My first car....

[HillmanImp]

After looking at the other thread about how old you need to be to own a car I thought it might be nice if peeps can dig out the photos of their first cars. I am probably wrong but I cant remember a thread like this for a while (there was probably one last week though knowing my memory..... )

 

Here is mine,the one at the front, RCD 956M (the one at the back is mine too):

 

 

The reason I got it was after I had a ride in my mate Imp (MJB 9444P? which I ended up owning too) and was amazed at it so found the nearest one to me and bought it for £460 of hard earned Christmas cards from relatives which had been stashed away in the bank each year since I was a kid.

 

Insurance was £500 but when we picked it up my old man said he would drive it home and he drove mine as it was still about 30 miles and I had just passed my test. Got back and my dad took ages to arrive and when he did turn up I found out that the reason for the delay was that a friggin Fuego had smashed into the back of it. This should have been an omen with me and cars but undeterred, with the help of some sellotape and a crisp packet, the brake lights were red again and the next day I was living the dream in my brown (although I said it was gold) Hillman Limp.

 

MIA since 1999 when my ex girlfriend sold it to a student in Havant (despite promising it back to me - the bitch).

 

Date of Liability 01 12 1999

Date of First Registration 01 12 1973

Year of Manufacture Not Available

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 875cc

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type PETROL

Export Marker N

Vehicle Status Unlicensed

Vehicle Colour BROWN

Vehicle Type Approval Not Available

Vehicle Excise Duty rate for vehicle

6 Months Rate £74.25

12 Months Rate £135.00

[eddyramrod]

There's a bit of a discrepancy between the first car I bought, and the first car I was able to register in my name and drive on public roads (which was many months later). Needless to say I only have a photo of one, the car I bought:

As posted on at least one previous occasion, this is me at 18 in 1977 with my 1961 Vauxhall Velox, 969 NMB. While I was vainly trying to save up for the repairs this needed, I was offered XPY 273, a 1960 Austin A40 mk1 for free, which obviously I accepted. Well you do, don't you! I managed to put that on the road, so despite being predated by the Vauxhall, the A40 is the one that really qualifies as My First Car. Both were scrapped in the early 80s.

[rml2345]

I've still got mine

It is of course the Toyota "Leyland" Yaris, which I bought on an impulse before taking any lessons...

On the plus side it is ex driving instructor so comes with dual controls and a silly mileage (168k at the time of writing)

Here it is at Pete's when CMS went to fetch a Senator

SM53 YLL by cms206, on Flickr

And here it is the other day full of pallets...

Look! A Freighter! by routemaster2345, on Flickr

[dollywobbler]

Squibble the Mk2 Fiesta Popular.

 

I still feel guilty about how trashed that poor car got! Though it was a rusty, badly painted death-trap before I got my mitts on it.

[Micrashed]

Mine (not a K11)

VTC 263H

(apologies for the crap photo but its one of only a few not gone forever in the great Newall House robbery of 1993.)

 

Mrs Micrasheds

RRN 332T

[Pete-M]

 

I bought an Austin Healey Sprite a couple of weeks before I bought this Mk1 Escort (8/8/88) but fate and sticky dashpots conspired for the Sprout to need towing to my house. This Escort drove home with no bother... cost me £60.

[fiatdaft]

As mentioned in the other post here is mine,

 

 

Bought from kildean auction for £54 with saved up lunch money ,a 1300 basic 4 door 131 mirafiori, no rear brakes,but not very rusty! Parked it around the corner and allegedly used it every day,dvla says it ended up blue and died in 1990.

 

A few years ago i bought out stewarts of dollar that registered the car new fiat stock and found a new old stock grill for one,so thats hanging in my garage still.

 

 

I would love another series 1 mirafiori,but rather rare now,even more so a 1300 basic.

[fiatdaft]

Here are another few from 1991

 

 

Early XR3 reg SNS 5W cost £350, the herald was UWS 432J was damaged by a bad storm in jan 1993,last seen as a red convertable with sprint alloys,and just out of shot was SMS 108 X a beta berlina bought while at lancia as a £20 trade in.

[fiatdaft]

I have a few more if anybody is interested?

[Spiny Norman]

Although I had a VW Beetle for about 6 weeks before I took it into the garage my mate worked in and his boss condemned it on the spot, I consider my first 'proper' car was a Mk1 Audi 80, very similar to this except mine was in that lovely jobbie brown that was so popular in the early 70s. Had it a couple of years, and really enjoyed it.

It totally had a fit bird with it as well....

 

I may be lying about the bird, now I remember it....

[Tayne]

My '85 SJ410.

 

New Bumper by Tayne, on Flickr

 

It had been fitted with a tuned Ford Kent engine and box from a rear drive Escort before I bought it.

[trigger]

My first car was this 1984 Nova 1.2 Swing in 1997, It cost me £500 to buy from a bloke in the next village, it had done 120k and smoked like Dot Cotton but to me it was the best car in the world, at the time...

 

My First Car, 1984 Vauxhall Nova 1.2 Swing by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The rear arches were pretty rotten but i did replace them as well as the bottom of a front door.

 

My First Car, 1984 Vauxhall Nova 1.2 Swing by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

It took me a year until i noticed it had different number plate to the rear then the front.

 

My first car, Vauxhall Nova 1.2 Swing by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

I ended up keeping it a year before selling it to my hairdresser for £500 and buying a Escort Eclipse.

[willswitchengage]

P1020990 by willswitchengage, on Flickr

 

Frugal, practical, dull. Just about managed a handbrake turn once in a festival car-park and spent most of its life ferrying around mountain bikes, kayaks and muddy people.

[barefoot]

Mine was a 4 door Vauxhall Chevette GLS in white with a blue vinyl roof, velour upholstery, Rostyle wheels & that all important black bit between the rear lights.

 

A bit like this,

 

 

but I remember it being cooler than that...

[jonny69]

I had a '61 Ford Prefect 107E for my first car in 1997. My dad was adamant that I shouldn't have a classic for my first car, but should have something a bit more practical like a Golf or Fiesta. So one night he came running in all excited because he'd seen this old Ford for sale, parked up locally. One quick look and I knew it had to be mine and £650 later it was at home on the drive. I hadn't passed my test at that point, so I took most of my lessons in it with my dad, which meant come test time, I was completely incapable of driving a new car!

 

Anyway, I took it off to university and slowly modified it as I went along. I got some front end damage from a front wheel coming off at some point, then eventually it was packing a 140hp crossflow with a 2000E box, Escort struts and polished slotmags. I eventually wrecked it when I lost control and stuffed it into the back of a brand new Saxo. The Saxo just folded up past the back seats which a bit scary, while the Prefect took a about 18" of damage to the front but it was more than I could fix at the time so it was sold as a scrap shell.

 

I don't have any pics online in standard guise, but here it is halfway, 140hp crossflow and 2000E box, standard struts and brakes, cut springs and standard steelies and 155R13's!

 

[Jack_Harpers_Teeth]

I do like topix like this!

 

Here is mine;

 

 

"Piddle" my 1974 Toledo (why did people call them "Torlaydoes" back when then?)

 

Piddle coz it's reg number was PDL 184M , it was very rusty, so much so pools of yellow rust would appear under it after a rain shower...piddle.

[idiotboy]

I feel a bit sorry for the new drivers of today. All these modern cars are a bit dull and competent, none of them are ever going to need dampstart, gaffa tape repair or artistic sculptures of P38 to restore the bodywork. You can't break into them with a wooden lolly stick like my first 2CV (when you lose your keys during an illegal rave at the disused Cement works) nor can you have great fun going to the local scrappy for bits. They've gone all HSE conscious now so gone are the days of swaying about 3 cars high trying to remove a rear door and hiding other gems in your pants and your toolbox and paying for only the bits you declare.

 

Digressing slightly I remember once I found a Renault 12 down the scrappy with a Citroen Visa sat on its roof, there were no wheels on the Renault but the keys were in the ignition so I turned the key and to my total surprise the bugger started. It did make me wonder what the hell it was doing there..aaaah the good old days.

[Jack_Harpers_Teeth]

there were no wheels on the Renault but the keys were in the ignition so I turned the key and to my total surprise the bugger started.

 

I had that too with a Dolly 1500HL, no wheels, sat on the roof of something else, keys in. Pulled on the starter it burst into life!

 

Sad fact was that it was in better overall nick than my own car, yet I was robbing bits off this one to try and save mine.

 

As you rightly say, new car drivers are being denied life experiences like this.

[Mash]

My Triumph 1300, bought for the princely sum of £400 in February 1994 and I've still got it!

 

This photo was taken in the late 90s when I also had my FB Victor (and a quiff!):

 

 

And here it is more recently:

 

[idiotboy]

Here I am caught brush painting my first 2CV back in 1994 using some knocked off enamal paint my Dad got off some bloke in a pub. Turned out to be nicked BR rail blue as the bloke had walked some out of the stores at Willesden when they stopped painting things blue in the late 80's. I spent every penny I had on that car....what a waste of time.

 

 

Nowadays you'd be shot and beaten for painting a 1976 vert tuileries drumbraked 2CV with a brush by the Citroen Car Club / 2CVGB Anal retentive types.

[jonathan_dyane]

I had one of these:

Dyane Côte d'Azur by charlestongrise, on Flickr

 

But mine was rustier. It used to be my mothers but she sold it to some guy who in the space of 5 years had ran it into the ground. I seem to think I gave him £60 for it, and managed to bodge it through the MOT.

 

It took me everywhere, including to the Shetland Islands and broke down constantly, whilst taking an incredible level of abuse. It taught me how to fix cars, by necessity. It lasted about 10 months before the rear axle started to snap off the chassis, with hindsight every day driving over the speedbumps at college doing 40 with a rotten chassis was ill advised... In the meantime I had been given a 2CV with a less rusty shell, and (seperately) a falcon replacement chassis, which was even worse than the wheels replacement chassis in that it was dimensionally crap, and the only way to fit the (plastic) fuel tank was to trim it's flanges down (ooer!) and hammer it in from above, which meant zero chance of removing it once the body was on.

[freebird]

My first car was an October 1971 Hillman Hunter GT. I paid £275 for it in 1982, it was red, had a years MOT and a recon engine. The only work it ever needed was a bit of chassis welding at the rear springs and the usual stuff to keep her going. That car taught me how to drive on snow and ice and how to drive, period.

It was pretty damn fast for its day, i actually remember having a race with my mate in his company Astra van and I kept up with him no probs.

Its probably the one car, out of all the ones ive owned and driven that i would sell a kidney for to have again, alas LBJ 357K went to the great scrapyard in the sky long ago.

 

I sold it to a fella I worked with and bought a 1973 Saab 99 which, compared to the Hunter, was like driving a Rolls Royce, it was as rusty as fuck though.

Happy days

[Quintus]

A 1993 K11 Micra, which I don't seem to have any pictures of. Looks as if it's now dead.

 

The enquiry is complete. The vehicle details for L717 GCF are:

 

Date of Liability 30 04 2011

Date of First Registration 27 08 1993

Year of Manufacture 1993

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 998cc

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type PETROL

Export Marker N

Vehicle Status Unlicensed

Vehicle Colour RED

[sporty-shite]

As posted elsewhere, this:

 

 

Bought a week before passing my test in October 1988. 12 months MOT of the £20 in the ashtray type judging by the amount of rot I fond a few short months later.

 

Punted it on in Auto Mart* at a £50 profit, and replaced it with :

 

 

1300S, considered a rocket alongside everyine else's Mk2 Escort Pops. Both long dead according to DVLA

 

 

 

*those were the days!

[phil_lihp]

A Citroen AX 1.0i Debut known by my mocking friends as The Beast.

 

Bought in 2002, I had a 3yr love/hate relationship with it. Years of terminal neglect became very obvious soon after buying it - I don't think it had seen an oil change for years - and bits were forever falling off or going wrong. I relied on it 7 days a week so it got everything it needed and I polished it more often than it deserved so it looked quite good. It had a very good rust-free shell, but by 121,000 miles the engine and gearbox were leaking oil from every orifice, OMGHG #2 was on its way out and various other things were going wrong so I sold it to a young woman who ran it into the ground & weighed it in within the year.

 

This was from when I was trying to sell it, it didn't look that good when I bought it:

 

[Paul Dupart]

My first car, in 1982, was a 1977 Marina HL saloon (1800 TC engine) OTS 651R. I don't have any photo's but I think me mum has, I'll ask next time I'm round.

 

Usual crap Marina handling, but a 'not a bad in a straight line' car. Usual rust, taught me a lot about bodging up bodywork. B series itself was reliable, but everthing that was bolted on to it got replaced (wasn't Lucas stuff shit?) Also gearbox, diff, halfshaft bearings, tank all replaced. Did the telescopic shock upgrade to the front which improved things slightly. Had it 3+ years before I sold it on. Total pile of shite but 'cos it was my first it'll always have a place in my heart. Had my second ever shag in it also!

[Split_Pin]

Great thread, I particularly like the old photos with the cars owners in them!

 

Love fiatdaft's 131. I've only ever seen one early model with those oblong lights but that was a Seat in Majorca. Also like the fact that Mash still has his 1300 - nice one.

 

This was my first car in 2001:

 

 

This was taken in 2002 when I'd lowered it on Nova springs. The wheels were the wrong offset so scrubbed like hell on the front arches when going over dips in the road. Soon put the standard springs back on. Sold it to a nice chap from Annan in 2005 for his daughter but DVLA says it died in 2006.

 

Loved this car so much I bought another Corsa in 2010, although I've got correct offset wheels now!

[PhilA]

GCJ 721D, Hillman Super Minx 1725. There wasn't actually much left of it from the doorhandles on down, it had a horrible bottom-end knock, smoked like a tramp steamer, had no exhaust, leaked and was full of mouse nests and spiders.

 

It never saw the road but went on to provide the bits to put and keep my next car, DDM 798C, going for several years until I foolishly sold it. DDM's still on SORN somewhere, having made it onto TV in 2003. GCJ met its demise on the oval track, where it was quickly banned from racing ever again because it literally fell apart upon being shunted by a mk3 Cav.

 

--Phil

[STUNO]

perfect by stuno602, on Flickr

 

A pic just like my first car 1940 Ford Prefect bought in 1965.

I have kept the insurance policy for it for some reason (third party only) and the premium was 5 pounds 2shillings and 10 pence. I think the car cost about 100 pounds. It was ONLY 25 years old then but even then was very basic motoring. In 1965 for instance my father traded down from a 1963 Zephyr to a 1965 Super Minx, totally different driving to the Prefect. I went up-market next to a 1952 Hillman Minx. No photos as it was not posible to own a car and a camera together!