First car was a Vauxhall Viva, acquired in 1966 and finally died circa 1969. having broken down so many times I became familiar with motor repairs, lack of funds determined taking it to a garage was beyond my economic means. Apart from brakes and clutch, which could be considered wear & tear, other works involved replacing gearbox, cylinder head skim and replace burnt out exhaust valves, replace distributer when flat on drive shaft sheared and the cable operating the clutch breaking twice.
More memorial was a Ford Transit, 1970s era with Perkins 4108 diesel engine, which previous experience of breakdowns gave me confidence to work on. Once going, the arrival at destination was almost guaranteed, albeit a stoppage mid journey could involve bleeding fuel pump to remove air sucked into fuel line. Starting on cold morning a little problematic. The preheat arrangement being release of fuel into manifold where electric glow plug set it on fire with a distinctive Pop. This sometimes augmented by setting fire to news papers under the sump.
