bikebuoy, I have probably commented on this before, but did you grow up in Canada or the USA?
Florida !!
It was ace.
Austin 1100, new, circa 1963. Beige. I remember one of the front wheels falling off when it was just a few months old 😀 Reg ELF 182C. Why do I remember that???
Schweiz -
Mmmmmnn, maxi
Yep, that's the beauty we had. Also 3 boys in the back scrapping, dad smoking his pipe and the 70s mongrel in the footwell. Happy days
First car our family had was a silver Volvo 240GL. Was a tank and drove all across Europe, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Iraq more times than i care to remember. Many happy memories being driven around in the boot.
[img][url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3955/32789292601_9fcf7b414e_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3955/32789292601_9fcf7b414e_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/RXtGk4 ]Volvo[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/126516346@N08/ ]Phillip Dalton[/url], on Flickr[/img]
@gobuchul: I flippin' LOVE that Volvo! Lucky kid!
Black Austin 7 - my mothers car in the mid 60's. Leaky roof, indicators that popped out from the b pillars and often didn't return, crank handle, and (horse hair?) upholstery stuffing which we used to pick out from a small tear in the back seat.
Father had loads of different cars, struggle to remember which would have been the earliest.
A Ford Zodiac in presented in Rusty Grim.
The first car that I can definitely remember, and not pseudo memories based on old photos is a Mk2 3.0 Capri in orange with a black vinyl roof, like this.....
I can remember going with my dad to pick it up and being impressed that it had a clock in the center console.
The next car was a beige Marina 😕
Ford Zephyr in green , my step dad bought it when he was working out in Rhodesia . We had great fun sliding about on the huge bench seats .
Funny enough when we came back here we had an orange 240GL Ovlov too..
Mum must have loved estates/station wagons.
Thing with the 240 we had was it was an automatic, took an age to change down, took longer to change up. My mother bought one of the first "variomatic" 340's and the belt drive broke within a few 000' miles, all fixed of course, we used to call it MrRubberBandMan..
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My dad converted petrol Austin Cambridge and Morris Oxfords to diesels probably nicked the engines out of J4 BMC vans they were dull, gutless no turbos or power steering and the battery was another story. 40 mph was fast then whereas a mates dad had a Triumph 2.5 pi like the rozzers had so cool being in that
Id forgot about the shiny hot seats in the summer that would take a layer of epidermis off the back of your thighs, then there was Vauxhalls bench front seat no belts and you slid and hit the driver if driven fast round a roundabout
Vaguely remember my dad's white Dolomite Sprint. He quite liked that car too. But have great memories of his Silver Fiat 132 (I think) that had a big full length slidey sunroof which was great for our annual trips to the Blackpool Illuminations as my brother and I would stand on the rear seats out of the sunroof looking at the illuminations. It was quite sporty too apparently - all alloy engine, twin cam, but a total rust bucket and disintegrated in front of our eyes over the time my dad had it.
Blue Fiat Uno mid 80s
I distinctly remember the excitment when my dad got a Ford Granada about the same time - I think it was maroon.
redmex - Member
Id forgot about the shiny hot seats in the summer that would take a layer of epidermis off the back of your thighs, then there was Vauxhalls bench front seat no belts and you slid and hit the driver if driven fast round a roundabout
Did your dad go round roundabouts the wrong way round?!!! 😉
Yes i got that one wrong about the roundabouts must have been the flashbacks to my early years ok tight bends it was left handers, did you ever fight to get a window seat and hang out of it ?
Earliest memory was my Dads white Cortina Saloon. Gonna say 1.6L and W reg - but could be wrong.
My granddad, similar time, had an old Mk1 Cortina estate with green vinyl bench seat and steering column gear shifter. He had a piece of electrical tape over the fuel light asit was permanently on and annoyed him lol. Those bench seats were fun in the bends.
It was a white Vauxhall Viva estate.
LVN201F ! I have a good memory for names and numbers.
A baby blue Viva HC. Though I don't remember my dad ever driving it- it was a company car and my grandad bought it from the fleet and drove it for years. It was lovely tbh, think it was the 90 horse variant so it was like a scale model muscle car. If I had a garage to put a scabby car in, it'd have a rusty viva shell in it 😆
(and then a fence-green cortina LX which by the end was about 80% isopon, then 2 mk2 cavaliers, then the kings of the company cars- a cavalier mk3 cd which should have had the 2 litre 8v but inexplicably had a redtop in it, then a mk3 cdx with the v6. Loved that car, we were going to buy it but it got written off about a week before the end of the lease 🙁 )
A red Sierra Ghia. X reg I believe. As a tiny child I was excited by the thing that told you when the doors were open or if it was near freezing.
Pale blue Vauxhall Viva.
maccruiskeen - MemberBrown Mk3 Cortina 1.6L with bum-scorching, leg flesh tearing black vinyl seats. And in classic 70's fashion bits of it were already rusted through (not just rusty but you could stick your finger through), even though it was only 3 or 4 years old.
This^^^^^ Maybe your Dad bought my Dad's car, don't think it was rusty when he sold it though.
We started with a Blue Triumph Herald Estate, which struggled up hills. I remember leaving for holidays very early and having a bed made up in the back of the car for me and my two siblings. We then moved onto a Hillman Avenger, before the Fiat 131 - which had non-plastic seats. After that it gets vague.
Mid 70's - Dad had a Ford Granada estate in a baby blue colour for moving his crew n' gear around scotland (fishing boat skipper), i loved that car as it seemed huge inside and i was allowed to sit in the boot
Mum had a wee red mini cooper that she drove everywhere at 10/10ths, oddly enough i never liked that car as i always threw up inside it, probably due to her driving style.
As a casual boast 😉 to the above the owner of my dads fishing boat was Innes Ireland (F1 race driver 50's-60's) and i often used to get picked up from school (if my mum was working) in his Aston Martin and driven out to his house tyres screeching and tail sliding at every opportunity. He was quite a character 😀
Coyote - MemberPale blue Vauxhall Viva.
I feel like possibly you're my dad's secret other family.
Hillman Superminx in blue - This was our family car when I was born until my dad moved it on when I was 7 years old. It took 2 adults and four kids to Skegness with all the luggage etc. That trip would probably account for most of the 7 years....
My dad upgraded from the Viva to one of these:
In Brooklands green - obviously a nod to the Marina's racing heritage 😆
My ex girlfriend's family had much better taste (and lots more dosh)
Mk1 Astra GTE
Silver Manta GTE hatchback - B reg
Saab 900 Turbo T16S - D reg
Saab 9000 CDE - F reg
and in the garage a white E-Type (1960s G reg)
maccruiskeen - Member
Brown Mk3 Cortina 1.6L with bum-scorching, leg flesh tearing black vinyl seats. And in classic 70's fashion bits of it were already rusted through (not just rusty but you could stick your finger through), even though it was only 3 or 4 years old.
This^^^^^ Maybe your Dad bought my Dad's car, don't think it was rusty when he sold it though.
We had one in white. Then we had a couple of fiestas, followed by a a blue Sierra J145 HMD.
Black cortina. XFH 132 H
I rolled it into the garage door one day whilst pretending to be a rally driver. Just let the handbrake off.


















