Is autoshiteing genetical?

[e287yba]

My first car was a Mini - I aquired it free + insured + taxed + a 'crash course' of driving lessons from my second stepmum for reasons totally beyond me but paid for by my inheritance from my paternal grandad - when I was 20. I had always wanted a Mini (preferably a Cooper S), and had spent 3 1/2 years riding mopeds 10k miles p.a. including an epic trip from Brighton to Bury earlier that year (1990)... (I wanted a Cooper S after seeing The Italian Job, but the BL link was strong as we always had BL cars - Marinas - before my dad left home when I was 10.)

 

In 1997 I replaced the Mini (13 years old and more rotten than a pear on a sunny window cill) with a 10 year old Montego 1.6L, which lasted 8 years with me (the mileage going from 75k to 150k) before rotting away - an interesting diversion in 2003 was a Montego Vanden Slap 2.0EFi Auto, which needed a second MoT failure sheet after 5 months - to be replaced by a low mileage Monty 1.6L which was even more spectacularly rotten than the first and lasted barely 3 years starting at 22k miles and barely reaching 40k.

 

Its replacement was a Pug 309 SR, which has done 20k miles in 4 years.

 

Then there's the LHD MG Maestro 1600 - my mid life crisis - of which I had always wanted one; I aquired one for free in June 2007 and got it on the road in February 2008 - it's still going.

 

My father's first car was a Morris Minor SDL in 1965, it was followed by 3 Morris 1100s or 1300s, then 3 large-engined Marinas (from 1974 to 1980) plus a 1980 Ital 1.7HL Estate as a company car (for 6 months only - the final Marina outlasted it by almost 2 years). Then a Talbot Samba 1.1GL for 1983, then a Peugeot 205GR for 20 months from Jan 1984 (he was driving 25k miles p.a.) then a 1985 MG Metro (still on 25k miles p.a.) , then a 205GTI 1.6 after 2 years (August 1987) followed by another after 2 years 4 months (Jan 1 1990)... I lost track of him in 1998 but he was still in the same G-reg 205GTI 1.6 with over 100k miles then...

 

I would like another Montego but drive an MG Maestro 1600 of that line (built at Cowley, as were the Marinas and Ital, plus there's the Morris Line in the family that was traditionally built at Cowley), and my daily driver is a Peugeot 309 SR 1600 which has the basic XU5 engine of the 205GTI 1.6 and is - indeed - derived from the 205 in many ways... I am also - in the MG Maestro - attending 'reminiscence' events for the Cowley Centenary this year, although the original plant has been decimated beyond recognition...

 

Is this genetic? Arguably no, it's more subtle - the planets lining up etc ...

[eddyramrod]

I think it must be.  Ed senior (yes, we're both Edward) had new Fords when I was starting school: Anglia van, Kent Corsair, mk3 Zephyr 4 (I loved that!) and mk2 Cortina (pre-crossflow).  At the same time, and starting from the purchase of the Corsair, he tended to keep a used van as well.  The Cortina was his last new car, in 1967; a year later he suffered the first of many bouts of illness and the nice new cars had to go.  He then had a succession of the cheapest, crappiest old cars.  I remember a mk1 Cortina that had been a trade-in at Ginger McCain's and had been used for training the racehorses on the beach.  This was about the time Red Rum won his second National... and it was the first car I ever drove.  He bought another one a bit later, for parts.  It cost six whole pounds!

So yeah, since the end of the 60s I had a very strong make-do-and-mend example in front of me, and over the next decade as I started driving I learned to apply the same ethic.  I have, therefore, owned an awful lot of unloved/unwanted cars, some of which I really should have left where they came from, with the Travelling Folk; but some of which have left me with an abiding love (Polonez leaps to mind).

While he was still able to get about, in 2000 or so, he supervised the purchase of my mother's last car, a Sierra 2.0 GL (G 529 SND).  It was still outside his house, and I was using it occasionally, when he died in 2005, seven months after she did.

That was their second Sierra, the first one also being a 2.0 GL (D85 OVS) but silver instead of blue.  That's the car I was driving the night I met the future Mrs R.  And now look, I have a 14-year-old car and a 27-year-old car, both bought at rock-bottom money, and their replacements (I'm already thinking that far ahead, you have to!) will be in similar vein.

[jmsguzzi]

Definitely. My dad has never bought a new car. I was brought home from the hospital in a Renault 11 with the talking dash. The gearbox on this went shortly after i was born and was replaced by a 1.4 Pug 306 (his newest car at 5 year old). This didn't last long and my dad soon got tired of unreliable French boxes and bought a Mercedes 190E. This was the car i grew up with and certainly made a lasting impression on me. we had it for 8 years before it was replaced with a BMW e39 which he still has. Before me there was an Austin Metro, Volvo 340 and a Ford Escort.

[Negative Creep]

From what I can recall, when I was younger my Dad had the following (mostly company cars)

 

 

mk.1 Astra estate in either orange or brown

mk.2 Astra

MG Montego in BRG

a couple of Sierras

Reanult 9

 

so all pretty new at the time, but now I have/would happily own any of them. He then bought a 1.1 Uno and a Focus that he's kept for about 15 years total, so he's certainly not a shiter

[garycox]

No. My mum had a C reg Metro 1.3 Auto until a few years ago, but that's just because she isn't interested in cars, it had only done 20k, she hardly ever used it and didn't see any point in replacing it. As soon as she had to use it to get to work she got rid of it and bought a 206.

 

My dad always bought 3-5yr old cars and kept them for ages (Capri, XR3i, Rover 420Si). He 'accidentally' got into old cars a bit when he bought the Ventora off my aunt, this was when I was about 6 and he had it til I was 14 so I suppose that's what got me into old stuff. He's recently(ish) sold the Rover and bought a horrible J reg MX5.

 

He likes 'traditional' (dull) old stuff, MGBs, Mk1 Escorts, E Types, that sort of thing, but does not understand why I'd buy an Allegro covered in primer, on purpose, to replace a perfecly good Astra diesel, or why I have no intention to get the brown Mini painted red with a white roof or something.

[hhhugues]

My taste might have an explanation if you look at my parents car history:

 

1958 white 2cv with hand painted interior and maximum corrosion 

1978 white Simca 1100 LS

1982 burgundy Talbot 1510 LS. They ran that for about 10 years. 

My grand dad's blue Renault 12 TS loaned long term as a second car (not sure what year that was but it was a late one. All possible shades of blue, some bordering on white)

1992 red Escort 1.6 CLX (had that for a good 8 or 9 years)

1992 pov spec black Citroen ZX 1.9 D  (that was bought as a gap car with the insurance money after some guy crashed into the Escrote, but they ended up running it for ages)

2000 Fiat Brava 1.9JTD (not one panel currently intact or the same colour)

 

 

They never bought a car new (most recent was probably the Alpine, which was less than 2 years old then I think), never even looked at a car that might be perceived as semi luxurious, even if it could be had for the same price as their usual povo spec hatch. Commitment to mediocrity.

 

I suppose that explains why I sometimes feel the urge for bigger, higher spec cars, but eventually you're just drawn back to you roots !