2002 - Ten years ago ...

[Station]

Incredibly, ten years ago was 2002. Hasn't this decade flown by? Have you, like everyone else, felt like you've nothing at all in the past ten years?

I think you would agree that 2000 - 2010 was the decade where nothing happened and nobody did anything.

 

What car(s) where you driving at this very moment in January 2002, and what were you doing with it?

 

I had just purchased an E reg Orion in white that had been sat at the back of the place I worked at for a number of years. The fella who owned it was about to scrap it for 50 quid. I offered him about 250 quid (un-knowingly) which he accepted. I then drove it home without tax, MOT or insurance, only realising two miles down the road that there was no head-gasket present. It took an hour and many stoppages at junctions before I parked in front of my parent's house to their delight at another wreck on the driveway!

I continued to drive it 'sans gaskey-du-head' for a couple of months without insurance or MOT (I obtained tax through a photoshopped scan of someone else's insurance/MOT certificate), attempting to get over 30mph, breaking down in the Mersey Tunnel, etc. I had an insurance pay-out from a Fiesta, so decided to get a garage to do it up to MOT standard. He took my 400 quid and did all the welding and headgasket.

I got the car back, to find he had welded the boot, and a couple of weeks down the line, realised he hadn't even touch the headgasket or the MOT failing welding around the doors and sills. I suspect he hadn't even welded the boot floor, and that it had been there when I bought it. He was a family friend as well, what a sheister.

I was working in Bootle and it made me late so many times, the day it broke down in the Mersey Tunnel, I gave the car to my brother, and then nicked the tax disc to put in an Astra (you could do that in those days). It was now essentially useless, and I never found out what happened to it. Astra was first Vauxhall and the difference in quality between the Orion was massive. The Orion had an old-fashioned ancient air freshener in that it didn't run out in a day, and even after the years it was stood up, the car still smelt of it, and I can remember the smell today.

[M'coli]

I was on secondment to Birmingham and using my much-missed mk2 Cavalier GLi on the company's mileage (which was a nice little bonus). The Avenger was in the garage awaiting me finding the time to get started on it.

[Albert Ross]

March 1983 Mk1 Sierra 2.0 Ghia Estate in Crystal Green with ALL the options except the most useful one. Yup, crossbars on the roof, econogauge, heated electric mirrors, and NO BLOODY TOWBAR! ODO 920Y

[gdhaydock]

1994 Ford Escort 1.3 (Smiley)

 

Had this as a company car believe it or not, whilst working for a small company with an interesting autoshite company car policy, i.e. the boss bought whatever shite he could find for less than £700ish and kept them until they died.

 

I had this particular example from October 01 until November 02, during this 13 months I put 40,000 miles on it, had a few breakdowns, one of the memorable ones being a complete failure of a rear wheel bearing at midnight. It seemed to eat front brakes and tyres as well.

 

Its final demise was the timing chain tensioner failing, causing the chain to jump and strip the teeth off the camshaft pulley. Following the bosses suggestion that I repair it myself on a weekend (for free!) I decided to opt out of the company car scheme at this point, he never even recovered the escort from my yard due to him being too tight to pay for recovery.

 

The company ceased trading the following year .... (I still have the car, now just about completely rotted away, never got the log book due to the company shutting down)

 

I susbqequently found another job with a company which leased its company cars meaning I have a reliable daily motor which someone else pays the repair bills for and I can spend my money on chod to drive around in on a weekend - everyones a winner

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

2002 was a totally horrible year for me car-wise and perhaps in general. I had a Rover 820 until the summer. Then I went to Greece for a couple of months (uni holidays) where I was driving my (F-reg, 2.9) Granada that I had exported (sans papiers) from here the previous year (that was one shite experience!) and came back to find the Rover blowing up, bought a Galant from a motor trader which again blew up within two days and was exchanged for yet another Granada (facelift model- 1993 or something), whose 2.0 DOHC also blew up shortly after! I believe all of them were HGFs! The constant car troubles greatly contributed to my getting thoroughly pissed off (especially as I was 19, hence too young for rental cars) and didn't help me concentrate on my industrial placement at Browns Lane, either- in the end, I gave up, went back to uni in November and bought a 6 year old giffer-spec Xantia 1.8 (which, priced at a bag, was a right bargain, but not quite what I had been after).

[purplebargeken]

Had to think hard to remember. I had a H reg Jaguar XJ6 4.0 in light blue, bought on ebay for £100. Mot'd without a fault. Sold it 18 months later for £600! Also had an F reg Ford Granada 2.9 auto, another ebay hit - cost a couple of hundred and was the most reliable car I'd owned for some time. Both good cars and I miss them!

[CIH]

I had only been driving about two months. Mk2 Golf 1.3 with 4-speed 'box.

[Shep Shepherd]

I was driving a 1994 Rover 214Si which I had owned since 2000 and which remains the newest and most expensive car (£2995) I have owned to date. Later on in the year, I got into Volvos. The rest is history

[AnthonyG]

My daily was a Pepper Red Mondeo 1.8 LX, bought new in 1999 (got a third off the list price ). My aunt owns that one now. Also had a 1968 Austin 1100 auto, sitting in a garage, probably dead by now (it was pretty much dead then), and a 1975 Avenger which I blezzed around in for a bit, which is still about, although on a SORN.

 

Before I was made redundant in February 2002, I was idly thinking on chopping in the Mondeo for a Rover 75, losing the job put paid to that, maybe for the good as I probably would have gone for a 1800 as I didn't know about their kettle tendencies back then....

[ashmicro]

Jan 2002 I had a 1991 Audi Coupe Quattro, which was utterly worn out, but I hoped it would hang on in there until my Rover 25 was delivered (it didn't!) even though it was shagged out, it looked OK and sounded immense, but the electronics had gone barmy. I bought a 95 Rover 620SLi in the interim. The 620 was GR32, and I kept it for some time. Still have the 25, 620 and Audi are long dead.

[Negative Creep]

10 years ago my licence was only 6 weeks old, which was around the time I wrote off my first car (Nova). I then bought a Citroen AX 1:0 - oh how I wish I'd bought a Capri or Mini for the then giveaway prices

[r.welfare]

I was running a 1984 Audi 80 quattro. Beautiful. Sold at a good profit in the April and replaced with a 1985 BMW 528i. Perhaps petrol was cheaper then, or I just had greater disposable income...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

It was quite a bit cheaper. I recall my Granada costing 17ppm in petrol in 2003. My current Scorpio only has 4 cylinders and costs 15ppm in LPG!

[gtd2000]

Time has flown indeed - can't say I feel I did nothing at all though - quite the opposite really,

 

10 years ago I'd been living in Florida for a year and enjoying myself quite a bit, as well as becoming a slave to Yanky Dollar.

Bought myself this to get around in late 2001:

 

1.5 years later I was off to Canada, then supposeldy heading out to Iraq in Feb 2004 after New Year in Scotland but at the last minute plans were changed, I headed off to Taiwan (bought a second house in the UK that I'd been after for nearly 3 years.

 

Bought this car to use while at home:

 

4 months later I was in Israel (supposedly for 3 months) which somehow became 2 years....

 

When I got back to the UK from Israel I was supposed to be going to Ireland, so thougth I'd buy a cheap and cheerful runaround:

 

That was then changed to Costa Rica...which didn't happen!

 

Next thing I was back working in the USA and bored out of my fucking skull - quit my job and decided to renovate the house (bought while in Taiwan) for the first time in my life - 3 months later, decided to re-slate my mothers 200 year old cottage - a month later, my ex-employer in the USA is still begging me to come back to work and I head of to DC/Virginia for the next 6 months.

 

Ran around in this thing which I'm scraping ice off:

 

The following year my previous employer has poached me back and I head off to Oregon for most of the year then head down to Texas.

 

Next thing, I'm asked about working in the EU and I head off to Germany and start working in Holland for the next 2 years.

 

Bought myself this to take all my gear over:

 

I also buy a KIA Picanto for my mum to repalce here 14 year old Mazda 121:

 

 

While in Holland, plans are made to have a new house built on some land that we acquired, build commences in 2009.

 

After Holland I'm over to the USA when my first lad was born and then I head back to the UK to start a new project there. Had a great time in the UK for almost a year popping back home most weekends to check on the new house progress and do snagging lists to keep the builders on their toes.

 

Bought myself this to get around in the UK:

 

UK assignment comes to an end and I decide to renovate my mothers cottage which takes about 2 months. Spend Xmas and New Year in Scotland then they want me to go back to the USA, so I head off to Washington state. Work in Washington until the summer and take some time off in the UK - and help a friend renovate their house, and do a million jobs around the new house and the cottage including putting a driveway in.

 

I find a perfect condition Hyundai Coupe on Ebay and buy it based on the photographs - wasn't even the same car! Baseball bat at the ready - mate saves the day as he wants the car for himself.

 

October sees me head over to the US for my sons birthday and I've had my feet up since!

 

Still have the 240SX too!

 

Back to Bonnie Scotland on Saturday...

[blakey79]

What car(s) where you driving at this very moment in January 2002, and what were you doing with it?

 

Chav central here a 1998 Saxo VTR with Fox alloys, complete with Halfords Gearknob, being bummed on finance thinking I was the coolest kid on the block. Had the opprtunity of a company car, a Renner clio in a dire shade of Blue, 1.2 5 door it was poo poo.

[sporty-shite]

2002, the year I joined ebay! My first purchase was a Dolomite Sprint, with a few go-faster goodies and multi coloured panels. Had it painted at the place I used to work at, and sold it on for a small profit.

 

Daily-wise, I was running around in whichever hire car had most fuel in it at the end of the day. Usually Golfs, Boras, Passats and, unfortunately, 307s, which were a pile of shit when new, so must be absolutely dire now.

[Skizzer]

My daily was a 1998 Audi A4 1.8T with a Tiptronic box, the only auto I've ever owned. It was a good car for crossing Europe in, something I was doing quite a lot at the time. I also had a 1992 Polo G40 which was mostly great fun even though a previous owner had fitted stiffer springs and bigger alloys, which meant it wandered drunkenly between lanes on the motorway. I had the Scirocco then as well.

[Anglevan]

10 years ago

 

My company car then was an Astra 1.7 club (quite liked it - yes I know !!) Y501YKL If memory serves me right.

 

As play things I had a Singer Chamois (now Sold) since seen on ebay repainted but now on SORN.

a Standard 10 - which the guy came up from Swindon to buy, said he loved it / best thing since sliced bread. Then never heard or saw of it again. When the tax ran out was from when I taxed it. Think it was 2962UA - what happened to thee I wonder

Next up was a 1985 Ford Capri 2,8 special (still own it and i've only done 5,000 miles in 10 years !!

I also had a mint 1985 Cavalier base saloon with 19k genuine, sold to my mate when I got the company car, he ran it for about 6 years then it fell into a wreck, sold on ebay for I think £200 to some banger racers (such a shame as when I had it, it was spot on)

 

I think I also had a Fiesta but not sure F779AUG, sold to a young lass as first car, again it was very tidy but when the tax ran out it dissapeared off the DVLA putor...

[CortinaDave]

A 1989 mk3 Cavalier 2.0GLi - G414BFS. I remember being astounded by how much nicer to drive it was than the assortment of Sierras I'd owned beforehand.

 

Sold it for another cavalier a month or two later - a Westminster blue CDi J441FSP . Thick blue velour and low miles with every toy for £250. It was a bloody lovely car.

[Father Ted]

2002, I left a small District General Hospital, & I went to work in drug and alcohol misuse out in the community. Knew fuck all about it when I went but gemmed up enough and blagged the interview.

This meant doing "clinics" out in the wilds and having to transport "equipment" and notes, the old Plack90 Honda wasnt up to the job so I bought a beige D reg Maestro and ran about in that for 3 or 4 months before the MOT was up, then bought a giffertastic 1.1 Fiesta Mk3 H reg.

 

The Fiesta got stolen by one of my patients, I saw the car being driven through town and gave chase flagging down a police van. Car recovered and used for another 2 months before the engine grenaded itself on the motorway.

 

2002 was an interesting year.

[Vin]

2002, the year I joined ebay!

 

HaHa me too Really that long ago

 

Didn't buy any cars on it though.

 

In 2002 I was driving a 1989 Fiat Tipo 1.6 DGT (G941 SYW) up and down the M62 to Leeds everyday. I'd had it 3 years - it was a 60k mile, £600 purchase. By the end of the summer 2002 I'd put another 90,000 miles on it and the gearbox lunched itself, so I swapped it for one from a scrappy.

 

By November I'd got rid of the DGT and was pounding the M62 in a 1993 Tipo 1.9 turbo diesel (K56 AAN) - What a flying machine that was

[Pillock]

I was banging about in WWM802M - a badly painted blue VW Type 3 Fastback. Lovely car, sold it to finance a project that I then went on to keep for 7 years and do bugger all with.

Whilst the project was gathering dust, I bought a Golf Driver from my ex's sister - G512MHD. Only really bought it to go to a party in Brighton, there were five of us going and it was about £40 a pop on the train - I paid £250 for the car, charged each of my mates £20 petrol so made a fair chunk back. Gave it zero mechanical loving and it soldiered on for a while till I swapped it for a tumble dryer and some IKEA furniture the year after.

[dollywobbler]

Technically, this shot was taken in 2003, but I bought this Peugeot in late 2001, and somehow managed to keep it until 2003 - some sort of record at the time! I also looked that ridiculous.

 

I had the 2CV back then, though 2002 was the year I started her rebuild. This shot WAS taken in 2002 IIRC, when I took the 2CV on a roadtrip to Snowdonia as her last big voyage on her original chassis. She clocked up 100,000 miles on that trip, somewhere near Wolverhampton. Didn't realise then that in ten years' time, I'd be living in Wales!

 

Her rebuild began in late 2002, when I pulled her apart and sent her suspension and rusty bodyshell off to a specialist who cut out all the rot (lots of it!) and rebuilt it on a galvo chassis. I then took the bare shell home and spent six months (of very occasional weekends) putting it all back together again.

 

Amazingly, I only owned those two cars at the time. Living in a city did rather prevent me acquiring too many cars.

[fiatdaft]

Hmmm january 02,I'm sure this was the inventory at the time,

 

1995 cinq sporting (for the wife) great fun!

 

1989 thema 16v turbo

 

1979 mirafiori sport

 

i think i had the argenta then and i was just about to sell my gsxr400r for my 3rd tipo sedicivalvole.

[Wilko220]

Hard to believe it was a decade ago. I was driving a Peugeot 309 Trio S with gr99 patterned upholstery and green seatbelts. Can't find any pics of it, alas, but it ended up rather like this one, from the internet

 

 

According to the "How Many Bollocks" website there are only 20 left now. Sad - it was a cracking car.

[Spiny Norman]

Ten years ago I'd just bought my first flat which I'm still in, and I was driving a big red BMW 530i that I'd paid about £800 for just before Xmas.

Cracking old bus it was too!

 

[trigger]

2002, That still feels like a long time ago! I was 22 and had I had just started going out with the wife and i had just started working for a motor factors.

 

I was driving this at the start of the year, It was a lovely car and cost me about £2500 at the time, I even went out and spent £550 on the alloys for Halfords!.

 

My Old Ford Escort 1.6 Si by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Only a few months into working at the motor factors i was asked to use my car to make a delivery, I refused but the manager threatened to sack me so i did it and this happened.

 

My Old Ford Escort 1.6 Si by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Arsebiscuits, a German woman in a Renault 21 Savanna pulled out in front off me and made me crash.

 

It took a year for the insurance company to pay out, God knows why, they pissed me about enough, so i had to make do with some crap.

 

2000 Citroen C15 Van by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

I had a works van to use for a while, that was awful, It had done some serious mileage, even by then, over 100000 and it was only 2 years old, still it was free and so was the diesel.

 

Ford Sierra 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

I then had this for a while, It was a fab car until the rust killed it on the mot, I only paid £100 for it so can't complain.

[lancashireclamper]

Was Taxi driving in 2002 with a 94 Astra 1.7D estate, the Astra replaced an ex Army Montego that died at 224,000 miles the previous November, never took to the Astra, serious lack of power when fully laden,

In May 2002 bought a 1977 MG Midget off ebay for £600, never had time to drive it so sold it in the September for £400, last 10 years have been a blur, still think of an 02 reg car as new.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I had the same Jaguar Sovereign that I have now. I've had it a while but I like it...

 

[eddyramrod]

January 2002 I was packing for my first holiday in Cyprus! That was coming up in Feb. I was also being interviewed for a new HGV job, which I got; started a week before the holiday!

As for the driveway, I had my Racing Green Montego 1.6LX, J433 SOP, for daily use, and my first Cadillac, EYT 455V for best. Mrs R still had her Proton MPI, N853 LNW, which was coming up on its 3-year anniversary with us, as was the Cadillac.

Couldn't find one with the Montego on, sorry.

 

As the year went on I took a 1987 BMW 525e and a 1987 Mini Mayfair in part-ex against the Cadillac. Couldn't get rid of the BM quick enough, it was bloody horrible, so the moment I was offered a 1978 Daimler Sovereign 4.2 that had been laid-up outside for the thick end of a year, I grabbed it. As you do!

 

I scrapped the Montego, sold the BMW and the Mini for cash, and kept the Daimler as my only car. Mrs R survived an attack on her Proton by an oncoming car, so when the insurance came through we went out and bought her P178 MMA, a Hyundai Lantra estate. Which takes us to the end of the year.