What cars did you drive before you were old enough to legally drive?

[doobietoo]

Following on from comments in the old chod when you were young thread where several people admitted to driving before they were legally allowed , what did you drive in your "early" teens.

 Two mates and myself bought an old, no mot, no tax, rotten as a pear Anglia in the same hue as the Harry Potter version which we used to blat around the back lanes of Hampshire right up until one of my mates totalled it into a tree one sunny lunchtime, He was trying to get us back to school in time for afternoon lessons after a couple of pints in a local hostelry where the landlord would turn a blind eye to our obvious lack of facial hair.....

[John F]

Mk 1 Cortina, Daimler 4.2, S II SWB Land Rover, some sort of a coach, lots of tractors...

[sierraman]

Rover 214SLI

[Tickman]

Either over in southern Ireland or on building sites:

Renault 21, Massey Ferguson tractor (one of the old ones that would be collectable now) JCB 3c, various Transit vans and a Morris Ital van (I think) 

[bub2006]

I've drove volvo estate autos and granada autos on campsites when I was in my early teens. I've been very naughty and driven illegally too when I was over the age to drive.

[Parky]

Dads Renault 12 under his supervision. Aunts old Ford Anglia under her supervision, and a 1978 Mini with a 16 year old mate around the local area with no supervision whatsoever. God that was a rush!

[Longblackcoat]

Princess 1800, Zephyr, Carlton. All on farms and an old airfield, so legal. Ish.

[Supernaut]

An old Ferguson tractor, and a 1975 Land Rover series 3, 88" safari door.

 

I then drove said Land Rover for a year after getting my licence. It was the farm workhorse, then dad sold it once it failed one MOT too many for rot.

[saucedoctor]

Mini 850, Mini 1000, Triumph Dolomite 1850HL, Renault 12, Fiesta mk1 1.1, Fiat Strada, Fiesta XR2 mk2, early Rover 213, various Maestros and Montegos, an Ital, a Lada 1500 estate with a Pinto in it, couple of Capris, a blue Marina, Granada MK3 2.0 GL auto. Bound to have been others.

 

My mates Dad fixed cars, and bought and tarted up a few cheapies. We used to drive up and down the (then) unadopted road beside their house, about a quarter of a mile long.

 

We definitely didn't drive that brown Mini 850 to the Abbeycentre when we were 14. No way. Not us.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Land Rover Series 1 from about 11 on farm tracks, in fields etc. Various Fordsons,Fergies and MF 13/65s and the high spot was from when I was 14 being allowed to drive the hay bale collection vehicle during hay making - a 1968 Ford D Series, that was usually used for delivering coal.

When I was 16 I worked in Birmingham during the week and travelled to mid-Wales at weekends. My Dad worked in London and would pick me up in either his Triumph GT6 or whatever company car he'd blagged that was full of fuel. He'd let me drive once we were past Builth Wells which meant across the Abergwesyn to Tregaron Pass, a proper single track mountain road. As it was after midnight by the time we got that far we never saw another car, much less a copper. My favourite was a brand new at the time 604 DTurbo- it was gold with TRXes on steels and one of only 2 in the country in such a high spec,because his boss had personally imported 2 at the same time as 4 505s and 10 305s- I never drove a 505 but the 305s were great on the windy lanes.most of the time it was knackered end of life rep cars so Marinas, Cortinas, Avengers, R12s and 16s, a Datsun Bluebird and an Ascona19SR which was a highlight.

[Rave]

Only my mum's 2CV, which I learned to drive in the paddock behind my grandad's house when I was 12. 9 months later she bought me an old Honda MT5 as a field bike as well!

 

We still had the 2CV when I turned 17 so on my 17th birthday I got in it and drove us all to school. I'd been riding an AR50 on the road for a year by that point, though.

[eddyramrod]

1965 Cortina (2 doors, bench seat, column shift) on Southport beach

1962 Austin A60 Cambridge on a campsite

Both under close supervision.  And that's it.

Since passing my test of course, I've driven literally everything I could get my paws on.

 

 

That Cortina would be worth a good few US road trips now if I still had it...

[Guest Breadvan72]

I first had a go at driving in a yard in a Morris Traveller, aged about ten or so.

 

I boringly didn't drive on the road before I had a provisional licence.  I drove my Mum's 1985 Metro Van den Plas on my own a bit before I passed my test, and also drove around Scotland in a hulking 1980 ish Toyota Carina Estate, but that was with my then girlfriend who had a full licence.

[beko1987]

Landover series 3 109" 2.6 pez. Drove it once, it was utterly fucked, sold it for spares for a huge loss after a few years.

 

Shame really, if I'd known this place back then I could be a completely different person and own a lovely land rover rather than a modern French car...

[anonymous user]

Learned to drive on farm on a grey Fergie. First car driven round the garden an A40 Somerset ( given to my brother and me by a friend of parents). Then drove Mk1 Cortina on old runways and farm lanes after my brother passed his test and would let me have a go. Then got my A35 when I was 16, again a round the garden car.

[inconsistant]

Sunbeam Tiger

Talbot Horizon

Ford Orion Ghia

[flat4alfa]

You bunch of yobs and crims, the lot of you  

 

 

I was a good boy

 

Living in a massive town with Plod everywhere (those were the days), you didn't even think about it.

[Mr A Lawrence]

'74 M reg mini 1000 in 50 shades of black, bought off a workmate for £100.

 

Hand painted it with a 4in brush fire engine red then hand painted a union flag on the roof.

 

Scrapped it just before I passed my test in 1990.

[Supernaut]

An old Ferguson tractor, and a 1975 Land Rover series 3, 88" safari door.

 

I then drove said Land Rover for a year after getting my licence. It was the farm workhorse, then dad sold it once it failed one MOT too many for rot.

 

Thinking back to this, I remember why I was driving that Land Rover at 15 years old.

 

I was dragging around a contraption of my dad's invention, for levelling mole hills in the fields. It was a railway sleeper with a big chain that went over the tow bar. Then, attached to the railway sleeper were 3 metal rims from old cart wheels. The railway sleeper sat across the width of the vehicle, with two cart wheel rims attached to it, then the third rim was attached to the other two rims, so it formed a triangle sort of layout. It worked rather well too!

 

While clearing mole hills, I also learned basic car control in a big, wide open space, while mastering turning round and heading back along the field in as smooth an arc as possible.

[anonymous user]

You bunch of yobs and crims, the lot of you

 

Excluding me I hope, I was very well behaved and was quite legal on private land. I accept that making my own explosives to blow holes in the ground could have been classed as a little bit naughty.

[Dirk Diggler]

Talbot Alpine with windscreen removed and a, b and c pillars and roof cut off, rallied to death in a rutty field by 11 and 12 year olds, a 15 year old brother the only nod to safety was the first

 

Then thick and fast through the early to mid 90s with everything imaginable, often things that have gained enough value to make me feel very stupid.

 

From the usual Fiat 127s, 128s and Unos, an early 126, many Ladas, FSOs, even a rear engined Skoda, 2 Renault 4s, too many mk1 5s to count, 12s, 14s even a 20. But it was old Carina's and Bluebirds that we're so common, fast, tough and cheap because they were less than 10 and rotten as fuck; less said about how disposable 50 quid back wheel drive starlets felt

 

It's depressing to realise how much old escorts have appreciated; we were responsible for the death in the woods of a few; a memory etched in my mind is the duck egg blue 2 door mk1 that had been parked because of perished brake hoses, bought from an old gent for £100, and rallied to death in a fortnight; tbh it was a clean old thing, but tragic to drive compared to what else was available; I remember driving it and thinking it was shit; if only I'd known then what I know now

[Twiggy]

1. Standard 8 round my uncle`s farm in Shropshire age 10...(me not the farm). Not the actual cars though !

 

 

 

2.  Ford pop, same place, aged 13

 

 

 

3. Vauxhall Wyvern, round Worsley, age 14

 

 

 

4. Daimler Conquest Century, Scotland, age 15, passed my test in a car like this in 1963

 

 

 

Rover p4, Scotland, age 15:

 

 

I`m sure there were others, but I canna remember them !  Photos courtesy of car clubs and car and classic.

[Junkman]

The very first car I ever drove was a BMW Baroque Angel that ended up in Rauscher's scrapyard courtesy of the 1973 Fuel Crisis.

I was nine.

[red5]

Ford Cortina Mk1

HA Van 

Cortina MK4 1.3ohv

Granada Mk2 2.8 GLi Auto Estate

Lada 1600

Marina 1.3 SDL Coupe

Chevette 1.3 L 3dr

Corolla Liftback 

Tredia 1600 8speed

Celeste 1400

Celeste 1600

Lancer 1200

 

 

Blimey.

[Stanky]

Good post, I managed to drive all of the following on private land (my parent farm/smallholding) before I had a provisional licence. Its a pretty shite list:

 

1983 Ford Fiesta pop which died massively as it would always stall when changing gear so was driven in first everywhere. It was purple and had a brown door.

 

1992 Fiat Tempra saloon

 

1986? Volvo 340 DL with no back window and flames spraypainted up the bonnet badly

 

2000 Skoda Felicia Fun pickup

 

1998 Skoda Felica hatchback

 

Some kind of moped, possibly a mobylette. Year unknown

 

1989 Ford Sierra Sapphire hatchback

 

Great days, driving on the road was pretty easy after those.

[reb]

I now feel very young. First car I drove unsupervised was my scout leader's Clio when I was 15, in the car park behind the scout hall. Then a Citroen C5 out of a garage.

 

Also various cars at Crail, but I was 19 and had a provisional by that point. Some say the £8car's clutch is still smoking to this day.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mally]

Dad never had a car until I tought him to drive.

Have sat on a few motorbike tanks and worked the controls though from an early age.

First field bike at around 10 was a 350 Enfield. Also had a 600 16H Norton, but was a bit heavy for me.

First car was when a local vicar let me drive his moggy 1000 without a licence.

[Brodders]

Over in the Republic of Ireland, my grandmother has a farm, which meant that from the age of 10, when we went over there to visit in the summer, mum would let me have a go in her 1997 Fiesta Ghia (which was recently sold to a local lad who had only just passed his test, so it is nice to know it is still going strong).

 

Other cars I got to drive before I was 17 included a 2004 Opel Astra saloon and a 2011 Peugeot 207 diesel, which are far less interesting than any of the other cars here.

[hairnet]

^^^ much like this

 

uncle shays 56 fergie

 

morris marina cix 838

 

peugeot 504

 

the old mans mk3 tina estate when i flattened the battery in tipperary aged about 11 listening to and underslung tape player - learned how to bump start going backwards

[RayMK]

In 1967, Dad left me and my brother in the car in an out of the way deserted carpark at RAF Laarbruch whilst he nipped in to see a colleague about something.  After 15 minutes I got bored (18 years old) and was delighted to see that the ignition key had been left in.  I timidly started the engine, ready to switch off instantly if the car leapt forward (column change - god knows where neutral was!).  No leaping occurred, so I gingerly pressed the clutch and selected a gear, then using idle speed only, slowly let the clutch up and stalled.  Sodding handbrake. Tried again, this time with the handbrake off, and moved the car very slowly at clutch slipping point and did a 180degree turn and re-parked.  Dad looked a bit puzzled when he came back about 30 minutes later.  The car was a Ford Taunus 17m (P5) estate.  The next car I drove was mine, in 1972, a 1967 Reliant Regal 3-25 saloon, something for which 100 metres in a Taunus could be judged as inadequate experience.  The Reliant was legally driven (on my full motorcycle licence) from Camden Motors, Leighton Buzzard, to Aylesbury during the evening rush hour.  A baptism by fire which came true literally when it caught fire on the way to work about 18 months later, blocking the A41 for 45 minutes.