My first car, after passing my test.

Nikon Man

Nikon Man

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First car was a van :) Austin A35 (yes the type Wallace and Grommet used)

1098 cc engine giving 55hp ( I think)

Top speed supposedly 71mph, never got more than 65-ish out of mine.

Brakes were abysmal, on crossply tyre's in the wet..... life changing!

Steering was interesting with a delay of one second between the steering wheel movement and the front wheels moving. That was fun.

No seat belts.

Battery was always flat in winter....always

Windscreen wipers...pah...for sissys.

Petrol was 3s/4p a gallon I recall vaguely.

Hated steep hill's... just thrape it in second / third gear worked well.

Noisy as a box of spanners, potholes would give you a possibly herniated disc.

Burnt oil like at a frightening rate, needed topping up every week or less.

Fuel consumption not too bad about 35 mph on a run.

Lights like dim candles in the wind. Indicators...what the hell were they!!

Overheated going up Porlock hill in Somerset, always carried a spare gallon of petrol (fuel gauge was buggered) and water in the back.

First week I had it after passing my test I put it on it's side on a country lane, the farmer that helped upright it said I was an ass***e.:D

The good bits...plenty of room in the back for me and the then girlfriend.

Sold it for more than I paid for it.

It was lots of fun going to Pendine sands with all me mates in the back (no back seats) until they had to get out and walk up Heads of the Valley road. :lol:

Good times...
 
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The joys of your first motor!

Mine was a 1988 Renault 11.
I paid £600 for it and it was rubbish really but i thought it was the bees knees.

It spent more time in the garage than on the road.

One day during a service the brake callipers crumbled to pieces.

Every left hand bend at anything over 30mph caused petrol to pour out the filler cap

There was a water leak in the boot.

It was a 1.4 with 68bhp

I added some 13 inch alloys, peco exhaust and a pipercross filter which made it feel like 150bhp........not.

I sold it 2 years later for £650 to a guy who knew nothing about cars

Two weeks later the gearbox failed and the car got scrapped.
 
Nikon Man said:
First car was a van :) Austin A35

1098 cc engine giving 55hp ( I think)



..............Good times...
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Holy crap! talk about memory lane :D
that was my first car too, "inherreted" from my dad :thumbs:

But IIRC pertrol was 10x what you paid!
(30-odd PPG, what a rip off! :D)
 
Cobra said:
Holy crap! talk about memory lane :D
that was my first car too, "inherreted" from my dad :thumbs:

But IIRC pertrol was 10x what you paid!
(30-odd PPG, what a rip off! :D)
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My dad gave me a paraffin sump heater for the winter. He owned a state of the art new Commer van.:love:
 
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My first four wheeled car after passing my test was a 1994 ford fiesta

It was great, the fuel gauge was wrong, burnt oil like a b****r and overheated in the summer.

Eventually the engine blew up and I ended scrapping it, towed it to the scrap yard, scary moment that was.

:D
 
Nikon Man said:
My dad gave me a paraffin sump heater for the winter. He owned a state of the art new Commer van.:love:
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Actually mine was a good as gold, never failed to start
and was quite nippy (after I polished the head :D)
(Shame about the brakes though :D)
Wasn't it the same basic engine as the Sprite? IIRC?.

Someone "finished it off" in a car park though :(
What the hell were they doing that speed in a works car park for?
Enough to make it a "total" when it was sitting there, minding its own bussiness.
Poor Van :(

 
Ahh...fond memories. A mk1 Escort 1300, with a floor that was more rust than steel. On wet days, front passengers would need wellingtons, but the radio worked and it made me (briefly) attractive to the opposite sex.
 
My first car was a 1972 Hillman Avenger. 1248cc I think.

Useless heap. Was on the hill on the A24 heading to the A29 yurn for Bognor Regis with 5 of us. Boy did it struggle. The final insilt was when a cyclist went by us.....

Never failed to start but no night time driving in the rain.... the headlights wouldn't come on!!!

Loved the car but swapped it for a convrrtible Ttiumph Vitesse....

How the times change. I still miss my 8 track player.....
 
Hugh Jarse said:
My first car was a 1972 Hillman Avenger. 1248cc I think.

Useless heap. Was on the hill on the A24 heading to the A29 yurn for Bognor Regis with 5 of us. Boy did it struggle. The final insilt was when a cyclist went by us.....

Never failed to start but no night time driving in the rain.... the headlights wouldn't come on!!!

Loved the car but swapped it for a convrrtible Ttiumph Vitesse....

How the times change. I still miss my 8 track player.....
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I used to have a convertible vitesse! Straight 6 was great.

First car was a 2 litre fiat croma. Boot so large you could step into it.
 
Standard Flying 10 bought for £15 and £25 pa to insure - the A35 came later :)
 
First motor was a 1984 Vauxhall cavalier hatchback 1.3 in oxidised red.

Truly awful brakes, woefully under powered, canal barge like handling. But it got me out of the village at the weekends, so I wasn't too unhappy.

Ended up blowing the head gasket, repairing it before the thing failed an MOT on structural stuff.
 
This'll give you a laugh...... My first car, an ex-BP Energy engineer's wheel, '92 J reg 1.4 'Hi-Torq" Vauxhall Astra Merit Estate......

Still in BP colours :lol:

cars01.jpg
 
1956 sit-up-and-beg Ford Pop, 1172cc side valve engine, single manually operated wiper, no heater, rod operated brakes, no engine mountains, transverse leaf springs, semaphore indicators, petrol was 4/6 1/2p per gallon...

Complete junk, pre war design. But it got me started, and forced me to learn how to repair cars
 
1978 brown 1.3 Austin Alegro.

An interesting car, cost me £400 and got £50 from the scrappy when about 2 months later someone drove into the back of me and wrote it off.

To be fair a wasp could have flown into the back of it and written the thing off, but it was all mine and I loved it!
 
1972 Triumph 1500. At least there was plenty of spares in the scrap yards!
 
a 1972 mark 3 cortina 1600 gt for me, high back vinyl seats in beige
 
Cobra said:
Actually mine was a good as gold, never failed to start
and was quite nippy (after I polished the head :D)
(Shame about the brakes though :D)
Wasn't it the same basic engine as the Sprite? IIRC?.

Someone "finished it off" in a car park though :(
What the hell were they doing that speed in a works car park for?
Enough to make it a "total" when it was sitting there, minding its own bussiness.
Poor Van :(
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Was called an "A" series engine I think was the basis for the engine in the mini aswell.

A35 was replaced by the austin A40 but by then I was into Ford Cortina's as it was more attractive to the opposite sex.:naughty:
 
1980 Fiat 127........ in luxurious brown.........with brown interior..... £400

was awesome in 1988 as a 17 yr old....... I "owned" the road.... (so I thought!!)

It would go about 80 downhill with a tailwind, but served me well... put over 50K on the clock... and petrol was about 45p a litre.... (so for you luddites... £2.25 a gallon give or take)
 
beyond the blue said:
Mine was a Zephyr 6, in the hands of a 17yr old with bench seats oooh :love:
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Bench seats you lucky so and so.:D

Garry Edwards said:
1956 sit-up-and-beg Ford Pop, 1172cc side valve engine, single manually operated wiper, no heater, rod operated brakes, no engine mountains, transverse leaf springs, semaphore indicators, petrol was 4/6 1/2p per gallon...

Complete junk, pre war design. But it got me started, and forced me to learn how to repair cars
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Semaphore indicators :lol:
 
mine was a 1980 mini 850 that cost me £800, me and my hubby (then boyfriend) had our first holiday together in that car camping at skeggy, the brakes went coming down the steep hill to rejoin the A1 at markham moor, and i remember being sat with my feet over the holes in the floor when i got pulled by the police at woddhouse mill, but like everyone else i loved it and polished the rust religously
 
Nikon Man said:
Was called an "A" series engine I think was the basis for the engine in the mini aswell.
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I guess that would have been the "Cooper" as the early mini's were
850 IIRC
Actually a quick google brings up the facts and figures on the "A" series.
seems it had quite a "run"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMC_A-Series_engine

Nikon Man said:
A35 was replaced by the austin A40 but by then I was into Ford Cortina's as it was more attractive to the opposite sex.:naughty:
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My next "move" was to an Austin 1100 ( that put me off front wheel drive motors "forever" :D)
The only saving grace was that it looked like an MGBGT, from a distance
AND on a dark night :D
 
Russ77 said:
This'll give you a laugh...... My first car, an ex-BP Energy engineer's wheel, '92 J reg 1.4 'Hi-Torq" Vauxhall Astra Merit Estate......

Still in BP colours :lol:

cars01.jpg
Click to expand...

mmmmmmm :lol::lol::lol::lol:
 
Mk1 Ford Escort 1300cc in Banana yellow.

Served me faithfully until I snapped the chassis going over a small country bridge :whistling:
 
Red Mark 1 Ford Escort Mexico :D Forever needing new floorboards welding in - but it had chrome bumpers and dog bone lights - I ♥ it.

Hillman Avenger afterwards a sort of Poodle Poo/gold colour and I was forever at the scrappers looking for parts - generally the dynamo or alternator IIRC
 
1990 Lada Riva.
It was made of lead.
 
A 1950's Black "Standard Eight" - 803ccs, made a lot faster with 2 white "racing stripes".........:D

One of these -
Standard_Eight_at_Battlesbridge._No_external_boot-trunk_access_01.JPG
 
Circa 1990, a 1969 Austin Minor van (yes, it was badged as an Austin, not a Morris). ISTR it cost all of £400.

Underpowered, boneshaker suspension and a clutch that had a fierce bite, but it was handy for carting guitars, amplifiers and other band equipment to gigs.
 
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'98 1.2 clio, and the first thing I did was to take it up on Porlock hill (just, in the 1st gear) :cuckoo:
As everything else in this thread - badly underpowered, poor brakes, unsafe, uncomfortable and probably failing :lol:
 
Citroen Dyane 6 (that was the big engined one - all of 600cc (or was it 601?)). Hateful thing! Followed by a Frogeye (which is one of the few cars I've owned that I would have again but can't find it).
 
stupar said:
Guy i work beside has an avenger for rallying. He's taken the original engine out and dropped in a vauxhall red top engine.
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I always wanted the official rally Hillman Avenger Tiger

Believe it or not the Avenger was sold in the US as the Plymouth Cricket
 
Mk1 Mazda 121 1.3, formerly owned by a boy racer who had painted half the interior panels red, added leather steering wheel and gearknob (red of course), massive backbox and plastered the outside with a plethora of stickers including a sunstrip proclaiming 'Mazda Rally'. Most of the stickers were covering rust or nasty scrapes.

Despite appearances it was a great car, quick, responsive and went like it was on rails despite 12in wheels!

We actually did rally it, crashed, and still came 21st o/a, 6th in class. The laughing at the start venue was great.

2 days later on my way home from work I planted it backwards through a wall within sight of my house and that was the end of that. Managed to sell a few 'Euro' bits off it to the Ford Festiva boys in the States, scrapped the rest and then I bought my first Nova....
 
Mustard coloured Mini, leather door hinges, and a distributor that was always getting wet when driving in the rain. About 1983, never liked cars since.
 
First was a mk1 mr2 t-bar while living abroad, couldn't drive it for three days after it was delivered as there was a big typhoon the it took me a week before I lost the back end and had to have it rebuilt as it was a mess.

Always took my fog everywhere on the passenger seat who wouldn't behave without his sunglasses on :)
 
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