Mum’s motors.

[bangernomics]

How sexist of me.

Mums cars including up to the green Capri she shared with dad went seriously downhill.

Brown mini clubman estate that caught fire under the dash and melted her tights.

White marina k reg which used to heat seize and shit all of its water out and then run fine again when filled up. This went on for several years until the wing mirrors fell off the wings along with a mound of bog.
Mk2 escort 3dr.T reg?
Chevette saloon T.
Perodua nippa purple.
Perodua nippa pink.
Perodua nippa blue.

She sadly died quite young and the three nippas were still on the drive as she wouldn’t part with them.

 

[reb]

Is this a sleeper agent activation post??

[Macscrooge]

8 hours ago, reb said:

Is this a sleeper agent activation post??

 

[bangernomics]

9 hours ago, reb said:

Is this a sleeper agent activation post??

It's an IOS 18.1 and tapatalk weirdness thing. Fixing on PC now.

 

/INFILTRATION 

[stuboy]

my mum was a late learner and reasonable short period..

yugo 513

toyota corolla

volvo 360 gle

ford ka

[Eyersey1234]

My mum has only actually owned one car, a 12 reg Mitsubishi Colt, which was a lovely little car

[Floatylight]

My Mum's cars

Hillman Imp

Triumph 2.5Pi

Mini Clubman Estate

Mk1 Astra 1200s

Belmont GLSi

Mk3 Granada 1.8GL

Mk4 Escort Eclipse

306 Lx Sedan

MK2 Mondeo Verona

406 90bhp Hdi

406 110bhp hdi

Saab 9-3 2.2 Tid Vector Sport

Saab 9-3 Estate Turbo Edition

Volvo V40 D2 (Current)

 

 

[wesacosa]

mum didn't learn to drive until she was 40 and has only owned 3 cars 

Nissan Micra Wave

Ford Puma 

2008 Fiesta which she still has 

[Lord Sterling]

Reg was G886 KAW bought new at Furrows for Ford near Wellington, Telford. My Dad's Mk2 Cavalier was traded in for it.

Apparently there were stories of KAW going to and from the Ford dealer as parents kept finding faults with it.

Ma kept it for years, even after parents had parted ways. However it was later stolen for the second time and written off.

After an insurance payout, Ma and then partner went out to an auction, I encouraged them to buy a Mk1 800, Mum's partner said he'd never buy a Rover with all the usual excuses and then went and bought a Rover 820 Fastback similar to the one below:

Same colour and possibly even spec. Had Ma's partner not been such a dickhead when they split and nicked the car off her selling out from under her nose, I could have been driving this for my own car 😤 😡

Anyway, after a few years of bejng car-less, Ma walked into a Reg Vardy in Perry Barr and bought the Blue Nissan Micra we all know and love:

This was kept and run for years and years, and still until this day, we still have it (well, I do, under covered storage)

After it had been punted up the back by some twat not taking any notice of their actual driving, the Grey roffle-win Micra has been on daily duties ever since. However, as Ma is getting older and her knee has never fully recovered from a minor accident 10 years ago, she'll be needing an auto sooner rather than later.

[warren t claim]

I suppose as my OMG SEXIST whinging started this thread I should at least have the decency to contribute.

Rather than start a list in chronological order I'll start with her first car and the tales associated with it.

Mutha_Claim passed her driving test back in 1976 when she was 26. The following summer she goes shopping for her first car. There were a few false starts. The fist hopefully was a 1972 Toledo parked around the corner with a for sale sign in the window. What put Claim_Grandad (who was doing the negotiations) off was the 88,000 miles on the clock. The vendor did protest saying that it behaved faultlessly on the 90 mile round trip to Manchester Airport and back. 

Next to be auditioned was an early Fiat 127 for sale at a large Liverpool used car dealer called Speke Autodrome. Now this firm, along with another called Blundell & Davies, were Claim_Grandad's go to used car dealers when he was punting on the reps Mk3 Cortinas when they hit 70,000 miles/3 years at the firm he was a director of. When we were walking through the showroom I remember him sarcastically saying "I'll have a word with Phil Manley (his fleet manager) on Monday as I've seen two of our Cortinas for sale here with only 35,000 miles on them. When we got to the dark blue 127 the salesman said to Claim_Grandad "Alan, there's no way I'm willing to sell this Fiat to your daughter". It was fucked and they clearly didn't fancy losing their rich seam of saleable Cortinas (we sold them as a job lot at IIRC £700 each) over a shonky Fiat.

The eventual winner was a 1971 Mk1 Escort estate in Anchor Blue sold by a vendor at his rural home in Wirral. At the time I was impressed as his home had a deep well in the garden, something I impressed the current owner of the house in knowing when I took them home in my taxi a few years ago. All went well for a few months until Mutha_Claim decided to take me to Chester Zoo. As we approached J5 of the M53 the Escort decided to shit itself with what we later learnt to be a cracked cylinder head. We were towed off the M53 to a nearby garage that still exists. In fact, here it is today.

At the time it seemed to be the go to place to store broken down and crashed cars in the area. The area around the back became a joyous playground for a young W.T.C with one particular car, a crashed Mk2 Cortina 1600E in Silver Fox with a fur dashboard, becoming my favourite. Even today when I hear the song Saturdays Kids by The Jam with the line "Drive Cortinas, fur trimmed dashboards" I think of that Mk2. When we were eventually picked up by our family and taken home a couple of hours later Mutha_Claim looked at me and said "You've enjoyed spending the day in the garage a lot more than you'd have enjoyed a trip to the zoo haven't you?" "Yes, most definitely" was my honest answer.

 

[Markeh]

I think my mum's a shiter without knowing it.

Learnt in/started off with a Mk1 Cavalier, she also had a Horizon for a bit, don't know much about what else she had in the 80s (I think she drove my gran's Bluebird for a while), then had a new Samara - this got written off when a company car driver came onto the wrong side of the road doing 70 in a 40, smashed her into a traffic light which then fell down on top of the car - the police said if she'd have been in a Fiesta or a Metro she'd have died. Annoyingly her insurance had new for old cover up to 1 year old, it was 1 year and 1 week old when it got written off!

Later she had a Polonez (somewhere, I have a photo of this where her workmates had put UN signs on it), which is the earliest car I can remember her having. She then had an F-reg beige Maestro. This got sold when my dad swapped to having company cars, and she had his Primera (R-reg 1.6 GX in doom blue). We then qualified for Motability for 8 years, starting with a Daewoo Tacuma (53-plate, silver 2.0 CDX - still on the road last I checked!, then a Zafira B (56-plate 1.6 Club in doom blue - hateful car), and finally a C3 Picasso (59-plate, 1.6 HDI Exclusive in lime green). When that went back, she bought the Corsa that I later had, then bought a PT Cruiser - 55 plate 2.4 Limited auto - got it stickered up, it actually won an award at a PT show one year. I think when that went she didn't technically own a car and both their cars were in dad's name (my gran's old 13-plate Splash which they still have, and a 67 plate Juke got through a staff deal at work, replaced with a 68 plate one when another good deal came up) until she qualified for Motability again and had her current 71-plate Qashqai (same as mine but N-Connecta spec and an auto) - she has an E-3008 on order to replace that.

I'm sure we've had a thread about dad's cars before, given his work in the motor trade and often having different demonstrators/company cars, there are frankly too many to list (I tried once and I'm not doing it again!) - and also a story about how I'm 99% sure he is the reason a certain set of speed cameras got put in locally that I'm not sure I want to post on a public forum!

[warren t claim]

I know I've told this story before either on here or over on TDW but I'll say it again.

Mutha_Claim is looking for a new car. After consulting various road tests and Ford Cars brochures it is decided that the then new and current C.O.T.Y Mk3 Escort in 3 door 1.3L flavour would be just the ticket. As hard as it is to believe here now in 2024 the newly released Mk3 Escort was the CAR TO HAVE. I told all of my jealous mates that we were getting one. The test drive day arrives and Mutha_Claim along with myself turn up at our local Ford stealer so she can sign on the line that is dotted after the formality of a run around the block in their demo car. The test drive goes tits up. Their demonstrator has a gearchange that she totally hates and can't live with. She bails out of the deal and walks away. At this point the salesman who's desperate not to see a solid prospect walk out of the door offers her an alternative and the deal of a lifetime. A Mk2 Escort Harrier for the bargain price of £2995 as the dealer is having trouble shifting them.

Mutha_Claim, against my advice, agrees to take one out for a test drive and loves it! I'm fucking mortified! Now I'm going to look like a total prick in front of my mates turning up at school in an unfashionable RWD Escort after telling them we're getting a Mk3. Mutha_Claim loves the gearchange and how nippy it is and writes out a cheque there and then. 

[Eyersey1234]

32 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

I know I've told this story before either on here or over on TDW but I'll say it again.

Mutha_Claim is looking for a new car. After consulting various road tests and Ford Cars brochures it is decided that the then new and current C.O.T.Y Mk3 Escort in 3 door 1.3L flavour would be just the ticket. As hard as it is to believe here now in 2024 the newly released Mk3 Escort was the CAR TO HAVE. I told all of my jealous mates that we were getting one. The test drive day arrives and Mutha_Claim along with myself turn up at our local Ford stealer so she can sign on the line that is dotted after the formality of a run around the block in their demo car. The test drive goes tits up. Their demonstrator has a gearchange that she totally hates and can't live with. She bails out of the deal and walks away. At this point the salesman who's desperate not to see a solid prospect walk out of the door offers her an alternative and the deal of a lifetime. A Mk2 Escort Harrier for the bargain price of £2995 as the dealer is having trouble shifting them.

Mutha_Claim, against my advice, agrees to take one out for a test drive and loves it! I'm fucking mortified! Now I'm going to look like a total prick in front of my mates turning up at school in an unfashionable RWD Escort after telling them we're getting a Mk3. Mutha_Claim loves the gearchange and how nippy it is and writes out a cheque there and then. 

Was the Harrier a special edition? Where did it sit in the Mk2 Escort range?

[warren t claim]

Just now, Eyersey1234 said:

Was the Harrier a special edition? Where did it sit in the Mk2 Escort range?

It was a sporty run out 1600 2 door Mk2 Escort that is now more than a little sought after.

[warren t claim]

 

[New POD]

6 hours ago, warren t claim said:

I know I've told this story before either on here or over on TDW but I'll say it again.

Mutha_Claim is looking for a new car. After consulting various road tests and Ford Cars brochures it is decided that the then new and current C.O.T.Y Mk3 Escort in 3 door 1.3L flavour would be just the ticket. As hard as it is to believe here now in 2024 the newly released Mk3 Escort was the CAR TO HAVE. I told all of my jealous mates that we were getting one. The test drive day arrives and Mutha_Claim along with myself turn up at our local Ford stealer so she can sign on the line that is dotted after the formality of a run around the block in their demo car. The test drive goes tits up. Their demonstrator has a gearchange that she totally hates and can't live with. She bails out of the deal and walks away. At this point the salesman who's desperate not to see a solid prospect walk out of the door offers her an alternative and the deal of a lifetime. A Mk2 Escort Harrier for the bargain price of £2995 as the dealer is having trouble shifting them.

Mutha_Claim, against my advice, agrees to take one out for a test drive and loves it! I'm fucking mortified! Now I'm going to look like a total prick in front of my mates turning up at school in an unfashionable RWD Escort after telling them we're getting a Mk3. Mutha_Claim loves the gearchange and how nippy it is and writes out a cheque there and then. 

You got driven to school. Decadence in the extreme. 

[New POD]

My mother, had a lambretta 200, having got a motorbike licence at 17,  she learnt to drive in my Grandads wolsey 3000, and my dad's brand new 1959 mini 850. 

The first car I remember her driving was a turquoise avenger, but that was the family car. She had a capri. A scooter. Yes a capri scooter. Which mostly dad used. 

Her first company car was a Datsun Sunny.  Which she got done for doing 85 mph on the M5, and she swears she was doing 95. 

Her second company car was a Nissan Sunny, which was almost identical, but with one less gear. 

Then she inherited my dad's high mileage base Sierra estate. 

And eventually when that was scrapped, just shared the one car with my Dad.  Of which have been 3 brand new Ford focus over 25 years. 

[JJ0063]

Earliest I remember is her having a Sierra 2.0 Ghia, pretty much a spit of the below. Gearbox went on it. Can’t remember the full reg but B*** XAV

That was replaced with a Sierra 1.8 LX from her dad, grandad JJ. Like below but a navy blue. I remember father JJ putting the pepperpots from the previous Sierra on it before the old one was scrapped. E241 HBJ

She then inherited other grandad JJ’s 42k mile Rover 216 like this but in a solid bright blue. Long story I’ve told before but my grandad worked for Rover and it ended up being a Rover 216 SEX model. G241 FPW.

 

That was replaced by a Rover 416, 3 OMGHGF’s in her ownership and it finally got scrapped when the clutch went. N515 GVG.

On to her current car, owned since 2008. 1.2 Corsa C. AO55 UPW

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

My Mum hated driving any car but her own.  In general, she hates driving and she's now given it up at the ripe old age of 65.

Slightly before I was born, she had some manner of MK3 1.6 Ford Escort in white.  This will have been 1987/88.  She probably holds the record for the most number of cars written off at the slowest speed, as one day she was parking near home, which happened to be near a pub.  Outside the pub was a line of three cars owned by local Sixth Formers that had popped in there over lunch.  My brother distracts her from her baby seat and as she's parking, she hits the rear car.  Which hits the car in front, which subsequently hits the car in front.  Due to the condition of the cars, there is some visible damage and given that there were three of them, insurance are involved.  All three are written off.  She can't have been doing any more than 5MPH.

Anyway, after that she owned a Nissan Bluebird (the first car I remember).

Something else (I think)

Then my favourite car of them all, a Volvo 240 Estate in Silver.  H186 XUL.  Which shows as a 740 on the DVLA database but is definitely wrong.  Absolutely spectacular in every way including an absolutely epic drive from Hereford to Exmouth one winter when it was raining so hard the roads on the hills were like rivers, with rocks flowing down them.  And the 6 year-old me felt perfectly safe, dry and warm in the back.  It had a small hole in the back of the driver's seat as my brother managed to poke it with his French Horn...

Followed by a  V-plated MK1 1.8 Ford Focus Estate in Pacific Green.  I was sad about the Volvo going but I thought it was the coolest car ever when she got it.  A number of years later a 14 year-old me was sick in the back seat after drinking more than my fair share at a house party.  I don't think that ever quite left the car.

Then a Ford Fusion 1.4 Tdi on a 53 plate.  Probably the slowest car that it was possible to purchase.  I was not a fan.  My brother was learning to drive at this point and I think even he thought it was a bit shit.  In retrospect, I like it more as a 1.4 Tdi seems quite funny and revving the nuts off a diesel never gets old.

After the Fusion she got a near-new dealer demonstration Mini Cooper Clubman D Estate on an 09 plate.  She had this for about 13 years.  She actually used this one on the M2 motorway to go to work - but historically my Mum has never driven on motorways as she's terrified of them.  Even when going back and forth to Maidstone from Gravesend with my brother on Saturdays she never took the M2 or M20.  She drove a contrived route through the middle of Strood, etc.

We now own the Mini as she decided to give it to us after realising that she since retiring back in 2014 she was doing fewer than 1,000 miles a year.  By the time it came to us it had around 48,000 miles on it.  It's now on 80,000+ as my partner commutes in it.

Bafflingly, a couple of months after giving us the Bini she bought a 17-plate petrol Mini Cooper in that trendy battleship grey.  She had it three months, decided to give up driving altogether and sold it back to the dealer for the same price she'd paid for it...

[ProgRocker]

My mum and dad shared the same car up until 1988 when my dad bought the MG Maestro 1600 (ERW 333Y) and the rattly Talbot Horizon 1.3 LS (JMD 918W) was relegated to 2nd car duties.

In 1990 my dad traded in the Horizon for a Suzuki ST90K (Carry) pick up. He used that to get to and from work and mum then had greater use of the MG. The recession kicked in and the Suzuki pick up sadly had to be sold so back to 1 family car.

[EyesWeldedShut]

That's it! All the best mothers drove a Horizon?
Only car my Mum ever drove - she got a set of L plates around her 50th birthday and had a couple of lessons (some from my Dad whose sporting the bunnet there) but could never really master clutch control - I think given a badermatic she'd have been OK tbh.

[High Jetter]

My Mum was a reluctant driver, especially to start. When we moved from sarf London suburbs to a more rural location in 1966, dad bought her a Morris Minor (MMO 314). She tried a few times, but never took to it, or driving, or being taught by my Dad - never knew which. The Minor was a great place for me to sit and play from the age of 6 or 7, and I did help* Dad with some maintenance on it until the rust took over and it was scrapped.

About 7 years later a yellow Sunbeam Stilletto enabled her to eventually pass her test. First long journey was from Eastbourne to Guildford with me, my younger sis, and a labrador - I was about 14 at the time and knew everything* about driving. Dog started choking in the back, Mum turns round to look, I look up to see us wandering over to the oncoming lane and was unable to grab the wheel in time to swerve us away from a big tree. Mum was quite badly injured, hospitalized for a few weeks, the car was a write off. The rest of us survived unscathed.

Skip forward 15 or so years to 1990 when my Dad died, when I was 30. Mum had another go at passing her test (not sure why), this time in an auto and we chopped in dad's Renault 21 against a 5-door Clio auto. I had the misfortune to be a passenger on a couple of occasions, which was quite scary. That car got written off when she ignored the give-way markings on very quiet roads, which admittedly have poor visibility. The next Clio auto survived partially demolishing her friend's garden wall, and her final one only had one scrape that I knew of, allegedly writing off her near neighbour's daughter's first car, only recently bought.

We were all very relieved when she gave up driving in her 80s.

[Spottedlaurel]

Technically this Allegro wasn't my mum's, but as she managed to roll it in the snow one winter it seems only right to include it here:

Moving onto her own cars, first came a couple of Mini 1000s which had to do service as main family transport after my dad left. Don't appear to have photos of either of them, but they got used for journeys up and down the Essex stretch of the A12 to see family and I used to keep a list of anything we managed to overtake (a bit cruel in hindsight).

This 5 came next. Technically the first car I drove when I shunted it into the garage (luckily not literally).

Cherry next, circa 1986. This photo from when it had passed into my ownership, after I used it a lot for practice and lessons with the instructor.

Another Mini for her in 1988, bought off my aunt after she'd won it in a Daily Mail competition.

Something of a change in direction here, but I think this would have been in her name. When mum had the Mini my stepdad-to-be ran a Porsche 924, but it didn't get used much and I think they sold both that and the Mini to get this XR4x4 instead, as he mainly used a van or truck for work and they didn't need a car each.

Nothing too interesting after that one, Rover 216 GSi then a series of new Fords and now a Corolla. I think (hope) she doesn't now drive that much, but the cars have probably been in her name.

[stuboy]

just remembered mum had a M reg 5 door same blue as picture, 1.4, i drove it when needed a car, brakes terrible, seat too low and no PAS, thank god she traded in in for 2k off a new ford KA

[Richard_FM]

This was my Mum's car from early 1995, & passed on to me & my sister in 2005 when she upgraded to a new Fiesta.  It only lasted another 18 months before it had a little end go & wasn't worth fixing.

[warren t claim]

 

14 years ago!

[warren t claim]

Just to fast forward a couple of decades, Mutha_Claim decided to become a taxi driver until she was eligible to claim her somewhat amazing local authority pension. To begin with, I'd just let her use whatever car I was working at the time as she worked days and I worked nights. After a while, she wanted a taxi of her own and pulled rank demanding whatever car she fancied from my rental fleet.  

This is when I discovered a flaw with Mutha_Claim regarding what car she thought she was entitled to. Mutha_Claim was not in the slightest bit "backwards compatible" in what she drove. It started with power steering. "Her" Mondeo got written off in a 50/50 RTC and the only free car I had at the time she could use was a 1996 Pug 306 Sedan that lacked PAS/EW/CL. She whinged like fuck. At the time I had a 1998 Mondeo 2.0 in the final stages of getting hammered straight so I jumped through hoops to get it finished and plated. It was supposed to be heading straight out as a car to be sold on the weekly but to shut her up I let her work it until I found a buyer. My problem was that this Mk2 Mondeo had AC and once Mutha_Claim had discovered the joys of air conditioning she refused to be given a car without it. To shut her up I let her work my Omega Elite on days. Big mistake! My Omega was an automatic and from then on refused to work a manual car!

[bangernomics]

Not backwards compatible is a classic quote. I can apply that to so many Mrsisms.