...favourite car(s) of years gone by.
My late dad loved his cars, he would buy them repair/restore them then sell them on and start again with another car much to my mum's annoyance.
In the late 1960's early 1970's I remember him having a Simca and an estate car I can't remember the name of but you'll know what I mean when I say it had wooden trim on the outside. Old cars were built to last and not disintegrate on impact and they had heavy doors. One of my nieces got her fingers trapped in the door of the Simca.
A school friend's Dad drove a Ford Pop', I called it a black box.
I liked the look of the Ford Anglia, (the cop car in Heartbeat)
other car names from my past were
Hilman Imp
Jaguar
Cortina
and others that I forget, I'm hoping someone will jog the old grey matter.
My late dad had a cream coloured Morris Minor van.. wiv a mattress in the back for me and my brothers .. (pre-seatbelts) lol
I remember when he died, mum sold it for £20 (back in '71)!!
I liked:-
Ford Capri
Rapier
Zephyrs
Triumph Stag
to name but a few ......
Lol @ mattress in the back, my dad had a car seat (not bolted down) in the back of a van and when he pulled up sharp it lifted up and came back down again trapping my leg. it must have been the only time I had nothing to say I was in too much pain.
Was the Morris Minor the car with the wooden beading? I always think of DANCING when I hear the word Morris
ooooh child cruelty eh? wot wud the authorities have made of it today?? hehe
I think that was the 'Countryman' (more like an estate wiv glass windows) Dad's was a solid sided van.
Nope, my dad's wasn't called the Countryman, I know the name of it I just can't recall. I thought it was the Morris Minor Estate.
I think our baker used to have the van your dad had, every Sunday afternoon he'd stop outside our house and I'd rush out to get one of his scrummy individual trifles. Mm mm! lol
It wasn't your dad was it? (We lived at Athersley North then)
I was dragged through my childhood in a series of vans. Jowett Bradford, 10cwt Bedford, Austin A40 and A55...and then my mum put her foot down and we had a Mark 1 Cortina. Luxury!!
I learned to drive on a combination of the A55 van, an Austin 1100 and a Renault 5.
I know where there's a Morris Minor Countryman stashed away in a barn that could be had by anyone who wanted it. But beware, it needs a serious amount of welding on it.
I know where there's a Morris Minor Countryman stashed away in a barn that could be had by anyone who wanted it. But beware, it needs a serious amount of welding on it.
Wills you are sounding like my late Dad lol he was always keen to start his next project.
Not exactly years gone by but when i was a kid i always wanted a black Ford Fiesta XR2 with pepperpot wheels or a Renault 5 GT turbo. I loved them, still do actually. My other favourites were the Escort RS2000 or the Cosworth. I'd have one of those tomorrow but they are like hens teeth now. The Lotus Carlton was also a lovely car, purely because it went like sh*t off a shovel but was very understated.
The cars i remember my parents having was a brown Toyota Celica(in the 70's) and a number of very crap and boring cars after that - Nissan Micra, Nissan Sunny, Rover Metro etc etc
Yes, had a go on a Lotus Carlton yonks back. Great fun to be driving a big car that takes off and handles like a small sports car, or even a bike. Wheeeeeee!!!!
I had a Sunny estate once that cost me £50 and lasted two years. A great knockabout car, as dull as ditchwater but it just kept on going and going, at least until the suspension struts came up through the rear wheel arches!
First car I drove after I passed my test was a Hillman Imp. I had about 5 in my back garden at one point as I had a few classic Imp based sports cars too... I still love those machines!
It wasn't your dad was it? (We lived at Athersley North then)
Lol @ Kwak....nooooo.. we lived dahn sarth then.
Wills..my first car was an Austin 1100 i got off a mate that bought n sold American cars...!! how come i dint get a Caddy??? lol ... I only ever got to drive it wiv L's ..b4 the suspension packed up ..lol
DC...I allas wanted a cossie.. i had a black sierra...and pretended it was a cozzie
The Imps are kool, TC.. when we all usedta hang out wiv the bikers, one lad cuddent ride no more and had an Imp instead, we all fort it was the biz !
Countryman was the name used by Austin for their estates (A30, A35 etc). Morris Minor estates were called Travellers.
The same names were used when the estate versions of the Mini were introduced, Morris Mini Minor Traveller and Austin Mini Seven Countryman.
I'll just go and slip out of this anorak now!
Don't drive personally and grew up in a car-less house, my fave has got to be the Ferenza tho (prob spelt that wrong!), my first boyfriend had one and we went all over in it - well when it ran we did lol.......... I have fond memories of often pushing it to get it going again in my 4 inch heels to jumpstart it Mark also had a capri, sex on wheels when your 16 lol !!!
But my all time fave has to be the good old mini - me and the ex-hubbie had one as one of our first cars, she was ancient then and we got it for £100 off a friend. We called her 'Miniac', took all the black paint off and sprayed her in grey primer with the words miniac on the sides, added a loud exhaust and put in racing seats and took out the back seat, and went all over in it. When it rained she used to have a hissy fit and cut out, so you could say she was a fair-weather car ! We gotrid of her one day when the floor fell out on the drivers side and the ex was nearly doin a fred flintstone
If I was to have a car tho it would definately have to be one of the old mini's again, loved Miniac !
Ahhh thats it, Mat!
Do u also have train numbers and stuff??.......
hehe..jus kiddin
Lol @ fair-weather Miniac !!
What abart the E-Type Jag? ( produced as a phallic symbol of the car world!!) lol
bluesbiker In: Birmingham in th
Posts: 2510
Karma:
The first car i remember my dad having was a hillman minx. It had indicatos that came out of the door pillar. We had austin JU and J4 vans. An austin camebridge and 2 maxi's.
Cars have never particularly interested me. I can take em or leave em. The only ones i hate are the ones with kids in and a psychotic woman. double parked outside of schools.
Mat you're right. Should've known myself, but left the anorak on its hook. Never owned a Mini, but so many girlfriends had them I've still got a Haynes book and the official BMC workshop manual. Never really liked the driving position on them, as my size 11 shoes could span the brake and accelerator pedals at the same time, which sometimes made hard braking a bit fraught! One girfriend took me through a fence in one in Yorkshire. Superficial injuries (car written off), but I was combing bits of the shattered windscreen out of my hair for a week.
spot on there Mat moggie traveller..did skid pan training in them in H.M R.A.F at St Athens 1974..not much could stop them buggers either solid they were First car whilst still in forces was Zephyr 6..bench front seat (very handy)collumn change(also handy-out of the way-)..then Mini 850 (gold engine model) Cortina MK 2 (my Neil Diamond Jazz Singer period) after that it was just an assortment of anything i could afford to be able to travel for work really only other that sticks in my mind was a girlfriends MK 3 Cortina (won,t go into detail though)aahhh memories...
Maxi 1750 wow!!! My first car , canary yellow top half and good ole Hammerite Gold on bottom half , crashed it twice - stone wall first had rained after 9 weeks of dry weather roads were really greasy , just got it fixed up and had a mad drunken moment fell asleep n totalled it into a telegraph pole (I know serves me right).
Triumph Dolomite 1850hl came next top of the range model with overdrive , great car to drive just not very raliable , sold it at auction with 9months MOT for £176 less auctineers fees .
Then came the MKV Cortina 1.6L , that was a fantastic car , just kept going and going ,bought from my brother-in-law , my dad had it after me and then my mate bought it and ran it till it failed its MOT for some major welding work , so it was scrapped .
That's enough cars .
Bikes , first was a Honda Xpress step through moped comlete with shopping basket(that was first thing to go) on the front .
second Suzuki GP100 , crashed a few times , stolen recovered minus tank , rear shocks and seat. Sold to a mate for the engine.
Then came Honda CD185 Benely - was just for batting about round the farm , had nobblies on and a home made side-car .
Another farm blast was a Yamaha DT80 bought for £50 , great fun on dirt tracks .
Next bike came after passing Direct Access Aug 2001 , bought myself a Suzuki GS500 with full fairing and a nexxus exhaust system first week of October 2001 , third week of October 2001
completed the 679mile journey from Basingstoke to Dunbeath ,
rode up there overnight aswell complete with the ex and fully loaded rack(to the top of her helmet) , endured freezing fog too
riding the last 60miles to my parents with the visor up as it had frozen up inside and out . Kept it till 1st June 2002 when I traded it in for my Bandit which I bought brand new and still run today , and will probably keep for a few more years yet because it's just a great bike .