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

924 was a great biking car. We used to ride with a guy who rode his bike to the Porche dealer in Edinburgh, then asked for a test drive. He took his bike to bits and fired it in the back for the test drive. There's a banana curve just off the M9 to the Forth Road Bridge. He said he reached 90 and that was what clinched the sale.

He replaced it with a 928, That was a flying machine. Two bikes in the back were possible too.

My dad used to work for VAG, so he had a few nice Audi Quattros, but my favourite was a VW Corrado VR6. It had a button on the centre console to raise the rear wing, which for a 10 year old was the coolest thing in the world!

In another job he once bought home a customer's Skoda because for some reason it was the only car left (this was a pre-VW Skoda) 😆

Before I was born:

Citroen Traction

Healy 3000

Lancia Fuliva Coupe

(that's 3 x cool in my book)

Post my arrival:
Saab 96 in tank green

Saab 99 in beige (hmm… not so sure that's a goodun!)

Saab 90 Turbo in ? can't remember the colour, how weird

Subaru Legacy GT in blue

Subaru Legacy GTB in silver

Mostly pretty cool i reckon, I'd certainly be happy to own any of them now. I currently drive a rusty Ford Ka – woo! (I did own the last Legacy and it was wonderful, but bank braking in terms of fuel)

Rover 3500S

COOL
Cortina GT

COOL
Rover SD1

NOT VERY COOL
Daimler

COOL (if you're elderly)
Then he had a series of 3 Supras, before a brief love affair with 4×4's, then another Supra – a twin turbo chipped grey import job that he still owns.

not sure if that's cool or not. It's like sh1t off a shovel anyway.

Fiat 126 and Corsair 2000e were the best two in our family.
Ford Anglia and Volvo 144 were the worst.

cars were functional to my dad, motorbikes were his passion and he was the only dad on the island with a garageful (and i was the only kid with dirt bikes). in '76 he bought himself a new bmw r1000, commuted daily on it all year round in all weathers and kept it immaculate.

When I rocked up on the scene I was taken home from hospital in a VW Type 3 Variant, shortly replaced with a Peugeot 504 estate.

This was in turn replaced with a Lancia Beta. In the late 1970s. Go with me on this, because the Beta was comprehensively Zebarted and one of very few that refused to rust.

Next up was a white Saab 900 Turbo, followed by a black Saab 900 Turbo SE and a Saab 9000 Turbo which showed my brother's Corrado VR6 a very clean pair of heels.

Latterly there was the Alfa 145 Cloverleaf and for his retirement a Yaris.

Not bad…

We called it "The Purple People Eater"..

My dad only had cool cars:

80's Ford Sierra Cosworth

The second Quattro my father had was nearly swapped for an RS500, which he borrowed for a while. F*** me was that quick too, 2WD only made it somewhat hairy – we exited a junction sideways once. Which, to an 11 year old was The Best Thing Ever.

😀

My dad has been driving citroëns as long as I can remember.
(He was an official citroën dealer before he sold the company and retired)
I think the ami 8 break was the worst af all.
Small, noisy, smelly, slow and damn right ugly.

Put me off french cars for live, they're all rubbish.

A Renault 12:

and a Ford Cortina estate.

Both pretty grim, really. But then I've got a Renault Scenic, so I suppose I can't talk…

mk3 jenson interceptor whilst in germany in the Army(pre me) used to tell me stories of out running police cars on the autobhans still had it when he came back to England got rid of it a few years after i was born so don't remember it just in photos and stories.

When I passed my driving test (22 years ago) my old man gave me his orange Lada Riva.

Thanks Dad. 🙄

Yes. Orange.

out running police cars on the autobhans

They were running 911s back then….

This thread is great!!!

Cars I remember:
Vauxhall Firenza (I think?)
MK1 Escort Mexico
Lots of MG's including an MGA
MK2 Spitfire
1930's tub racer
V8 Rover 3000
V6 Rover 800 (it did 150mph)
Various Jags the best being an XJ sport, fast quiet and handled a dream
Various rep like fast saloons/hatches
and the wolf in sheeps clothing a Montego (yes thats right!!) GTi. It could bury almost anything else around at the time, I remember as a 17 yr old wondering why there was a long line of traffic on a nice straight bit of road in the dales, a few seconds and a terminal velocity in excess of 100mph I spotted the cop car at the front the line and calmly braked and pulled in behind him. Amazingly I didn't get pulled, he must have been daydreaming.

Dad always had bikes up till me being 6 in '76 , always Triumphs or Nortons.
We moved back to Leeds and he bought a mk2 Jaguar , after this he had a mk2 Cortina that he'd shoehorned a V6 engine into then uprated the brakes and suspension added a front and rear spoiler and wolfrace alloys , wot a 70's chavmobile but it went like stink.
Then he's had a couple of lada riva's a lada samara , ford focus and now it's a kia carens people bus.

The coolest (IMHO) was the first we ever had as a family car – a grey Morris Minor 1000 van (EUR442B), complete with foot-operated dipswitch and an old armchair with the legs sawn off for me to sit on in the back. 8)

The next coolest was a dark blue NSU 1000 (OWM667J), a super little car. 🙂

After that came the uncoolest of the uncool, a sandy Austin (yep, you guessed it) Allegro. Sadly this didn't have the legendary square steering-wheel, but did use to go droopy and leave small pools of green Hydragas suspension fluid on the garage floor at regular intervals. So uncool I've erased the registration from my memory, though I think it was FRN something-or-other S.

Opel manta always fancied buying one myself

and several of these as they kept getting stolen

followed by this

Well i'm a dad, and I own this from 1982, so does it count?

My father was a huge Lancia fan, so he seemed to own many models through the late '70s and '80s.
His first car was a Morris Traveller, then it was family estates up until the Lancia phase. He must have been having a mid life crisis then.

His last car was a Lexus.

My old man still has this…

And I forgot about this one…

As already covered, my dad had crap cars. My ex girlfriend's dad had somepretty cool ones from 1985-1992 I recall these:

They should bring back cars like the Manta and Capri I reckon, 4 seater coupes with rear wheel drive that aren't BMW or Merc. Oh hang on there's the Monaro!

oh my dad had,
3X anglia 1300, 1600, and 2000 redtop convertion
rs1600 mk2 escort
rs2000 mk2 escort
mk1 mexico escort
mk1 astra 2L
opel mantra
some big rover V8
range rover
mini mayfair
hyundi stellar
dawoo nexia X2
ford feista

some nice cars when i was young but some crap heaps as he got older.

My Dad wins hands down for the fleet of uncoolest and deeply embarrassing fleet of cars ever.

Wartburg estate- imported from eastern block. It ran on 2stroke – oil in the petrol tank! and was essentially a lawnmower on wheels and regurgitated clouds of acrid blue smoke out of the exhaust

A series of Reliant Kittens – 4 wheel version of the robin (we had 6, one for each of us on the road and one for spares when ever there was a breakdown- weekly) They were all named after the cats in the musical (get it??!)so we did not get them mixed up.

A hustler- a cross between a pope mobile/golf cart/greenhouse. The glass eventually shattered and fell inwards on me- I still have the scars on my legs.

2 citroen Dianes which both broke so Dad patched them together one winter to make one new car. It did not really work and I have strange memories of traveling along looking at the road between my feet.

A mesherscmidt (sp)

An old ambulance

A horse box (turning up to school and my Mum lowering the ramp at the back so we could get out. leaving a tail of straw left scars deeper than the shattered wind screen)

Can any one beat that?

Cool
Alfa GTV-6

Not so cool
Renault 9 Turbo

Mixed family history for me:-

Dad (cool)
Opel Manta
Cavalier SRI
erm…????
All his motorbikes were well cool though!

Dad (not so cool)
Escort, pug 306, citroen Xantia, C5, mondeo x 2, focus x 2 …….

Me (all non-cool)
Cortina, Escort mk2, Cavalier, Chevette, Sierra, Fiat 126, Cavalier, Mondeo, MGF, Focus, Puma, Puma, Mondeo, Focus, Mondeo, Mazda 323, Galaxy, Mazda 3, Mondeo (see a pattern emerging?)
All my motorbikes were also cool!

My son (age 3.5, v.cool)
MGB currently undergoing restoration. We both got a big b0ll0king this afternoon for gasflowing the inlet manifold and stripping the twin SU carbs on the living room floor! He's the only 3 year old in his nursery with his own car, the only one that can weld, the only one who can start a car with a manual choke and carbs!
He's not going to be allowed a motorbike though!!!!

amongst the boring uncool cars my dad had (maestro, talbot horizon, some obscure toyota estate) the ultimate in uncool was a 1970 something wartburg 2 stroke

My father was in the motor trade so he was always bringing great cars home ( and cr@@py ones ). This was the most memorable one because the Saint was such a big tv show at the time.

I spent my formative years in the back of several VW Beetles – I think the first one was an oval from about '58. Cool now, and I wish I owned it, not because I relish driving it but because it would be worth a fortune! In fact I bought one of the Beetles as my first car (TKR172H where are you now?), not from my father but from someone locally who happened to have it. Strange coincidence.

The Mk2 Escort company car was not cool, however (but the early Sierra might have been then), and I have no wish to own either!

This might explain why I have only ever owned VWs (apart from about two weeks with an S-reg Fiesta 950, which was a DOG – and only a stop-gap while I had my Mk1a Passat fixed (which was a gorgeous car – EPD 585W I loved you!))

In fact, my father has an Audi 80, my mother has an Audi Coupe, my sister and I have Passats and Mrs JulianA has an Octavia, so the VAG thing must be catching / hereditary!

When I was born they had a Morris Minor Estate with a mouse living in it; apparently it used to jump over me on the back seat.

Then I draw a bit of a blank for a few years.
Peugeots i thnk.

Saab 90.
Orange VW Beetle.
Peugeot 205? Something small and diesel that lasted a gazillion years and ended up with 200+k on the clock and a rare moss growing on it. Sold to their builders for £60.

My mum had an Alfa Romeo during the middish 90s. I *think* it was a 146 Ti. She loved it but it kept falling apart.

Then they got a 307SW diesel which is showing every sign of lasting like the 205.

Nothing spectaularly cool (well, they might have done for th chunks of time i don't remember but they've not mentioned it).

Grazedknees, thanks for sharing that PMSL!

VW fastback

Sunbeam Rapia H120

then it all went downhill….

Mini clubman estate
Talbot sunbeam
Fiesta
Astra estate

My Dad had a Javelin Jowett which I can just remember and then a couple of late 50's early 60's Consuls. In the late 60's 6 of us would go to the West of Ireland in one – seems craazy now.

Manta GTE – I had one in the mid 80's – I feel so old on here sometimes…

First I have a vague memory of was an Austin of some sort with vinyl seats that were too hot to sit on if there was a hint of sunshine. Then he got an orange Maxi 1750. Awful thing.

Not sure what order now but I think

Mk1 Golf
Volvo 340 DL
Vauxhall Astra.

Mum did better with a mini 850 that I had my first crash in aged about 12 when I reversed it into the garage wall under full throttle. She also had a Fiat 127 which started to recycle itself through the medium of rust within 6 months from new, a beige Metro 1.0 that ended up as my first car 😳 and one of the original Micras that was reliable but lighter than air and would spin on any road with a hint of moisture.

Various 240 Volvos I'm afraid.
Not cool in any way shape or form.