Billy's Vulcaniser

ED:Many thanks to our feature writer who recently visited Billy Gibbons and this is what he said!

Those who know and have visited Billy Gibbons in his abode in Green Lane will have experienced a sudden time warp shift back to the 1950's and seen first hand his love of everything from that period.

But there is another nostalgic period in his life for which he has, over the years, built a small collection of items that bring back fond memories of his first job as an apprentice mechanic at Moseley's garage (now the site of the Co-op and Kingbur Place) after leaving school in 1971 and where he worked until 1973.

One of his main jobs was repairing tyres using a piece of apparatus called a vulcaniser which through a process of heat, chemistry and pressure can repair punctures and even holes in tyres which would otherwise render them useless. Many of his customers were farmers who tended to suffer more than other motorists because much of their driving was done across fields and tracks which presented a greater potential for sharp stones or pieces of tree branches to punch holes into their tyres.

Imagine his surprise whilst driving through Audlem one day in 1980, when by pure chance Billy saw an old vulcaniser in the back of a white van. This was parked with both its rear doors open by the side of the Charity shop.

Following a quick bit of negotiation with the van's owner, Billy was delighted to take possession of the vulcaniser for the princely sum of £5. On further discussion he then found that it was the exact same piece of equipment that he had used years previously as it had actually been salvaged from Moseley's. As Billy explained, when he informed the van owner of his previous connection with the vulcaniser the man told Billy that had he known its past connection he would have asked £10 for it!

In the interim Billy has continued to add pieces to his collection including a vintage 'Champion' spark plug tester and cleaner, a Stella radio that provided the entertainment in the workshop and even an Avery Hardoll petrol pump just like those seen in photographs of petrol stations back in the 50's.

But the story doesn't end there. A few years ago Billy bumped into the farmer who was his first customer over 40 years ago and he proudly mentioned that he had bought the vulcaniser that he had used at the time and then thought little more about it. Imagine his surprise when a few months later that same farmer appeared at the back of Billy's property with an inner tube in his hands and asked if he could repair it?

"I told him I didn't have any patches and wasn't completely sure that the vulcaniser still worked," said Billy. The farmer said that he had some and shot off to return a few minutes later with the required rubber patches. With a bit of trepidation, mainly because the electric power wiring was so old and somewhat suspect, Billy put the vulcaniser into action. To his delight it successfully repaired the tyre. "The smell of the heated rubber instantly took me back all those years." recalled Billy. "It felt as though it was only yesterday since I last vulcanised an inner tube."

As for the 'Champion' spark plug tester and cleaner? Billy explained how, during his apprenticeship he once tried to operate it whilst holding the wire connector that generates the spark to see what effect it had. Clearly it was significant as his hair is still standing on end even today!