My first”quick” car was one of these. A pile of sh##, but could wheel spin it in 3rd.

My first car was a Mk.1 Golf 1600 GLS. I don’t think I’d have that…. But my second (Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior)- yes please.

Sorry. Not possible to stick to just one.

Yes please

I had a Mk2 Ibiza, always fancied a cordoba though.

I had one of these, but rustier

Cousin Dan Bob had obe of these, the bastid.

First car was a four speed 1300 cc Renault 5. Body roll, crap gearbox, dodgy electrics, would I want it back – not a chance

Dad had one of the later Lancia Betas (and then a Gamma with a Ferrari engine in it) so my dream car has to be a Lancia Beta Monte-Carlo

My first car would love another!!

Blimey these are a bit pricey nowadays http://www.autoblog.com/2014/12/25/white-christmas-miami-vice-ferrari-testarossa-on-ebay-for-1-75/

A 205 XS. 1.4,85bhp, twin choke. When that second choke opened up, boy, it was good. I had two, both handled like nothing else, but both had a bag of spanners for a gearbox though. I’d have another in a flash though.

Anyone else been on Autotrader for hours because of this thread?

Can you get a bike in a Prelude?

Can you get a bike in a Prelude?

You can in the last model one (this one)…

Probably the best-looking car I’ve owned, but the Mondeo I replaced it with drove much better (and could take two bikes).

🙂
Idle dreaming, but when the Punto needs replacing…

Got a Doblo for bike stuff really, but it’d be a bonus.

Couple of nice, standard low milage earlier cars out there for not much cash.

My first real car was a mk1 Honda Prelude, and I’d have another in an instant.

Drove my dads Maestro and passed my test in a mk4 cortina, but they are best left in the back of my memory 😆

The main car I want now but am unlikely to ever find in good condition is the car my parents had when I was 16. Saab 900 Turbo 16S. (Not the exact one below in case I’ve stolen somebodies pic)

I’d love my ’65 Midget back, or my ’73 MGBGT or, especially, my ’63 997 Mini Cooper which was my second car after an absolute POS ’59 Triumph Herald.
However, a ’64 AC 289 Cobra, please. Or a GT 40, or a Healey 3000. The list is endless.

My first two cars were Morris Minors, a ’53 and a ’54, the ’54 was pretty solid, had a 1300 A-Series, bucket seats, new Kingpins and a van rear-axle fitted by me and a mate, adaptors with Koni shocks, 5½ X 13 alloys with 185/55×13 Avon tyres and Cibié headlight conversions.
Never got around to getting it resprayed, so when a drunk local milkman drove into the back outside the house early in the morning after clubbing all night, the insurance wouldn’t pay for the damage to be repaired as that would require a full respray.
Shame, I’d probably still have it now, so bloody easy to work on, every part can be replaced easily, you only need a Haynes manual, a socket set and screwdrivers, and you can upgrade to disc brakes, fuel injection, stainless exhaust…
I also had an Opel Manta Mk1, as someone else posted earlier. Lovely car to drive, had to get rid after the floor started to rot, and something broke in the engine on the Severn Bridge on my way back from seeing U2 at Cardiff Arms Park on the Joshua Tree Tour.
Had a really good Pioneer separates system installed, too.
I’d love another, given the money to get it properly restored, but I’d possibly get the entire drive-train upgraded; better brakes, small-block V8…
At the same time Opel made the GT, which was gorgeous, but very rare in the UK. I saw one at a custom car show, beautifully put together, with US style plates, and a surround which said along the top “When I Grow Up I Want To Be A ‘Vette”, which made me laugh a lot.
I’d have one of those to go with the Manta if I had the money, making a sort of mini Corvette/Camaro pairing.

Oh, and I had a Talbot Horizon for a while, not having the means to own what I really, really wanted, which was one of these:

One day, perhaps.

My first car was a 1975 Mini 850. Previous owner had hand painted it (i.e. with a brush). Put a NOS 998engine in – actually, my father’s retired friend did it. He also supplied the engine, which I suspect might have fallen off the back of the production line at Cowley.

I had a friend respray it in a deep BMW blue, fitted minilites, some improved seats (still hinged at the front only…for safety). And a nice loud stereo to compete with the complete lack of sound proofing!

I left it in the corner of my parents garage when I went to university. And there I anticipated it still was, ready for a thorough restoration once I had a house with a garage. Turns out my mum sold it on my behalf and only told my by accident some months later.

Not sure I’d have another – even recognising how “bad” old cars are – though I wouldn’t mind tracking down either of the ur Quattros my father had in the 80s….

Throughout my Uni days I drove one of these, it was simply awful and epic at the same time. I wouldn’t want one now, but then when my Father left his to me in his Will I drove around proudly in it whilst being showered in rain from the utterly rubbish hood/window fitting, the non existent heater (during winter it would freeze up inside and take me from Norwich to Wisbech to thaw out). It broke down many many times, but one epic adventure involved Catherine and a trip to Sennen Cove, roof down all the way…it’s top speed was 65mph, sure it would go further but by God it would be so uncomfortable. I eventually stripped the bumpers off it, lowered it, stuck minilite wide wheels on it and let it rot in the rear of my Mothers garden promising one day to restore it. It never happened.

Checkout “sitting there rotting on a driveway” on facebook. There’s loads of pictures of these sorts of cars, that’ve just been abandoned. It’s heart-wrenching 😉

A few sexy hot hatches

The best car BMW ever made.

Norwich to Cornwall in a Midget?

I needed a physio after driving my mate’s to St Albans, and we lived in Hertfordshire at the time.

This thread has reminded me of buying a AX GT for £100 – went halves with a mate so £50 each.

It had a few weeks MOT left so we left it in his dad’s garage till pay day when I was going to insure it. Only bought it to hoon about in for a laugh.

Went to the garage one day and it had been nicked 😯 we went out on our bikes, annoyed at what had happened, to go to the Police station to report it. On the way there, we went our usual way over the manmade unofficial BMX jumps in the back field.

Guess what we found abandoned on the top of one of the jumps……….

The AX was literally bent in half and the doors wouldn’t even shut. As we hadn’t got round to sending the log book off, we then didn’t bother going to the Police….

Galant! First time I ever realised that ugly could be beautiful.

Clio Williams for me.
The Renault 5 gt turbo would be fun but i don’t have a death wish

In my 20s I was a student then trainee solicitor (i.e. skint for years), so cars only got so far up the list: I did manage to own three Saxo VTRs in a row (free insurance!). Bad image, but actually fantastic cars. Always aspired to a VTS. Very few left after they were all fully “Barry-ed” and crashed.

Would have loved a 106 Rallye back then. They’re all snapped up now. And the 306 Rallye is similarly hard to come by. Looks like the GTi6 is still available at sensible prices. Clio 182 Trophy still sensible, but Williams too risky now.

But then the Elise was released when I was 20. Had Mrs North been tall enough, we’d have had one instead of the Mk2.5 MX5 we ended up with. We loved the MX5 but there’s an Elise itch still to scratch.

My father had an E46 330, which was great (though less reliable than the 3 litre 406 coupe it replaced. I’ve never owned a BMW, but there’s also an M3 (E36 or E46) gap in my car list as well. And that’s before the 968 itch, the Mk2 Golf GTi itch and…..

Paralysis by indecision!

80s cars like 80s music seemed great at the time but now, not so great.

However, nostalgia enjoyed the 5 turbo and particular the Golf Mk2 16v. I had an RS Turbo but that’s was disappointing at the time.

i had a renault 5 GT Turbo phase 2 when in my prime. Always wanted a turbo 1 or turbo 2 after my friend bought one.. absolutely mental car! Identical to this..

[url=https://flic.kr/p/NKy5qo]turbo 2[/url] by thebigman1191, on Flickr

THese were something else.

My first car after I passed my test was identical to this, even down to the colour. Cost me £90 and I reckon I would still own it today if it hadn’t caught fire on me driving through the middle of Abergavenny in 1985 🙂

Ahh, the Celica GT4..
Another Company Car for me that. After one particularly amazing year my Bosses offered me a choice from the Toyota dealer down the road (who we had all of our cars from) I walked in thinking a Corolla GTi and my Boss said, I think the white one would suit you better.. it was the GT4 Carlos Seinz version, it was immense. A car way too powerful for me, a car that both entertained and gave me the willies, it caught the attention of Ironbridges finest Plod on more than one occasion, until they got bored of me answering the same old questions. I could get my Klein Attitude in the back with the seats down too.. But I have to confess I drove it like I’ve driven all my cars throughout my years on the road.. as a dithering Grandad in comfy slippers. But Charlotte loved it.. her Father not so much 😆

A Hillman Imp? Er, no.

I did like my Fiesta 1300S though, but it fell over in the Goyt Valley.

Also, had a Polo bread van like Stoner’s. Great little car. Mine was a special edition one with swanky seats and (believe it or not) red quilted door panels. It was like driving around in a smoking jacket.

Had a main dealer in the town, the look and the sound of the 450 SEAC, awesome 🙂

1980 Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ40) hardtop or any of the Toyota Land Cruiser.

My neighbour still got one of this …

would – possibly – have my 205 1.9 GTI back again (stolen…) like road going go kart, I doubt I pushed it very much really but did have some ‘moment’s in it none the less…

First car – was this, in white with a roll-top sun roof, good times!!

This one, 1600E Cortina. This was mine taken in about 1974-5 by the Keilder Forest drive. (& that’s the ex mrs) 😆

Was so tempted. Saw the actual 5GT that I had in 1990 for sale earlier this year, over 8 grand. Pretty sure it was about £12k new…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/P335ou]$_86[/url] by James Fisher, on Flickr

Jeeze, I’m a bit bored at work… 🙄

I had one of these (at the same time as the Celica GT4 above) Boy oh boy was it a heap of shite. It’d been converted to a Perkins Diesel engine which weighed a ton, the steering rack was incorrectly fitted so had 3 turns of the steering wheel left to lock and about 16 to the right lock. The heater, oh someone said there was one in it but I never found it, it had two holes in the floor by the clutch lever, and the transfer box often stuck in low range. But, it was fun and towed a shire horse to shows in a box 4 times larger than the rumbling tractor engined framework pulling it. It stank, molasses and straw, horseshite and dampness.. I nearly rolled it in a steep field as I pulled in with the ned in the box and we promptly slid 1/2 acre down the sodden field with me frantically rotating the steering wheel, with absolutely no effect other than comedy. But it carried pheasants gently rotting from the roof, spent cartridges littered the pockmarked floor, odd sized wellies but only one pair. I spent 6.5 hours travelling from Ironbridge to Liverpool Vet Collage out near Birkenhead one very chilly March, sadly for our Shire she didn’t come home with us..
Whilst the memories are still vivid, the car was a pile of crap and no..no I’d not have another Landy again.

Depending on what the car is, I’d say go for it.
I grew up on Gran Turismo and ended up with a few 90s Jap rockets in real life – MR2 Turbo, MX5, Legnum VR4, and the crème de la crème: FD RX7.
They’re basic by today’s standards but am awful lot of fun.

Other than the Legnum I’d have any of them again without a second thought. Always got my eye on the classifieds for a good enough RX7 to have another punt on.

Had one of these in my 20s as a company car – Mitsubishi Galant 2.5l V6. A very discreetly quick car for the time. I’d have something similar again.

Had a couple of Fiesta Supersport, wish I had kept the last one!

But have had this for over 20 yes (thanks to my dad for putting it back together!)

[url=https://flic.kr/p/P5yQSr]WP_20140707_001[/url] by bolt_1970, on Flickr

It’s like riding an early nineties mtb compared to modern stuff!

I’ve still got the car of my youth, phase 2 Renault 5 GT Turbo. 19 years later and its currently undergoing a full nut and bolt resto..