What you drove at 20

[cobblers]

At 20 I had just sold a Saxo VTR, got given a Mk4 Astra which I absolutely hated, so I sold that after about 3 weeks and bought this:

 

 

I'd love another one!

[rickvw72]

I had the beetle. Still got it.

when I was 23 I upgraded to a car with proper heater and an alternator. Bought a mk2 Golf GTI. Still got it! 
 

Im 37 now. 

[hennabm]

Renault 12TS in yellow, similar to the photo.

Mine was PJL 634M

Sold it on and bought an 18GTS in 1983.

[strangeangel]

1974 Renault 5L. It had been my Mum's car for about 8 years before I got it. Dad was already looking to get rid of it once the clutch started slipping, as it was as rotten as you would imagine at 10 years old, so when the timing chain jumped a tooth or two that was the end of it. Mum got a Daihatsu Domino, and the Renault was for the bridge... right about the time I passed my test.

 

I persuaded Dad to get the welder out again, and he agreed that I could have it as long as I helped with the repairs. In a tale I have related elsewhere we nearly killed ourselves hoiking the engine out with it tied to a scaffolding plank, but the deed got done and an MOT was achieved. I ran around in it for two years before the arse fell out of it completely. I'd been working for most of this time, and I was able to go shopping for a replacement with actual money in my pocket. £600 bought me a 6 year old Renault 4GTL, and there began a long and happy journey in shite, right up to the present day! Sadly I can't find any pictures of it, but if I do I will stick it up.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Happily, both the cars I had when I was 20 are in this one shot:

My 1983 Sunny + 1986 309, Ipswich 1990 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I think I 'moved-up' to the 309 just a week or two after my 20th birthday, the Sunny took 3-4 weeks to sell.

Some might say I was better off with what I already had, and I would now, but back then I thought I should be trying to get into as new a car as possible.

That plan was forgotten about when I wrote-off the 309 when I was 21, bought a P-reg Mini Clubman then a K-reg Manta A and who knows how many older Japanese things since.

[iainrcz]

No pictures, but an F plate FIAT Panda in Bianco white and mostly rust and body filler.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I wish I had a picture.

S434 LCW.  An early Mk1 Ford Ka.  It was too small for me, gave me a numb right foot on long journeys and had the earlier engine.  My Dad bought it as a replacement for his Mk3 Fiesta, then it was Brother's car,  then it became mine.  Had it until 2010 - four years - until it got part exchanged on an 05 Fiesta.  Which was also a great, great car.

The Ka down country lanes was a lot of fun.  I really liked having a very basic motor, too.  No power steering, no electric windows, no ABS.  Bog base spec.  Loved it.  It finally died in about 2013 of - you guessed it - rust.  I regularly drove it from Gravesend to Lancaster via the A1/A66 going to Uni and back - and across the A66 because it was much more fun than trudging up the M6.

Fondest memory?  Getting myself, my then-girlfriend (and now partner) and my mate into it for a gig.  Except my mate and I were the band.  So we also had a drum kit, guitar, amplifier, etc. in the car with us.  Managed it very well...

[dollywobbler]

This thread reminds me that I can't wait to have access to my photo archive again. As I can't access pics, you'll have to make do with knowing that in my 20th year, I owned a grey 2CV Charleston, a green Skoda Estelle 105Lux (that barely worked) and I think that was the year I also owned a red 2CV with yellow wings.

I started the year with  a Jade Green Dyane called Mildred Mildew the Marshmallow. Pictured below. I did 14,000 miles in one year, taking her to Yorkshire several times, Blackpool (one evening after work, then back to Birmingham), London (often to visit a friend for an hour or two) and Brighton (once managing Brighton to Solihull in 3.5 hours). Eventually, the rot got so bad that she just fell apart, but I still considered her £375 well spent.

[MrBiscuits]

In 1999 I bought one of these, same colour, same spec on an F plate for £630. Without doubt the worst car I've owned. Leaked like a sieve - eventually traced to tail light seals but only after the back seat had gone mouldy. Never ran properly with the solex carb that pissed fuel all over the engine. Replaced it with an expensive Weber from my student loan, then promptly wrote it off. Replaced it in early 2000 with car number 3 - my second Mini.

[Zelandeth]

My driveway back in 2005:

[GingerNuttz]

I drove a Ford Capri 2.0s and drove it into a wall when my foot slipped off the brake because i had oil on my boots from the garage. Miss that car to this day.

[Spiny Norman]

I've posted pics of this before, my third car. The first lasted 7 months, the second lasted 10. I had this for over 4 years, I felt like the dog's danglies smoking round town in it.
 

[LightBulbFun]

at 20 I drove this, my first car!

still got her too! 

am I doing this correctly?

[Spottedlaurel]

16 minutes ago, MrBiscuits said:

Without doubt the worst car I've owned. Leaked like a sieve - eventually traced to tail light seals but only after the back seat had gone mouldy.

I wouldn't say my 309 was that bad overall, but it leaked as well. Every so often I had to remove the back seat and let it all dry out.

[rantingYoof]

During my 21st year, I owned this (£700 in 2006)..

Bonus picture of me looking totally relaxed and comfortable* and wearing jeans 3x too large for me next to the car that replaced the Sterling when it obviously sharted its head gasket.

Bonus bonus* hilarious** Potatoshop I did as I was dabbling in graphic design and such like back then...

[Skizzer]

In a sign of things to come, I accidentally found myself with two cars for most of that year.  I don’t have pictures (at all I don’t think, certainly not to hand) but they were identical to these.

B263UTT and F24XTH respectively. I still like breadvan Polos.

[TheIsleofShite]

2011

 

Was my first car after passing my test, had it for 4 or 5 years, unfortunately I can’t find a photo of the exact car

 

H547UGT 

 

 

[maxxo]

Well, i'm age 20 now.....

so as you all know i have a picasso....oh yes!! and I have spent probably far too much money "restoring" it, i say restoration what i mean it making it a far better spec than it was when new as well as fixing  everything broken.

ah yes, the day i picked it up.....3 bald tyres and 1 15 year old tyre that was absolutely wrecked!! oh and oil like sludge, mould, dog piss and leaves all over the interior and a completely dead battery

and retrofit aero wipers, which is disgusting and wrong!

Almost a year into ownership now (and probably about £2,000 in repairs and upgrades) we have this, it needs either a new shock or strut top soon and ideally some engine mounts but that's it as far as i know

it's like a completley different car, the interior cleaned up brilliantly and the paintwork is actually really nice!

i know not many people at all would do this, but i couldn't let the car die....they're dissapearing rapidly now and it seems hard to find a good one these days

[Bren]

This in 1992. Unlike my previous cars it had no leaks and was'nt full of wob. 76k on the clock when I bought it. I know how the character of Arnie Cunningham felt in Christine - the ugly ducking with the nice car.

My brother had it after me. He punted it on in '96 with a 140 k on the clock. It still had it's original camshaft and the sills were untouched.

[Pete-M]

I can't remember if it was this RS2000 or my Mk1 Mexico with the Fiat Twin Cam when I was 20.

I still remember the insurance for the RS was something daft like £1300 - rather a lot in 1990.

 

(This was a genuine RS2000 which had a Q plate after being stolen and rediscovered in a garage full of stripped RS2000s, minus VIN and with the engine next to it. Because the engine wasn't actually fitted it couldn't be guaranteed that was the original engine from that car it was issued with a Q plate. 

Luckily, that meant it was only £800 to buy)

[Skut]

The green CLX. Well it was badged CLX but still equipped with a Weber 32 instead of the bosch fuel injection.  Got my moneys worth. Put nearly 100,000 miles on between 1999 & 2006 ish.

Still got it albeit in fairly dead hibernation. 

[eddyramrod]

I was 20 in April 1979 and was driving my mum's 1964 Mini 850: BAJ 364B. In September I bought a trade in from the garage where I worked: a 1967 Ford Anglia 123E (1200 Super) ETB 988E.

[Bradders59]

When I was 19 (in 1979) I bought one of these and kept it for four glorious year - until I became a Dad.

 

 

Reg. number was LIJ 98. Its still around somewhere, although I think it may have been rebuilt into a new HSR spec shell.

I have some pics of it around somewhere. I will post them up some time when I find them.

[Asimo]

£175 and ten years old back then. Bought with the damaged  wing and a squashed headlight (£25!)

L plates for my teenage bride. I had to take the engine out a couple of days before the wedding because a bolt had come loose behind the cooling fan and banged around, trapped in the gap, making a dreadful, and expensive sounding, racket. 

65 horsepower and low 20s MPG.

12volts though, so I was the envy of the many 6volt Beetle drivers in the family.

[Split_Pin]

Maw's Fiesta Flight with the unburstable 1.3 chapper engine P881 FMS.

I uncovered the only photo I have of it just this morning, sadly I forgot to scan it as I was busy doing so with a deck of photos from my friend's house he rented in London.

[Lanciaman]

A 1980 Fiat 131 Supermirafiori.  Not this one but had it repainted in what looked like Ferrari red. Was originally mustard. (Ugh). That car taught me to be paranoid about rust. 4 replacement doors and a nos bonnet from the fiat dealer for £30. Spent a fortune on it.  Had rear headrests so obviously cooler than everything else.

[ETCHY]

1980 Capri 1.6L, HHH880V.

Pale metallic blue with a seriously brown interior. It had big silver plastic wheeltrims that flew off and had to be recovered regularly and very crap brakes that  squealed a lot !

[Dannyk]

Corsa sport, I removed the Barry bodykit and fitted a gsi kit, had quite a few other mods too. Bought it off a mate for £100 to put the engine (an x16xe with mods) into my nova but the nova got knicked so put this back on the road instead.

 

[Wgl2019]

W172 THG a Peugeot 106 Independence special edition. 

Purchased brand new for me by very kind parents. If I recall correctly it came with 2 years insurance included and with an annual policy coming in at around a grand it was a cracking deal.

Served me well for around 5 years before I traded it in for an imported Swb Pajero.

[Jerzy Woking]

in Feb 01979 I had a Ford Cortina 1600L estate in dark blue, UNY 578S. I was a rep so company car.

Just before my 21st birthday I got the keys to a brand new Ford Cortina 1600L in light metallic blue, FBY 241T

Both were thrashed unmercilessly, both managing around 40,000 miles a year. Both now presumed dead.

Is anything sold now as basic as those two cars? They only had an AM and Long Wave radio fitted too.