After looking at the Favourite older cars thread, got me thinking about my first car;

Mini 1275GT, hand painted in Salmon Pink.

What was yours?

a 1974 Mini 1000 in dark green

A Jetta GTI 16V, twas a flying machine.

First one I bought was a mk 2 GTE (’89)

I chuffing loved that car until it exploded in a fireball at the bottom of Telegraph hill (by a bike shop IIRC!)

First car owned was a Renault 20TL auto, a 1978 bought in 1985.

Paid £100 as the seller (my landlord at the time) was picking up a new car and needed £99 for the deposit.

First car driven on passing my test at 17 y/o was a brand new Renault 5 GTL – my Dad worked for them and he got two new company cars every six months. Drove a Fuego at 18 y/o. 🙂

MX5 (1990) was the first car I owned (First car I had use of was my wife-to-be’s car which was a Pug 205)

P reg Austin Maxi !

Old version P reg 😀

68 mk1 escort

Mark 4 Ford Cortina Ghia. Light metallic blue with black vynal roof. 2.3 V6 converted to manual shift.

A beautiful 1970 series 11a swb landrover in light blue called Wendolene *sigh*

1981 Austin mini Metro. Resprayed by my cousin in pearlescent black, with gold painted wheels and a gold pin stripe. Mini Cooper steering wheel and rallye spot lights.
Looked awesome ish. Was still shit.

A Citroen GSA .

Bloody loved that car and it’s flat four , air cooled engine.

Mk2 Morris mini MNW963F it’s still on the road although now black not the original tartan red.

Ford Capri Mk3 1.6. so many great memories in that car and all my old mates seem to remember it well too. Keep thinking of getting another to restore but silly prices now, probably best kept in memory lane.

Toyota Carina MK1

One of these. Just realised how much I miss that car. Wrote it off within a month by driving into a ditch.

Vauxhall Chevette 1.3, originally silver, silvery-grey with a black smoothrite lower by the time I’d finished with it. Cost me £50, got £30 back for scrap.

1978 Ford fiesta, in mucky cream with a brown roof!! Bleeding aweful car, absolute bag of shite, but I loved it!!

Bought in 1995 for £150.

Triumph spitfire and ive still got it.

My first “car”.

Not mine but it was this colour. Bought it when I set myself up in business aged 22. Unfortunately it was stolen a few months later and burnt out. I was gutted as it was followed by a succession of Ford Sierra’s and Escorts for the next 10 years.

This gorgeous piece of work. Only mine was a four-door.

A 1981 Pontiac Le Mans, for those who didn’t grow up in North America.

1963 Mini reg AAW 681A. Tuned 1140 block, de-seamed, fibreglass front, buckets. Best bit was hi-low beam switch was in the middle of the floor and my passenger could operate it for me. Loved that car.

1981 Mk3 Ford Escort 1.3L bought in ’91 after I passed my test.
I wrote it off 6 months later.

Mk2 Escort 1.3L in beige. After 6 months it got an Italian designed nose, after I drove into the back of a Fiat 127. I never got it repaired and eventually sold it on in a non running condition as the piston rings were jiggered.

A mini pick up, got it whilst a post grad student having just passed my test. It opened up a world of mountain biking possibilities not just for me but a group of riders who worked at Robin Williamson Cycles in Edinburgh. I’d would take the bikes and one passenger, Leffeboy took the others in his Austin Allegro with the BMW M badge on the boot.

Austin 1300 Super deluxe in a sort of yukky tan colour. The spedo was like a horizontal thermometer thing with a red ribbon that grew longer the faster I drove. Turning on all the electrics caused the wiring loom under the dash to melt, to the consternation of the passengers in the back as I drove up the Llanberis pass in the rain and fog on honeymoon.

Eventually died from too much filler and not enough metal.

Fiat strada 65cl for £120, like this

very random electrics and not much to recommend it

I should add the original stereo in my car, above, was a Delco 8-Track player. 8-tracks in the car = 8)

Mk2 Escort 1.3L in beige.

High-five to a fellow beige MK2 Escort owner 😀

RWD, which was fun in the wet and in gravel carparks!

A reg Fiesta in BRG with pepper pot alloys. Just the smell of a Forest Fresh Magic Tree and I’m back parked up in a country lane. 😉 😉 😉 😉

In 1989 I bought a 1979 MK3 Ford Capri 1.6L.

Beige with low back beige tartan seats.

I can remember the reg number of every car I’ve ever owned for some reason. This one was TWM148V

My eldest brother had a Capri 2.8i at the time and I thought “well, it must be a bit the same”. Er, no.

Mk2 Golf GTi 16v – it went downhill from there really.

Peugeot 405 with no power steering.

Metro Gti 16v. It was a go kart and I loved it.
Then got several minis including a 1275gt with mg metro turbo engine.
Now I have a Dacia Duster. I miss fun cars.

One of these bad boys in burgundy

Very dull but reliable, roomy and would take camping kit and bikes for 2

Mogrim, I loved mine but it was pretty gutless. Sustaining momentum was the order of the day. I thought it handled well, but corners that felt dangerous in those days, are easily lapped up by today’s cars.

White Fiesta XR2 (F reg)

I would really really like another (mid life crisis) however I’ve seen what mint ones go for…

Aerodeck?

Not mine but one of these Capri Cabaret II 1.6. It was written off in the Great Flood of Saltcoats and I bought it back off the insurance (it was maw and paw’s). Never got round to drying out the back seat( passengers sat on black bags) and the electrics gradually failed one after the other.

My first drive in the dark after passing my test was a nightmare as I couldn’t see a thing, unbeknown to me for a week the main beam didn’t work and all I had was sidelights and full beam. I assumed it was normal, terrifying but normal!

Mogrim, I loved mine but it was pretty gutless. Sustaining momentum was the order of the day. I thought it handled well, but corners that felt dangerous in those days, are easily lapped up by today’s cars.

I think mine was a 1.6, which didn’t go too badly, but you’re 100% right about the corners!