
  • Inland Waterways - nb Hailey Wood - 1979 30ft Springer, 1500cc BMC diesel, moored near Bath on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
  • 1999 Three Months Tour of n.b.Hailey Wood and n.b.Sorrel - the K&A and the Thames Ring.
  • Member of the Inland Waterways Asociation.
  • Member of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust.
  • Member of the GWR 15xx Pannier Tank Trust - loco at last (1.Aug'97) now in service on the Severn Valley Railway after a successful rebuild lasting 20 years!
  • Driving, especially on the continent! Member of the FIAT X 1/9 Owners Club.
    
    Have worn out, over the years, (these are MY mileages) :-
    
    
    1. a 1934 BSA FWD three-wheeler (1000cc 4cyl.sv. water cooled, and max.wgt 7.5 cwt). A February visit in the early 1950's to Bavaria really had the Germans fascinated - all their "old" cars had been turned into munitions and airmailed to us over here! And as for having ONLY three wheels!!!! The front wheel drive was based on the design used by the 1920s team of racing fwd Alvises. A very advanced and sophisticated design - fore-runner of the BSA scout - a sports car whose design, lost in the war, was set to push MG off the map. The addition of Lockheed hydraulics from a Morris 8 worked wonders for the braking performance - the MOT at Hendon were VERY impressed!
    2. a Ford Anglia 105E, (30,000 miles) early model with high back axle ratio - cruised quite quietly at 80 mph for hours at a stretch - even with four-up (all drivers) and lots of luggage on a non-stop journey from Cherbourg to Costa Brava in 24 hours. Passed one day at 80 by a DS19 that just floated over all the chaussee deforme as though it was a billiard table. We in the Anglia were working hard to maintain some contact with the road underneath - the occupants in the DS19 didn't even know there WAS a road!
    3. a 1960 Triumph TR3A convertible - soft and hard tops. Eventually a 2.2 litre. 300,000 miles - top speed "unknown!", - speedo once seen passing the 110 mark at an amazing rate, so like a Rolls - "sufficient". Braking - 1G with 100 ft.lbs pressure on the pedal - hard linings and "huge" discs. Car was never even aware when a trailer was hitched at the rear!. In the occasional "knocks" with other vehicles - ALWAYS came off best! Power and performance on tap, and plenty to spare. The acceleration FROM 70 upwards was always a thrill. A great joy to drive, at all times, with the feeling of its great strength and utter safety, in which it never failed.
    4. a Triumph Spitfire 1500 convertible, also soft and hard tops. (100,000 miles), great excitement when gears auto-dropped in/out of overdrive in top at high revs - eventually cured by new solenoid! Succeeded in yumping on a French minor road - took off from a series of bumps on the high camber, and came downwhen all 4 wheels were "up" - heavy thud as chassis lands four-square on road! That really shakes all your fillings. A prettier, but less durable car than the TR. Lifting the whole bonnet and wings left a distinct awareness of the lack of "meat" that there was in the front of the car.
    5. a 1982 Fiat X 1/9 5speed Targa - VERY smart. 108,000 miles, including once towing a hired caravan around France (max. achieved stable speed with 'van - 70 mph!), and steady cruising at 100-105mph on the Autobahn for mile after mile after mile..................(sans caravan of course!). Those "5mph bumpers" really saved the bodywork from the onslaught of others less well endowed, especially the present plastic bodied cars! Amazingly responsive and handlable with precision - the rotational speed attainable in turns, by having a mid-engine configuration, is probably more than most drivers can take. An enormous luggage capacity for two people - an incredible little car!
    6. late Father's 1991 Rover Clubman Estate SL - rather a change! Still can't get over the vast amount of space! After a lifetime of open-air motoring, a sunroof, even if powered is, sadly, a poor substitute.
       
       

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       You can reach me by e-mail at: dave.hockin@1way.co.uk

       also at : dave.hockin@btinternet.com
       

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