Some of my shite from the past

[eddyramrod]

Now I think I've got the photos figured out, here are (or should be) some pics of cars I've had, before they were classics. There's no particular order to them and most of them don't even have interesting stories, except to me of course.

 

Bear in mind: I always paid as little as possible, until maybe 11 years ago when I bought my first Cadillac, which kind of pushed me into new ground.

 

 

As mentioned in another thread: these are my Sweeney set, from 1985. The Granada was a 3.0GL auto, which was just what I wanted; however it was a Friday afternoon engine, which was just what I didn't want! Three sets of head gaskets inside a year... The Cortina 2000GT was an emergency measure when the Granada went in for more surgery, and I was always convinced it was ex-Lancashire Constabulary, as I remember they used these in plain colours in Blackpool. My suspicion was borne out by Corgi, when they released their Lancashire Mk3 Cortina with the number plate UTF 382L. Look at mine: 367.

[CortinaDave]

The enquiry is complete

The vehicle details for UTF 367L are:

 

Date of Liability 01 09 1986

Date of First Registration 05 12 1972

Year of Manufacture Not Available

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 2000CC

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type Petrol

Export Marker Not Applicable

Vehicle Status Unlicensed

Vehicle Colour YELLOW

Vehicle Type Approval

Vehicle Excise Duty Rate for vehicle

6 Months Rate £112.75

12 Months Rate £205.00

 

The enquiry is complete

The vehicle details for NRK 737P are:

 

Date of Liability 01 02 1986

Date of First Registration 03 05 1976

Year of Manufacture 1976

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 2994CC

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type Petrol

Export Marker Not Applicable

Vehicle Status Unlicensed

Vehicle Colour BLUE

Vehicle Type Approval

This vehicle can be licensed at a DVLA Local Office without the V5C Registration Certificate

Vehicle Excise Duty Rate for vehicle

6 Months Rate £112.75

12 Months Rate £205.00

 

Didnt survive long after your ownership!

[eddyramrod]

Thanks Dave. I know about the Granada, it was me that sent it to scrap. DVLA really should get on their game: the Cortina would be entitled to free tax, if it still existed. I have a friend over here restoring a 2000GXL, and he's a young bloke too, so there's hope for the future.

Ian's Cortina

[Formula Autos]

Want a little replica of your yellow Cortina eddy?

 

http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/76/76cor ... Yellow.htm

[Pillock]

DVLA really should get on their game: the Cortina would be entitled to free tax, if it still existed.

DVLA? Giving stuff away?

They make you jump through a hoop or two to get free tax, it doesn't just happen automatically so it's correctly listed if plopped off the tax radar before anyone applied.

[eddyramrod]

I would be very surprised if it was taxed at all after I sold it, but apparently it must have been, judging from the date of liability. I only had it a few weeks and didn't renew when the tax ran out, so I guess the next owner spent some money on it. Only to drop it a year later? Strange.

 

And thanks Formula, but I'm working on a rather battered Corgi. I started it long before the four-door Vanguards version appeared, and given that they haven't come down to project price yet, I'll persevere.

[eddyramrod]

Just in case you missed it elsewhere...

As I was saying about Maxis! I hated this car, it was a bag of shit from day one. Doesn't matter now, it's 24 years since I sold it.

Talk about dream fleet... I wished then, and still wish, I could have kept these two and run them both. My 1978 Daimler Sovereign LWB 4.2, and my 1980 Buick Century Limited. Two gorgeous cars, seen here in the spring of 2003, the brief time I owned them both.

This is me at 18, in 1977, with my 1961 Vauxhall Velox Hydramatic. I know you can't tell here, but it was maroon and grey, a lovely combination. The floor was shot, the gearbox was shot, the engine ran if it wanted to...

OUCH!!! This is the Orion that I was rear-ended in, as told in another thread. I'd bought it as an emergency measure when the Daimler went in for surgery, and when this happened, the Daimler had gone and I had the black Buick. I often wonder how different things might have been if I'd gone to work in the Buick that morning. I was hit by a Clio, I rather think I would have wiped her off with a sponge when I got to work.

[HillmanImp]

That maxi is the original Ratlook. Great collection of cars mate.

 

Never driven a maxi. They do get a lot of love on here, but I cannot comment. They are looking better with age I think.

[FredTransit]

Bump for a real thread.....

[eddyramrod]

Thank you Imp. Trust me, the ol' Maxi will get no love at all from me, it was nothing but trouble until I replaced it with a 1967 Fiat 500 (pics to follow). Whole load of cars I haven't shown you yet...

 

Speaking of which, have a shot of my parents!

This was 20 years ago, so they would be in their late 60s. My mum is cavorting with the second of their three Lada estates, bought for 50 quid IIRC, and the big black thing is my second Princess, a 2.0HLS. It was destroyed by a careless VW Polo on the way to work one morning. I really shouldn't go to work, that's how my cars get broken... Oh hang on, over here I don't have a job, so that's ok!

[eddyramrod]

Oh yeah... and this is what happened to my lovely Princess, December 1990. Be careful of red Polos trying to turn into their driveways across your path, when you're driving a black car in daylight.

[eddyramrod]

I thought we'd have a few vans for a change.

This CF came first, in the summer of 1983. I called it Thunderbird 2 (big and green and carried everything...). In the time I had it, it carried my sister home from hospital, a drummer to a regular gig, a piano and a boat. Also, as I was roadsweeping that year, it made a great lunchtime sanctuary. I could hide in the back and eat in peace.

Marina van was next up, still in 83. My dad happened to chat to an Irish traveller who came looking for scrap, and thus began a long friendship (my dad was from Dublin). This is one of many vehicles we acquired from Johnny, usually for next to nothing. I remember there was some work done on this van, then for no reason I can recall it was parked in the back garden. It did make a handy shed for the next 8 years or so.

Viva van was the second of two, again from Johnny. It had been a British Rail van from new, then repainted red for a local plumbing firm, and my dad brushed it in this rather fetching blue. I wouldn't mind finding one here!

How about a Peugeot 304 van? This was lovely to drive, the seats were really comfy, but it didn't stand up very well in regular use. Another one from Johnny...

I swopped my Mk5 Cortina for this in 1993. What was I thinking!!! I can only plead mitigating circumstances, as I was rather ill at the time, but wasn't diagnosed until later. I hated this thing, it was nothing but trouble.

 

Let's rescue some old vans, they deserve a dignified retirement instead of the casual death they usually get (and which all of these got).

[RedSparrow]

Thanks for these, I love old photos like this.

 

Blimey how fast was the Polo going to smash the Princess up like that?!

[eddyramrod]

Thanks for these, I love old photos like this.

 

Blimey how fast was the Polo going to smash the Princess up like that?!

He was hardly moving! I was doing about 30 - in traffic so I couldn't be speeding - and with maybe two Princess-lengths between us, he decided to make the turn into his drive. Right across my path. I jammed on the brakes, but you can see the result. Somewhere I had a photo of his car too, if I ever find it I'll scan it. They rebuilt the Polo and wrote mine off.

[eddyramrod]

I showed off my Polonez on another thread, but here it is from a different angle, with my dad's, and my mate's. Oh hang on, Dave's isn't a Polonez at all!

In fact it's the oldest car of the trio, a 1982 Audi Coupe 5E, or was it 5S? Anyway it was a 5-cylinder 2-litre automatic, so easily the most powerful car in the shot! I was so struck by the resemblance that I painted up a couple of Matchbox Audis and you know, they do make a pretty acceptable Polonez.

(Mine's the one with the Astra plastic hubcaps...)

[CortinaDave]

Superb ! A fleet of Polonezes - (Polonii??) Top work sir. Were they as miserable to drive as they are made out to be? Im half tempted to have a roadtrip to poland to get one.

[eddyramrod]

Superb ! A fleet of Polonezes - (Polonii??) Top work sir. Were they as miserable to drive as they are made out to be? Im half tempted to have a roadtrip to poland to get one.

Actually no! Could have done with more engine, they used a "development" of the old Fiat 1500 OHV. Mine had a 5-speed box, which seemed to help a bit, and ok, the fit of the plastics especially was laughable, but the seats were extremely comfy, and being RWD and leaf-sprung the chassis was actually fun. All-round disc brakes too! Slip in a Fiat Twink and you're laughing. And never mind Poland, I can find you some here!

[CortinaDave]

Ha ! Yeah I remember going on holiday to Lindos on Rhodes a couple of years ago and being knackered after a night flight and bus transfer, but being hugely cheered up by seeing a scabby white Polonez with a donkey tied to it outside the flat.

[eddyramrod]

You know why things like Ladas and Polonezes were reputed to be "awful to drive?" Because they were being tested by people who drove nothing but the latest press hacks, all at the manufacturers' expense. These people were (and still are, Mr Clarkson) as out of touch as any politician. In the real world Joe Public just wants a cheap reliable car that he can fit his family in. This was it.

[Marshall]

Yeah, top marks for the FSOs.

I love unusual stuff like those. Id quite like one really just to be different. I cant remember when I last saw one on the road. Remember sitting in them at the Motorshow when I was about 12. I liked them even then because they were unusual.

Wouldnt say no to a 125p either.

Still have loads of old FSO brochures.