i know , i know! its bound to have been the subject of many a thread, but i found a photo of my first car today, my little red vw polo . so i thought hmmmm thats an idea, so come on first cars and there good and bad bits.
my polo was one of these formel e models that cut out when neutral was selected at low speed and started when 1st was selected, i had no idea and thought it was a bizzare wiring fault.
so anyone got any thoughts on there first cars?
(sp30)>>>force without the aid of judgement will collapse through its own mass.<<<
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Mine was/is a Ford Escort 1.3 Bonus.
The Bonus bit is the erm, er... I don't really know! Maybe the metallic paint!
The best bit about the car is that it was owned by my Gran so it had only done 47k when I got it and I know the history.
The worst bit about the car is that it was owned by my Gran so it had only done 47k when I got it. Cue short journey syndrome in terms of a rattling top end and little oil pressure at start-up.
The most important lesson I've learned is to always check oil level. Regularly! I nearly learned the hard way and after just 200 miles since an oil change spotted that nearly the entire contents of the sump (I was getting pressure but none on dipstick!) had been emptied onto the road by the oil pressure switch becoming an oil pressure fountain.
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Mike Farrow
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This will date me! My first car was an Austin 7 which 4 of us clubbed together to buy for £25. This was 1958 when I was a cadet in the RAF. On a slight aside, other cars cadets owned included a Hudson Terraplane, a Salmson, MG TD and TF, Alvis Speed 6, Lagonda and a Jag SS 100. These were not collectors cars then, just what cadets on £40 a month could afford to buy and run. Happy Days indeed!
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My father had a business in which there were always spare cars around so I had a Mini Clubman to learn on, but it got taken off me, for a new member of staff. I finally got my own Alfasud 1.5 when I was about 17 1/2 and an Alfasud 1.5Ti for my 18th Birthday - I know; spoilt kid and all that. Both were great but unreliable. Mind you, the Ti was great for pulling the girls and you know what!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Ok... I'll bite.
Nissan Micra 1.0LX 93K 5-door manual
As one of the eldest in my academic year I was the first in my group of friends to pass my driving test and therefore my little Nissan took up a role akin to that of the Mirthmobile in Wayne's World - ie a small uncool hatchback full of badly-dressed teenagers listening to rock music.
Good points -
Hugely reliable - I took it from 10000 to 65000 miles and it took some hammering
4 doors (handy for picking up nad dropping off friends)
Cheap parts, tyres and servicing etc
Useful luggage area with the seats down - got all my stuff to and from university many a time
Performed nice handbrake-turns in a snow-covered Greyhound Park in Chester
Bad points -
Weak clutch - needed replacing at 55000 miles or so
11bhp (or something like that) meant shocking performance - really struggled over the Snake Pass
Naff - not a typical 17 year old's motor, though I loved it
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Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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A burgundy 1981 VW Polo. Well dodgy looking fake wood trim & detachable ignition barrel!!! only fault was that if the fuel gauge went below 1/4 tank it spluttered & cut out (gunk in tank). Managed to fit 8 people in it one night, dangerous I know, but you do daft things when your young.
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My father's 1986 Ford Sierra Mk1 1.8 GL in rosso red back in 1999. Lovely to drive, though perhaps not the easiest car to learn on as no PAS, and the worlds hardest clutch, coupled with a tendency to start to stall if clutch not pressed very early when slowing down leading to a habit of coasting. Fab car for a 17 year old :-) especially with its RWD and rediculously skinny tyres. Would love to find a decent one again.
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My fist love was not my first car, but.....
A 1969 White Ford Capri 1300 XL.
It was slow, it handled like a pig, and cost half my wages each month.
I was 19, it was 1973, it was gorgeous.
That car, that very car, well. what can I say. It pulled*. Big
time, every time, first time.
*Nothing to do with horsepower.......
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Pulled what RF?
Ohhhhhhh - you must be talking about what mine does too.
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Adam
If I was still pulling, do you think I would be on here all the time?
Oh - you are.
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So very funny RF.
So very funny.
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It pulled*. *Nothing to do with horsepower.......
A caravan?
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I'm still with my 'first love'. Hasn't been long, but it's going to be if I have my way. While many people my age can't wait to get newer, 'better' and bigger cars, I can't imagine life without my little old Polo. I think its great, and I?ve had a go of a few new cars which I?m expected to be moving on to, but thing is, I always enjoy getting back in the Polos driving seat.
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I am embarrassed to admit that my first love was a Fiat Panda 1000cl. 999cc of pure power. Top speed with a following wind exactly 83 mph.
I really loved that car, but after an incident involving the backend of an FX4 I was not exactly impressed with its crumple zones so something safer had to be bought.
F195ANT where are you now? currently untaxed apparently:(
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Mini 850 year of manufacture 1969, white.
I became the proud owner of this little rustbucket in 1985, soon after I passed my test.
It had the power to rival most snails in the village but at 43K it would have had plenty of life left in it yet.
This little bargain came in at £175. I hard bargained the old dear from some £250. She finally said she would take no less than £200. I politely replied that I would have to look elsewhere as funds were limited. The following day at about 7am she was knocking on our door to say she would let me have it for that money!
I never left Cornwall in it. The furthest trip it did was about 20 miles each way.
Sold it to another lad who was just turning 17. He passed his test and promptly wrote it off a few months later - great shame.
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Not quite as dated as Armitage - but nearly. 1949 Sunbeam Talbot IIa. You would be really jealous - 2.2 litre engine, loads of torque, sun roof, leather upholstery, rear wheel drive, 20 inch wheels (OK, with blooming great cross plies on almost impossible to obtain!and which wore out in about 5k miles) Bought in 1968 for £40 with 20k on the clock! Served me well for 4 years with a permanently leaky water pump ( just carry a can and top up every morning!). Battery useless for last 2 years but no problem, one spin of the starting handle in the morning and it would start all day (but not next morning!). Known affectionately as "Tugboat" by my student friends who required lifts (not many students had cars in those days). Huge steering wheel (sort of ivory colour with metal spokes - no power steering of course, or heater!) Oh, and it had one of those trendy starters where you turned the key and then pressed a button. And steering wheel controls - well, for the dip switch anyway. Once went off the road when rear tyre went flat, went over(!) a ditch, through a hedge and a fence into a marsh, got out and found not a mark on it! Farmer had fun next day hauling it out with his tractor and I drove it off. The moss and bullrushes covering it matched the interior leather rather nicely.
Phil
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First love was my Metro GTi in black (competely standard which was a rarety) - liked it so much that I have bought it back and saved it from the crusher!
first car that I bought though was a rusty 1986 Micra Colette - ridiculously slow and used more oil than a chip shop.. got me round uni for a year or so until it gave in from its hard life at 140K..got faster as well as bits started to fall off and rust away in the winter..was a bit gutted when I had to leave it at the scrap yard though!!
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I did not love my first car, I bought it because I needed a car to get to work. It was an aged Morris 1100. Nuff said!
My first love in motoring terms was a 1965 Rover 2000 which I bought for £230 circa 1977.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Trafalgar Blue 1971 Morris Minor that my fiance bought for £450 in 1979 from an aunt and we sold in 1982 for £800 having doubled the mileage. Only car we have ever made money on.
Advertised locally in North East but only got what we regarded as silly offers - advertised in Telegraph and sold for close to what we wanted. The buyer set off to drive home to London via Hull because he did not like motorways.
Nice reliable car with awful handling (on cross ply tyres) - 17 year olds should learn to drive on these. Fist time I drove it (wedding day) I wondered why the tyres were making so much noise on the corners, turned out I was on the edge of oversteer in the dry (came of learning on my father's volvo).
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A 1972 1200 beetle for £375 from a vicars wife, just after passing my test in 1889. the car was a very dull pale blue, I had all the good intentions of restoring her to her former glory, but it lost a fight with a concrete post as was then well beyond my capabilities. I saw it many years later at a Beetle event, it had been painted a horrible metalic pink colour and looked very tatty.
Where are you now FPA388J
.www.rac.co.uk/web/carbuying/vehicle_data_search
Looks like she's still alive somewhere.
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A 1972 1200 beetle for £375 from a vicars wife, just after passing my test in 1889.
Surprised you're still driving!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Doh!
I meant 1989, but I'm sure you guessed that.
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I'm still laughing at that one - very welcome amusement!
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Mine was a beige coloured Austin 1100, not new. It diodn't last long and was superseded by an MG 1100 in black - basically same car but with dual carbs I think. That leaked water.
A mate of mine is "slowly" restoring a Ford Pop, which was his first car and also in which he did something for the first time with another first love.
His wife knows about the former but not the latter!
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First love was a 1952 Ferguson 20 diesel - in the days when you could drive a tractor on the road at 16.
I'm sure it's still going strong - but I can't remember the full reg - KCJ XXX - but up to 999 attempts of the reg. database is too much!
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Mine was a Renault 18, not actually mine but I had semi-permanent use of. Was very rusty but was amazingly reliable and comfy.
Haven't seen an 18 for years - not in the UK anyway. Still quite a few in France and it brings back happy memories when I see one.
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Ford Fiesta Popular Plus, 995cc (i think), A reg. It was my mum's car and I drove it and put XR2i alloys on it. My dad had only just had all the bodywork sorted out and it was in superb conditon....until I rolled it! Write off.
My first own car was a red VW Golf D reg 1.3, the paint used need polishing to stop it turning white, I completely abused the car and it was still going strong (despite a slipping clutch) when I launched it into a brick wall. Also written off!
Luckily no more accidents since...
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'S' reg Fiat 127. 903cc's of pure power (well, at 17 I thought so!)
Nice and basic. So basic that the water 'bottle' for the windscreen washer was a rubber bag, just like a hot water bottle, and was activated in the car by pushing a rubber teat. Windscreen wipers had two speeds - on and off!
Engine would have lasted forever but the design flaw was doors that rusted from the bottom up until there was nothing left, and every scrap car found had the same problem.
Loved it though.
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Bikes came first for me.
At 16 I bought a Puch maxi for a couple of hundred. Mother wouldn't let me have anything that actually looked like a motorbike, so a moped it had to be. All my mates had fizzies, so you can imagine what a dash I cut on the Puch. 28 miles an hour flat out. Definately not my first love.
The Puch was replaced with a honda CB100RN when I turned 17. i could get 70 out of that (head on the tank) and could overtake the school bus. Much cooler. Needed two rebores though.
Then a Yamaha RD200 (rubbish) and a Honda CB250 RS (the cool single not the carp twin) which I kept through university.
First four wheel love affair was with an ex meals on wheels 850 minivan. Gave £800 for it (in 1987) and used it in my gap year. Even took it to Glastonbury and slept in the back of it. Then gave it to Dad to use as a farm van. Great motor, but you had to pay extra to get it through the Dartford Tunnel as it was a commercial vehicle.
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A 1972 1200 beetle for £375 from a vicars wife, just after passing my test in 1889. the car was a very dull pale blue, I had all the good intentions of restoring her to her former glory, but it lost a fight with a concrete post as was then well beyond my capabilities. I saw it many years later at a Beetle event, it had been painted a horrible metalic pink colour and looked very tatty.
Where are you now FPA388J
.www.rac.co.uk/web/carbuying/vehicle_data_search
Looks like she's still alive somewhere.
I certainly am! My current owner searched for internet history on the off chance, searching by my number plate: FPA 388J and found this thread. It is now 2015 and I have undergone a massive renovation by a retired mechanic for his daughter, this work has gone on for the last four years or so after being bought by the daughter in 2005 from someone in Sc***horpe and then being abandoned for six years as she was too busy to tend to me. I felt sad, but it's all forgotten about now as I have a gorgeous rust free body and 1600 engine inside me. A lot of money has been spent on me and I am nearly finished now after my complete overhaul. I'm a very lucky girl indeed! Love BettyBeetle xxx
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1968 pale blue VW Beetle imported (not by me) from Germany and re-registered BYE 131H. Bought for £125 in 1971.
Good points; reliable (even with 6V electrics), full-length Webasto sunroof, comfort (I got on well with the driving position and seats)
Bad points; fierce oversteer on crossplies (taught me heaps about car control), no fuel gauge (had to kick the scuttle-mounted reserve tap quickly when the engine coughed), no amber indicators - they worked on the brake-light bulb (I retro-fitted amber indicators after a succession of near-misses.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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My second car is the one that I still look back fondly on. It was a Y reg MG Metro in red that I bought when I was starting university. Traded in a Kawasaki GPz550 for it.
The car felt like it was on rails. My memory is probably hazy but it was just really good fun.
Not the most reliable though - the sub-frame collapsed, and towards the end it was drinking so much oil that on the drive home from London to the Wirral I had to stop half way and top it up. Whatever - it was great and I put 30k miles on it.
2nd best car was a 1.6 Mx5. Again - not the most powerful I have owned but just damd good fun.
JAJ
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Yes - we've been this way before, but it's always fun to talk about one's first.
Austin A50 Cambridge, vintage 1955, bought (appropriately) when I graduated from Cambridge in 1969: OCE 340. Cost £65, sold for £65, still the only car I've had not to have depreciated. I had it for only 6 months as my father gave me his three-year-old MG 1100 as a 21st birthday present.
Much too generous even to think of turning down, but I did love my Austin. It had that splendid flying-A mascot and 'Austin of England' emblazoned on its sides, and you felt gloriously patriotic driving it. Those were the days when you could 'depend on an Austin' and it never let me down or failed to start first time. It had a lovely column gearchange - they were much maligned but it was easier to use than those on the MG 1100, MG 1300 and two Maxis that followed it.
Happy days....
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My first car was a sit-up-and-beg Prefect, certainly not my first love though I used to take it off road in the orchard before passing test, but a strict taskmaster and good teacher. In those days I read Practical Motorist at breakfast, changed clutches just in case they were worn, decoked on Saturday mornings, had my big ends re-metalled and so on.
As for performance and road-holding, well, remember side valve engines and transverse rear springs? nuff said; I once inadvertently left a spanner in the curve between wing and bonnet, it was still there when I got to work, 17 miles away!
Passing through the usual suspects, 100E, herald, etc I eventually bought a Rover 3 litre; I adored this car, it was such a contrast to Mr. Fords mass market offerings, cruised round the country in great comfort, and kept it for some years until the sills rotted. I took the view, as it was a modern car it would never be worth anything and sold it for £30 instead of having the welding done, unlike the P4 which I also ran at that time ( *Thinks* an idea for another thread..watch this space)
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1st car, '68 Beetle 1200 6v electrics, carp!
1st "love", '79 RD250.
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Renault Clio - in a beautiful (!) white. 1.9D - great little run around, and taught me sooooo much about working under a bonnet - having to change head gasket, radiator, every single tube related to cooling system, brake pipes, bearings, and a few more things that have been erased from my memory!
Not a great car driving, but it did the trick!
1st love though - Jag XK8 soft top :-)
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Always wanted sierra chasseur in estate trim with all the roof bars and extra skirting.
Never got one as I hadn't long since past my test and didn't progress up the car scale quick enough to buy one.
Drove a Sierra estate 1.8l and 2.0l ghia on a few occasions and loved it on the motorway
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1956 Standard Super 10 bought in 1981, with just one owner from new. It had only covered 51,000 miles. Paid £100 for it. Five years later sold for £700.
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My first was a Volvo 122s Amazon, wonderful car which i ruined in short order.
Then Hillman Super Minx, Morris 1100, Mk 3 Zodiac, Mk 4 Zephyr, Mk 4 Zodiac.
My best car of those years i bought aged 21, 1969 Ventora, lovely car that loads of torque, 4 speed box plus overdrive, you could put it in OD top @ 10mph and it would pull right round to 120 in that gear without the slightest vibration or hiccup...i've loved lazy engines since that car, modern peaky engines that need to be kept in a certain rev band or die frustrate.
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My best car of those years i bought aged 21, 1969 Ventora, lovely car that loads of torque, 4 speed box plus overdrive,
Schoolmates Dad, who worked for the BBC, had the estate version. An Ex North Riding police vehicle with registration I can still remember - SAJ 902H. On one occasion he took us over to Manchester (from Leeds) to watch a Charlie Chester programe being reorded, cruising over the top of the M62 at around 100mph.
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Never knew they did an estate version of the Ventora Bromp, but then in those days plod got all sorts of unusual specs that weren't generally available to the public.
Mine was on an H plate too, but can't recall the reg, oddly enough the only regs from the past i can recall are the lorries i've had which stood out from the norm for exceptional competence power or speed and of course me first artic a K regd Foden.
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A 1000% reliable 1966 Mini-sold locally in 1971. Saw the car again in a nearby car park 5 years later with a for sale card on windscreen!...nearly considered buying it back. The car that replaced the 1966 model in 1971 was a grossly inferior new Mini 850 --everything that could go wrong with a car went wrong with that car during the guarantee period and beyond. Gave up and bought a new Renault 4....bye bye British Leyland--for ever
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