Spartan Warriors.

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sat 2 May 2020 10:18
Spartan Warriors. - SLO76
Often said it but I’m a bit James May when it comes to cars. I respect powerful top of the range metal but I love simple poverty spec models that offer simple transport without needless complexity.

It’s hard to find these days but in the past some cars were as spartan as a horse and cart. A simple box on wheels with a steering wheel, some seats, a roof and a basic engine. It served a purpose and did so cheaply without fuss, usually.

I’m fortunate enough to have been in the motor trade in the 90’s and had the pleasure of experiencing true poverty spec joy. I loved the old trade yard at our site where all the older cars from every other branch came to await their next owner or the crusher.

Cars I loved but many found a bit odd...

Austin Metro 1.0 City/City X - Utterly spartan and had an engine from the 50’s but fun, cheap and surprisingly solid compared to rivals. Always started too but typically left a trail of oil everywhere they went.

Rover Metro 1.1C - As above but much better suspension, engine and gearbox. Still just as spartan inside though.

Citroen AX 1.0 pre facelift - Egg crate interior but fun to drive and cost buttons to run. Surprisingly robust and comfortable too.

VW Polo (the bread van) - Tiny, spartan 3dr estate. Highly practical and simplicity itself. These lasted for ages and are quite sought after today. A bit rubbish to drive but as simple cheap family transport they were great.

VW - Actually pretty much any poverty spec VW had appeal. Even the big Passat could be had with no equipment at all. A friends family had a big orange Passat estate when we were growing up that they had for decades. I loved that car for some reason.

Volvo 240 DL Estate - A large box on wheels with only power steering and nothing else. These are still to be found around the world serving as every day transport.

Vauxhall Cavalier Mk III L - Flogged loads of these. All they tended to come with was central locking, in fact there was a cheaper base model that had absolutely nothing. This is what the fleet market wanted in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s,utter simplicity. I ran one a 1.4 boggo base model for a while, I sold it at 93,000 miles then took it back in part ex at 120k and ran it again for a while. Great, cheap and simple. All you needed and nothing much to go wrong.

Fiat Panda 1986 Fire - A box, a (very good) little engine and a steering wheel. The seats were more deckchair like but were surprisingly comfortable. These were as simple as it gets and by far the best ultra cheap car at the time. Far better than the 2CV, 126 or any eastern Block offerings.

Bedford Rascal - Loved these weird little vans. No space was wasted and they were scary fun to drive. Very reliable too.

Honda Acty Van - A Tiny 550cc two cylinder engine with 30bhp from memory made these very entertaining on the road. Getting past 40mph was a battle.

Nissan Micra K11 1.0L - Didn’t even have wheel trims. No equipment at all but what it did have was a revvy wee 1.0 twin cam motor, a fantastic 5 speed gearbox and a great chassis. These never went wrong and always raised a smile.

Ford Sierra L - Again another big car with absolutely nothing on it. Big, simple, reliable and comfortable. Best with the ancient 1.6 Pinto under the hood as it would run and run if it had regular fresh oil or the ancient Peugeot 2.3 diesel that was impossible to kill. Taxi drivers loved them for their simplicity.

Ford Orion Classic - Pals folks bought one new. It was a special edition that was cheaper than the L and had absolutely nothing on it except a sunroof. OHV 1300 motor came from the Iron Age but it was comfy and never went wrong. They kept it til the backside rusted out of it.

Ford Granada Mk II/Mk III 2.5D Taxi - Utterly spartan model for taxi operators. Only comes with power steering and central locking. Huge inside the Mk III but still utterly spartan and tough.

Mercedes 190D 2.0 - Built like a tank and costly to buy despite wind down windows, rock hard seats and no spec at all. But it could do a million miles with ease.

Mercedes 123 series E240D - As above only bigger and slower. A legend in the taxi trade.

Ford Ka - I loved these and the more basic the better. PAS was a bonus but you were having too much fun driving it to notice the spartan spec.

Mazda MX5 1.6 Mk I - Early cars had nothing on them at all. It was about driving and not about gadgets. A fantastic thing but just as spartan as the MGB and Lotus Elan’s etc it was emulating.

To be honest most European firms in the 80’s and early 90’s had utterly basic models available right up to large saloons and estates. “Essence of motoring” as the great man says. All you need and nothing more. I suppose today’s examples would be the base model Fiat Panda and Dacia Sandero which are both cars I rate.

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Sat 2 May 2020 10:45
Spartan Warriors. - gordonbennet

Had a Mk11 Granada with the 2.5 Pug NA Diesel, one of the most stable cars on the road i've ever driven, engine was worn out with heavy blow by at 80k 2 years old due to previous owner's neglect of servicing or even checking the oil level, i rebuilt that simple OHV engine via rebore and new pistons, but strangely enough the crank and valvegear (still adjustable tappets) showed no wear so a new set of shells did the trick there, sluggish but once up to speed would hold a steady 80+ all day long.

Volvo 240 too, had several 1 and 2 series, my first car was an Amazon, all reliable, all drank petrol like it was free, wasn't until the 7 series that Volvos started to get plush (for the time) in standard models, 740 SE estate with the VW 2.4 6 pot Diesel one of the best cars we owned, still kick ourselves for selling it to buy a 'fully loaded' MB E320 estate that despite going like a rocket was one of the biggest piles of unreliable junk it's been my misfortune, hewn from granite W124 that one didn't get the message, a lesson itself in what all these extras can cost over time, had the full history from new, what the first owner spent on repairs in his 10 years ownership was mind boggling.

Another Spartan was mk 1 and mk1.5 Golf, i had a 1600 Diesel which was as basic as they came, needed to put one new piston in that as one holed, but it gave me good service until written off by idiot in pick up who cut a blind corner resulting in head on smash, thankfully the Golf was a robust design and survived and protected us better than one might have expected, still driveable, that Mazda pick up was wrecked.

Sister had a Wartburg Knight saloon, basic but went like the clappers via that 2 stroke lump, a nice car i liked it a lot.

Edited by gordonbennet on 02/05/2020 at 10:49

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Sat 2 May 2020 11:11
Spartan Warriors. - elekie&a/c doctor
Remember the Metro city very well . Poverty spec . No heated rear window, no rear wash wipe and believe it not , no rear parcel shelf. Used to retro fit all this gear to make them saleable .
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Sat 2 May 2020 12:06
Spartan Warriors. - badbusdriver

From 2002-2005 we had a Peugeot Partner Combi, the basic 1.4 petrol. Cracking car and fitted our needs at the time perfectly. We came from a mk3 Polo but with a new baby in the family, needed a bigger boot. The one in the Partner was big enough to put the puschair in without folding it up, and still enough space around it for plenty of other stuff!. As well as that, the tailgate was of such a size that if we were out on a picnic, we could shelter under it. Also, because it was so tall inside, the kids could stand up, so were able to get changed inside it after a trip to the beach. And lastly on the practicality side, sliding doors along with a higher than normal seating position, meant getting kids into and out of booster seats presented no difficulty!. To drive it was surprisingly good too, it only had 75bhp but light weight and low gearing meant it never felt slow. And because the engine was smooth and quiet, it wasn't too much of a chore at the legal limit either.

I'd also put forward the Skoda Felicia estate (though this could go in the estate thread, its getting confusing SLO!!). The first new product after the VW takeover, the Felicia was an unremarkable but extremely competent car for those looking for basic transport. The only way to improve on this was to whack on a great big boot!.

I could also nominate the Dacia Sandero and Logan (the Logan being the spiritual successor to the Felicia estate and as such could also be in the estate thread!). A large percentage of the motoring magazines i read are centred around hugely expensive cars of various types (usually German) which i have no interest in and will unlikely ever be in a position to afford. But i remember a few years ago reading a brilliant article in Top Gear magazine where Tom Ford took the most basic Sandero on a road trip to Trollstigen in Norway. Much more entertaining than yet another supercar through Wales!.

I remember Dad talking about the Standard 8, a car which was so basic, the boot didn't actually open (at least not from the outside). To put your luggage in, you tipped the rear seat backrest forward and chucked it in the opening!.

Edited by badbusdriver on 02/05/2020 at 12:07

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Sat 2 May 2020 12:28
Spartan Warriors. - SLO76
“ I'd also put forward the Skoda Felicia estate (though this could go in the estate thread, its getting confusing SLO!!). The first new product after the VW takeover, the Felicia was an unremarkable but extremely competent car for those looking for basic transport. The only way to improve on this was to whack on a great big boot!.“

Yeah, should’ve given Skoda’s the town mention on both. Ours the Felicia Estate, especially the 1.9 diesel. Utterly simple, hugely practical and long lived.
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Sat 2 May 2020 13:06
Spartan Warriors. - Engineer Andy

When I was looking to buy my first car back in 1998, I looked at buying a Suzuki Alto 1.0 in poverty spec form. Like the base Dacias, it didn't even come with a radio and I was temped, given a brand new one cost all of £5k back then. I bit buzzy to drive, but not bad for a new car for that sort of money.

In the end, I went for the Micra 1.0 but one up from the base model, an 'S' model, which for the money had a decent amount of kit - tilt and turn sunroof (with decent retractable sunscreen), radio-cassette player with digital display and auto-reverse (Blaupunkt), internally-adjustable wing mirrors (manual, but fine), air recirc switch and full metallic paint job (better than the run-out version around 2001/2 that the paint flaked off). Handy shelf on the front passenger side too.

The Micra was by far the easiest car to drive I've ever had - not the nicest to drive, but certainly the easiest. My neighbour had one too - the poverty spec 1.0 L, but with the CVT auto. His never went wrong, mine only a couple of times during my 8 years of ownership, and were minor issues that were easily and cheaply fixed.

A shame that eventually, the dreaded rust eventually consumes them. It did with mine. The engine was still in great nick when I PXed it for my Mazda3. The car lasted another 5 years (at 15 years old) in someone else's hand before presumably dying of rust and other things.

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Sat 2 May 2020 15:16
Spartan Warriors. - SLO76
b***** predictive text!
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Sat 2 May 2020 13:16
Spartan Warriors. - Avant

Steve Cropley in an Email to Autocar subscribers has made a similar point. His family's ancient Citroen Berlingo has been far more use for local shopping trips than the Bentley that he has on long-term test.

I could be wrong but in a few years' time our Spartan warriors are likely to be electric. There will need to be technological advances to make charging feasible large-scale for cars parked in the street, and I would expect that - as with e.g. calculators and PCs, the high price / low demand / high price vicious circle will weaken. The £23k VW e-Up needs to come down much nearer to the £12k that the petrol Up costs.

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Sat 2 May 2020 14:46
Spartan Warriors. - Trilogy.

Favourite spartan warrior was an UNO 1.0 Fire I hired in 1990 for 5 weeks. You should have seen the rental guy's face drop when he saw I'd done 4,000 miles. It was an unlimited mileage deal. Great fun with that typical Italian verve when you pressed the accelerator pedal, it just wanted to go, unilke a 1.0 Corsa hire car I had some years later, a sloth of a car. Only downside of the Uno was the window fell in the door, luckily I had it in a hot June/July.

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Sat 2 May 2020 15:20
Spartan Warriors. - SLO76

Favourite spartan warrior was an UNO 1.0 Fire I hired in 1990 for 5 weeks. You should have seen the rental guy's face drop when he saw I'd done 4,000 miles. It was an unlimited mileage deal. Great fun with that typical Italian verve when you pressed the accelerator pedal, it just wanted to go, unilke a 1.0 Corsa hire car I had some years later, a sloth of a car. Only downside of the Uno was the window fell in the door, luckily I had it in a hot June/July.

I had a very enjoyable run up north in a 91-J Uno 45 Fire once, it was a very pleasant little car. Very similar in nature to the Panda.
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Sat 2 May 2020 16:13
Spartan Warriors. - SLO76
“ Steve Cropley in an Email to Autocar subscribers has made a similar point. His family's ancient Citroen Berlingo has been far more use for local shopping trips than the Bentley that he has on long-term test.”

He’s been singing the praises of that old thing since day one. The 2.0 HDI was a great combination of reliability, practicality and comfort. They really do ride well and that engine can do huge mileages. I liked the first Berlingo. But when praise comes from a chap more used to driving top of the line Bentley ‘sand other pricey metal that’s praise indeed.
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Sat 2 May 2020 15:27
Spartan Warriors. - SLO76
Oh, forgot to add one of the classics. The Renault 4. We had a GTL Van in 1981 and it was a brilliant little workhorse. Robust, simple, reliable, very practical yet it was cheaper than a new Mini van. The car version was an excellent cheap family wagon.

Edited by SLO76 on 02/05/2020 at 15:28

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Sat 2 May 2020 18:26
Spartan Warriors. - 72 dudes

Between about 1967 and 1970, my mum had an original Fiat 500, registration number 142 JUG, now that was Spartan. Two chrome switches on the metal dash, one for single speed wipers, the other for lights. There was also a rubber grommet affair which if you were lucky squirted the washers pathetically.

No fuel gauge, no heater or demister, just reach under the back seat, move a lever to let some heat through from the engine compartment.

It did have the folding vinyl roof though! It was much better in the snow compared with my dad's Consuls and Corsairs at the time.

A couple of times, she drove it from North Yorkshire to Surrey and back to see her sisters. There's some journeys I'm glad I didn't make.

It was traded in for a Hillman Super Imp in white with blue interior, very smart! Nowhere near as reliable as the Fiat though.

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Sat 2 May 2020 18:55
Spartan Warriors. - Trilogy.

Love the Renault 4 GTL. I owned one for the shortest period of any car. Having put a deposit on it a few days earlier I picked it up late one Friday afternoon only to take it back on the Monday for a refund. Second shortest peiod of owning a car was a MK1 Golf GTI 1.8. I kept it just two months.

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Sat 2 May 2020 20:41
Spartan Warriors. - veloceman
I’ve had a few Unos. A couple of turbos which was probably my favourite car ever. In proof I kept the 1.3 turbo ie for three years, something I have never managed since.
But I had a 55s. 1.1 with 5 speed. It was great fun on the limit. I loved the paddles on the dash for lights and wipers. And also the single wiper that followed the airflow over the whole screen. Why don’t they do that anymore.
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Sat 2 May 2020 21:22
Spartan Warriors. - Trilogy.

Veloce, yes, the dashboard was superb. The earliest were the purest. Would love a 5 door 70.

Best place to find an Uno and many other mainland European cars that have a propensity to rust in the UK. Didn't realise they were available with a digital dashboard. https://www.reezocar.com/en/occasion/annonce-fiat-uno-RZCATSBE28C53D58F93A.html

Edited by Trilogy. on 02/05/2020 at 21:26

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Sat 2 May 2020 22:57
Spartan Warriors. - RJ414i

Bedford Rascal - Loved these weird little vans. No space was wasted and they were scary fun to drive. Very reliable too.

Will slightly disagree on this one, the company i worked for had two of these where i started work in the mid 80's.

The 'C reg' one was OK but the 'E reg' one used to conk out about a 1/4 mile after going through a deep puddle, did it every time. If the engine was warm it would restart after about 5 minuets if not then a problem! Obviously the days before mobile phones so a stroll to the phone box for assistance.

Was sorted by the supplying Vauxhall dealer wrapping a plastic bag around the distributor cap. Never had another problem thou.

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Sun 3 May 2020 10:30
Spartan Warriors. - edlithgow
Bedford Rascal - Loved these weird little vans. No space was wasted and they were scary fun to drive. Very reliable too.

Honda Acty Van - A Tiny 550cc two cylinder engine with 30bhp from memory made these very entertaining on the road. Getting past 40mph was a battle.

I lived in a Honda Acty truckling in London for a year or two. Had a demountable Romahome Camper on the back.

TardisTastic space efficiency, but I was always rather aware my thigh bones were the crumple zone.

You get the Bedford Rascal here in Taiwan, where it is a Ford Pronto, and (in later versions) also sold as a Suzuki Carry, which is what I think it is really/originally.

There can't be many vehicles sold under Ford, GM and Suzuki badges?

I drove a Rascal sometimes when I did IT support for an NHS Trust. Cable gearchange a bit random but it got the job done

Did have a deal on a truck version here years ago but it fell through since it turns out foreigners can't register trucks. Vans are OK.

Might consider it again since I've just bought two Rascal points sets for the Skywing, and if they don't fit I'll have nowhere to put them.

Its supposed to be a lesser vehicle than the locally produced Varicar / Varica but, critically, it does have a Haynes manual. Very unwilling to get an undocumented Taiwanese vehicle, irrespective of its qualities.

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Sun 3 May 2020 11:00
Spartan Warriors. - Terry W

Spartan is a relative term.

When I started to drive 50 years ago, spartan meant it didn't even have a heater, luxury if it did. Electric windows, three speed wipers, fog lamps, AM radio, etc were aspirational and reserved for those with the money to waft around in the lap of luxury.

Today spartan probably means no satnav, heated seats, and only basic aircon!.

However there is a certain joy in hammering a small, basic, underpowered petrol car, secure in the knowledge that even flat out it probably won't seriously trouble a speed camera. You can't do that in the average modern super-mini with 100bhp+.

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Wed 6 May 2020 04:57
Spartan Warriors. - edlithgow

When I first visited Taiwan as a tourist en route to Thailand, in 1999, not long after the big earthquake, trip highlight was Taroko Gorge, spectacular geological feature and hairily exiting cliff-hugging road.

Train from Taipei to Hualien, then bus into the gorge was the plan, but I got off at the wrong station (misinterpreting a Chinese announcement while in the toilet) in a massive quarry at the bottom of the gorge, so hitched up and bivouacked in the forest. This turned out to be fortunate, because the gorge was officially closed due to earthquake instability and I wouildn't have got in.

Next day hitched up further, and got a lift with a construction crew in a 4X4 "little blue truck", a generic term for the Rascal/Pronto/Carry and similar Varica. There are 4X4 versions of both but the latter are commoner.

This was small enough to negotiate the hiking trails which they were working on, and it negotiated them pretty fast. There are some quite long, narrow, and high pedestrian suspension bridges on these hiking trails.

IF you take a long, narrow, and high pedestrian suspension bridge at speed (perfectly centring to fully utilise the cm or so clearance with the towers) in a little blue truck, the bridge deck is pushed up behind the rear wheels in an S bend, the nose goes down, and you are suddenly surfing in the sky.

If you want to show off/conceal your terror riding in the back, you can adopt a surfer's crouch, with your arms out for balance.

Not too far though, because the suspension cables flashing past on both sides will shorten them.

Fun Fun Fun Till Her Daddy Took the T-Bird Away

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Sun 3 May 2020 12:11
Spartan Warriors. - barney100

I had a few Pandas, prone to rust but cheap to buy and run. Best car I ever had in the snow and ice. did loads of Hampshire to Yorkshire in them and pretty good to drive.

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Sun 3 May 2020 14:16
Spartan Warriors. - UCB
I learned to drive in a Mk 1 Fiesta base model. It had one exterior mirror and a foot operated pump to squirt water on the windscreen and that was the height of its sophistication. It was passed down from a Great Uncle. In 1986 my Father in his wisdom bought a new Fiesta 950cc Popular which wasn’t much better spec wise. No radio and only two door despite him having two kids! It was horrible. I wished at the time he had gone for a higher spec as next was the Popular Plus which had plastic headrests! He had traded in a 1300cc MK 2 Escort which was beige with a brown vinyl roof, and I loved that car.
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Sun 3 May 2020 16:01
Spartan Warriors. - groaver

Whilst not exactly spartan, I had a Daihatsu Sirion with the 1 litre triple pot. It had self coloured mirror backs (black) and wheel trims in the lowest spec available. It did however come with central locking, electric mirrors and windows(x4) and air conditioning.

It was great fun to drive around at nine tenths never needing to worry about speed limits and was great in the snow.

Loads of space in the back for passengers too and the rear doors opened wide.

It had the most atrocious gearchange for a Japanese car however. It was like stirring a pot of porridge.

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Sun 3 May 2020 16:14
Spartan Warriors. - Trilogy.

Whilst not exactly spartan, I had a Daihatsu Sirion with the 1 litre triple pot. It had self coloured mirror backs (black) and wheel trims in the lowest spec available. It did however come with central locking, electric mirrors and windows(x4) and air conditioning.

It was great fun to drive around at nine tenths never needing to worry about speed limits and was great in the snow.

Loads of space in the back for passengers too and the rear doors opened wide.

It had the most atrocious gearchange for a Japanese car however. It was like stirring a pot of porridge.

That's a Hub Nut car! :-)

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Sun 3 May 2020 17:30
Spartan Warriors. - thunderbird

Favourite spartan warrior was an UNO 1.0 Fire I hired in 1990 for 5 weeks. You should have seen the rental guy's face drop when he saw I'd done 4,000 miles. It was an unlimited mileage deal.

Many years ago (early 80's I think) a couple of mates who were Man Utd fans got tickets to the match with Madrid in the European Cup. Only way they could get wifie permission was to take them to Benidorm for a week and find their way to Madrid from there. It was about 500 km each way if my distant memory is correct and car hire was expensive until they saw an unlimited mileage offer for a Seat 600 (or something similar) They are big lads but it got them there and back (slowly) but the jaw of the chap at the hire place dropped when he saw they had dome about 1000km in a day.

Following day the sign changed to unlimited "local" mileage.

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Sun 3 May 2020 18:09
Spartan Warriors. - Trilogy.

BTW, my mileage was all local. I was working 6 days a week.

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Sun 3 May 2020 19:53
Spartan Warriors. - groaver

That's a Hub Nut car! :-)

I had to look that up.

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Sun 3 May 2020 21:33
Spartan Warriors. - DavidGlos
Those Fiesta and Escort Popular models were the epitome of spartan when I was young. 4 speed box, no heated rear window, vinyl seats, no clock, no intermittent wiper, no rear wiper, no cigar lighter, no radio, no wheel trims.

Can’t exactly remember what Popular Plus got you for a few extra quid, but if memory serves, it may have included one of those stick on heated rear windows that stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb!
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Mon 4 May 2020 12:32
Spartan Warriors. - Engineer Andy
Those Fiesta and Escort Popular models were the epitome of spartan when I was young. 4 speed box, no heated rear window, vinyl seats, no clock, no intermittent wiper, no rear wiper, no cigar lighter, no radio, no wheel trims. Can’t exactly remember what Popular Plus got you for a few extra quid, but if memory serves, it may have included one of those stick on heated rear windows that stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb!

In the 1970s, going up one model meant that you got two wing mirrors instead of one! I was just glad when my Dad got promoted and the horrid vinyl seats went for the next model up to cloth.

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Mon 4 May 2020 13:34
Spartan Warriors. - Trilogy.

I remember when BMW charged you extra for a radio. Now BMW are like Ford were years ago.........................common, the sales rep's wheels of choice. Now if you want exclusivity you buy a Mondeo, only whilst stocks last!

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Mon 4 May 2020 14:09
Spartan Warriors. - SLO76
Base model MPI Proton 1.3 GE only had one wing mirror and absolutely nothing inside aside from some hard wearing seats, a steering wheel and a gear-lever and this was in the mid 90’s. We needed something to lift all those Lada owners out of their misery.
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Wed 6 May 2020 16:49
Spartan Warriors. - concrete

When I held a provisional license, for extra driving experience I drove my Aunty Bettys' Ford Popular. Vacuum wipers that went slower the faster the car went and vice versa. I think it might have been a 3 speed gear box, but it is over 50 years ago. No heater either, so winter motoring was fun. Even just demisting the thing was a trial. My own first car was a 850cc Mini. It was not much further up the scale but it did have a heater. Then fast forward a bit and my first company car. A Ford Escort 1100cc 2 door. Plastic everything but it did have a heater. No radio,I put my own in. It did go well though and really good road holding too. Probably 0 to 60 in 3 months helped!!

Cheers Concrete

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Thu 7 May 2020 07:14
Spartan Warriors. - Falkirk Bairn

I bought a new Cortina in 1966 - old model.£500 & £30 for comp insurance, I was 20 yrs old.

Extras I put on the car

Undersealed, 2 seat belts, windscreen washers, wing mirrors, changed crossply tyres to radials, demist panel for back window, a bonnet lock!

It came to some £30/£40 for the extras.

I would have liked a radio but that would have added £30/£40. (£500-£700 in today's money)

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Thu 7 May 2020 08:11
Spartan Warriors. - gordonbennet

To put FB's £40 of extras into context, sublime to the frankly ridiculous, that MB estate i mentioned earlier, was a year '93 E320 estate, in the full history file was the original bill of sale, basic car £31000, extras came to a cool £19000, i didn't add up what the original owner spent on servicing and repairs over the next 10 or 12 years but no bill was less than £500 and the worse was £3000 (aircon failure which failed again) and various in between, must have been knocking on £25k of repair bills, a friday car from day one, don't worry though the two MB dealers used never failed to charge for screen wash and other minor things to inflate the already eye watering bills...we definately need a face palm smiley here.

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Thu 7 May 2020 16:22
Spartan Warriors. - concrete

To put FB's £40 of extras into context, sublime to the frankly ridiculous, that MB estate i mentioned earlier, was a year '93 E320 estate, in the full history file was the original bill of sale, basic car £31000, extras came to a cool £19000, i didn't add up what the original owner spent on servicing and repairs over the next 10 or 12 years but no bill was less than £500 and the worse was £3000 (aircon failure which failed again) and various in between, must have been knocking on £25k of repair bills, a friday car from day one, don't worry though the two MB dealers used never failed to charge for screen wash and other minor things to inflate the already eye watering bills...we definately need a face palm smiley here.

A whole boat load of money GB. My brother went off Mercs big time during their flirtation with 'cost engineering'. Failures you wouldn't expect from more mainstream makers made his last E class a total disaster, including 4 turbos! Regarding the screen wash scam. I always topped it up prior to a service. Sure enough when collecting the car there was a half empty bottle of screen wash in the footwell with a note saying compliments of the management. It always came as a shock when I told them to remove the £5 charge for screen wash. I asked how on earth they managed to get half a bottle in a tank that was filled that morning prior to the service. It always got taken off the bill. Some of those service managers should her gone to RADA, the act of surprise and indignation that they would possibly try to wring more money out of me was worth viewing. Beeky Chastards I think is the phrase. Cheers Concrete

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