Favourite old car/s

[FLYING SAUCER]

Re: Favourite old car/s

Yes, It sure is a minefield. All adverts possibly hide a past, in some cases a conjured up past penned by an unscrupulous seller, be so very careful, past documentation should 100% to date. Moscovich, Lada Go,Go, Eastern Block .

[Llamarama]

Re: Favourite old car/s

When I passed my test, i went looking for a car. I found a nice little Vauxhall Corsa. The ad went "Vauxhall Corsa for sale, 10 months T&T, A/C, P/S, ABS, Body in great condition, interior like new. Never smoked in, 2 owners from new. £400 Legitimate reason for sale" all the usual guff. even had a picture of the car.

When I went to see it about 20 miles away, there was no engine in it as it had apparently "Chewed up a few valves after the timing belt snapped, hence the reason for sale" You'd have thought it would have come up in the phonecall about 2 hours previous, but oh well.

[Retrogames]

Re: Favourite old car/s

My Grandparents had a monster house with a couple of acres land, a four car garage and big hard standing, and my Grandad collected cars. Their next door neighbour had a haulage business and was a bit eccentric, he told his drivers that when the wagons were empty they should pick up anything they saw at whatever price and he'd pay them double for it. His land was packed with stuff under tarpaulins and had loads of fox dens so I was usually banned from exploring it. When he died they cleared the land and found 130 motorbikes, a complete holiday camp railway (all stored in barrels of oil iirc) eighty-odd cars, loads of shop signs etc.

Back to the cars. To get around my Grandma and still be able to buy more cars, my Grandad set up a chauffeur company, doing weddings, the Lord Mayor, film premiers etc. The best cars he had were Daimler Limousines, utterly opulent and beautifully made. I'm planning on getting one for my 50th, £10k should get me a good Sunday driver that will last me the rest of my life. The Jaguar Soverign was his other truly mint car. He used to take me out in the country roads and hit bridges at speed to get air! Wicked times. His reputation was such that even 15 years after he'd sold the company he'd get a couple of phone calls a year looking to book one of his cars. Total nutter my grandad, he booked the whole family a caravan holiday in Wales when I was about six and drove us up in his Bentley. They must have thought he was a proper gangster lol!

[the-peoples-poet]

Re: Favourite old car/s

I <3 old cars so much. I have very fond memories of the first car of my late Grandads that I remember, it was a pale blue metallic Datsun Cherry (I am sure it was this one, this and the Nissan Sunny from around the same time look quite similar but I think it was the Datsun) like this one I think - http://www.flickr.com/photos/47381765@N04/6703969043 (the blue one) and when he took it from the garage in the summer, the sunlight used to make the paintwork sparkle like it had glitter in it, to me it was the magical adventure car because a lot of the time it was just me and Grandad there in it. I loved spending time with him, I miss him very much.

I am now going to go off, enjoy my memories and have a little cry. :'(

[spuggybridge]

Re: Favourite old car/s

Had a 1985 Nissan Stanza coupe, loved that car even though it got some really bad reviews, always fancied owning a Delorean, couldn't afford one though

[sf1378]

Re: Favourite old car/s

My Dad went through a phase of buying second hand Japanese cars...He had an old Datsum Estate N10 5 door in light metallic blue - it was a terrible car for us, always had mechanical problems and had a lot of rust - I vividly recall the lower edge of the hatchback rear door had a long sliver of rust about 30 - 40 cms in length going horizontally across and it was near breaking off like a shard! It had a nice digital clock though. One time it broke down and Dad walked all the way home, got me to come with him back into town and I had to do the steering while Dad and someone else - may have been a mate of his back then or a kindly passer by - pushed it into a side road. I was nine at the time so trying to turn the wheel and operate the break was tough! He also had a Honda Civic 1983 model I think, an automatic. Looked nice but I didn't like it at all and it seemed an 'unlucky' car to us all in all - just had that vibe...

He also went through his Toyota Corolla phase - I think it was that model, early 80s hatchback...didn't like them myself. towards the end of his life he started buying Ford Fiesta's - models from 1989 to mid 90s models...lovely car.

[Sly]

Re: Favourite old car/s

The car I learnt to drive in was a 1980 Ford Escort MkII. It was shagged before I even got behind the wheel and my god did I know about it. I alternated between learning in paid lessons in a Peugeot 206 and a Vauxhall Corsa. Going to ther new cars was like controlling a videogame/dodgem hybrid. Going back to the Ford with its steering was like trying to wrestle open a lions mouth. It wasn't so bad when you got it rolling but parking it was an absolute pig. I drove all vehicles open to me as my Father thought it was important that I drove different size vehicles to see how varied they were. I once drove his works flatbed Ford Transit. It felt like I was driving a continent at the time. The wheel was so big it made my arms ache.

For all I hated the Escort MkII, I loved it as well. I remember trading it in for my first new car and feeling like I was selling part of my history.

I've been fortunate enough to drive various cars over my years. I drove a Lotus Elise which was really nice if a little impracticable. I also drove an NSX which was pretty amazing. I think Honda really dropped the ball by letting that model, it was beautiful to look at and drove like a dream. It was like driving a compact that was capable of going as fast as you want. Brilliant. I owned a Seventh generation Celica which I absolutely adored.

Cars that I didn't own that I really liked were most Alfas. They are some beautiful motors. In the closest town one of the side streets branching off from the war memorial used to have a TVR Griffith 500. That is one stylish car. Eventually it got replaced by a TVR Cerbera which I said eventually when I'd learnt to drive and I was earning enough money I'd get a TVR. Needless to say, that never happened. No matter how much money you earn cars like that are out of the reach of the working man. In fact, i think the Griffiths are more expensive now than the later TVR's, simply because there aren't as many on the road. It inflates the price.

[sf1378]

Re: Favourite old car/s

Your better off driving a practical car Sly - these high performance cost a house cars seem a bit chavy to me - and you can't drive them as they should be driven at ridiculous speeds because of the laws on the road, unless you go to a race track. But then again, they are a different beast - you need to know how to handle the monsters. Then theres the depreciation from new - some cost as much as a house down South in the UK but the value goes down over time. That said, the ultimate for me is the Bugatti Veyron - the epitomy of VW's Concorde moment of madness but you can never drive it to its near most limit like Clarkson did on Top Gear really...so no point for me.

I much prefered the MK1 Escort - beautiful shape. My old man was a MK3 onwards fan, he had loads of MK3's.

[Sly]

Re: Favourite old car/s

I actually refuse to drive now unless it's unavoidable. Whenever I go into Leeds I just take the bus, unless there is a couple of us and the bus fare outweighs the parking.

I think the MkII thing is just sentimentality. It was a proper shed.