What cool or very uncool cars did your dad have when you were a kid?

One of these:

Is that cool or not?

Much later on we got an estate one of these:

Possibly the last mechanically interesting citroen.

Nothing of note,really.Standard 1960's family cars such as:
Austin Cambridge
Wolseley 15/60
Ford Corsair
Triumph 1300
Are just a few that I remember.

Two that stand out are ones that he nearly bought,Mk3 Cortina GXL,(a la Gene Hunt stylee),test drive,price discussed etc,but my mum didn't like the colour! FFS.

Then one day in the mid 70's iirc,my uncle announced that the boss at the engineering company that he worked for was 'Selling a sportscar that he doesn't use much'.Dad went to look at it,but decided that it may 'cost a bit to run',so didn't take it any further,despite 14 year old me trying to persuade him otherwise.
With hindsight,it wasn't one of his wiser decisions….
Just like this,but in silver….. 😛

My dad had use of an Austen Maxiwith his job, I seem to remember we had to use one to go into East Berlin, it probably looked cool there.

my old pa's claim to uncool

Moskvich (fugging orrable)
Austin Princess (no better)

and he bought me my first car

A er allegro ( he did have a perverse sense of humour)

And a whole load of others…………..

We had hundreds the very worst without question was a

Simca 1100 van in f"%k off green. So bad there is not a single surviving picture of the thing.

My only memory is of the awful colour and a need to get out as quickly as possible.

My dad generally had a succession of fairly average cars until one day he shot straight to the height of cool when he bought an RX7, that's how low th ebar was when I was growing up.

We had a Simca 1100 too, black plastic seats and shorts in the summer were not a good combination.

I guess it depends for me.

At the time, the most uncool car we ever had, by a country mile was one of these..

Yet, the more I think about it, that is now sub-zero!

Incidentally, it was the only car my dad was ever done for speeding in.

a pretty constant car was a triumph spitfire getting gradually more race prepped until the rot took over

mk1 scirocco storm
lancia prisma
MG Maestro, ugly but quicker than the xr3i that my mate next doors dad had
mk3 Cavalier SRi
omega estate – bike swallowingly cavernous and rwd
vectra saloon – someone accidentally offered a good part x on the omega so dad bit his arm off and took the thing nearest the exit
Alfa 147 2.0 TS
Mazda 3, the fast one
Mk2 scirocco
Mk2 golf, one below the base model, thrash-mobile, taught me engine rebuilding
106, thank-god that got totalled
MX5 – mothers car really
Triumph Stag

i used to have one of these in GOLD!!!!

yes i know, i was taken in by the electric sunroof!!

god it was shit!

My old man had company cars working on call out in the sixties and seventies, mainly Vauxhalls.
He came home one day in an ex rally Corsair, and my mum went mental. I think had to dash back to the pub to get his money back.
My mum had a Triumph Herald convertible I loved that.
My old man died in 1975 so there's not a big history 😥
Remember the smell of hot leather in old Austins on your way to holiday, Blurghhh

My dad had (and still has most of) a Triumph Stag. Had endless arguements in the playground about whether it was faster than my friend's dad's Datsun 240Z. I think the Stag won eventually because the speedo had a bigger number on the dial…

A TR7.
I borrowed it aged 18 and swanned around Cornwall with mates for 2 weeks.
Cool.

When he bought his last sports car, it was a Morgan, but not the Plus 8. I did try and talk him 'round but no doing.
However, I did talk him into a last stab of youth when I was 17 and he bought a Yamaha DT175 on a whim whilst in a motorcycle shop with me.
Strangely, re-reading this, I did the same 22 years later with a Hornet.
Cool.

My mum used to drive one of these aged 21 (I was 3)

then when it constantly wouldn't start (I still remember all the attention she'd attract in her mini skirt from blokes only too keen to push it) she got one of these:

no idea what my dad drove back then, I know he had a brand new rover 3500 in 1980 tho

I can only remember a few cars my dad has had over the years:
Ford Anglia
Triumph 2500
Saab something or other
I think he has an Avensis now

stepdad, on the other hand, since 1977:
Morris Marina
Ford Escort mk2
Ford Escort mk3
Toyota Corolla
Ford Cortina mk4 x2
Ford Sierra mk1 (up until this point he was a sales rep so these were all company cars, then he joined the Inland Revenue…)
actually, come to think, this was 1977-1982…5 cars in 5 years – way to go

Mini
Fiat 126
(these two were "second cars" while my mum was learning to drive. she gave up in the end, with a Fiat 126 to look forward to I can't exactly blame her!)

then from 1983,
Lada Riva Estate
Nissan Sunny
and a series of Nissan Micras ever since the Sunny got rear-ended while parked outside my house in 1990ish

In my lifetime:

Uncool:

Capri 1.6
Capri 1.6
Capri 3.0 (written off in a ditch)
Capri 2.8i
BMW 330i (still got this one)

Cool:

Audi ur Quattro
Audi ur Quattro (yes, he had two of them; consecutively, mind)
Golf GTI 16v (mk2 only one in the country with factory leather interior; stolen for its interior…)
Peugeot 406 coupé (beautiful *and* reliable..!)
Audi 100 (go with me on this…. he ran out of cash in the late 80s and had to let the Quattro go. Now the garage he used at the time was Dave Sutton Motorsport in Daventry – yes, the place that prepped the works Group B Quattros for the likes of Hannu Mikkola. Anyway, this average looking 100 went like sh*t off a stick. They never did tell him what they'd done to it)

We always had boring cars (mostly)

but when I was about 10 my mum got a spitfire convertible

and when I was about 16 my dad went out to get a VW passat estate. We knew this, he & my mum had decided.
Came home with a mk1 golf GTi with a body kit on it (someone had ordered it & then backed out so they sold it off "cheap"). Better still, he put me on his insurance when I was 18 😯

guards red BMW 2002,nice car , only it broke down wen we came home (dad was in army )to ilfracombe, had to borrow grandads moggie minor also rember that.also he had a humber scepter estate 1975 ish , but i wont go into that.

So, no-one elses Dad has a Skoda Estelle then…………anyone?

OK, just mine then………..and to top that his prevous car was a Morris Marina Coupe 😆

TJ, we have just bought a Bedford CA camper – we'll se how cool it is once we get it through the MOT!!!!

since coming out to Oz, I've learned that cars dont rot.

therefore you see things like spotless MGs, jensen interceptors and big old 70's and 80's BMWs and Jags all trundling round.

I'm trying to convine the GF that our first runaround should be a truimph stag. she's not convinced.

Didn't have a dad, but my Mum rocked us around in one of these:

Datsun 1500 Ute

Cool or uncool? Riding in the back was cool – it was the 70s, you were allowed.

She also had one of these for a while:

BMW R75, I sat in front of her, no helmets required – it was the 70s….

Uncool Ford Popular – amazingly this got stolen…
Cool – after an unexpected cash bonus at work…bought MGB GT new – very fun.
We also had a white mini with red interior and the clear plastic seat cover option 🙂 not cool then, but could you imagine one now?

Earliest memory is of a MKIII Zephyr.
Then a series of Chrysler Valiants and Pacers.
Early 70's he got an XJ6 and was hooked-Jags + Daimlers were the family car til his death in the early 80's
Additional cars over the years included:
A number of XJS's in various colours
Chevy Blazer
Corvette
BMW 3.0CSi
SI Esprit (orange with tartan upholstery- only one in NZ at the time, and bought it when the spy who loved me came out- really embarrassing to be in
MKIII Capri 3.0

Over a similar period I can remember my mother driving:
Austin 7
Fiat Bambina
Hillman Imp
Hillman Avenger
Austin Allegro

Have no idea which of yhese were cool or not, though I guess tha Bambina and BMW were.

Austin A40 Farina
Morris 1100
Toyota Starlet
and then about 8 Toyota Corolla's and a couple of Yaris.
My mum's got one of these (absolutely mint with about 17k on the clock)

brakes your dad is cool. I'm keeping a casual lookout for one of those myself.

Volvo 480 and a Rangerover (can't remember anything else)

My dad had an Austin Maxi.

My favourite Aunt and Uncle both had Jaguar and powerful BMW fetishes though! Dammit.

My uncle had a Jag XJ12 like this.

My Dad used to keep an eye on his businesses when he went on holiday, which also required 'looking after' the Jag and, for some reason, seemed to involve maxing it out down the local dual carriageway :-). Allegedly.

My dad only got around to learning to drive a couple of years before me so it's a short history…

Starting with the incredibly uncool Austin MiniMetro 1L in a weird orange/red.
Followed by an Escort Diesel – before anyone thought of sticking turbos in cars. My god that thing took some winding up!
There was a Rover 214 involved for a while I think and then he redeemend himself with an Alfa Romeo 155. My God that car was cool – somehow having not a single flat surface inside or any cup holders seemed wonderfully petrol-head. Of course, in reality, it was a right pain!
Then went on to a series of GTVs and now has an GT.

(yes, he's a bit addicted to the Alfa thing. That and he gets a big discount through work…)

My dad only had cool cars:

80's Ford Sierra Cosworth
Lotus Elite (looked like a fast, red, wedge of cheese)
Lotus Esprit

Shame he spoilt them by blasting out Chris Rea.

After my dad had to give up his Brough Superior (SS80) and double adult sidecar combination due to heart problems he bought a 1946 Austin 7, then a 1948 Austin 10, then in 1964 his pride a joy – a Hillman Husky.

Good god, I'm about to take the tone of this thread down a notch or two…

My dads first car after giving up bikes because I was born:

When that inevitably rusted away, then came the hateful Corolla…

When that inevitably rusted away (I used to get told off for picking chunks of the bonnet off), my dad went back to good old leyland with a Rover 400 (which one day I would inherit as my first car)…

There was one of those bubble shaped Rover 200s, a VW Caddy (the current one) and eventually a Seat Altea so it got better eventually.

1964 Mk1 Lotus Cortina.
Mum went mad because he traded a good family car (Zodiac) for it.
Have still got it.

The first one i remember was a Hillman Imp van,then a Wartburg .
Then things improved and we had S11a LANDROVER SWB EX ARMY .

Then he became ill so he got various Skodas 4 in total .Great cars in the snow as rear engined but totaly unreliable.

Then a metro under rover guiess and now god bless his soul he's driving a Jag in HEAVEN.

uncool – metro (turned out to be a cut and shut of 2 cars)
mk1 cavilier
Audi 100 "sport" serious electical problems
Audi 80 CD
Bedford astra van (went up in flames)
Ford transit dropside pickup
Ford Transit van
yamaha RD125

Cool – MK2 XR2i
JCB 4cx
yamaha XJ450 (chopper type thing which is cool age 8 ;))
Kwack ZX6R
Mercedes sprinter – the biggest one they did with 8 seats and
room for 7 DH bike

I remember my dad having a Mk.1 Cortina that I thought was really nice, then he changed brands and went for a Rover 2000, which was bigger inside, but not as nice. After that he went BMW for his company cars.

Mind you, he did have an Austin Ambassador as a courtesy car once. That was highly specced, but totally rubbish. As was my mum's Morris Marina, but not the Rover Vitesse that she briefly had afterwards. Nothing with a rover 3.5l V8 in could be uncool.

I would love a Mk1 Lotus Cortina – when I was a kid they were the ultimate fast family car. It will take pride of place in the dream garage alongside the Cobra. And the GT40. And the Healey 3000 …….
Oh, and the Vincent Black Lightning. And the '68 Bonneville …….

Porsche 924 (ok, so it had a vw engine)

A very fine version of a fine engine. one of the models was the quickest porsche at the time and was one of the first to break the mass-produced 100bhp/litre mark and wasn't far short of 200bhp/tonne.

They handled well and you could get two bikes and a weekend's camping luggage in the boot. I've even had two adults in the back seats albeit for a short, uncomforable journey.