Dutton Phaeton S3, Ford Kent 1600 (Escort II) engine and running gear. Too many stories to list. Taught me a huge amount about basic car maintenance, on a student budget, and how to rip off breakers yards . Sold it 4 years later to a rich German who intended to take it back to Germany and put a v6 in it.

When it went, I never had so much fun. But in the end, not sure if I spent more time in it or under it.

Last year, almost 20 years later, I was earning plenty and my car was a 1987 Seat Marbella GLX

 

I had a bright orange 1275GT mini. It was fabulous and I paid £750 for it in 1988. Insurance was nearly as much. Had it 5 weeks and drove it into a bridge listening to bad metal music Only had 3rd party of course...

Joolz

 

me too! oh the shame.. but mine was a stunning gold (read **** brown) 1500 model.. Cost my old man £75 in 1987 and I stuffed it into an escort the day after putting a new set of valves in, typical..

First car I bought and paid for was my '73 Mk1 1600 XL Capri facelift, in top nick.. Paid £275 for it, sold it for £350 a year later. I see them on autotrader now in that sort of condition for £3000.. If only I'd known then what I know now.

 

Me too. Except mine was a 1.6 with 90 bhp!
Still, they only weighed 900kg so it wasn't a bad power/weight ratio.

 

1972 Mk2 mini 1000, purple with red interior. Deluxe model - the seats adjusted backwards and forwards I was 2 months older than it and it stayed with me throughout uni from 19 through to 23. One Xmas, my pressie was a full big bore exhaust, centre exit with LCB, cost £54. Also scavenged a 1 1/2" SU carb with red jet and a MG metro inlet manifold - that was the extent of the tuning

Insurance at the start was £210 TPFT and when the last renewal came through (as it was karted off to the breakers - more plates than a china shop) it was £120.

With my first paycheque got a loan and bought a 309 GTI

 

My first car was a nice, red, E Reg Nissan Micra. Used to be my mums car. Got shunted into a back of a truck and written off.

Next was a 92 K "rainbow blue" 1.2i Merit Corsa. Nice little car. Got T-boned and written off.

96 P, Amazone Green Saxo VTS - Loved that car, really did, miss it even today. First car I actually managed to sell! lol

S reg Ford Mondeo ST24 (I know, I know!) Rather nice car actually. But major mistake, lost a hell of a lot of money on it.

1994, L Reg, Black Mica, Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon. Ahh, the Black Beast. My first (and currently only) Scoob. Loved that car too. Lots of fun times, lots of expense. Miss it a lot, and had to sell it when I came to Canada.

Current car is a 92 VW Passat GL. Just transport, as that is what I needed. Might get something decent at some point.

 

A 3 year old Cav Sri when I was a student (paying £1000 a year fully comp at 19, thank god for srudent loans!).

Part Ex'd it for a 16v Cav Sri which I ended up giving to my dad.

Then an R reg Saxo VTS (I'd finished uni and got a job by now, woohoo), cracking car thrashed the t1ts off it and it never went wrong.

V6 Vectra Supertouring, OK car, an absolute b1tch to keep clean everything was white, and the interior was pants.

'97 Impreza Turbo, which I slightly wrote off by sliding down a big hill on the roof.

Now got a '99 Impreza Turbo (which costs less to insure than the vectra!) and another Saxo VTS (as a runabout because the last one was so good).

 

Citroen AX (sadly not a GT, I had the 954cc version) that would conk out in very heavy rain (i.e. just when you really didn't want to be walking). Sold it for

Mazda MX-6, which never let me down once but was torque steer central. Moved abroad so sold it and drove (mainly)

Ford Mustangs. Returned to the UK and bought

a 200SX which was a heap but fun. Sold it becasue I emigrated for good and now have

WRX wagon
MR-2 Spyder

intend to keep these two until they die (but I kind of want a Nissan Titan 5.8L V8 pickup as a sensible vehicle and an Elise as a toy- but I'm too cheap to pay for them )

 

clio 16v my dream car (WAS)

black with leather seats. K reg

BUT it leaked when it rains from the interior light,.
the exhaust fell off after 1 month.
got rid of it faster than the flu.

 

My first car was a 10 year old VW Beetle in hearing aid beige, never once let me down apart from dropping a valve on the A1.

 

lmao!

My first car was a Beetle but mine was bright yellow.

Bought it when I was 16 for £600 working weekends on the tills at B&Q !!
I used hammerite to seal the floor!

I drove it like it was a rocket .... I loved that car
One weekend I was driving home from uni and the brakes went
I didn't tell the guy I was giving a lift that I had no brakes ...just drove home using the gears and handbrake

It got parked up in my mum and dads drive and its been there ever since!
I'm 26 now so I've had it 10 years!!!! Its funny my dad asked me what I wanted to do with it the other day now that I'm a married woman with a baby and scooby!!!

cath

 

At age 20, a Fiat 128 3p

Bought it from a housemate at uni. The engine was breathed upon, we used our engineering departments workshops to do the mods, like using a 12k PCD (poly chrystalline diamond) flycutter on loan from Jaguar to skim the cylinder head. It went like a rocket (for a 1300cc), 1600 XR2's were blitzed in style. Not sure what it rev'd to, the needle used to disappear off the clock. The same SOHC engine was used for sportcar racing in the US in X1/9's amongst other things and they reckoned you could rev them to 12,000rpm on a completely standard bottom end !!!

Superb little cars. Pity about the rust though, they are rare beasties nowadays, I can't remember when I last saw one on the road.

 

Mine was a 1939 Ford which I owned in Canada while I was doing my training, Good old car for all its age and we did a good many long trips in it. It was so well preserved that the chassis still had a smooth paint finish because they never used salt on the roads.

Les

 

First car, 1978 Chrysler Sunbeam 1.3LS in bile (sweetcorn), still got the logbook.
£250 s.a.s with leaking water pipes.
Lasted 10mths before the tierod ripped itself out of the chassis, made braking interesting

Next
'80 Ford Cortina MKv 1.6GL est, complete with continuous new oil system.

'80 Talbot Sunbeam Ti, loved this car.
Ex-track car, 1600 Grp A, and all the right bits.
Nothing like 40's on full chat

'85 Sierra 2.0 Ghia Est, comfy that was about it.

'87 Sierra 2.8 4x4 Ghia Est, superb all rounder, plus A/C.

'89 Sierra 2.9 4x4 Ghia Est, more power & torque, plus heated frt screen.

Now '98 Legacy GTB Limited, plus the wife's 309 GTi

Mark

 

My First car was a Triumph Toledo 1100 - With a whale tail fin on the back - complete POS. When the engine started to make a loud banging noise I just turned up the cruddy stereo. One day (When the Stereo wouldn't go any louder I decided I best take a look under the bonnet to see what was happening. One of the Push rods had come loose and had (over time) pounded a hole in the Rocker cover - Decided then it was time for a new beast - A MkIII Escort - Which was probably worse .

Insurance was probably about £50 a year - but these were the days when £50 would buy you approx 100 pints of lager .

 

MG Metro, A reg, lasted about 6 weeks, it got stolen
Insurance company paid out a whacking £350 quid !!!!

 

My first car was a black Mini 1275 GT with gold trim. Paid £500 ish for it and had it for 5 or 6 years. It was a great car. I miss my mini sometimes

 

Cool! I had an MG Metro aswell on an X plate, had red seat belts , twin spots sunk into the grill and another two spot lights to add an extra 20 bhp lol
I would never start in the morning, but I lived at the top of a hill, so no problems there!!!!

 

first car '86 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 SR....spent loads on it, suspension, cams, the lot...

89 Escort RS Turbo rolling roaded at 224bhp

92 Fiesta RS Turbo 175bhp

90 2wd sapphire cosworth 302bhp

95 impreza wrx 270 odd bhp

2003 mitsubishi warrior pick up (don't ask)

2002 Peugeot 206 gti (other half now has this)

2000 bmw 328 ci se (sittin in car park now)

Dave

 

Morris Minor. 17 years old. Fab. Stopped working one day. Drat.
C

 

Mk1 Mexico. Didn't realise it was rotten until the front end split in 2 after an over enthusiastic drive over a hump back bridge (ie, I didn't see the signs)
Then the bottom end went.
Doh.

 

Old thread I know, but my first car after passing (actually bought and insured while learning) was a non metalic gold (e.g. Beige) Skoda Estelle 120L (thats 1.2 litres and a 4 speed box in a car bigger than an Orion/Escort saloon).

And when did I buy such a beast, when I was 32 that when.

Now while I love the power and toys of my old Saab 900, or my current Celica GT4 ST185, I really miss the simplicity of the Estelle, and learning to keep the power on everywhere, and maintaining momemtum through roundabout etc.

Another thing I miss is 45MPG whether I was plodding along at 30, or hammering along at 4k revs in top at 80 for a couple of hours.