What got you into shite?

[Partridge]

I often wonder why I have my love of shitty old cars. Or not just shitty old ones, just anything “left of fieldâ€Â.

I mean this 100% when I say I’d much rather have a Talbot Tagora than the latest Ferrari. The new and the glamorous does nothing for me.

Thinking back, I had very little contact with shite as a kiddie. The closest we came to shite was a new Xantia. My Dad always drove fairly new, boring reliable cars.

So shite was different, and secretly, I longed to be driven around in an old banger. When I was small I loved Metros, MK 2 Escorts, smokey old Jags and rotten old SD1s, even if I didn’t have a clue what they were. (It was only in recent years that I realised that “the door stop car†which lived at the bottom of our road and had sticks thrown at it by the local junior scum was an SD1).

But I really got into shite in earnest as they say, when I began researching Jags.

My Granddad’s friend drove a British Racing Green XJ40, which I loved. I would go outside when he was leaving, just to hear it start up. When he visited and I was there, man, I would spend ages just looking out of the window at it.

Pretty much as soon as I could learn to read I read about Jags...which took me to British Leyland...and in later years to AROnline, which got my interested in shite. And here I am now...

 

So how did the other fans of shite come to be? Or where you just born with it?

[Stixy]

Poverty was / is a major factor for me

[Partridge]

Interestingly I live in a fairly affluent area (I’m not so affluent, sadly)...yet you see heaps of old crap that should have been scrapped year’s ago in Mr Average’s book around here a lot.

[Lord Sterling]

The cars my Dad had when I was a kid. But the ultimate car that eventually steered towards shite was the D-reg Rover Sterling my Dad had when I were a kid. I'd never been in anything so luxurious and nice as the Sterling, from then on, as a kid, I'd always promised myself that I'd get one, I'd browse through all the Autotrader mags looking for Mk1 800s and get excited when seeing a mk1 800. Then about 5 years ago, that dream came true when I bought my first Rover 800.

 

I dont remember how I found this site but its true to say that here has taught me to appreciate all older vehicles.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

poverty

[Mike D]

I just like shite cars! Even if I won the lottery, I'd have a shed full of Fiat regatas and other grotty chod, rather than the latest Eventador.... (that would be outside as my daily, but still...)

[eddyramrod]

I wasn't quite born to it, as the cars I remember from my early childhood were brand new; but this was the early 60s so we're talking Zephyr, Corsair.... the last car my dad bought new was HWM 457F, a mk2 Cortina. After that he was ill for some time (I don't think he ever really recovered) so poverty struck and the cars slipped into shite territory, if we'd had such a term back then. We're talking 100E Popular now, A35 van, and the like. Nothing less than ten years old, nothing over fifty quid. Later on I began buying cars myself using the same formula, because I never had the funds to do otherwise. As time went on, somehow I managed to creep up the market from time to time until, in the 90s, I turned to "classic cars." These, of course, were the kind of thing I'd been buying only a few years earlier for beer money but had now bottomed-out and were climbing back up their price curve. But: they were familiar. I was at home driving them, because they behaved exactly like all the cars I'd driven before. I drive modern cars on occasion, as one does, but they feel horrifyingly characterless compared to the old stuff. So, I'll continue to choose cheap old tat. It's what I know, and I take an inordinate amount of pride in having the oldest and cheapest car in the car park, wherever I am.

[M'coli]

Poverty, which led to our first family car: a hand-me-down 1960 Triumph Herald convertible with a later 1147cc engine, in 1975. I can remember going with my dad to pick it up from his younger brother's place in Bowling. I was 3...

[purplebargeken]

Hmm, multi-answer methinks:

 

Kind of guided towards it by lack of funds, find 'em much more interesting/satisfying and much easier to work on. I just like 'em. Simples.

 

Ken

[SambaS]

Meeting my best mate in primary school and finding out his Dad owned a scrapyard - probably.

 

We used to run about pretending to be driving cars - he had a Cossie, I had a Polonez. Used to sit reading through Revs magazine when it was full of MKIIIs and GTEs and shit.

 

Then when we were about 11 he told me to come up the yard for a ride in his Talbot Sunbeam.

 

Happy times.

[SambaS]

Or.... in primary school pretending them sherbet straws contained something else

[Split_Pin]

Right from a point as far back as I can remember, old shite cars have been my thing, don't know why. Before Mum_L had a car we used to walk to the shops and I always loved spotting crusty old Simca 1100's, VW Type 3's, Citroën DS's, Renault 12s and Leyland FG's. These were some of my favourites back in the early 80s. My Dad always had newish cars at the time.

[Lankytim]

Poverty but a love of tinkering too, plus i'm NEVER going to buy a modern motor on finance!

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I just didn't move with the times; like those old ladies with a 'fifties haircut I'm stuck in a Shite timewarp. I'm sure they're good and all that, but very few modern cars fire my imagination. I don't even recognise what some of them are.

 

I'm a great lover of the XJ40 too, Mr Partridge - seen on xj40.com only this evening!

 

 

http://www.xj40.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5328&start=10

[forddeliveryboy]

Financial poverty - it runs in the family... Although it is the only sort of poverty - we are otherwise beautifully wealthy.

 

And my father describing to me as a child how people could spend the many thousands they waste on new/ish cars on better things. If you buy decent quality engineering (and it's diffcult to end up with something which is badly engineered today) which has been maintained correctly, there's little reason you can't coax 20 years/200,000 miles out of a car if you choose something to suit your needs. This has long been the case - for years, Citroens capable of half a million miles would sell for the price of a tv, when they had covered less than 100k - and all they needed was a set of spheres and an hour's welding. Or a Mercedes in a similar way - another 3-400,000 miles left, about to be crushed for the sake of a £100 part, a morning's work and an hour's welding.

 

The thought of spending the average yearly wage on a car is so completely bonkers, even if you are totally unable to understand engineering or how to use a spanner. Almost-new cars go for a small fraction of their new cost, because people are unable to trust someone with oily hands - and so only ever worship at the main stealer.

[Mr Lobster]

I just like shite cars! Even if I won the lottery, I'd have a shed full of Fiat regatas and other grotty chod, rather than the latest Eventador.... (that would be outside as my daily, but still...)

 

^ This. Mainly.

 

I just like old, 1980's cars. Its what I grew up with. Plus, I'm not about to finance something so whatever I buy has to be from money in the bank rather than financing it.

[whitevanman]

I never changed what I drove.....always had Cortina's....so never saw the point in getting newer cars. then I had company cars and didn't rate a lot of them in comparison, and poverty, I can fix all the older cars with little effort = less money spent. Now to bring this up to date, the Rover 75 is looked after by a garage next to me, Why?

well I have worked 6/7 days a week for the last 6 months so I have no time and to be honest I just plain don't fancy trying to fuck about in the engine bay on the bloody thing....net result? I could have bought 3 shitters for the money spent on it since we got it in April

[Negative Creep]

Not sure really, I always loved the usual F40, Diablo etc as a kid (although I also really wanted a Capri). Probably due to the fact I've never been able to afford a new car, and just like the idea of being different

[andrew1963]

I have to say lack of funds and family tradition. My dear departed dad used to work for a firm called Kalamazoo in Brum and once had a Wartburg as a company car! Plus I believe one man's shite becomes anothers' 'classic'. 10 years ago would there really have been a strong showing of Metros at the NEC classic show?

 

I think the time is right for forming the mid-90s Seat owners club!

[Micrashed]

poverty

+1

I have never been particullay endowed with pots of cash, then when I did have some spare to buy a decent set of wheels circumstances dictated that it was Mrs Ted and the kids that got the bigger and better car and I made do with anything from a Tomos AM50 moped to a £300 Citroen BX.

 

Things really took off in 2002 when I got a job on the district and started getting paid 54p/mile for any work related travel - most days I could easilly clock up 50 miles or so. This introduced me to the "6 Month Car" - every 6 months a new £300/£400 taxed and MOT'd car would appear in my life and get the arse ragged out of it and generally abused before being sold on for about what I paid for it.

Of course all the other district nurses had nice shiny lease hire cars and I drove around in my old chod, but this also meant that I never bothered too much when having to do home visits in Laycock Gate or Grange Park* and no one ever really bothered to touch my cars. It was a bit of a revalation to me, that I could have a different car every few months, pretty much get paid the cost of the car in my milage allowance and no longer worry about getting dents or scratches.

I had been brought up on a diet of old BL tin and learned how to do basic spannering so few things phased me if it wasnt electrical (and most of them could be fixed with scotchlocks and gaffer tape).

 

The other thing about running a newer car along side an older one is that the older ones seem to be more reliable as the electrical gubins is less on them. All the breakdowns in the last 3 years have been down to EGR/DPF/MAF and other electrical or antipolution crap.

[Cavcraft]

Having pots of cash and getting bored with buying brand new exotic cars every couple of months. I was pulling out of an Aston dealer's in 2003 and saw a bloke struggling along in a wheezing, smokey old Chevette and that was that.

 

Also, and more factually, my dad did. Although he mostly had new (company) cars for himself he got my mum loads of 'unfashionable' cars such as Renault 4s, Riley Elf etc. Having grown up with Maxis, an Austin 3-Litre, various Cortinas, an Alpine and a Mk2 Cavalier SR, my own history was never going to be too fancy.

[skattrd]

I'm a tight arse and do not see the point in buying a car thats going to depreciate thousands of pounds a year. I'd rather spend money keeping random old chod on the road.

I only learnt to drive 7-8yrs ago and to this date my newest car is my current Volvo S80 (2000) which I picked up at a local auction for £740. 17k miles later it's still worth at least what I paid for it.

 

I grew up with old shite, my family had R16, R4, R12, Fiat 132 etc. All of which I aspire to ... Plus my brother-in-law is an old school mechanic and isn't good with computers found in modern shite; he is gr9 at fixing old shite though

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It's not poverty, but sheer tightness on my part. I've had new and nearly new cars costing between £5000-£18'000 in the past (1999 - 2003) but now realise it was pissing money up the wall. My folks had nice cars when I was a kid but I was drawn to scrapyards at an early age. I've never got shite out of my system and know I never will.

I really do shudder at the thought of spending more than £1000 on a car. I'm also the last owner of everything. For £1000 I'd want reliability and at least 2-3 years use before weighing it in when it's fucked beyond repair.

[cort16]

15 years ago it was poverty and boredom. Selling, buying and swapping around the 500 quid mark constantly. I've always been hopeless with the spanners though so every now and again I'd buy a right turkey that'd wipe me out and I'd end up with no car or a horror I'd picked out the paper for 100 quid.

Now I recon it's a bit of nostalga plus older cars just seem more interesting to me. My eyes seem ti glaze over when it comes to cars about pre 1970. I just can't relate to them.

[Baz]

I think that the term "Shite" is much like "Classic" in that it's meaning is very much open to the indiviual's interpretation....I'm just a life-long enthusiast of cars/motorcycles (My 90yo Grandma's favourite story about me is my ability to name any car, pretty much as soon as I could speak)....I don't really care what it is, I love to look at/drive/ride it! I get it from my Dad, and my Uncles on both sides....My Mum's brother was a Motoring Journalist/Car Tester for Which? all through my childhood, I loved that he got a new car EVERY WEEK, and was as excited by the latest FSO Polonez or Chrysler Avenger as I was by the Jaguars and Mercedes-Benz....It's just in my blood I guess!

 

Yeah, if I won the lottery today, I'd very soon have a barn full of "Shite", but I wouldn't be able to resist buying a Jaguar XF Sportbrake as my daily, and the Noble M600 to me, is a truly maginificent thing....I'd have to have one!

[Partridge]

The Allegro wears the Jag grill rather well, all jokes aside.

 

This makes interesting reading, and as for the arguments about running bangers apposed to new cars-I’m gonna memorise them and put them to Miss A.P

[cms206]

My dad was a regular attendee of the local Royal British Legion. As a result (and copious amounts of the Scottish tradition of a half and a half), he'd often come home from the pub with a car. All sorts of dross; I was brought home from the hospital in a two-tone Vauxhall Chevette saloon which he'd painted himself. Strangely that was the second last Vauxhall he had (the last was a Nova Luxe saloon around 2001) and he never liked them, but I've become a Vauxhall apologist.

 

I also like big, cheap, shite cars. I'm a tight fisted bastard that way, I'd sooner live with 25mpg than be spunking £250 up the wall every month before even putting pez in some rancid bloody turdblower diseasil Golf or Focus.

[Pillock]

My first proper GF (I was a late starter, this was when I was 19!) was into Beetles, and indeed had her very own 1303. I'd drive over to her house and we'd jump in the Beetle and drive round, I loved it. Found a 1303S of my own which I purchased for less than a 205/Fiesta/Nova etc would have cost in 2000, insured it for £250 which was amazing, and it did everything and went everywhere my mate's "posh" cars could. Got me into weekends camping with clubs and stuff and I don't care what people think about VW fans, there are some nice people to be met some of whom are still good mates years down the line.

 

Spent a while just buying VAG stuff I fancied having a go in - Type 3, G40, Audi 90, Scirocco, Golf GTI etc. Finally branched out into other stuff (E36, Astra GTE) and found there was a whole world outside of VW tat.

 

I've only got a newish car at the moment because I need to be racking up 30k miles a year, and as soon as I start failing to make it places it gets me into bother at work. I was quite happily using shite to go to and from work when it was a single place but now I'm field based I feel I should spend the money they give me to run a car, on a car.

 

When space allows, I will have boring work-mobile plus something tat again. Currently I just sit here looking at pictures

[fordperv]

my love of shite is my dads fault it stems back to when i was a little boy of about 6 years old when he was letting me "help" him work on cars and teaching me all about them, growing up i was there with him working on all types of weird and wonderful shite learning as i went, one that really sticks in my mind is an avenger which he put a 3 litre essex with triple carbs in it was a monster. ill be honest he didnt set the best example in his cars as he often had "races" with the police (his words, they were the days) he bought my first shite motor when i was 13 a light metallic blue e21 reg ffa990t i thought it was great ive never looked back

[kinkersaab]

Hmmmm. A combination of my dad, and my job. My Dad becuase I like to rebel, he was is very much a car snob, likes to buy new, worries about mpg, etc etc, but doesnt seem capable of understanding depreciation. Even with me doing what i do for 18 years, he still seems unable to not go to a main dealer and blow 40odd k on a new bmw jag etc etc, do very little with it, keep it until its still lke new but lost 20k and start the whole thing again.

 

my job because after 18 years of being a second hand car dealer, I quickly got fed up of seeing twats buy stuff they cant afford , and they dont need, to impress people they dont like. All seems so wrong. So, i stand selling allsorts of stuff up £20k cars all day every day, but take great delight in being different. Todays grin is my 97 forester sailing its mot with no advisories, as i look at it from my office window parked next to a 6 yr old Audi with a fucked Auto box after only 35k.