What you drove at 20

[ProgRocker]

1986 (D reg) Escort 1.4 GL made out of inferior steel. Wish I hung on for a half decent Rover SD3 or Astra instead. 

 

[Tamworthbay]

1 hour ago, ProgRocker said:

1986 (D reg) Escort 1.4 GL made out of inferior steel. Wish I hung on for a half decent Rover SD3 or Astra instead. 

 

I had an Astra of that era and it was utterly shit, it was rusty at five years old to the point it needed several bits working on to get through an MoT. I got an Orion after and it was just a different level in quality in a good way.

[JoeKyle]

If I still have this in September, this will be my car at 20.

4dr Saloon 1.7 DTi LS, bought very late at night about 70 miles from home for £450 with no MOT, then I was given a 6 month extension due to MOT Centre delays in NI.

Currently making a complete mess of trying to paint over scuffs on the front and rear bumpers

[Six-cylinder]

1969 Triumph Vitesse 2.0 MK2 saloon with overdrive and sunroof. Valancia blue.

A 9 year old end of life car, run on a shoestring as a student that I paid £132 for. As soon as I got this I knew I had made the right decision.

On my 20^th Birthday I had this Vitesse just 6 weeks, my second car was also a Vitesse 2.0 MK1 but the insurance was expensive for an 18 old student and I sold it after a year and bought a MK2 Cortina 1600 super 2 door dressed to look like a GT for £340 to get cheaper insurance. I did not like it and sold it after 6 weeks but then needed a car in a hurry so I could take my girlfriend on holiday.

A 1968 Rover 2000TC in Burnt grey for £300 seemed a good option so I bought that and went on holiday, but I was 19 years old and when my dad asked to borrow it to take my grandparents out I knew I had chosen the wrong car!

On my 20^th Birthday I still had the Rover as well and my insurance company had allowed me to keep it covered so I could still drive it, that felt good. I was a student and multi car ownership was out of the question so 3 weeks later it was sold.

By the way the L plates were for my girlfriend.

I have almost always had a Vitesses all my life, except for a while when I bought my first house. The current one is a white 2.0 MK2 convertible I have had for 15 years.

[Three Speed]

I was 20 in 1981. My first motorised vehicle was a P-reg Honda C90. This was so boringly reliable I sold it and got a 1966 BSA Bantam which more than made up for the Honda's shortcomings. And so when I decided to get 4 wheels I didn't worry too much about taking someone knowledgable and not buying the first car you see. I took my brother and my dad to see  1968 Herald 13/60 Estate and bought it - despite the stiff steering and unexplained crease in the roof and A-pillar and other warning signs. This is it a year or so later just after I had picked up a replacement roof in nearly matching Valencia Blue.

As you can see, I was rather fond of lights at the time so fitted an alternator to keep things going. The reversing light was a Notek thing that would originally have been a foglight on something much older. The Vitesse bonnet was the result of me running into the back of a Mk2 Granada in Hertford. The nearest scrapyard had this Vitesse 1600 bonnet - Royal Blue with the white stripe. So I continued the stripe along the rest of the car. The GB plate was from a trip around Europe. We ended up in Italy via Yugoslavia.  One of several great trips this car did. It was only 12 years old when it got it. As well as having been rolled, the drivers door was mainly filler,  you could the front wheel from the driver's seat (my face would get wet when it rained) and the chassis had already been (badly) welded. I kept it for 20 years although I did replace the chassis, the bulkhead and the rear body - and the engine. I sold it for 50 quid in 2000 when we left the country for a few years. Soon after that my uncle died and left me his 71 13/60 convertible which I still have.

[bunglebus]

That really is a serious reversing light - thought it was a Max Power fart can at first

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, ProgRocker said:

1986 (D reg) Escort 1.4 GL made out of inferior steel. Wish I hung on for a half decent Rover SD3 or Astra instead. 

The SD3 rot would have been worse, that's for sure

[Three Speed]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

That really is a serious reversing light - thought it was a Max Power fart can at first

There’s one for sale in the Automobile if you’d like on off your own

[stuboy]

10 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Phooar is that a Polonez? Years since I've seen one, my mums friend had one in the mid to late 90s.

yup the sporty 1600cc with extra glass side windows

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

1969 Triumph Vitesse 2.0 MK2 saloon with overdrive and sunroof. Valancia blue

 

You know, now I think about it I don't think I've ever even sat in a Vitesse.

[Cookiesouwest]

1983 Ford Sierra 1.6L in blue. OHT378Y. Sadly no pics.

[Carlosfandango]

It was 1989. Life was good. Damn I loved my 3p. It was just different to all the other stuff my mates had and I loved it. 

 

(Pic for reference but identical)

 

CFD 

[Spiny Norman]

1 hour ago, Carlosfandango said:

It was 1989. Life was good. Damn I loved my 3p. It was just different to all the other stuff my mates had and I loved it.

When I'd just passed my test my girlfriend's mum had one of these in orange with tan vinyl and tartan seats, I loved it.  I had a 128 saloon myself a few years later and it was a fine wee thing to buzz around in.

[trigger]

I was 20 in 2000 so it's not that easy to remember now but I think I sold this Nova 1.2 SXi 

And bought a grey L reg Fiesta 1.3 Ghia to replace it which felt so much better made and nice to drive at the time, it XR2i style alloys and electric windows, it was so flash! 

[ProgRocker]

9 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

The SD3 rot would have been worse, that's for sure

Very true. I was quite naive about what cars rust back then. Was also optimistic when it came to cars. 

[Ditchfinder General]

These. I wrote the MGF off smashing it up the arse of an XC90. The towbar folded the bonnet in two lengthways.

[ProgRocker]

11 hours ago, stuboy said:

yup the sporty 1600cc with extra glass side windows

Polonez Prima! 

[JuridicalGrunt]

These were my two back in 2012 my dolomite 1500hl Which i had been my main car through my third year at collage and my daily driver to work. then i got the bluebird turbo sr Which took over daily dutes from the dolomite, i wish i had kept the bluebird but parts were just impossible to find.

 

[Semi-C]

Spent the first part of my 20th year poking the grim reaper with a stick, aboard this,

It was resplendent in its mars bar colourway when I bought it, alas, 1 x winter + 1 x twat (me) later and I had thrashed, trashed and crashed it heavily. I was fortunate enough to survive, as was the LC, so a budget rebuild resulted in the gem you see before you.

I preferred the 2nd incarnation of it as it was used daily, never missed a beat and spread the gospel of antisocial motorcycling at a time when that sort of thing had all but disappeared.

Owned from 2001 until 2011, sold to finance an opportunity for my baby brother.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1973 VW K70L. 

[warch]

21 hours ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Aah yes, D for Disaster. You never bought C or D plate Mark 4's as they were rust buckets. Very late D's had the front plastic arch liners that coincided with Ford not making cars from recycled Alfas.

That nugget of information would have been very useful to me in 1999, as I replaced my Mini Chelsea (the car I drove at 20mph) with a 450 quid D reg Orion Ghia. Quite apart from astonishing rust, it also managed 3 engines and a head gasket in the time I owned it. Admittedly one engine only lasted 20 minutes, the same scrapyard that re-engined my Mini called me after they'd fitted an engine I'd supplied to say it had a slight issue with back pressure. They were having fun putting the oil filler cap on, running it and watching it fire the cap into the air. The rings were completely fucked.

[Snipes]

5 hours ago, JuridicalGrunt said:

These were my two back in 2012 my dolomite 1500hl Which i had been my main car through my third year at collage and my daily driver to work. then i got the bluebird turbo sr Which took over daily dutes from the dolomite, i wish i had kept the bluebird but parts were just impossible to find.

 

I have pictures of that Bluebird next to my Silvia Turbo at Retro Rides. Can't recall what year - 2005? 2008? Something like that.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

On 4/21/2020 at 5:20 PM, The Mighty Quinn said:

Ha! I ran a D plate Onion Ghia as well around 1996. It was nine years old and rotten, 1.6 CVH rubbish. In fact I was given it to run around in for a bit. It would do 20 miles before the oil pressure light came on. I don't look back on that FWD Ford stuff with any fondness at all. They just seemed so tatty, baggy and worn out after not many years or miles. Vauxhalls were so much better.

They didn’t need any miles on them, the quality dropped on new ones throughout the 80’s. I had a C reg late Mk 3 XR3i n 85 as a company car, it actually replaced the CX500 Eurosport I posted earlier as my 20 year old commuter. Anyway it was relatively refined, even compared to the 732 Beemer that was my work wheels. Fast forward to 1988 and I had an E plate 1.6i Orion Ghia- absolute rubbish, tinny, noisy, cheap trim materials, no felt linings in coin holder, console etc. It was so bad , when someone left I begged the transport manager for their Belmont CDi and that was me a dyed in the wool Ford licker.

[BL Bloke]

On my 20th birthday back in 1982 I was driving a 1976 Chevette E 4 door saloon NOK153R. Eight days later it was written off in an accident with a Mazda 323 and was replaced with a 1970 Morris 1300 4 door CAB339H identical to this one but not in as good condition obviously. .

It was stolen twice while I owned it. First time was on Christmas Eve from Birmingham City Centre, it was found a week later by the Police. The second time was from outside West Bromwich baths while I was at work and I never saw it again. I remember wishing serious ill will on whoever stole it but I did get £100 back from the insurance which was good as I only paid £130 for it and the Mot was about to run out.

 

 

[Mike D]

I had my Beetle (still got it) and Mk2 Golf Driver

 

[cobblers]

On 4/21/2020 at 5:20 PM, The Mighty Quinn said:

Ha! I ran a D plate Onion Ghia as well around 1996. It was nine years old and rotten, 1.6 CVH rubbish. In fact I was given it to run around in for a bit. It would do 20 miles before the oil pressure light came on. I don't look back on that FWD Ford stuff with any fondness at all. They just seemed so tatty, baggy and worn out after not many years or miles. Vauxhalls were so much better.

Oh god, yes, especially the sporty ones. I remember test driving quite a few XR2s and owned a MK3 XR3 and they just didn't feel like they were all actually bolted together in any real way anymore. Every moving part was worn smooth and the entire drivetrain felt like it was held in by nothing more than the force of habit. These were 12-15 years old cars admittedly, but none had done mega miles

[Steve79]

I was at University and trading/hoarding cars part time to cover costs. Will dig out some pics if i can find them. Most but not all owned at the same time. All were daily runners as follows: 

1992 Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 Plaza estate with questionable rear diff. 

1991 Citroen BX TZD hurricane in green with matching green interior (never should have sold it)

1995 Rover 214 SEi in BRG, 70mph at 3500rpm was wearing.

1993 Honda Prelude 2.3 4ws in silver, uk market model - many many revs, few few mpg's

1997 Daewoo Espero 2.0 CDXi - meh but would have another

3x Alfa 164's. A 1991 2.0 twinspark in silver and 2x 1993 24v super lusso. This is when they were pence.

1995 Renault Clio 1.9D RL Prima, 3dr in white - the most agricultural car I have ever driven. 

1997 Ford Fiesta 1.25 LX - great car but no power steering was a ballache. Sold to finance the following

1998 - Peugeot 306 1.4 Vivant. Interior trim featured many period pastel shades. Was 2 years old when i bought it, 28k on the clock and the first car I ever owned with aircon that worked. Kept it for 4 years and sold it with almost 80k on it.

I sat down a while back and tried to list how many cars i've owned since i started driving in 1997. Total tally was just over 200 ?

[Timewaster]

On 4/19/2020 at 1:02 PM, anonymous user said:

This, I think I was 19 when I bought it. My father talked me out of swapping it for a Bristol 405, ended up getting a Capri to replace it

Have you started talking to your dad again yet? 

[Timewaster]

I was driving the Platinum gold Cavalier while counting down the days until my 21st birthday when I could insure the 205 which I had already bought and sat in my dads garage while I reached a more insurable age. 

[Eyersey1234]

@Steve79 I've some way to go to match that lol, only had 5 since 2006.