Getting my pre A coupe in and out of the garage

[tmesis]

Well it's really difficult!

And I don't enjoy my car enough because of that.

It's a little tricky to explain but my garage is at the top of a drive that is about two and a half cars in lengthy but with a steep upward incline and the end of the drive is at an angle to the garage itself. Because visibility is pretty poor from inside the car I have found it best to reverse into the garage and drive out head first. I can drive out unaided but I always need a lot of help to reverse back in. Doing it the other way round seems to be worse due to the lack of control you have when reversing down an incline.

The car doesn't have wing mirrors and to be honest I like the look of it best without. Also when I asked Roger Bray about this he said it wouldn't make much improvement.

I've got a convex mirror on the drive and one inside the garage but they don't really seem to help. I also use temporary, bigger internal drivers' mirror which only helps slightly.

I don't want to do anything to compromise the car's integrity but...

parking sensors?
cctv?
a turntable thingy on the drive? (expensive!)

[hot66]

go pro or similar .. suction cup it to your rear screen .. then access the camera with its in built wifi via your phone that will be mounted with a phone holder to your dash / front screen .. bingo reversing camera and all easilly removed when you've finished getting out or into the garage

[inaglasshouse]

Same idea as James, but I'd vote Nest cam permanently mounted in the garage. Again access via your phone while reversing.
Nothing to stick / unstick from rear screen each time, doubles as a security camera, works very well at night (infra red).

[jamie]

In order of cost:

Practice
Tennis ball target on a string
Move house

[inaglasshouse]

In order of cost:
Practice
Tennis ball target on a string
Move house

First one's only cheap until you dent your pre-A!
Hope all is well with you, Jamie.

Cheers, Richard.

[one-two]

Two additional thoughts. First, Roger put a pair of swept-back mirrors on my pre-A and I found they were quite useful. Second, professional car storage/garage rental nearby?

[210bhp]

Redo your drive with mono block (which I hate) but with such a steep drive less likely that moss will gather in the joints as rain water will run off. As part of the pattern cunningly arrange different colours to incorporate a guideline row of blocks you can see out of your drivers side window right to the garage door.

Regards
Mike

[Kenyon]

That's Blackadder'esque cunning Mike!

[Kenyon]

Piggybacking on earlier ideas. This looks quite neat, though might be form over substance. The video shows it might actually work, depending on gradients I suppose.

https://www.amazon.com/MAXSA-Innovation ... B000F6F99G

Phil

[cubist]

Carpet off cuts. Old pillows. Loft insulation...

[smallspeed]

I'd go the camera route however a proper reversing camera is probably more useful as the image is flipped and you get the guidance lines which are useful. Also you'll find more use having the camera mounted low on the car vs high

I know they're not pretty, but a cheapish and easily removable option would be one of the number plate surrounds with integral camera, its just a case of wiring in and fitting a screen somewhere (glove box maybe?)
I'd also make sire you get one with a decent quality camera and "daylight viewable" screen - we just upgraded a bunch of our equipment to "HD Cameras" and they're so much more useful than the older tech ones

[TLC356]

How about this? With the help of somebody else the first time, back the car to the first point where a turn is required and find a spot to place a mirror on the house or wall that gives you a clear view of the area you'll be turning into only when you are at that exact spot, and only at that spot. Repeat and place an additional mirror(s) as needed. I hope it works as well as it sounds in theory.

I am confident that with determination and hard work you'll find the best solution. Good luck, Tom

[tmesis]

All very helpful. Thanks for the suggestions.