My dad never had a driving licence but he had an Austin Cambridge for about 10 years.

My late dad ran bangers for years which at least taught me how to fix cars from an early age. I was changing engines/ clutches etc from around 13 years old. I remember a 3 dr mkII Cortina he had became so "structurally challenged" that you had to shut the doors quickly to stop the pop riveted sills bending.

I think this experience made me do the opposite - When first working and driving I learnt how to weld and how to properly repair cars - this turned into me restoring many cars over the years - including sorting his cars out!

Fast forward to 2001 when I'd negotiated a storming deal on a new Skoda Octavia (comparing internet sites, backwards and forward to the dealers etc) and he was looking for a used Volvo at the same time - in the end he realised how good a deal I had got. Walked back into the same Skoda dealer with my dad and went to the same sales person (who wilted!) and mentioned the model he wanted - he just said go on then tell me how much you are paying! This meant that mr bigjohn junior and senior picked up new Octavias on the 1st March 2001 complete with consecutive registration numbers - Talk about father/son car convergence!

Infact it would have been his birthday today - Happy Birthday Dad!

Edited by Big John on 17/04/2020 at 19:29

My Dad had Ford Escorts (and mainly low to medium spec ones) as company cars through from the 1970s to when he took early retirement in the mid 90s.

Not exactly great cars, especially the early 80s one that had adodgy automatic choke and the crud early 90s one with the horrid 1.4 lean burn engine. I certainly never like the vinyl seats in the 1970s ones - we always had to put towels down in the summer to stop getting burned legs, as well as slipping around!

His two Fiesta 1.25s since then were FAR better, great handling, nippy and, for their size, reasonably spacious. A shame his current one from 2009 doesn't have A/C (or much else - it was the bargain basement model flogged cheap before the new model arrived - he got it for about £6.5k).

I owned my only two cars, a 96 Micra 1.0 S and my current car, a 2005-build Mazda3 1.6 petrol TS2 saloon during his 'Fiesta' period. He always goes Ford - me, Japanese. I might change for Korean next time though - not sure if he'll get another car, even if his one is getting on a bit now. If he does, it'll be his last before giving up driving.

We haven't had mum-mobiles yet....

My father was a naval officer; so was my mother (he a regular for 36 years, she a wartime Wren officer): they met during WW2 in Orkney. He was born in 1906, she in 1917, so I can go back further than some of you.

He told me his first car was a GN cyclecar; then several Fords in the 1930s. After the war he got a pre-war Wolseley while putting his name down on the long waiting list for an Austin. The A40 Devon came through in 1951: happy childhood memories, before safety was invented, of standing on the front seat with my head through the suroof, even with the car in motion. It was a good car, and distinguished from the Ford that he might have had by its 4-speed gearbox, independent front suspension, electric windscreen wipers and an ability to start in the morning.

He used to buy new and keep for some time. The A40 was followed by an A55 Farina, then an MG 1100 (which he generously gave to me for my 21st birthday in 1969 when it was 3 years old). Then an Austin 1300GT and finally, loyally supporting his local garage which had given up BL, a Chrysler Avenger. Once a Hillman always a Hillman - this was typically underpowered and stodgy. But he was in his seventies by then and at least its boot swallowed both his bag of golf clubs and the trolley.

My mum's first car, just after the war, was a pre-war Fiat 500, which she loved, then a 1947 Hillman Minx, which she didn't. To save money she then had a 3-wheel AC Petite (as awful as it sounds), then a Vespa scooter (which worked well and never went wrong).

After that, my grandmother subbed her and she got a Morris 1100, on which she taught me to drive (my father, having been rescued from HMS Courageous in 1939, was less worried than she thought he ought to be if I did somethng wrong).

Then she had a Triumph 1300 (supremely comfortable), an Allegro (less so) and several Fiestas in succession, which she was very happy with until giving up driving. She never quite got over her surprise at how much the Fiestas cost after 1970s inflation, remembering that in her 1930s youth the equivalent small Ford (the 8) cost £100.

Edited by Avant on 18/04/2020 at 15:42