Take your pick….

[Popsicle]

Really difficult to pin it down to just 5, but I reckon:

1979 Brown, Triumph Dolomite 1500 HL - my first car
1977 Old English White, series 2 Jag XJ6C
1986 White, Ford Sierra XR4x4, pre facelift
1979 Yellow, Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 GLS Sportshatch
1999 Saffron, Volvo V70R AWD

I think if you asked again in a few weeks, the list would be different.

[eddyramrod]

There's a surprising number of Triumph Dolomites on these pages.  I wonder if that says something?  I had one, although it doesn't make the list...

[Popsicle]

39 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

There's a surprising number of Triumph Dolomites on these pages.  I wonder if that says something?  I had one, although it doesn't make the list...

I have a soft spot for mine as it was my first car, so freedom and not being reliant on public transport/push-bike was an amazing feeling.

I don't think it was a very good car though - although the wooden dash and velour seats were pretty special.

[purplebargeken]

I have a very, very deep liking of the small Triumph saloons having had numerous Dolomites, Toledos, 1500 TC’s,  1300 FWD’s and 1500FWD’s. I passed my test in a Dolomite and my first legal car was a K reg Toledo. Comfy, nippy enough and mostly easy to work on.

Anyway, hopefully plans are under way to obtain my Alumina Green MGF, will keep you all posted if interested.  I actually think that this might be only the second time I have re-bought a previously owned car, first one was the satin black Toledo that graces these pages at times.

[Dan302]

MK1 fiesta quartz which I owned for a few weeks when I was 16 (it was very rotten)

1980 Triumph Dolomite 1500HL I had before I passed my test

1979 Triumph Dolomite Sprint, my first car on the road after passing my test in 2003

1995 Peugeot 106 diesel, my 2nd car, knackered but ace!

Not sure any of my other cars would be interesting enough to own again!

[catsinthewelder]

Not sure why the older photos came out so small but it's the ones that were fun but hard to fix.

[AndyW201]

I've been doing it wrong obviously with only 26 cars owned in 34 years of driving! Out of those, the 5 I'd like back are,

(Not mine, but identical to this one). 1988 Fiesta Mk2 1.4S in white with grey lower half. My third car, and the first decent car I owned.

Mk1 Escort,l 1300L, owned back in 1995/6 when four-doors were worth sod-all. Bit spicy this one with a 1600 X-flow from a Mk2, 4-2-1 manifold, Swift big-bore exhaust, factory servo'd discs, heavy duty gas shocks and Mk2 Ghia seats. Solid throughout having been Dinitrol'd when new. Bought as a project as it had failed its MOT and was going to be banger raced. I saved it, got the brakes working again with a repacement servo, and scraped an MOT, but I was young and stupid and already had a new car on finance at the time. I couldn't devote the time to get the Escort tip-top so I sold it in the local Ad-Mag, to a guy who turned out to be the last but one owner. Sadly I think it ended up being a spares car for one of his other Fords.

In 2004, after a fair few years on the 'new car on finance' merry go round, I wanted to go back to something retro and cheap, so I ended up with this 190E. Mechanically it was the bottom of the range with the 1.8 engine and 5 speed manual, but it had the full Sportline package with the chassis pack (lowered and uprated with 22mm lowering springs, Sachs gas shocks, thicker anti-roll bars, quicker steering box and wider wheels and tyres.), It also had the much rarer four-seater interior pack with bigger bolsters up front, and individualised rear seats, also heavily bolstered, smaller leather steering wheel and leather gearknob with sportline logo. Also had a nice Becker radio cassette as it had been ordered direct from the factory and used in Germany for a while before being registered over here.  Sadly it never ran 100%, it always had a light misfire when accelerating that I spent a fortune trying to fix, and got pissed off and sold it. Wasn't until I joined the owners forum with another 190 that I realised just what a rare spec that car was.

Out of all the 190s I owned, this was my all time fave, it ticked all the boxes. Bornite paint, 2.6 straight 6 engine with auto box, Sportline chassis package again, but with the 'comfort' leather interior this time, and most of the options list ticked. Quite rare being a factory order car on an L plate, one of the last before the run-out LE models.

I loved my little Allegro! After getting the red 190, I had a taste for something even more retro. Values of Allegros were on the floor still at that time. I got this off ebay for £200 with 49,000 on the clock, 3 owners, 11 months MOT and a wad of service history you could knock out a shirehorse with. First owner did 11,000 miles in 21 years, second owner only trailered it to shows. Third owner I bought it from had used it as her daily for 3 years in all weathers and it never put a foot wrong. Absolutely rock solid, the Dinitrol underneath had done it's job, Wings, inner wings, tie bar and subframe mounts were like new. As can be seen, I went a bit mad with NOS accessories, I loved the early SS wheel trims, so they went on, along with some NOS series 1 mudflaps, brown vinyl MG Midget headrests, matching Tex passenger side mirror, Equipe front spoiler (I also fitted a set of VdP driving lights in there eventually) and, I had to do it, a brown Quartic wheel... F-I-L supplied a 1970s Pioneer radio cassette that he'd had in his Mk3 Cortina years ago!

Quite a few more spring to mind, but I managed to narrow it down to 5...

[Imhotep]

In no particular order:

My Saxo VTS:

 

My 306 cabriolet:

 

My auto sinker Xantia:

 

My BMW 116d:

And last but certainly not least, my Peugeot 405 GLX:

[purplebargeken]

Some really, really great cars being picked. Admired the Allegro mentioned!

[barefoot]

Only one. The third and final Audi 200T C2 that I owned. VTV 10Y.

[Matty]

Just now, AndyW201 said:

I've been doing it wrong obviously with only 26 cars owned in 34 years of driving! Out of those the 5 I'd like back are,

(Not mine, but identical to this one). 1988 Fiesta Mk2 1.4S in white with grey lower half. My third car, and the first decent car I owned.

Mk1 Escort,l 1300L, owned back in 1995/6 when four-doors were worth sod-all. Bit spicy this one with a 1600 X-flow from a Mk2, 4-2-1 manifold, Swift big-bore exhaust, factory servo'd discs, heavy duty gas shocks and Mk2 Ghia seats. Solid throughout having been Dinitrol'd when new. Bought as a project as it had failed its MOT and was going to be banger raced. I saved it, got the brakes working again with a repacement servo, and scraped an MOT, but I was young and stupid and already had a new car on finance at the time. I couldn't devote the time to get the Escort tip-top so I sold it in the local Ad-Mag, to a guy who turned out to be the last but one owner. Sadly I think it ended up being a spares car for one of his other Fords.

In 2004, after a fair few years on the 'new car on finance' merry go round, I wanted to go back to something retro and cheap, so I ended up with this 190E. Mechanically it was the bottom of the range with the 1.8 engine and 5 speed manual, but it had the full Sportline package with the chassis pack (lowered and uprated with 22mm lowering springs, Sachs gas shocks, thicker anti-roll bars, quicker steering box and wider wheels and tyres.), It also had the much rarer four-seater interior pack with bigger bolsters up front, and individualised rear seats, also heavily bolstered, smaller leather steering wheel and leather gearknob with sportline logo. Also had a nice Becker radio cassette as it had been ordered direct from the factory and used in Germany for a while before being registered over here.  Sadly it never ran 100%, it always had a light misfire when accelerating that I spent a fortune trying to fix, and got pissed off and sold it. Wasn't until I joined the owners forum with another 190 that I realised just what a rare spec that car was.

Out of all the 190s I owned, this was my all time fave, it ticked all the boxes. Bornite paint, 2.6 straight 6 engine with auto box, Sportline chassis package again, but with the 'comfort' leather interior this time, and most of the options list ticked. Quite rare being a factory order car on an L plate, one of the last before the run-out LE models.

I loved my little Allegro! After getting the red 190, I had a taste for something even more retro. Values of Allegros were on the floor still at that time. I got this off ebay for £200 with 49,000 on the clock, 3 owners, 11 months MOT and a wad of service history you could knock out a shirehorse with. First owner did 11,000 miles in 21 years, second owner only trailered it to shows. Third owner I bought it from had used it as her daily for 3 years in all weathers and it never put a foot wrong. Absolutely rock solid, the Dinitrol underneath had done it's job, Wings, inner wings, tie bar and subframe mounts were like new. As can be seen, I went a bit mad with NOS accessories, I loved the early SS wheel trims, so they went on, along with some NOS series 1 mudflaps, brown vinyl MG Midget headrests, matching Tex passenger side mirror, Equipe front spoiler (I also fitted a set of VdP driving lights in there eventually) and, I had to do it, a brown Quartic wheel... F-I-L supplied a 1970s Pioneer radio cassette that he'd had in his Mk3 Cortina years ago!

Quite a few more spring to mind, but I managed to narrow it down to 5...

That Allegro 😍. A series or E?

[AndyW201]

3 hours ago, Matty said:

That Allegro 😍. A series or E?

A series, 1275. Always loved the 1275 engine, always seemed to punch above it's weight and sounded nice and snorty when giving it some. My mate Dave was a Mini fanatic and he said the Allegro felt just like a big, comfier Mini. He was so keen on it that he actually bought it off me.

[ProgRocker]

The bar is set low but maybe the 1999 SEAT Ibiza 1.4 S I crashed and the 'stop gap' 1994 Ford Escort diesel saloon that came after it. 

[Verysleepyboy]

For me it would have to be:

1981 Fiat 127 Mk3 Super 5 speed - first car nostalgia
1982 Talbot Samba S - amazing little car until it caught fire.......
1981 Land Rover SWB diesel. Unreliable and stuff kept falling off - but I learnt a lot when putting stuff back on
1993 Citroen ZX Aura TD - one owner car bought from my dad and a fabulous motor in every respect, wish I had kept it!
2001 Mazda MX5  mk2.5 - probably one of the best cars I ever had but I didn't really appreciate it or look after it properly.

Lots of other "good cars", motorbikes and camper vans but none I really bonded with as much as the above.