The first time I drove an .... (New to you car experiences)

[320touring]

Sometimes, the chance to drive something new presents itself.

 

This thread is for you to share your first time driving cars - so if you've bought something you have never had before, or had a drive of something you never thought you would, share it here:)

 

Today, I drove my first mk2 Escort.

 

 

1600 vx lump, 6 speed sequential quaife box and gripper, 210bhp on 115octane.

 

Fuck

 

 

 

Me

 

 

Will sit in 6th at 40mph all day long. Could go shopping in it. So well built and thought out, it is no more difficult to drive than the Merc.

 

Could also achieve much tomfoolery. The gearbox is a delight, brakes well balanced and the grip phenomenal. No Speedo, but has a temp gauge for the gearbox.

 

Remote reservoir dampers and an "Aircraft" spec wiring loom.

 

The rev counter starts at 4, shift light at 9, no clutch on way up the box. The engine just pulls like a bastard, then it comes on cam.jeeebus.

 

I am now saving my pennies.its a thing of beauty.

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

I bet the worst thing about driving that is having to find a trouser stain remover that'll do poo AND semen.

[John F]

I love the Mk 2 Escort, I had a few back when they were just bangers.

 

They're beautifully balanced, I can see why they did so well in rallying.

[Jim Bell]

I love the Mk 2 Escort, I had a few back when they were just bangers.

 

They're beautifully balanced, I can see why they did so well in rallying.

 

They only did well at rallying once you'd changed almost everything about them though. Put a completely different engine, drivetrain, fuel system, suspension, wheels, tyres, and brakes in them and people say WOW ARNT ESCORTS GREAT RALLY CARS!

[eddyramrod]

I love the Mk 2 Escort, I had a few back when they were just bangers.

 

They're beautifully balanced, I can see why they did so well in rallying.

 

I hate them,  I had two as school-cars when they were new.  They were horrible.  A Mini was a vast improvement and the brand-new 1977 Fiesta that I passed my test in was nothing short of a revelation.

 

In lighter vein, a couple of years ago I got to drive a 1948 Daimler with a preselector gearbox, which I'd always wanted to try.  It was a lovely thing (if a bit snug) to be driven in but I wasn't all that keen on the actual driving experience.  A while later I got to drive a Rolls Royce Silver Spirit and a Bentley Eight within minutes of each other.  The Bentley, which I've always wanted, was slightly too firm, and disappointed on that count.  The Spirit, on the other hand, was pillow-soft and suited me down to the ground.  One day................

[320touring]

They only did well at rallying once you'd changed almost everything about them though. Put a completely different engine, drivetrain, fuel system, suspension, wheels, tyres, and brakes in them and people say WOW ARNT ESCORTS GREAT RALLY CARS!

Yep, there ain't a lotta Dagenham in that one for sure

[Tadhg Tiogar]

 

The first time I drove this, I remembered that there was no clutch pedal, so my left foot was used for braking. I promptly forgot that when changing from 1st to 2nd, so achieved an emergency stop instead of going faster.....

[John F]

They only did well at rallying once you'd changed almost everything about them though. Put a completely different engine, drivetrain, fuel system, suspension, wheels, tyres, and brakes in them and people say WOW ARNT ESCORTS GREAT RALLY CARS!

 

You could say that about pretty much any rally car though.

 

The Mk 2 Escort's general platform was very nicely balanced to start with... the running gear on my old ones was invariably standard but the cars were ace to drive.

[JeeExEll]

Sometimes, the chance to drive something new presents itself.

 

This thread is for you to share your first time driving cars - so if you've bought something you have never had before, or had a drive of something you never thought you would, share it here:)

 

Today, I drove my first mk2 Escort.

 

IMG_20190217_134230.jpg

 

1600 vx lump, 6 speed sequential quaife box and gripper, 210bhp on 115octane.

 

Fuck

 

 

 

Me

 

 

Will sit in 6th at 40mph all day long. Could go shopping in it. So well built and thought out, it is no more difficult to drive than the Merc.

 

Could also achieve much tomfoolery. The gearbox is a delight, brakes well balanced and the grip phenomenal. No Speedo, but has a temp gauge for the gearbox.

 

Remote reservoir dampers and an "Aircraft" spec wiring loom.

 

The rev counter starts at 4, shift light at 9, no clutch on way up the box. The engine just pulls like a bastard, then it comes on cam.jeeebus.

 

I am now saving my pennies.its a thing of beauty.

 

IMG_20190217_134358.jpg

 

 

IMG_20190217_134403.jpg IMG_20190217_142934.jpg

Check out the late Simon McKinley with a Mk2.

 

https://youtu.be/vwl40XFvpLE

 

The Frank Kelly Mk2 Escort vids on youtube are mega too. Would make a good taxi-driver.

Sorry for temporary motorsport distraction.

[John F]

The first time I drove one of these I remember thinking "Is it even possible to get a smooth gearchange in this thing?"

 

[hairnet]

mk1 sinker xantia

 

after getting out of a normal car then using the brakes in it

 

took some getting used to

 

also steering wheel controls and built in stereos - none of this underslung tape deck mk3 tina

 

21st century

[Six-cylinder]

Mine was learning what a standard non lifted, no lockers Range Rover can do off road.

[anonymous user]

First time with the Trabant was interesting as the person who sold it to me had never driven it. I had used a column change before, but this was on the right and I had to work out where the gears were myself, it also had sticking brakes and too much oil in the fuel mix. I had a very short go around the yard it was stored in before heading out into city traffic for the drive home. It was interesting and slightly unnerving, especially when I discovered the freewheel system on fourth gear when I lifted off on a bend.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

....slightly unnerving, especially when I discovered the freewheel system on fourth gear when I lifted off on a bend.

"You can with a Nissan. You can't with a Trabant"   

[somewhatfoolish]

The first time I drove one of these I remember thinking "Is it even possible to get a smooth gearchange in this thing?"

 

 

Not being blown up by 3rd Shock Army >>> smooth gear shift.

 

 

I bet the worst thing about driving that is having to find a trouser stain remover that'll do poo AND semen.

 

Santorum remover?

[Uncle Jimmy]

I drove a plane a few times, does that count?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

I drove a plane a few times, does that count?

 

What, on the motorway? 

[wuvvum]

I remember the first time I drove a Mk2 Escort - it didn't look much like that one though.  I'm with John F on this one, I do quite like the way they drive as a standard car.

 

I think my most memorable first drive was probably the Reliant Regal.  It was a 1967 car so a 598cc engine, no power, dreadful suspension, no brakes and deafeningly noisy.  I had to drive it 15 miles home.  I didn't enjoy it much.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Now if you'd tried a Robin that would've totally changed your opinion of Reliant three wheelers.

[JeeExEll]

dscf0128.jpg

 

The first time I drove this, I remembered that there was no clutch pedal, so my left foot was used for braking. I promptly forgot that when changing from 1st to 2nd, so achieved an emergency stop instead of going faster.....

Not long after I started driving in the 80s was out with a mate in his dad's Renner 20 auto. Chatting to some ex-schoolmates who had acquired motorbikes, we then decided to go to chip shop.

Took off out of car park tyres screeching at high speed with biker behind, then my mate pressed the brake thinking it was the clutch. Renner stood on it's front tyres and there was a loud bang when biker collided with Renner bumper and metalwork.

[Zelandeth]

First time I got a proper shot of a bus on the open road. Was First Aberdeen's Bluebird AARE American School Bus. Lovely thing to drive, if a bit simple being modern. Way over-engined compared to anything you'd normally find over here though, so you tended to hit the 56mph limiter like a brick wall. Reckon she'd be good for about 80mph with it disabled - which ties in with the speed I've been overtaken by them in the US at.

 

Best part was within ten minutes the trainer saying "you've got this" and essentially leaving me to myself.

 

Fast forward a couple of months, and I found myself taking the old Atlantean open topper from the depot back to where it was normally stored. Now something 40 odd years old, pneumocyclic box, lazy old O.680 engine and lots of noise...much more my speed. Apparently I was grinning like an idiot the whole trip.

 

The Albion was interesting. 50-ish bhp, 6 tonnes, essentially no brakes, crash box, centre throttle, mirrors that may as well not exist, and chasms between the gear ratios you could park a Mini in... interesting. Oh, and no electric start. Apparently people at the base it lives at have had broken thumbs and arms by not following the starting instructions properly! Seriously, how hard is it to remember to fully retard the ignition and keep your thumb out the way? Think the gearing is the thing that struck me as the most alien...the rest of the driving experience was much as I expected...the gearing though (let's not speak about how I nearly knocked myself out on the steering wheel the first time I went for third)... it's very much a case of revving it until it sounded like it was about to explode - which being an engine from 1929 probably means about 1700rpm - then grabbing a gearchange, and immediately second guessing yourself as the thing immediately virtually stalls. Royal pain on anything resembling a gradient, and as awkward as you'd expect when trying to go down the box for engine braking too - which you need. Just using the footbrake, an emergency stop from walking pace is about 200 yards.

 

Best way to describe the driving experience? A massive lesson in forward planning! You really do need to be thinking several hundred yards and about thirty seconds ahead of what you're actually doing at any given time.

 

To be honest, I'd approached my shot of it with a lot of trepidation. I kind of expected it to eat me alive...but was pleasantly surprised... definitely a vehicle you need to take by the scruff of the neck and let it know who's in charge, but not as outright "undrivable" as I might have expected.

 

Apparently another one of those instances where I spent half an hour grinning like a complete lunatic.

 

Have driven quite a bit of exotica courtesy of an old friend...Including Ferraris and stuff like that, but it's always been stuff like the buses which have made me grin the most. Yes a Ferrari V8 or V12 is a beautiful thing, but to be honest I'd much rather have the lazy growl of a Gardner GLXW by my left knee in a Daimler CVG6 or a thundering Cummins L10 hanging out the back of an Olympian (E130DRS - no, I am not telling you what that decker will do flat out) to be honest...just seems much more real.

 

Not that I'm dismissive of the fancy stuff...Thanks to him a late S1 Rolls Silver Spirit is going to be on my drive someday, and I'm certainly not going to say I wasn't rather lost for words the day he tossed me a set of keys and I found an F-40 outside that was essentially mine for a couple of hours (that's probably the most *surprising* car I've driven, being a mind-bending blend of actually easy and refined to drive when you're gentle with it yet having a downright terrifying ability to deliver acceleration that makes you suddenly appreciate what a golf ball must feel like - albeit approximately 1.5 seconds later when the turbos wake up! Still remember the first time I floored it.

 

"Oh yes...that picks up bloody we...Hooooooollly hell!" Being something along the lines of what I was saying to myself.

 

Yes, if a decent lottery win happened I would have one. You know what though? I'd actually use it...and take it to shows, and let people see it and sit in it and stuff like that... isn't that the whole point of the thing?

[Ghosty]

The balance of Escort mk2s makes me completely understand why my dad is so taken with Civics.

 

The Civic is the first car I've had with a choke, but when I first got in it I was both pleased and surprised how easy it was to use.

[Jerzy Woking]

Zero electric motorbike-14 kw DSR model. Doing my first overtake showed me what "100% torque 100% of the time" actually meant. And that my laughing was louder than the bike. 

[PhilA]

Escort RS Turbo S2 that had been breathed on a little (bored to 1.9, hybrid turbo, chipped, mapped, limited slip diff tightened right up and 220 bhp at the wheels and I forget how much torque).

 

Drove like a milk float until the turbine spooled up, filled the cabin with hiss and then the front of the car lifted up and attempted to throw you wildly across the street into oncoming traffic. After a 899cc Cinquecento that thing was insane.

 

Chieftain is the complete opposite. Replace the frenzied pace of today's world with the idea that we need to get going, we can easily get going but with limited fuss and controls that feel like you're piloting a large ship rather than a car- very removed from the feeling of a modern vehicle, definitely more like turning a handle and unleashing much torque which has plenty in reserve thank you. All whilst feeling like you didn't get up off your grandmother's sofa in the living room. It does feel more like driving a truck than a car.

 

Two very different but yet enjoyable vehicles for completely different reasons.

 

Phil

[chadders]

VW T2 Camper.

 

Driving it home after buying it I wondered what the hell I'd done as the tyres nearly peeled off the rims at roundabouts.

Increasing the pressures, when I got home, from 10 to 30 psi, which they should have been, made the world of difference.

[Rocket88]

Learnt to drive in a Bedford RL........[Army 1975] Straight six petrol, no power steering, no power brakes, crash gearbox..........

[MiniMort]

"You can with a Nissan. You can't with a Trabant"   

And of course it’s harder with a Lada...

 

So today is the first time I will do my driving test, hopefully the last. It’ll be done in my instructors DS3. Let’s hope the instructor is nice...

[eddyramrod]

Good luck Mort!

[mercrocker]

I only have 2 memorable "first time" experiences.  

 

First time I drove an auto was when I worked for a shipping company and had to deliver an imported LHD VW T2.   I had done left-hookers before which I don't have a problem with but hadn't yet gone clutchless.   Given the way the VW drove I was actually grateful to have nothing else to do but steer the bloody thing.   I found the auto in traffic to be a revelation but was quite gutted to have found the VW itself such a shit thing to drive after having always wanted a camper.   T25s are massively better IMHO!   

 

The other "first" worthy of mention is another rear-engined icon - a Porsche 930 Turbo.   My then-brother-in-law had a minor dabble in the classic car game and had this thing for a week or two trying to shift it.   He picked me up in it one evening to go and get some takeaway or other and chucked me the keys in the kebab shop.  I took it up and down the dual carriageway and on the second pass he told me to "fucking nail it" round the next roundabout.  I had long known of the handling foibles of the 911 and was a bit reluctant to do so.   He didn't reckon I did the first take fast enough so urged me on to the next roundabout.   I have no doubt these later models would bite a lot harder when they did let go but as he rightly surmised, us mere mortals on £120 pw were never likely to push to that limit.   Probably the only time I have felt G forces in a car and left me with a new respect for the 911 but I am glad the road was dry.... 

 

Not really a driving experience but I had a fast ride in an early She-Type Jag a couple of years before that and I honestly thought I was going to fucking die - I could feel the front end float from the passenger seat and the whole thing sounded and vibrated like a stripped out C-47 that had been through anti-aircraft fire....

[John F]

Chieftain is the complete opposite. Replace the frenzied pace of today's world with the idea that we need to get going, we can easily get going but with limited fuss and controls that feel like you're piloting a large ship rather than a car- very removed from the feeling of a modern vehicle, definitely more like turning a handle and unleashing much torque which has plenty in reserve thank you. All whilst feeling like you didn't get up off your grandmother's sofa in the living room. It does feel more like driving a truck than a car.

 

 

I assume you don't mean the Chieftain tank here?

 

Although most of what you've written does apply