What do friends family think of your shite?

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I don't get it any more with the current wagon - in fact most people are amazed I've bought something so presentable compared to previous chod.

 

When I had my (very sheddy) mk1 mondeo I got a lot of odd looks, and I seen more than one colleague checking the MOT disc which made me chuckle. My manager pulled me to the side and had a word - at the time my job entailed at least one day a week out on site and he was worried about the reliability.

It never broke down once in a year, in that time it only cost me four ditch finders and an oil / filter change.

His brand new 3 series was constantly at the dealers in the same period. Last time I seen him he had seen the light and bought a mid '90s corolla saloon for work, which made me feel all warm inside.

 

Most of my mates have chod as a daily, a few have something nice for the weekend though.

 

My dad tends to buy fairly new cars, pamper them and keep till the fragger calls. He had a seriously mint mk1 focus but got rear ended, now has a mk2 focus but misses the old one terribly (always suffers this for the first full year of car ownership)

 

He taught me all I know about keeping shite going and is always impressed by my latest acquisitions. He thinks the volvo is pretty "swanky"

 

My brother in law pays more than my mortgage for the pleasure of owning a new seat. It's misery spec too and the interior feels as solid as a watery fart. His partner is eyeing one of the more horrid mini variants.

I sense they feel sorry for me driving tat. He makes lots of "on your salary would you not fancy OMGLATESTSLINETDIM3WANKFESTBMW?"

 

We suspect they think we have a coke habit or massive debt as we earn a lot more but don't throw our money around on consumer goods

 

I think it's a self esteem thing for most people, modern society has twisted people to think status and success can be measured by what's on the driveway. Another reason I love shitists.

[r.welfare]

I enjoy the inverse snobbery of driving cheap crap.

[New POD]

All I know is my current families fleet isn't old enough or cruddy enough for me to consider it bangernomics, but the rust on the mk1 MX5 is clearly going to need work, so it'll get worse before it gets better.  Sister in Law's husband insists on the ownership of shite, but long term, so when she goes in my Accord she thinks the heated leather is amazing.  I don't like to point out that it smoke on start up, and it's all a bit knackered.

[Stanky]

I agree with whats been said so far, I get a huge amount of satisfaction from owning the oldest and most shabby car in the work car park - all the more so for knowing it cost me £400 and the only things which have ever gone wrong have been sub £20 for the parts and fixed myself on the drive.

 

There is a guy who has a 2002 BMW M3, he's a really nice guy (not at all BMW driver material) but his last MOT cost him £600 courtesy of a snapped rear spring and pair of rear tyres. My Almera cost £84 for the last MOT and passed without a single advisory.

 

I'm amazed by the mentality of buying something you don't need, with money you don't have to impress people you don't like. If you can be bothered spending 2 hours researching cars which are reliable, and can be bothered to spend a few hours a month tinkering to keep them legal then fuck what other people think. Still, I'm happy for this situation to continue because it ensures a healthy supplies of shite for me to buy for peanuts and drive til they get fragged due to MOT catastrophes.

 

Luckily the family are quite understanding....

[brickwall]

I know what you mean. A months lease of a decent modern costs more than me Rangie did. I try to impress myself rather than others, and if i end up with a real bad car, it's just like a badge of honour.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I piss about with old stuff when really I should be pissing about with much newer stuff. But newer stuff means spending money and I dislike doing that. I could afford to buy or PCP some new Audi or whatever but I just don't want to. If a car owes me more than £500 it's too dear.

I no longer.have any marque snobbery. To me a Pug 307 is a thinking mans Audi A3 and I have wicked, sinful thoughts about a Laguna 11 1.8 Estate.

 

I fancy a lightly rusting Ka next.

 

My Mrs is resigned to my only buying old cars. She knows I will never buy a nice* one. I live in a nice, slightly lefty/hippyish part of Sheffield where nobody seems to give a shit about cars.

[Shep Shepherd]

My family and friends love The Volvo. Why, some of them even consider that the car defines me

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Oh, and a friend of ours has just swapped a 37'000 mile 307HDi SW they've had from new for an ex demo Skoda Superb TDi thing. 22 fucking grand!

[Lukas]

 

...swapped a 37'000 mile 307HDi SW they've had from new for an ex demo Skoda Superb TDi thing. 22 fucking grand!         

 

 

Nothing unusual about it. That´s what so called "normal people" do. Spend 20.000 or 40.000 or 60.000 Euro in a car to loose half of it in 3 years.

[DSdriver]

Back in the seventies, when our village still had a village garage, one of the lads who worked there told me I was known in the village as "the Citroen man". I presume that still holds because I have always had at least one, usually scruffy looking DS plus various other big Citroens.

[DS20]

My family and friends are a bit confused as to why I gave up driving sensible* newish* cars and took to keeping multiple old sheds on the road (the last straw was a 2005 Audi A6 estate which was nice an'all, but had the personality of a fridge). That said, they're fonder of the DS and the 900 than they are of me, and enquire after those cars' health "when you pop round, can you bring the Citroen?"

[purplebargeken]

Neither Mrs PBK or Ben really get my cars. Mrs. PBK loathes them but oddly loves her R reg Micra. The Amazon was a birthday pressie to me so I think that there is a degree of okay'ness linked to it. She said the neighbours moan at her about my cars. They have never done that to my face and I doubt they actually do. She now accepts that I don't give a flying fuck about 99.999999% of the neighbours. Resigned is about the best way of describing how it is. 

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I don't know many people since I have a tendency to be reclusive, but the people I do know all like my old Jag and ask about it when I see them.

 

I suspect I have owned my XJ40 for so long now that it has become seen by them almost as a kind of personal signature, or maybe just as a harmless eccentricity. I have only owned a couple of cars in my life which makes me quite different to a lot of people on here. Many 'Shiters' seem to buy and sell cars so often I can't even begin to keep track of them.

 

I feel I have become quite out of step with society now. I can't seem to engage. There have been many changes in the last decade and I have not kept pace. I don't share the same goals nor value the same connections or aspirations. Most of it seems pointless; some of it is bewildering. I tried to stay in step, but always seem to march like Corporal Jones.

[eddyramrod]

I am very aware that my choice of cars, and the frequency with which I change them, marks me out as an oddball (except here of course). That amuses me. My in-laws (RIP) could never understand why I had a 20 year old Cadillac and a 15 year old Metro, when "You could sell them and buy a nice family car." Er, no I couldn't. If I did that I still couldn't afford to even walk past the dealer lots with the "nice family cars" on them, and all, literally 100%, of the pleasure my cars give/gave me would simply vanish, immediately.

 

Old and cheap is the way to go, and preferably luxurious while you're at it. I'm driving a powerful comfy American barge that owes me less than the minimum deposit on a new Fiesta. OK I can't get 50mpg out of it, but who gives a fuck? Not me!

[RRT22R]

No body likes my '83 Metro.

 

I don't care.

[mercrocker]

Most of it seems pointless; some of it is bewildering. I tried to stay in step, but always seem to march like Corporal Jones.

Brilliant!   

[mat_the_cat]

Everyone I'm friends with either approves or understands - as for work colleagues those at my last place seemed slightly puzzled. With the new job being in a big company I'm hopeful of meeting some people there who are like minded. My Dad says he would keep one car forever if he could, but he's not mechanically minded so chooses to spend a lump of money every 10 years or so on a 3 year old car, rather spending money at a garage fixing the old one, once it gets to a certain stage.

 

Mrs_the_cat, well, I'm not sure really. Some of the time she's appreciative that I'm doing things which save money, like fixing stuff myself. Other times she says I spend too much time working on them (although I class the non-essential stuff as a hobby, which is surely better than several nights a week down the pub...) Opinion depends on mood I think, and once I have worked out women's moods I will be writing a book on it, and retiring on the proceeds.

[HillmanImp]

Girl at work said to me today, 'Most people get up in the morning and spend 10 minutes deciding what to wear to work today but for MR H IMP* the biggest question is what car to drive'. 

 

* fake name to protect identity

[twosmoke300]

Dad is a shiter through and through and brother is a bangernomics man so they are fine. The wife loves the Saab but she has just bought a 57 plate grande punto to run around in. At least its still got the old fiat 8v "fire" engine in it and it was purchased at auction while we were on holiday.

Some of my customers do comment that they thought I would have newer cars but I quickly educate them .

[I_am_Diesel]

I just don't have any friends.

[scruff]

Virtually everyone I know runs older shite unless they are forced to have a company car. 

[Lord Sterling]

I reckon my family and friends think I'm one step away from having the men in White coats take me away.

 

My family have moaned at me about my cars as they only see them in monetry terms, which I fucking hate. "why don't you get rid of them and get some money from them" - What usually follows is a heavily restrained, polite and professional response from me more or less reminding them that they are my property and I'm free to do whatever I want with them and would they kindly mind thier own business. These people aren't easy to educate, it's all about appearences and towing the line to them.

 

My friends are easier to educate, they see my cars and why I am enthusiastic about them.

[Grundig]

I had the "why do you drive around in old shite" comment the other day ... this was from the guy who's new B6 passat was off the road for nearly 2 months with a shagged oil pump 

[lisbon_road]

My parents are ok with it.  They're nearly 80 but still have an old car, as well as a modern.  When I needed an automatic for medical reasons, I paid £200 for a very smart Mk3 Astra and my father loved it.  It was (and still is) a very very clean car. 

 

Friends are mixed, but now generally indifferent.  I did have a phase when people seemed very critical of anyone spending time on cars; perhaps paradoxically, I felt annoyed that they thought they were important.  They're my hobby, one I have had for over 30 years, but they're still not really important.

 

My wife despairs and believes that I don't get promoted due to have old cars.  In fact, I think she is right, but do I care? 

[Lord Sterling]

Having actually read this thread now has reminded me of a couple of things;

 

I think some of my family and friends have started to really accept that I like old, shit cars. Lady_Sterling, Sister_Sterling and a mate of mine have all taken pics of old cars they see on the street, my mate took a picture of Rover too so even he is getting nearer to what I like.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Until recently I've never met anyone that has understood why I drive old cars and have a love of the ordinary. Get the same old things as "it's how old?" "why don't you buy a proper car" shit like that, I always think, fuck em, I don't care what they think I'm happy and that's all that's important

[Albert Ross]

My Mrs hates the sight of all my modes of transport. My neighbours actively seek to annoy me by putting sawdust down while I'm out, to soak up the oil the LR leaves on the street... friends accept that I am who I am. Stepkids think it's all "crap" and my Mother accepts it. She lives in Canada. But she knows me. When I was 17 I had an Avenger, a P4, and a Super Minx on the drive. My Parents had to park on the street......!

[DVee8]

Most of my friends and family have white financed euro boxes that all look the same.

One mate has a 64 plate and a 63 plate  both white on his drive the payments on these is another mortgage.

 

The way i look at it is,i work 4 12hour shifts a week 2 days 2 nights,so the car sits in the company car park for 12hours then on the drive for 11hours the other 1 hour is spent driving to and fro from work,on the 4 days of it will usually sit on the drive as we use the family car.I carn't see the point at the moment of lashing out ex-amount of £0000 to sit on the drive .

 

I have another mate that has a 12plate Jaguar XF he works away during the week so uses the train.He has a £39K drive way ornament.

[Vince70]

I wish my family and most of my friends did hate my shite.

 

But it's the other way round for me I've persuaded most of my family on the merits of driving Shite but I never really had to talk my father into driving old shite as he's from a era of make do and when growing up I never saw him keep a car longer than 6 months at a go, so I guess I get it from him.

 

Most of his cars were old banger BMC Leyland types such as P6's Triumph 2000s but his favourite were always the Austin 1800's.

 

Now it's turned full circle as I only buy cheap shite (but I always try and buy good low mileage giffer owned etc) and every time I get a goodun my father or a family member always want it so I never get the chance to keep hold of them and being family I always let them have them for what I pay for them or less and normally after I've just given the car a full service and a fresh ticket.

 

I'm sure my family and neighbours think I'm car dealer but the difference being is it seems to actually cost me money rather than making it lol

[Lacquer Peel]

Ms._Peel actively encouraged me to acquire a rubbish old van, her dream car is a Volvo 745.

 

Her mother has stopped asking me for lifts to the shop too, BONUS.