What you drove at 20

[tommotech]

I was driving an MG Maestro that I had bought the year before. The car was three years old and an ex-company car that had been standing. The cambelt broke on the way home and the heater fan wouldnt work, subsequently found to be a bad earth. It would go through front wheel bearings each year but otherwise it was solid and reliable, I really enjoyed that car and still have a soft spot................

[cort1977]

8 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

They had a Metro Rio in the showroom for £5995 which looked good in Kingfisher Blue. However, for £6995, I could have a Rio Grande,

I remember those being advertised with the soundtrack, inevitably, of Duran Duran 'Rio'.

Mine was a b plate sierra 1.6 L. It was fucked but I only gave 300 for it and nursed it through a couple of mots. Bits were cheap and plentiful then, got an entire exhaust for 10 quid from the scraper so cheap to run. good for chucking bikes and sailing gear in the back, not a bad old bus.

[Jazoli]

I had one of these 

A mk2 Cav 2.0CD but in gold, it was awesome!

 

[chancer]

I started off my 20's with one of these...

suzuki swift 1.3gls on a P plate...had gone into the nissan dealer a year earlier wanting a nissan sunny gti and somehow ended up with that...then swapped it in for one or these....

not my pic, mine had round spotlights...J76FUS. Loved that wee fiesta, shame the rust got to it. Would love another. It was a 1.3SX model, fords answer to insurers refusing to touch the sportier models. It was basically an LX with red stripes in the bumpers instead of chrome, and the interior from the previous S model.

[Ghosty]

IMG_3245 by max_burton, on Flickr

 

This home built single speed converted 1989 Saracen Tufftrax, that I dearly miss, as it was oodles of fun. 
I didn't get my first car until I was 21. 

[mat_the_cat]

This.

Also at age 40.

[Zelandeth]

Having far too many cars seems to be a running theme!

A couple of years later this was the situation on that driveway...the Fusion was my father's (who makes an appearance having walked out the door and wondering what the heck had happened).

Yes that's a Skoda 135 RiC.  One of the most ungrateful cars I've ever owned.  Never had it running right the whole time I had it...plus it went matt pink virtually before you had to finished going round the car with the polisher.

[PiperCub]

At 20 (1986) had the second of three Alfasuds to start the year off. A 'death blue' 1300Ti, 1977 or 78 two-door. Rusty in all the usual places a 'Sud could rust but not that bad overall, went like stink, loved it, definately one of those that fit the bill of 'Wish I'd been able to keep it'. I sold it on for a big profit as someone wanted it badly and as I was doing quite a bit of buying and selling cars (had been since I was 17) and was wanting to build up some money as I was binning work & starting University in the autumn. With that in mind I went a bit boring for a while and got an ex-company owned Fiesta (Mk1) 1100 (Y-reg) for about £1400 - very, very cheap (like under half retail) as it had a loud-ass, rattly timing chain that frightened everyone off! That fixed, it was my hack for the next year or so but continued trading in a nice new area.

The end of the year marked my first bike purchase, a £120 Suzuki GP100 in fair condition, bit of work had it nice & it ran well. Got it purely to pass my Part 2 bike test (did the  off-road Part 1 on a hired bike in summer) and get my bike/then-Cat D licence as there were very few bike schools and none locally that hired for the on-road test. Literally got it, did it up (minimal £), rode it around for about 100 miles, took/passed test, rode it another 100 miles, sold it in spring when the weather was nice for a profit. No attachment, just useful tool to do a job. 

[Austat]

I'm still in my teens, but when my dad was 20 he either still had the Maxi HL or drove around in his dad's recent purchase; a Fiat 131 Supermirafiori Estate. I believe it was an automatic in metallic blue with beige interior, my dad would usually use it to haul his drum kit around which couldn't fit in his BMW 2002. My dad slowly learnt about the quality of Italian steel, and a few years later sold it and bought a C-reg Montego Estate. This was in 1982 by the way:

(Not this exact car but something like it)

[bunglebus]

14 minutes ago, Austat said:

I'm still in my teens

So you can win at life by buying the most Autoshite vehicle you can find and post again when you turn 20

[Austat]

4 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

So you can win at life by buying the most Autoshite vehicle you can find and post again when you turn 20

That's what I have planned!

[Asimo]

1 hour ago, Austat said:

I'm still in my teens, (Not this exact car but something like it)

Well you should be concentrating on girls then!  Cars can wait.

[Liggle]

I was driving this:

It was on its original engine when I had it at 20, by the time I sold aged 24 I was on engine number 5. All B series VTEC motors - B16, B20, B20, B18, B16. 

[Cheezey]

I had my 214 SEi. I truly loved that car. I put loads of miles on it. Going to Crail quarter mile racing in it at every opportunity. It was faster than any other 214 or 216 and would keep up with 2.0 stuff that was racing. Winning the forum bike 220 a while ago was a nice reminisce. 
Along side the 214 I then got a 200SX. It quickly developed a noisy exhaust and knackered brakes. I went to order new brakes from the motor factor but there were two types depending what callipers it had apparently. I phoned my Dad to ask him to pop a wheel off and check. He phoned me five mins later to say the jack was going up through the sill...

As I wanted to save for a flat I sold them both and got my 306 about a month before I turned 21. I think I had that nearly three years. Being an auto it was a bit more sedate. 
 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dRSH-0UZLfw

 

[Wack]

VW Derby S 1.1 , in yellow , a girlfriends neighbour was selling it , somebody had just written my 1.6 GXL Mk3 Cortina off while she was driving it , cut a corner and hit it head on.

 

Same as this one

 

 

Just had a look, only 1 x  1.1 left on the road

[ChampionRabbit]

1972 Westfalia 1.6. Exactly like this one.

Used it for gigging all over the place; we would regularly drive down to London (from West Country) with the band (4 people), 2 guitar amps, 1 bass amp, drum kit, various guitars etc. I don't know what's more remarkable; the fact that it put up with so much abuse and only ever suffered one FTP, or that the only time it ever got broken into was when it was parked in the hospital car park in Cirencester (where I worked at the time)!

We loved that van. I know everybody hates them these days, but it was absolutely ace.

[Eyersey1234]

This was mine, a 1.25 Fiesta Style. 

[Eyersey1234]

20 hours ago, Amishtat said:

I was the lucky* recipient of a ban when I was 19 so didn't drive anything until I was 21. Fortunately I had bought the A99 shortly before the incident and 21 years later, it's still mine. 

Why did you get banned? 

[DoctorRetro]

Ooh, story time!

At age 19-20 (year 2000/2001) I was on to car 3, having blown the engine up in my VW Polo, replaced it with and an almost identical one, then discovered the head gasket was going. 

I decided it would be a good* idea to get a more modern car on finance, and headed off with my father to Alex Scott motors in Cramlington. My dad had bought his last Lada from there, just before they stopped selling Ladas completely. 

Now they just sold a variety of second hand cars. 

I can't remember much about my decision process, but I settled on a 1994 Hyundai X2 Pony Saloon, in silver. A bit like this, but mine had a boot spoiler. 

It was in great condition, low miles and drove Excel-lently. (see what I did there?) 

That poor 1.3 Hyundai got ragged to within an inch of it's life, as I thought it was equal to other performance saloons available (Imprezza/Lancer), and proceeded to drive it like it was a rally car everywhere. 

I actually owned it for a couple of years, with other cars I dabbled in to stave off the boredom, but kept going back to the Hyundai. 

It was one fateful day though that I'd gone out in the car and suddenly lost all power, and it was running on 2 cylinders. I limped it down to a local garage who proclaimed it 'totally fucking fucked mate', so off it went to the scrap yard. Something about bent valves or some other catastrophic event, I don't remember exactly. 

After a couple of failed attempts at bangernomics, I went back to Alex Scott and got a blue 1998 Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 Sting with 3 spoke alloys on tick. 

I've owned 115 cars since 1999, and only 3 have been on credit, I won't be doing that again, as they never last longer than the credit agreement! 

 

[Liggle]

39 minutes ago, Cheezey said:

 

That is freaky, a friend of mine had an S13 in the same colour with the same wheels!

[Amishtat]

20 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Why did you get banned? 

Got caught driving uninsured, six points and goodbye licence. Totally deserved and when I think back to how I drove the Manta Berlinetta I had at the time my blood runs cold. Its unreliability was my saviour. RIP EAC284Y, still got the rear number plate kicking around somewhere. 

[Cheezey]

29 minutes ago, Liggle said:

That is freaky, a friend of mine had an S13 in the same colour with the same wheels!

I double checked the reg numbers there! The wheels were on the car when I got it. I think they were meant to be gold but they were more metallic beige. It came with the original steels and wheeltrims. I haven’t seen another 200SX with wheeltrims since. I forgot to pass on the wheels and trims when I sold it - I think my Dad chucked them in the tip. 

[Sir Snipes]

Not a factory option as far as I know. Some of the lower speec S12s had then in other countries but not the UK.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, ChampionRabbit said:

1972 Westfalia 1.6. Exactly like this one.

We loved that van. I know everybody hates them these days, but it was absolutely ace.

I don't hate them, love air cooled VWs!

[Eyersey1234]

17 hours ago, xtriple said:

A jaguar MK X 4.2 auto, Sherwood green with brown leather. FJU 99C. The car I owned for the longest of any so far (8 years) and the one that made a lasting impression as it fell on me when I was working under it. I still have the scar across my forehead though now it is just buried in the multitude of wrinkles, but it's still there and I can show it (for a modest fee) to interested parties.

Liked for the car not the fact it fell on you 

[Eyersey1234]

15 hours ago, stuboy said:

This back in 1995... I was 20

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

[Wack]

4 minutes 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.

The lights must've been really shit if he needed 8 of them

[flat4alfa]

Quote

What you drove at 20

No photos but it was near-identical to this in colour and spec, except had black vinyl roof and the extra stainless wheel rim outer trim - and of course no analogue reversing sensor

Drove very well.  Opposite-lock was very easy to handle

Anyone else remember the days of Group 6 insurance?

Sold it for next to nothing even with new MOT.  Because worthless back then

[warch]

I got the Land Rover I still own at 17, but when I was 20 (1997) I was a student tosser. 60s and 70s retro stuff was the in thing back then and as I was a big fan of the Italian Job there was only one choice of car for me. Unfortunately I should have spent a bit more and bought something with the classic 60's look, ten inch wheels etc, but 600 quid bought me this fucking piece of 80's shite. Image from the launch advert.

Mine had a solid floor but crusty panels, unlike my 70s Mini I bought a few years later which looked great but effectively had no floorpans. I believe all the Chelseas were all a sort of dark red, with 80stastic 12 inch alloys and disc front brakes. It had the binnacle behind the steering wheel, including a rev counter. It was 'powered' by a 998cc engine which overheated and blew head gaskets, so I got a scrapyard to swap it for a 1275 out of an MG Metro. It met it's doom in 1999 when a pissed up Hawaiian tourist pulled out of a junction in front of me without looking in my direction.

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, Austat said:

I'm still in my teens, but when my dad was 20 he either still had the Maxi HL or drove around in his dad's recent purchase; a Fiat 131 Supermirafiori Estate

Nice!

Now, if this thread was entitled 

Quote

What you drove at 18

I could post a photo of this sort of thing

Fiat 131 Mirafiori 2-door bASe.  Loved that motor, went like the clappers - it had the 1300 OHV but used to upset the 1600 Escort boys plenty.  £200 well-spent and well-used!  The shell would be worth £££ today. 

Similar to this but in DOOM BLUE.  Except there are no mountains like that in darkest Hertfordshire