Jaybird-UK

Did any of you have petrol heads for parents when growing up?

Unfortunately I didn't, the most memorable car from my childhood was a Cortina 1.6GL MkIII in red, the black vinyl seats were especially memorable in the hot summers of late 70s - I seem to recall it going round the clock twice! (200,000+ )

Couple of friend's Dads at school had some interesting cars, Cortina Savage, Lotus Sunbeam and some old TVR

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

My dad had one of these when I was young, it had just come out and was amazing .. he loved it ... lol .. it was a company car too,



this isn't it by the way, but it was the same colour .. 2.5 L diesel .. top spec ..

borderlinechris

iTrader: (5)

getting airbourne on the back roads to callander in a battleship grey austin maxi 1750 whilst being thrown about in the back cause you didnt have seat belts... ahh those were the days....

Hysteria1983

His 'best' car was a ford Granada ghia.

It was back in the dats before electric windows were standard, or even an optional extra.
I can remember my dad giving me and my b/f a lift home from theatre group (yes I know!).
He was 16 and sat and pressed the window button over and over.

It went up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down!!!!
Then my dad locked the window from the front, and he was even more amazed!

As you can imagine, we didn't stay together after that. He was too immature. Lol

Considering all my dad had owned up until I was about 6 was a lambretta, he didn't do bad.

Kev_turbo

My dad drove a brand new G plate xr3i at the same time my mum had a brush painted dulux blue robin reliant. Guess which one I wanted to go to school in?

Steve_PPP

iTrader: (3)

Austin Princess in orange.

And yes it had a brown vinyl roof

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

My Dad had an Austin Healey 3000 when I was born. He still lusts after another one now but they aren't cheap! Beautiful cars.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

For me it has too be 2, when I was a lot younger abot 6or 7 Dad had a Austin Westminster, the first car we ever did 100 mph in, and then he went up through the ranks and had 3 SD1 Rovers, the first one was only a 2600cc one but the other 2 were the 3500 models, one being an SE model and his last one a Vaden Plas, oh happy days
Cheers
Colin

Leslie

My dad could never afford anything fancy. He had a BSA two cylinder three wheeler which was pretty memorable and after that a Morris 8 series E. That was a good old car and I passed my test in it. Always a worry going up Duncton Hill since you knew you eventually had to change down to first and no synchromesh!

He eventually had a Maxi before he died. I never though much of that one though. I used to enjoy having a drive of his boss's Rolls Silver Cloud though!

Les

MattW

From what I remember this is my dad's history since I can remember up to when he passed.

Renault 16
Renault 18
Austin Ambassador
Rover 213
Ford Sierra
Ford Escort
Vauxhall Cavalier Diplomat
Vauxhall Frontera
Landrover Series 2A
Peugeot 405
Hyandai Coupe
Renault Scenic

codie247

My Dad loved the Rover SD1, best was a new blue W reg V8-s as it was called then. remember doing 145mph(wot was on clock) on motorway in it. Let me drift it(accompanied by him) as a kid on Southport beach, back in the days when joyriding your parents car on the beach was acceptable

Lee

JonsGreenGoblin

My dad had a
Ford sierra saphire coswoth, graphitey grey colour
Toyota celica GT4 twin turbo Carlos Sainz Limited Edition- Greeny/turquoise colour
Jag E type, but i was far too young too remember that

Got some good memories blasting it around the north west

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

My Dad had an E Type Jag but he traded it for a Ford Zodiac when I was very young.... idiot LOL!

He did redeem himself by buying a Jag Mk II 3.8 when I was 6 and ran that for a number of years until middle age caught up with him and he got into Fords ... yawn!

The Jag was a great car and he later bought one and I helped him renovate it - it came second in Concours modified at the International Jag Show one year.

He passed away a few years ago but not before I had taken him out in a Scoob and an Elise... he realised then how performance cars had moved on.... I still remember the look on his face as I blasted past a line of cars in the Scoob and then tonked into a bend that he felt sure would bring us certain death only for the car to grip like Scoobs do... on a private road of course.

mslorach

iTrader: (22)

My dad had a few good motors when he was young but unfortunately most were before my time.
The ones I know about but never saw were a mini cooper s (he owned the first one in Aberdeen), an old lotus (not sure which model), a Triumph TR5 & TR6 (went on fire at a petrol station in Inverness).
The ones I remember were a green MGBGT in the 70's and a yellow TR7 in the early 80's, I loved the TR7, I remember thinking it was the coolest car ever.
He owned quite a few bangers too, including a beige marina, a green viva and a yellow automatic renault 12
My cousin who was a good bit older than me had a brand new white mk2 rs2000 in about 1979 (i was 5 at the time) he rolled it within a week of owning it and it sat at our farm for ages, i remember playing in it.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

My mum had an XR2's then RS Turbos, My dad had RS Cosworths including a RS500 and had an RS200 from new ...... I was bought up on Fords
Sadly my dad died at the age of 44, 18 yrs ago now .... I always wonder what RS would be in his garage now.

BOB.T

Orion 1.6 Ghia

The only redeeming feature was the joystick that controlled which speakers the sound would come out of!

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

I remember we had a number of Volvos and Renaults as a nipper. Also my mum had to run around in a Datsun for a bit! She did have an old brown cortina though, not the boxy one, something which i'm sure would be worth money these days but i can't remember it. Also had a Beetle for a while too. Mum took the door off reversing up the drive.

Parents tended to hang onto a car for a while once i could remember them. XR2 was probably the first motor i have real memories of, that was following by a MG Turbo Montego no less! That got nicked (recovered but never the same) then it was a Renault 25 3ltr V6 for caravan towing, followed by a Ford Maverick for the same reason.

these days they have a big campervan and a wee Mitsi Colt to run about in (plus lots of bikes and the Transit van for big stuff).

5t.

scooby L

1965 Mini Cooper S with minilights, rollcage, full spots and rally tuned 970cc engine...plus a Limited Slip Diff that steered using the throttle...

horribly unreliable but wow what a great car and totally nuts

Sold that and got one of the 1st 1.6 Golfs in the country to do the Texaco Rally. (now called the Manx)

Still have some cine film of him testing Michelin tyres in it...

Dr.No

You really mean an RS200 - not an RS2000....?????????

stilover

Dads history

Ford Capri's = Many. 3.0S and 2.8i S stand out in memory

Sierra 2.0 Special.
Sierra 4x4 2.8i
Sierra Saphire Cosworth 4x4 (Learnt to drive in this)

Audi A4 2.8 Quattro
Audi S4 (2.7 Bi-Turbo)
Audi RS4 (V8)
Audi R8 V8.

As well as the Audi's, he's had several Site/every day cars:-

Jeep Cherokee (sp)
Ford Explorer (4.something V8)
Ford Maverick (Why, I'm not so sure)
and a couple Nissan X-Trails.

mattstant

Wow just realised my old man has had quite a diverse car ownershp
morris oxford 1936 (proper old fashioned with flip out indicators and running boards)
A couple of ford anglias
BMW 2002 not turboed unfortunatley still a great car though
BMW 525 When they were still unusual and cool ie mid 70's early 80's
Several VERY uncool mazdas 323 626 etc (to be fair he had just invested in a Mazda garage and had to fly the flag)
Oh but he did have at least two RX7's the first shape, which i had one of my first ever driving lessons in still love that shape rx.
Splashed out on a Rolls Royce Cloud 1 1958 The last truly hand built roller when values hit rock bottom, he still has it today.
several xjs 3.6 5.2 etc still runs a soft top v12 with truly horrendous scuttle shake he loves it i hate it.
currently driving a vile chrysler grand cherokee with the 2.7 diesel

currently trying to convince him to dump the jeep and buy an XF diesel


edited to say I somehow completley forgot about a classic 11 seat landrover with the long benches us 5 kids used to slide hurtling backwards and forwards as he braked and accelerated.

Oh and at least three Range Rovers (vinyl seated original 70s naturally) the first one he bought he sold a year later for either exactly the same or slightly better than list price they were that much in demand on release.

Bicco

iTrader: (6)

My old mans car history is quite well, bland. Not sure how I ended uo being a petrol head.

From what I can remeber:
2.0 Ford Cortina Crusader
2.0 Sierra Ghia
1.8 Sapphire
1.8 Mondeo Estate
1.8 Mondeo Hatch
1.6 Proton Satria (My first car!)
BMW 520
BMW 728
Civic 1.8 Auto

Hard to call which would be best, all quite boring really, Proton was good for a first car at 17.

Myles

iTrader: (40)

My dad had one car, a cream Talbot Solara. It was a company car for the new job he had, a saw blade salesman. He didnt have it long; the company sussed that he knew **** about sawblades and a customer was going to find out.....the hard way!

Oh, and he seemed to have long term use of the Rumbelows Luton van until he drove it into a lamp post.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Yes an RS200 from new .......

Devildog

He had loads of british "sports cars", Mg's, Sprites, a Jenson GT, a Triumph Stag and a Reliant Scimitar GTE, but his "best" car was an 83 (IIRC) 528i BMW.

Fastest would have been a TWR tuned V12 XJS which had massive TWR brakes (essential) various suspension upgrades, TWR speedline wheels and wider tyres (required to clear the front brakes) and ECU, inlet and exhaust upgrades.

Turned a big, extremely comfortable, lazy GT into something a bit more responsive, and a fair bit quicker than standard.

Didn't have the naff TWR bodykit though.

Was good for a genuine 160 plus MPH. I remember you could hold the car on the brakes while lighting up the not inconsiderable rear tyres

Was an occasionally unreliable, rustbucket, but he loved it.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

My dads best car was an Avenger when i was about 5 or so. It was a company car and one of the directors hand me downs - had a modified 2 litre engine in it and he alledged it went like stink.

All downhill from then on, Astra estates, Pajeros etc

SirFozzalot

This got me thinking......I wonder how the "next generation" will look back on our cars we have now that we consider fast cars compared to what they are driving in the future?

Will it be similar? The year 2040 STi/RS/Evo etc. offering performance totally beyond what we currently have or blasting around in super hot hatches or are we going to be the last generation and the future will be boring hybrids and electric cars?

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

my dad had one of these beauties and a moustash to

then one of these


plus various other mk1/2 rallycross escorts etc

now hes got one of these
its badass

SirFozzalot

Awesome!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

My dad isnt one for changing his car,

When I was born in 1970 he had a Hillman Minx, got rid of that in about 73 for a Mk1 Capri 1600 GT-XLR in Silver, he had that until 1988, it changed colour to white by then and sported a Black Vinyl roof.

In 1988 I won a Golf GTI in a Daily Mirror competition which he bought off me for eight grand plus the Capri, I did some work to the Capri but eventually sold it (still going I think).

He ran the Golf for 14 years then gave it me when I was skint and my car was knackered, again I did some jobs on it and sold it a couple of years later.

He bought a Rover 216 coupe as a temprorary measure whilst he saved for an MG ZT, which he bought about 4 years ago, still has it, it is immaculate and has just bought my (slightly relucant mother) one as well.


Before me there were Jowetts (one my uncle still has), a Zephyr, which, if I am right I was conceived in and a Bedford Van.