BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

I spent 8 years in Jamaica going to school between 1956 & 1964. Becoming aware of many autos that never or rarely made it to US soil. Some have already been mentioned but here are some I remember.
Prefect, Consul, Vauxhall, Sunbeam Rapier, Triumph Herald, Morris, Anglia, Wolseley, Rover, Daimler, Humber, Riley. 2 Truck names that come to mind were Bedford & Thames.
Quality amongst these varied. Due to them all using Lucas Electricals, they were in the shop most of the time so a full tank lasted quite a long time.
There was a local phrase made up about how good the petrol mileage was because it was measured in ‘Furlongs per Fortnight’.

I have a good point of reference to varying levels of European quality, or lack thereof, because my first car was a ’57 Renault Dauphine with an electric clutch. I managed to trade up to a ’59 Dauphine Gordini. A whole 38 hp with a 4 speed trans. It was a fun car. My true love was the Floride, called the Caravelle in the US but I never managed to get one. One can never forget that damn plastic dog-bone in the carb linkage that used to disintegrate, randomly, instantly bringing you to an idle from 60 mph. The car I got the most out of was a ’63 Peugeot 403. I put over 100K miles on it with very little trouble.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

You have my sympathy about the Dauphine. A real POS with a gear lever like rubber, swing axle rear suspension like Volkswagens, Triumph Spitfires and early Corvairs, and its most advertised feature - a city and a country horn.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

You are correct about it being a POS. On a god day I could make it from Tampa to Jacksonville with only 3 head gaskets.
The Town & Country horns were the only thing on the car that always worked.

jwd722

Owned a '63 Spitfire until a Buick doing 5mph removed the front of my car. The local Triumph dealer and I became great friends since I was there buying parts every weekend.
Second Triumph was a '62 TR4. Loved the styling, but the rest...
At least I learned how to fix cars and learned what to stay away from. I now own 4 vintage VW's.

Goldyrock

I took my driving test in a friend's 1961 Dauphine. Fun car to drive vs. my 61 Ford Galaxie that was a stick, no power steering or brakes. He traded it for a 65 Corvair. One junk for another

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

My first car was a 6 year old 1960 850 Mini, so I can relate to this. It was down for repairs about 25% of the 14 months I owned it. I was a college student at the time and needed more reliable transportation, so I sold it and never bought another British car. My primary car is now a Mazda 3 that has been very reliable and fun to drive. I still have the original clutch and brake pads at 173,000 miles. Perhaps part of that is due to having owned the Mini that forced me to double-clutch and carefully rev-match my downshifts to be able to downshift; I still do it. I wish I still had the Mini though, as it was a hoot to drive.