My dad had one.......

[Timewaster]

What was the most emabarasing shite you were driven around in as a kid?One - currently nameless- member had to suffer a FSO Polonez I endured a white Renault 12 with red oxide blotches outside the school gate. There was a plan to part ex it for a FSO 125 estate (in beige ftw!) but thankfully it refused to start on the forecourt and he had the good sense to walk away.Come on... confess, You'll feel better.

[andrew e]

Blue renault 6 or orange 104, alas both autoshite gold now

[Cavcraft]

I liked all my dad's car when I were a nipper. They were still shite though: 3 Maxis, Austin 3-litre, Mk3 Cortina estate, Mk4 Cortina estate, Talbot Alpine (bloody horrible thing) , Mk2 Cavalier 1.6SR, couple of Renaults 4s, Rily Elf and temporery long term loan of a P6 Rover.

[pogweasel]

Where do I begin!? I think every single one was in some way a wrong-un, a spectacular lemon or despicably uncool. Even when buying new or nearly-new stuff, pater always managed to pick out something that wasn't going to be the best choice. I mean, why buy that Sierra or Cavalier estate when you can have a hearing aid beige Montego Wagon in ultra-pov and a 4 speed gearbox, yeah I bet it was a few quid cheaper, but enough to endure that level of trim in addition to the terrible 80's AR quality? The dealer must have been whooping for joy to have that turd off his forecourt. Didn't help that where we lived when I was young was fairly close to the Vauxhall factory, lots of the management about, all of whom got a new car, every august under some scheme or other (doubtless to cover theire hopeless over-production. See also: GM in the shit thread), and therefore you would be considered to be some kind of plebian scum (or more usually "Gippo") if your peers were to discover that your parents owned a car more than a couple of years old. So when my father got a v8-powered SD1 that would blow most luxo saloons into the weeds, it was still the object of ridicule being approximately 9 years old at the time. I wonder if this situation will prevail for the next generation? Does my son get taunted 'cos daddy's car is 19 years old? What a dilemma.

[wuvvum]

Blue renault 6

Ditto. By the time this was replaced in 1988 it had a rust hole that went halfway up the offside C pillar. I liked the old thing (enough to have bought one for myself last Christmas), but it was fugging embarrassing to be dropped off at school in...Then my dad bought my mum a V reg Fiesta 950L in pale blue with a pop-up sunroof and a spoiler on the boodlid. This was in late 1990, and my friends all found it hysterical. It quickly became known as the "bangy old Fiesta". I was mightily relieved when it was replaced with an E reg 205 diesel when my mum turned 40 in late '91.

[mk2_craig]

We had an orange 1977 Renault 14TL with black vinyl seats from new until part-exing it eight years later for an '84 Uno 55S. Definitely an embarassment by the time we got rid given its colour, proportion of dented panels and amount of surface rust.

[Spottedlaurel]

I wonder if this situation will prevail for the next generation? Does my son get taunted 'cos daddy's car is 19 years old? What a dilemma.

I drop 5yr-old daughter off in a 21yr-old Bluebird - it would be the equivalent of me getting dropped off at that age in something from 1954! I wasn't, instead at that time it was an Allegro - thought nothing wrong of it back then.

 

 

 

Her friend's dad is apparently into Marinas and Moskviches, so there should be no harsh judgement there at least.

 

Dad mostly bought new cars, I don't know why as it left us pretty much impoverished on his farmworker's wages, so none were truly rubbish (1970s design and build standards notwithstanding). The Mini mum had in the early '80s was fairly dire though, it was a Mk2 and a door hinge rotted out once when I opened it, with the result being the door pretty much falling off.

 

Never really worried though, in fact we were slightly scornful of our cousin who was a bit more snobbish about this kind of thing, she didn't like being seen in her mum's Roman Bronze Mk2 Escort 2dr. They should have kept it, would have been a good pension...

[Torsten2001]

All my Mum and Dads cars were dead cool:1958 Austin A30 Van1962 Ford Classic1966 Ford Corsair1966 Commer Dormobile1968 VW Dormobile1974 VW Dormobile1977 Ford Granada Mk11979 VW Dormobile1984 VW Passat 1972 Austin 1300GT1978 Ford Fiesta 1.1L1985 Ford Fiesta 1.1 Popular Plus1988 Volvo 340GL1990 Montego Diesel1995 Rover 218SDiPlus a range of bikes, Matchless, AJS, Indian, BSA amd a Suzuki B120!Genius one and all!

[chaseracer]

Let's see: 1960 Triumph T110 + chair, 1964 and 1967 Mini vans (no Purchase Tax... ), fleet-tastic 1973 Avenger 1500, 1976 Avenger 1600 Super (NEW!! ), 1980 Opel Rekord.

 

By this time, I had my own first car.

 

None of the parental chariots were embarrassing per se, though consideration of the complete lack of either passive or active safety presented by two growing children unrestrained in the back of a Mini van still gives the old folks the shudders.

 

I have yet to place my 12-year-old son in the position of having to ask me not to take him to school in the Dyane...

[CortinaDave]

My dad ran shite for many years - hillmans, alfasuds,cortinas etc before getting a company car in the late 80's... the gave him a shiny new F reg astra which was fineHowever he fell out with his boss who then removed the astra for him and gave him a yellow metro clubman with brown interior insteadI made him drop me off round the corner from school when he had that

[Volksy]

Hmm, parents cars..Mine kept them until they were about dead or written off..Dad:Sunbeam Alpine (Yellow)Mazda 818 Coupe (Met Blue)Citroen GSX2 (White)Alfa Guilietta 1.8 (Black)Mum:Fiat 500D (Blue)Austin Mini 1000 (Beige)Fiat 127 Palio (Brown)Fiat Panda 45 (Red)Then they went down to one, as my old man retired.Seat Ibiza 1.2L Mk1 (Black)Seat Ibiza 1.2XL (Met Blue)Peugeot 106 Independance (Met Red) And currently a Honda Jizz (Met Blue)

[Cheggers]

Quite proud of my Dad's line-up:Mk2 'tina EstateMk3 'tina EstateDatsun 260C (oh, how I loved that car...)Morris Ital 1.7 HL Estate (Choccy Brown, mmmm)2.0 Sierra EstateMk4 EscortRenner ClioAnyone know if there are any 260C's still kicking around??

[Guest]

Here's my dad's motors before they become disinteresting, to be honest he's never had anything truly dire, just ones that weren't in the best of condition.- Ford Escort 1100 Base (MK1): He had this sometime in the early 80s and it was meant to be an absolute shed, it broke down on the M1 miles from home and we were so poor back then that he gave it to the recovery truck driver as payment. We then slept in a taxi office until we could get a bus home. At that point he went back to riding a moped, until.....- Vauxhall Cavalier (MK2): This was sometime in the mid late 80s, can't remember a great deal about this one, other than it was brown and had no rear seatbelts. Probably not a great spec. Not sure why he got rid of it, but it was replaced with.....- Ford Sierra 1.6L (MK1): Into the very end of the 80s and we are now in ownership of a slatty grille Sierra in silver. I remember this being pretty classy by our standards, though bearing in mind it was the very late 80s by then it wouldn't have been that new. Someone drove into it (in an Astra GTE I think?) at high speed as my dad was getting in to go to work that morning, he'd only just put on his seatbelt! I didn't see it, but where the car used to be was a load of broken glass and a few door protectors with the little reflector in. At that point it was replaced with.....- Ford Sierra 1.6L (MK2): Well into the early 90s and we now have a flat nose Sierra in white with a sporty red double pinstripe (which genuinely gave it a bit of a lift). It was more of the same really - I liked it. Then his last interesting car was.....- Rover 214SLi (MK2): This Rover that was bought sometime in the mid 90s. He spent a lot of effort looking for one of these, not sure why as he has never been particularly interested in motors. It was a white MK2 but prefacelift. Basically like the blue one Bollox got. He had this for years, it was a nice car but the rear legroom was poor compared to the much-larger Sierras. He put loads of miles into it, it must have easily had 150K+ by the time he stopped using it due to a variety of company cars. In the end it stood on the drive for a bit, then someone was tipped off about it in around 2000 and bought it for about £200. According to the DVLA it was licensed up until 01/06/2002, which isn't bad considering the crazy mileage.Funny to think that the shed Escort MK1 would be worth many thousands now, being a 2-door.

[michiel]

I wish they'd kept some of them: Ami and GS Break, 1982 Carina 2-door I loved even back then, the D-Kadetts not so much then but nowadays... I quite like them. The mid-90s Polo and current Kangoos, meh.(Before me there were some Taunus 12M and 15Ms, Neckar Millecento, 2CVs, Vespas... )

[Father Ted]

Cant really say I was ever embarresed by anything dad drove - the uber kewlness of loading half a dozen mates into the back of a HA van far out weighed the fact my seat had baby reins nailed to it in leiu of a seatbelt.

[155V6]

My Dad never had 'normal' cars like Cortinas,Marinas,Vivas etc.The 1st car I remember travelling in during the late '60s was a Citroen Light 15,he had a couple of those.Before that he had a Hudson Hornet & a Kaiser .After the Citroen,he had a succession of Renaults,there were Dauphines,8s,16s & an Estafette,although this just sat in the garden for several years .There were a couple of Simcas,a Peugeot 403,a very early Volvo Amazon(XLE 22),then he went back to Renaults for a while.Next were a few British cars,Sunbeam Rapier H120,Vauxhall PC Cresta & FD Ventora,followed by a Chrysler 2-Litre.There were a few odd cars like a Sunbeam Stilletto & a Renault 4 which I had to borrow once & couldn't get on with .He bought a Chevy Camaro V8,but it sat in the drive for a while & was sold for spares.Somewhere along the line was a very smokey Citroen CX Safari,& two Talbot Sunbeam TIs followed by another Sunbeam Rapier H120(which is sat rotting in the drive ),a Saab 900 & an early Sunbeam Rapier(early '60s?).Then was bit of a bad patch,he had a very basic Chevette Estate(ex local authority?)LHD Renault 18 Estate,& a Fiat Panda 4x4.By this time,I was driving quite fast cars,& was impressed when he bought a Renault 18 Turbo,but I don't think the Turbo was actually connected to anything .Next,was his 1st Alfa,a 33 Sportwagon which he's still got, followed by another 33,Lancia Beta HPE,Lancia Y10, a couple more Alfas & a MK 2 Golf which he didn't really want but he needed a car .Then he had his 1st Alfa 164,a tired 2.0,followed by a Fiat Tipo,Lancia Delta 1.3,the LHD Alfa 164 3.0 which he's still got,& the D reg Alfa GTV 2.0 which he's just bought to replace it

[j-j]

As a lil' un Dad's ride was a 1980 Talbot Sunbeam - thought nothing bad of it until it went through a carwash and started to leak at the rear window. Then during a summer, I discovered the joys of wearing shorts and sitting in the half (bright orange) vinyl seats in the back - owch!I was embarrassed getting dropped off in the bright red 2CV at school - I hated that but that was before I fell for Citroens big time - now I'd actively enjoy dropping nippers off in one (if I had one )(and if I had nippers)

[55bloke]

My dad's history goes seomething like: Ford 8, Ford Pop, Mk 1 Cortina estate, Sunbeam Alpine (on which I learned to drive, and loved!) Mk 4 Cortina, Fiat Uno, Honda Aerodeck, a small Deawoo of some sort (forget which, but it's air bags saved both my parent's lives when dad fell asleep at the wheel on a late night journey and hit a concrete fence) Ford Fiesta, and now Ford Ka. As for what today's offspring think about their parents driving old cars, I was chatting to a guy who had a lovely Triumph Stag at a car show in the summer, and he said his 14 year old daughter refused point blank to be picked up from school if he arrived in it!! There's no hope!!

[Rocket88]

Dad;White Morris Minor woodyGreen Minor Woody [which I used to "ahem" borrow and drive up our dead end avenue when they weren't around, I was about 12 then]2 white FiestasPanda [don't ask]Peugeot 205 dizzler [which he loves, just as well, as I got it for him]Mum;A35 Estate, which I fell out of in my cot on a hairpin bend, which may expain a lot2 CVFiat 126Metro VDP autoRenault 5 autoYaris

[Simon M]

My parents' cars were never particularly embarrassing, but when they went for repair.......For a time in the 1990s we used a slightly dubious mechanic who looked a bit like Robin Askwith, and every time he fixed our vehicles (which was a lot in those days), he lent us some Olympic-standard shite which was one step away from t'scrapper. - an orange Mini with an oily interior and big holes in the floor, GR8 4 STARTING WITH UR FEET LIKE FRED FLINTSONE - an Orange Ital estate, v. uncool in 1992 (and still v. uncool now, actually), but I really liked it and wouldn't mind one myself now.- A brown T-reg Volvo Estate with all fag ends in the ashtray, which actually got us all the way to Scotland and back, which was more than our red Y-reg one managed.Actually, they don't sound too bad looking back!

[pandamonium]

Heres a list of my dads cars - Ford Escort Mk2Citroen 2CVReliant Robin SHH8**RAustin 1300 FNL6**LTriumph 2000TC estate OTF204MTalbot Horizon LFT590XAustin PrincessAustin PrincessAustin MaxiVW Passat DHV850VLeyland Sherpa WAJ***YVolvo 245 DL TAO141RRenault 21 estateMitsubishi L300 minibusFreight Rover Sherpa minibusAustin Maestro 1.6HLVauxhall Cavalier Mk2 estateLada Riva 1600SLXLada Riva 1500E EstateFord Granada 2.4XiNissan Bluebird 1.6 auto.Ford Fiesta ( which i bought off him for £100)Vauxhall Nova saloonVW Polo coupeHe's had more since then, but I don't speak to him much now.

[Milford Cubicle]

My mum and dad have had a lot of crocks within my lifetimeVolkswagen Beetle with no heaterFord Granada mk11 VW T25 panel van, 1 Caravelle and 1 crew cab (B285HJS) which had a naturally-aspirated 1.6 diesel. It barely moved, and inevitably popped a cylinder headMk1 Renault 5 GTX 3-dr(KSL736X), gr8 for a family of 5 - I think my dad was trying to live his dream of owning a GordiniVauxhall Chevette (UGG722W) in a vivid burnt orange metallic colour, I have lots of fond memories of this car including my mum ripping the driver's door off it when she reversed into a rock B11 Nissan Sunny 1.5 estate (A457 PAS), apart from the rust (the rear suspension collapsed once) it was a good car with a really quiet and efficient engine from what I rememberHonda Accord 2.0 (H385 CJS), I remember this as being our first 'good' car, it had all kinds of features to impress an 11 year old like an electric aerial and electric windows all-round, but black bumpers and a carb meant it was boggo specPeugeot 305 1.9D van (G761 WRO), a truly great thing apart from its horrible vinyl seats. On remoulds and with typically 'French' suspension so it was great for screeching around bends and off-roading...I wasn't embarrassed by any of them. In the 1990s I don't remember anyone else in the village having anything much better

[chaseracer]

Let's see: 1960 Triumph T110 + chair, 1964 and 1967 Mini vans (no Purchase Tax... ), fleet-tastic 1973 Avenger 1500, 1976 Avenger 1600 Super (NEW!! ), 1980 Opel Rekord.

I was thinking some more about this, following Pandamonium's post, and realised I could recall the registrations of all the above parental motors So, in order...VGT301ACA354BDJC702EEFK281LTWP159RLNX902VTruly, I am a lost cause

[Milford Cubicle]

I have just done the same. Surely I have better things to remember!

[Guest greenvanman]

I SEE ALL YR MUMZ AND DADZ CARS AND RAISE YOU 1971 SIMCA 1501 ESTATE (RVR85J)

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

My Dad always have proper cars, mostly 6-12 months old. A 1970 1275GT Clubwoman, '73 Mexico, a pair of Capri S 3.0 (Mk2 and Mk3) and more recently a 911 C4.Transgressions amount to a 1700HL Princess on the T in Denim metallic - a company car that survived horiffic abuse over 100'000 miles. I thought it was excellent myself.My Mum had some good cars - Two or three Minis starting in @1971 followed by a new Polo L 900 in '78 (pre facelift), a new Golf GTi in late 1982, variopus Alfa Romeos.It sort of went wrong with a Mark 3 Golf GTi which was just rubbish. The replacement VR6 was okayish but still a bit shoddy. The Alfa 155 2.0TS (K plate with the 8v twinky) was a vastly better car in all respects.Low points include a booted 1998 Polo diesel (a rebadged Seat), Metro Turbo on the B plate (rust and gearbox issues) and a semi automatic Merc A Clarse which proved utterly unsaleable after a year and 12'000 miles. Think of £1 a mile depreciation and you are very, very close to the mark.

[Lord Sterling]

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[pompei]

My old man went through a variety of motors during my lifetimeHumber HawkFiat 500D Fiat 850 Austin 1100Mk 11 Cortina Honda N600Simca 1501Marina 1300Fiat 124Fiat 127Citroen GSAVauxhall Cavalier Mk1Talbot HorizonDatsun SunnyAudi 80Honda QuintetVolvo 340 x2Nissan Bluebird x2He also used to rave about his Jowett Javelin (best car EVA) and spit blood at the memory of his Ford Pop.I remember him once buying a Ford Special kit car thing which he never finished, and going to work on two buses whilst he was without wheels. Some kind of mid life crisis perhaps - I never found out

[Timewaster]

My dad would often rave about the BSA motorbike he once had. At the time I knew nothing about bikes but thought it sounded cool.My dad - the biker hero on his BSA Bantham.Years later I saw one at a bike museum - Its a bloody chicken chaser!

[Albert Ross]

Mg Magnette. ZB I think, in 2 tone green.Volvo 122Orange Avenger 1600.Alfa 2600 Sprint WhiteAustin 1100 4 doorVolvo P1800Mk4 Cortina OJH635R 1.6L WhiteMk4 Cortina TMO216S 2.0 GL ?? BlueMk3 Cortina MMO8P 2000E Deep BronzeMk4 Cortina YYU186T 2.0 GL ?? BlueMk2 Granada FGM419V 2.3 GL Tuscan BeigeMk5 Cortina Estate RJF475W Tuscan BeigeMk5 Cortina MJN197V Highland Green (or was it 179?)Mk3 Capri JMO518W Apollo GreenVolvo 244 DL BRO449X MaroonVolvo 343 DL KGK148T (Passed my test in this!) Gold.Opel Senator A494XVV White 2.5Vauxhall Senator D901OBU Grey 3.0Cavalier Mk2 D498SBH 1.6 GL Light Bue metallicCavalier Mk2 D854RBV 1.6 GL MaroonMercedes 200 UTN496Y (Built 1969) Type 115Then they moved to Canada, and had a 1985 Thunderbird, and a K5 Blazer! When they went to buy their first car, they were caught in a rtainstorm, and dived into the nearest open vehicle. A Dodge Omni! When the rain abated, they got out, to be greeted by an enthusiastic salesman, who said................"This is the car for you!" My old man was 6'8", and had trouble not hitting the twat!!!! That's the place they bought the Blazer from.