# Vera (question about the car shown in the TV show) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2024, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759 "2024-01-08T05:21:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/21 "2024-01-09T12:49:23Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I was just going to say this! Perhaps it’s becoming more popular, as it’s decades since I took my test, but it’s pretty unusual to pass a test to drive automatic only. In my day, I don’t recall it even being an option. I’m, like, 95% sure I remember it being an option when I first got a provisional licence in the late 70s. But unless you had some physical reason why you couldn’t use a manual, it wasn’t one that made sense to most people. Nowadays, with EVs and improved technology that allows automatic transmissions to work effectively in small engined cars, it is noticeably more common. My niece recently passed her test for automatic only. But then, that was just before she moved to Denver, so… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/22 "2024-01-09T13:51:42Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Parallel parking is one of three manoeuvres you could be asked to perform in a UK driving test The South African test requires drivers to perform _all_ of: parallel parking, alley docking (reverse bay parking) from both sides, hill start, emergency stop and three-point turn. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/23 "2024-01-09T14:04:44Z")
Yes, we have to do those other things too ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/24 "2024-01-09T15:08:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > A friend of mine had one. The electric motors (yes, there were two) for the windshield wipers were mounted right below the windshield, just above the vents that prompted the OP. If the motor was broken, there was a small handle you could twist back and forth to move the wiper manually. You have to remember that the electrics were made by Lucas, so it was ‘when’ they broke, not if. I had a 65 Land Rover and used the manual wiper mode far too many times. It also allowed for faster speeds during heavy rain. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/25 "2024-01-09T15:25:45Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > You have to remember that the electrics were made by Lucas, so it was ‘when’ they broke, not if. I had a 65 Land Rover and used the manual wiper mode far too many times. I am well familiar with Lucas; I own a '69 MG. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/26 "2024-01-09T15:38:36Z")
I’m sorry for your loss (of electrical power). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/27 "2024-01-09T18:59:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I am well familiar with Lucas; I own a '69 MG. I own a '53 MG TD. I know the “Prince of Darkness” quite well. > [@JacobSwan](#): > > I had a 65 Land Rover and used the manual wiper mode far too many times. Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper. 🙂 Yeah I know, old joke. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/28 "2024-01-09T21:00:37Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I am well familiar with Lucas; I own a '69 MG. Sign on Brit Motors shop “The parts falling off these cars are of the finest British manufacture”. Boy this thread took a weird turn,m and that’s Okay by me, the original question was asked and answered by post 3. Carry on! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759/29 "2024-01-09T23:24:51Z")
Strangely, the electrics in my MG didn’t give me too much trouble. I would occasionally get water in the distributor when driving in a hard rain, and both headights burned out at the same time, once. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vera-question-about-the-car-shown-in-the-tv-show/995759.md?page=1)