Do you own the oldest car in your works car park?

[MK5 Escort]

Mine's not the oldest, unfortunately. I'm beaten by an early 1989 G plate Volvo 440 in white. A very tidy thing owned by one of our fabricators who retires at the end of the year. He bought it as an ex-demonstrator (probably amongst the first 440's in the UK) has only just clocked over 90k. Other than small bubbles of rust forming on the rear arches, it doesn't look much more than five years old. The interior is as new.

 

All others in the car park are 05 plate onwards, barring two surviving 03 plate company Transit Connect vans. More than half of these 'five and unders' are company cars and vans. Very, very dull unfortunately.

[trigger]

My works car park is used by about at least 600 different blokes across the 4 shifts so there's always something different.

 

Yesterday i saw a early VW Beetle lowered on chrome alloys which looked quite nice, That's the oldest car I've seen parked there in the last 5 years, Before that mine would have been the oldest until i sold it, I often see a F plate Mk IV Escort, Mitsubishi Colt, Even seen a MK 2 Granada 2.8i Estate a few months ago.

 

One lad has a G plate Renault 21 Turbo and i sometimes also see a Mk 2 Golf on a E plate.

[Pillock]

At work, alongside my J-plate Golf, there's...

 

Two G-reg Golf GTIs with obligatory BBS wheels, single lamp grilles etc

A D-reg T25 Crewcab with missing dropsides

Two Capris, a B-reg rattlecan black and an A-reg light green one

And whatever the chuff this is:

 

 

Absurdly, I was in one of the offices and everyone had plonked their keys on the tables next to their laptops.... I remarked at how it looked like a Volkwagen owners wifeswapping party, all five sets were VW. For a laugh I plonked mine down, and they were amazed that I had a key that didn't flip out.

 

About 5% of the cars in the carpark are the ex-field jobbies, silver Focii with in-series registration plates. I reckon there must be 25 of them, quite often you'll find four or five in a row. Baaaaaa.

[Milford Cubicle]

Rickman Ranger, it'd be great to hot that up using RS bits.

 

My boss just went from a 55 plate VW LT to a 1983 Land Rover 127!!

[Gompo]

I walk to walk, but if I drove it wouldnt be the oldest.

 

Oldest regular car is a semi-scene E30 on a H, although one person does own a 70s K reg VW Camper but not at work regularly. Next oldest is a 90s K reg Toyota Landcruiser, which is the companies along with a 'K' Scania thing.

[Pete-M]

Mine's the oldest in the staff car park by about 15 years. Then there's one of the office chaps who drives a P reg Fiesta. Other than that, they're all less than 2 years old.

 

Where I work they sneer at people who're still driving 58 plate stuff.

[whitevanman]

Where I work they sneer at people who're still driving 58 plate stuff.

So basically they are brain washed fucktards with more money than sense?? and as they cars are on credit...they obviously have no money

[Tayne]

.

[whitevanman]

I believe Pete works in car hire....

oh... so they get to use a free car and sneer at people....well to me thats even worse than having more money than sense

at least the people with the older cars either own them or are paying for them..........

[Pete-M]

I do indeed work in car hire.

 

It's weird, because of the nature of the job cars do appear to be 'old' in no time at all. I've only been there a few months, when I started we were just getting a load of '10' plate cars dropped off. I had an '07 plate Octavia as my company wheels for a while (until I gave it back and started using the 3.5 SD1 instead) and even though I've worked on and off in car hire for close to 20 years and drive a 25 yr old car to work every day, the '07 / '57 plate stuff we had was very quickly beginning to feel old in a baggy and 'not as nice as a new one' kind of way.

 

My SD1 has less mechanical rattles and clunks than an '08 plate Octavia with 87k on the clock we've got in work, and they've recently got rid of a '57 plate Octavia that felt as if every suspension bush was missing even though it had only done 55k.

 

Then there's the model changes. The 'old' Superb is a lovely car, I like them enough to have considered finding a high mileage L&K TDi to use for Czech runs, and they feel very similar to the A6 I had until January (but ride better). The new Superb has made the old one feel very old indeed though. We've also got a few '59 plate Seat Alhambras, which feels very strange as we had pretty much identical ones when I worked for Avis 10 years ago.

 

Some of the cars in work do have a hard, hard life. It's the nature of the game. I can almost understand how the people I work with have got their "58 plate is ancient" mindset as after a year on hire some of the cars do feel like they're 15 years old.

 

Never fails to amaze me how none of them can tell when a car needs jobs doing though. I'm forever picking up on stuff and sending the cars in for warranty work when other people who work there reckon there is nothing wrong. Stupid stuff. Avensises (Avensii?) seem to need tracking doing every couple of months. CDTi Vauxhalls always need fixing (although they've now de-Vauxhalled the fleet, WOO!), Octavia handbrake release buttons squeak and rattle sometimes and they often need the gear linkage bushes replacing at 50ishK miles, Alhambras seem to develop weird clutch problems quite often.

 

Anyway.

 

I did a straw poll in work as to who's got the oldest car (not company ones). Chap I work with has an '09 Insignia and an '05 Galaxy, Boss has a mid '90s Merc SL in Spain and wants a '70s / '80s "Sue Ellen" 300SL to replace it, Office bloke has a '54' Scenic, other office bloke has the P reg Fiesta Ghia I mentioned earlier. Even the temp. driver turns up in an '09 plate Audi A3.

[Cavcraft]

Alas not. Seen all kinds at work ranging from a dog rough Sierra through stuff like wheezy old 309 petrols, a Rover 213 and a few other old choddish things, but considering there's a few hundred on site it's no surprise.

 

T'other side of work is where the big cheeses/big earners amass and it's often like a Porsche/Ferrari showroom

[AnthonyG]

You work for Euro(p)car Pete? - seem to remember reading they were ultimately owned by VW.

[Pete-M]

You work for Euro(p)car Pete? - seem to remember reading they were ultimately owned by VW.

Europcar is run by Mormons or summat. Besides, they don't pay enough.

 

Place I work for is small, privately owned, and rather strange. Good though.

[Formula Autos]

Hey Formula Autos, that sounds mental! Who was bothering you about it? In your position, I think I would have sold it and bought a Lincoln Continental Mark V with the optional 7.5L "big block", doubtful of their ability to do anything about it.

 

In conclusion, if someone asks you to do something you don't like the sound of, just do something completely absurd instead. Might seem daft at first, but they're unlikely to ask again.

I did actually think about replacing the Cougar with a V12 (5.3 litre) XJ-S, but I couldn't bear to get rid of the old girl, lovely though the Jag was. 'Er indoors wouldn't allow me to have 3 cars, and I couldn't afford to buy the Jag without selling the Cougar in any case. If I had got the Jag, my first task would have been to inform the guy who'd been cajoling me into getting a C1.

 

The whole "get a low CO2 car thing" isn't the only tiff I've had with them over cars. At one point they asked for my keys, the conversation went (approximately) thus:

 

Formula Autos (FA): Why?

 

Council Spod (CS): We need to put a no smoking sticker in your car.

 

FA: You're OK, I don't smoke. Besides which, I don't just hand my car keys over to anyone who asks.

 

CS: I'm sorry, but I have to put this sticker in your car. You can come down and let me into it if you prefer.

 

FA: I don't think so pal. You're not sticking anything to my car.

 

CS: I need to. It's your workplace, so it needs a no smoking sticker. They're up all round the building for that reason.

 

FA: It's not my workplace. It's my car.

 

CS: Yes it is. You go out on calls for the Council in your car. So you're in it while you're at work. So it's your workplace.

 

FA: But it's my property, and I don't want it defaced. Where were you wanting to stick it. (whispers) I have a suggestion.........

 

CS: It'll have to go on the dashboard.

 

FA: No.

 

CS: What do you mean no? I have to put this in your car.

 

FA: No. Absolutely not.

 

CS: I'll tell you what - I could always put it on the passenger window. It's for the benefit of passengers anyway, in case you smoke in the car.

 

FA: But I don't smoke.

 

CS: We don't know that.

 

FA: This is feckin ridiculous. You are NOT putting a no smoking sticker in my car. End of.

 

CS: Well, you won't get paid your mileage then.

 

FA: Feck off.

 

No more was heard about the matter, and all subsequent mileage claims have been paid. A colleague of mine meekly allowed them to put a sticker on the dashboard of his car, and come trade-in time couldn't peel it all off. The dealers he took it to naturally assumed, with such a sticker in place, that his car was a clocked taxi. They wouldn't even give him a trade-in price. He still has the car, with half a sticker on the dash.

[Spottedlaurel]

Yes, even if I'm in the P-reg Camry there's nothing older. I think there's only one other prefix-type registration out there, but it's only a small company I work for.

 

Having said that, I'd be seriously trumped if my boss brought some of his classic fleet in. I think the oldest he's got is a 1938 Riley.

[AnthonyG]

All that stuff about smoking in the workplace was bollocks, company car owners/users are allowed to smoke if the car is for their own use only.

 

It only applies in things like pool cars or vans, which are driven by more than one person.

[Lankytim]

Its not bollocks, its true! If its used for work then its classed as a work place- I.E you can't smoke. Im pretty sure it needs to have a no-smoking sign too!

 

You cant even smoke in it if you are using it in your own time, as during working hours any customers or clients that are in the passenger seat may breathe in some smoke residue and die instantly. Also any mechanics who work on the car may suffer a similar fate. Sorry to sound a bit pedantic but AFAIK thats the situation. Lorry drivers have had this problem for a while now.

[michiel]

That (non)smoking stuff sounds like a sketch from some unfunny 'comedy' show...

[Rusty Pelican]

Always have the oldest car no matter what im driving of my " fleet " , there is some tat here though , An N reg escrot and believe me it is , An escrot flight booted thing that never seems to run right and a couple of R reg Festers , A coulpe of Mundanos both old and now pink , even the bosses car is a 53 Avansis .

You can tell we are all highly paid just by looking at the chod

[catsinthewelder]

I'll have to see what the new years intake of teachers brings but they don't usually bring anything older than my soon to be former L reg 205. Our 'new' car is a 91 Citroen BX estate which should be the oldest regular. Theres a very tidy 1979 VW camper that has been seen at work and my rather rough 1974 example of the same makes the odd appearance.

 

There is an ex student who visits occasionally though with an MG that is so old it can legally have hand painted numberplates, I think its from about 1929.

[ChinaTom]

Its not bollocks, its true! If its used for work then its classed as a work place- I.E you can't smoke. Im pretty sure it needs to have a no-smoking sign too!

 

You cant even smoke in it if you are using it in your own time, as during working hours any customers or clients that are in the passenger seat may breathe in some smoke residue and die instantly. Also any mechanics who work on the car may suffer a similar fate. Sorry to sound a bit pedantic but AFAIK thats the situation. Lorry drivers have had this problem for a while now.

I used to work for a company that even back in the 90's had ridiculous anti-tobacco policies. All buildings were non-smoking save for one corner of a common room that had a big de-humidifier thing above it. Chairs were marked smoking and non-smoking. Even smoking in the car-park was banned although you could smoke in your car (even company cars) if you kept all windows rolled up. Sunroofs were not mentioned so those that had them continued to pollute. We had a few student placement chaps in those days who commuted on C50's and Honda Melodies etc and we convinced them that they needed to wear their crash helmets to have a fag in the car-park and to lower the visor if a manager was nearby.

 

All those working from home had better have no smoking signs all over their house.

 

Bloody ludricrous state of affairs tbh. Your home is someone else's place of work if they are carrying out repairs or trying to sell you double glazing etc.

[Gompo]

It wouldnt surprise me if all of our work vans/trucks (10ish) will have been smoked in over the average week.

[ProgRocker]

Thought that the oldest car regularly seen in my car park was an early K reg Mondeo. Parked right next to it was a red G reg Renault 5 Campus (were these models almost always in red??) which I forgot about.

 

I have seen a 1980s Ford Capri in the car park but I assume that it just makes cameo appearances on nice days.

[alfetta]

H reg merc 190. I said if they pay me more I'll get something else, otherwise they can stick it!

[Guest]

 

When I take my Amazon in, yes. Unless that director comes in with his Aurelia B20 (OMFG, no pictures available).

 

As you can see, Mini Cooper aside, our works car park is not exciting. There's an unscened Mk 2 Golf, a K10 Micra, the world's rustiest MOT'd Mk 3 Golf and an MA 70 Supra that belongs to a bloke working on another company within the business park.

 

The most Autoshite car belonged to a colleague of mine called Russell. It was an NA diesel Peugeot 309. It had been crashed 4 times (4!) and put back on the road each occasion. The windscreen surround was proud of the rubber so it pissed in rain everytime things went damp (solved by a Bass beer mat). It had 310k on the clock the last time I saw it and is currently chugging round Bude as a Russell's business vehicle, as that's where he relocated to.