My Dads Cars

[zabadak]

Re: My Dads Cars

In the beginning, my dad's motors were all company cars:

Ford Cortinas marks I, II & III
Austin 1600

First car we ownded was a Ford Corsair given to us by my half-bother, followed by a Ford Anglia and an Austin 1100. And that was that!

I have never owned a car myself although I passed my test yonks ago and did a lot of driving in that last car above.

[old codger]

Re: My Dads Cars

My dad learned to drive in 1960 at the age of 40.
His first driver was a Commer Express Delivery van then followed 2 Austin A40s, then Cortinas, Mk1, Mk2, Mk3, & Mk4 estate. Next was a Morris Marina, which he wrote off on an untreated A1. This was replaced but he found it such a bad car to drive he asked his firm to take it back which they did and replaced with a very rusty Escort. Next came an Astra estate and then he retired and bought from me a Renault 11TXE. His last car was a Ford Fiesta.
At one point during his working life he was asked why he never declared private mileage. With five sons, all with cars he told his employer he had the choice of a Mk2Jag,, Wolesley 15/50, Ford Anglia, Mini Van or a motor bike! They never asked again!

[Powdered toast man]

Re: My Dads Cars

Ford Capri GTXLR
Renault 12
Ford Cortina mk6
Nissan Sunny(yuck)
Datsun Bluebird(vynyl seats that got boiling hot in summer)
Ford Sierra 2.0 injection (looked like a Cosworth)
Ford Granada 2.0 Ghia(auto box)
Ford Sierra Sapphire Laser
Ford Sierra 1.8LX
Renault Laguna 1.8 TX(lovely car)
Renault Laguna 2.0 Turbo Diesel(one of keyless ignition models)
Suzuki Vitara(the Wally Trolley)
Ford Maverick(a bag of rubbish)
Suzuki Grand Vitara
Ford Mondeo(yawn)

[80sChav]

Re: My Dads Cars

We had many many cars (some we only kept for a year ... if that) but my first memory of the Cars we owned from memory was in the early 1980s - crossing the "new" Humber Bridge in a Yellow Datsun around 1981 (but of course we had too many to mention - owning a Car Garage with Cars being sold to us Part ex's or just ran by us for the last part of their life)

After the amazing Datsun we had a Capri, a Left Hand Drive BMW that was originally was Yellow but became Red, a Red and Grey clapped out old old 1970s Escort, a beautiful more modern Orange Escort but it only had 3 doors sadly and looked like it belonged in a rally (though sadly she never lasted, an extremely old 1960s old Volvo in the mid 1980s, a Light-mid Blue Fiesta as well a beautifully restored Siera that had been on a Life Support Machine breathing her last but she thankfully survived to tell the story.

I'm sure there are many many more that I can just not recall at all, but we had fleetingly at certain points in my younger days!!

80sChav

[MiniMort]

Re: My Dads Cars

Family car history:

Grandad:
1950 Land Rover (1962-77) - put in a 3500 V8 and did rally trials in it!
1971 Rover 3500 (1977-82) - same engine, different car!
1979 Vauxhall Chevette Estate (1982-84) - the Shuv-it
1981 Citroen CX25 Safari (1984-87) - best of the bunch
1986 Citroen BX (1987-93)
1987 Citroen CX25 Safari (1993-99)
1999 Citroen Xantia Estate (1999-2014)
2014 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso

Nan:
1967 Morris Mini
1975 Mini 1000
1982 Austin MiniMetro City
1985 Austin Metro City X (five doors and a sunroof!)
1988 Austin Metro City
1989 Citroen AX11TRE
1990s Peugeot 106
1990s Rover 200
2000 Citroen Saxo
2006 Citroen C4

[darren]

Re: My Dads Cars

Thats impressive both the amount of cars etc and even the dates.
How did you remember the dates.

family car history:

Grandad:
1950 land rover (1962-77) - put in a 3500 v8 and did rally trials in it!
1971 rover 3500 (1977-82) - same engine, different car!
1979 vauxhall chevette estate (1982-84) - the shuv-it
1981 citroen cx25 safari (1984-87) - best of the bunch
1986 citroen bx (1987-93)
1987 citroen cx25 safari (1993-99)
1999 citroen xantia estate (1999-2014)
2014 citroen c4 grand picasso

nan:
1967 morris mini
1975 mini 1000
1982 austin minimetro city
1985 austin metro city x (five doors and a sunroof!)
1988 austin metro city
1989 citroen ax11tre
1990s peugeot 106
1990s rover 200
2000 citroen saxo
2006 citroen c4

[staffslad]

Re: My Dads Cars

These are my dad's cars that I remember. He had an Austin A35 or A40 prior to this list but I don't remember that at all.

1962 or so Hillman Husky in two-tone grey. I used to sit in the boot area and watch the cars following, to their annoyance, no doubt.

1968 Ford Corsair 2000E in a dirty silver with vinyl roof. A nice car but very difficult to start in the mornings--a common problem with this model.

1973 Peugeot 304 estate in metallic blue. Horrible car and only kept a year.

1976 Morris Marina 1.8 in white with black vinyl roof. The Marina gets very bad publicity, but I have to say that I quite liked it. Someone nicked the wheel trims off it when I used it to go to college and it cost £25 to replace them.

1981 Princess 1.7HL in metallic bronze with vinyl roof. Very quiet and roomy. I liked this car a lot. It's only problem was the suspension. It would gradually go down on one side and we would have to have it blown up about 2-3 times a year at £10 a time. This was common on the Princess.

1990 Skoda Favorit in white. Yes, I know, Skoda. Actually, though, it was mechanically quite reliable and simple to fix. The steering was very heavy at low speeds. My wife drove it for a while and as she is only 4'11" and proportionately built it was too heavy for her. The paintwork was awful in that it was so thin and by the time we got rid of it rust was appearing even though it was only 4 years old.

1992 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8LX in metallic blue-grey. My dad's favourite car. I believe this model was the one favoured by reps and it was at its happiest cruising on the motorway. Roomy and comfortable with a large boot.

1993 Volvo estate in blue. Can't remember what model it was. He bought it to transport his labrador, who would invariably climb over the back seats before he was 100 yards down the road. Very heavy and thirsty car.

1998 Toyota Corolla 1.6CD in an odd blue-purple. Not too bad, but not as quiet and refined as the 'CD' would imply. Also, not as reliable as expected.

2009 Kia Picanto 1.1 in red. Reliable and a doddle to park. Not as frugal as you might expect, though that may be due to him only doing short journies now he is retired.

[darren]

Re: My Dads Cars

1976 MORRIS MARINA 1.8 LOOKS QUITE NICE ACTUALLY.


BELOW 1968 Ford Corsair 2000E

These are my dad's cars that I remember. He had an Austin A35 or A40 prior to this list but I don't remember that at all.

1962 or so Hillman Husky in two-tone grey. I used to sit in the boot area and watch the cars following, to their annoyance, no doubt.

1968 Ford Corsair 2000E in a dirty silver with vinyl roof. A nice car but very difficult to start in the mornings--a common problem with this model.

1973 Peugeot 304 estate in metallic blue. Horrible car and only kept a year.

1976 Morris Marina 1.8 in white with black vinyl roof. The Marina gets very bad publicity, but I have to say that I quite liked it. Someone nicked the wheel trims off it when I used it to go to college and it cost £25 to replace them.

1981 Princess 1.7HL in metallic bronze with vinyl roof. Very quiet and roomy. I liked this car a lot. It's only problem was the suspension. It would gradually go down on one side and we would have to have it blown up about 2-3 times a year at £10 a time. This was common on the Princess.

1990 Skoda Favorit in white. Yes, I know, Skoda. Actually, though, it was mechanically quite reliable and simple to fix. The steering was very heavy at low speeds. My wife drove it for a while and as she is only 4'11" and proportionately built it was too heavy for her. The paintwork was awful in that it was so thin and by the time we got rid of it rust was appearing even though it was only 4 years old.

1992 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8LX in metallic blue-grey. My dad's favourite car. I believe this model was the one favoured by reps and it was at its happiest cruising on the motorway. Roomy and comfortable with a large boot.

1993 Volvo estate in blue. Can't remember what model it was. He bought it to transport his labrador, who would invariably climb over the back seats before he was 100 yards down the road. Very heavy and thirsty car.

1998 Toyota Corolla 1.6CD in an odd blue-purple. Not too bad, but not as quiet and refined as the 'CD' would imply. Also, not as reliable as expected.

2009 Kia Picanto 1.1 in red. Reliable and a doddle to park. Not as frugal as you might expect, though that may be due to him only doing short journies now he is retired.

[staffslad]

Re: My Dads Cars

Thanks, Darren. The Marina looked really smart when it was polished up, with the chrome bumpers and wheel trims gleaming. When my dad bought it in 1980 after getting rid of that awful Peugeot 304, it didn't have a vinyl roof, but the salesman said he could get one put on, and it really set the car off.

My dad rented a council garage before we had one built on our garden. When he had the Corsair, I would have to go with him and sit in it while he pushed it out. There was a gentle slope, so I had to swing the wheel while he pushed, then quickly put on the handbrake. He would then get in and start it on the roll. Once it was started it was fine, but if it had been left overnight it wouldn't start.

[Hair Bear]

Re: My Dads Cars

Mk1 Cortina Estate '65-'69
Mk1 Escort Estate '68-'69
Sunbeam Rapier V '69-'71
Marina saloon '74-'79
Peugeot 504 Family Estate Diesel '79-'83
Peugeot 305 Estate Diesel '83-'87
Peugeot 305 Estate Diesel '87-'91
Peugeot 309 Diesel '91-'94
WV Golf Estate Diesel '94-'99
Nissan Micra mk2 '99-'03

[Nik_Barbour]

Re: My Dads Cars

First car of my dad's that I remember was...

Late 70s Allegro Estate in flegm Green, but actually quite a nice reliable car.

Then a 1980 mk2 Escort 4dr pop in blue - I twisted his arm to buy this as I liked the professionals.

Then he had mk3 escort estate. Bit dull this one.

Then a succession of Metro then Maestro company cars.

My mum's cars were mainly minis, a custom painted mk1 fiesta, Vauxhall Viva, 2 Citroën 2cvs, then a brand new 86 fiesta pop.

[staffslad]

Re: My Dads Cars

Nik, interesting to hear that your dad's Allegro was reliable. As I've said in an earlier post, our Marina was also pretty good reliability-wise. Yet, the Allegro and Marina are mocked and sneered at for their supposed poor reliability and inadequacies, but every Marina owner I have talked to has never thought of their car as beingparticularly worse than equivalent Fords, Vauxhalls etc of the time. Wasn't it Top Gear that gave them a pasting a few years ago?

[marc]

Re: My Dads Cars

Wasn't it the mk1 Allegro that had the problems? These were resolved by the mk2. My friend's stepfather says his Marina was quite reliable. Certainly no worse than any other car of the same range.

[Hair Bear]

Re: My Dads Cars

The Marina was really a re-bodied Oxford. Ours was used for the family business and worked hard, nearly always towing something - Caravan or boat at weekends, or some piece of plant or machinery that likely grossed the best part of 1 1/2 tons during the week! The only mod we did was adding helper springs on the back and it needed them (you can get a 2' JCB bucket in the boot). Although the gearbox was a known weak point (this one had a noisy third), in nine years of use we only ever changed 2 clutches.

[Nik_Barbour]

Re: My Dads Cars

Nik, interesting to hear that your dad's Allegro was reliable. As I've said in an earlier post, our Marina was also pretty good reliability-wise. Yet, the Allegro and Marina are mocked and sneered at for their supposed poor reliability and inadequacies, but every Marina owner I have talked to has never thought of their car as beingparticularly worse than equivalent Fords, Vauxhalls etc of the time. Wasn't it Top Gear that gave them a pasting a few years ago?

Yeah people laugh, but you have to remember that a lot of BL, Austin, Triumph products were really pushing the technology of the time. Top gear is for morons by morons. Well JC is a *-&* anyway, the other two just get led around.
Allegro had the first 5spd box. Dolomite first ever mass production 16v. Mini changed the world.
A lot of good engineering.