Tartan Travel Rugs and other Nostalgic Motoring Accessories

[CitroJim]

Wonder if anyone can lay claim to those tartan patterns ? The House of Thermos, perhaps ?

Wonder if anyone can lay claim to those tartan patterns ? The House of Thermos, perhaps ?

The Clan MacCoffee.

Love it!

Of course if you wanted a bit more faf than the Thermos, take your own kettle/water/teabags/instant coffee/milk/marvel/sugar and stop by the roadside and fire up one of these...

campinggaz.jpg

Neil

Oh yes, always used to. Those are still very much a thing... Perhaps not quite as iconic these days...

[NewcastleFalcon]

Quite a reasonable symmetry on the old thread's stats a moment ago, when Citrojim lobbed up the 300th Reply!

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Indeed Neil, and given that I am somewhat reduced in contributions at the moment it is good to see Jim's return to action to keep the 'banter' threads going along with yourself and hopefully others getting more involved as time goes by.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Indeed Neil, and given that I am somewhat reduced in contributions at the moment....

I'll not delve Mick...but hope you are back to full cylinder posting ASAP!
Meanwhile as original thread starter, I allow myself a rather tenuous link with this rhetorical question.

Was the Desert Boot ever a motoring accessory?

Probably not, but many beginning their motoring journey in the 1970's probably had a pair and a cheesecloth shirt and flared jeans as accompaniment, as they raced round in their near MOT failure cheapo first cars.

Me, I am both late and new to the scene with a bargain impulse purchase I bought only yesterday...reduced from £60 to £30 at Cotton Traders...

My first ever pair of Desert Boots... well chuffed!

Neil

[PaulC5]

I had desert boots in the 70s when a student. When it rained my socks would get wet as they were not waterproof.

[CitroJim]

I'll not delve Mick...but hope you are back to full cylinder posting ASAP!

Ditto

Was the Desert Boot ever a motoring accessory?

In a way, yes... It was my first choice of footwear when I was serving in Cyprus all those years ago. In fact, I can't recall wearing anything else.

Certainly wore them to work - as most did... I may have worn proper boots when kart racing though...

I'm keen now to acquire some

[NewcastleFalcon]

I'm keen now to acquire some

These were the ones I plumped for Jim, (https://www.cottontraders.com/search/?q=desert%20boots)

Not the originals but a Cotton Traders copy. (as the Trivia Investigation Team reported it the original Desert Boot was made by Clarks in Shepton Mallet down Zummerzet way....

"The Desert Boot have been manufactured at Shepton Mallet, small scale production having initially occurred at Street. During the course of time, Whitecross factory in Weston-super-Mare was subcontracted to relieve Shepton factory of the manufacture of the Desert Boot, before the Bushacre factory at Locking Road, Weston-Super-Mare was constructed in 1958. The Desert Boot was manufactured there until the closure of the factory in 2001.

Clarks announced in July 2017, it was restarting manufacturing Desert Boots, using a new manufacturing unit featuring "robot-assisted" technology, at its headquarters in Street, Somerset. Up to 300,000 pairs a year of desert boots were to be made at the unit, creating up to eighty technical and managerial jobs. However, in January 2019 the company announced that this unit was to be closed, after failing to meet production targets."

Listed at £58 online...I'm obviously too skinflinty to be tempted by that price, but at a local Cotton traders store within a store at the local garden centre I saw them reduced to £30. Nothing to lose there, even cheaper than my usual Sports Direct bargain basement footwear!

Even come in Blue!

Neil

[CitroJim]

Ahh, never knew the local connection with the desert boot Neil TIL*

I will be ordering a pair later today..

One more bit of trivia - in Cyprus, we called them 'Bondhu Boots' - Bondhu being the term used to describe the scrubby island terrain away from the mountains and urban areas...

* TIL is an acronym frequently used on Reddit to signify something that has been learned that day - Things I Learned

[John Pankhurst]

Increase the boot space on your Mini, but not the actual load capacity Note essential rear screen louvres too.

[NewcastleFalcon]

The age of the car accessory is not quite gone.

Ever wanted a bit of extra illumination when reversing at night?

Neil

[CitroJim]

Increase the boot space on your Mini, but not the actual load capacity Note essential rear screen louvres too.

Bastard offspring of a Riley Elf and a Trabant!

[John Pankhurst]

I spotted it on eBay a few years ago and posted it on the Mini Forum, this guy was daft enough to buy it

[John Pankhurst]

You need a Brexton Minitable to go with your tartan Thermos flask
Unfortunately it doesn't fit the Minor as well as my old Mini

[NewcastleFalcon]

Similar but not quite as big John!

Feast your eyes, the absolute chapter and verse on this particular 1960's accessory for the in-car picnic. Very briefly appeared accidentally in the background of a "findit-fixit-flogit" episode as detritus on the floor of a vehicle.

Need a car with wind-down windows though, but yes I well remember both the packaging which for some reason was retained and the little trays slipped into after every use from many many in car picnics in the 60's and 70's.



Neil