The most ‘enthusiast’ first car ever?

[Bales]

For context, this absolute lump was spotted in late 2023 by myself walking in London, and it came up on my photo shuffle so I had to share,

 

WHO is buying this as their first car? Fairs yk.

 

 

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[Muniphobia]

It could be that they inherited the car from a relative that has given up driving or passed away, that was how one of my friends ended up with a brown Montego as a first car

[Mr Pastry]

It's practical, probably very reliable, utterly boring, and best of all it's beige!!  What's not to like?

[comfortablynumb]

Insurance probably isn't too bad for a new driver either 

[Peter C]

There’s an AMG G-Wagen with red L plates round my way. 

Game, set and match.

[davehedgehog31]

16 minutes ago, Peter C said:

There’s an AMG G-Wagen with red L plates round my way. 

Game, set and match.

I think the OP means shite enthusiast, rather than nose beer enthusiast.

[Asimo]

6 hours ago, Bales said:

 

For context, this absolute lump was spotted in late 2023 by myself walking in London, and it came up on my photo shuffle so I had to share,

 

WHO is buying this as their first car? Fairs yk.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Sadly it only managed 81 miles in the year before it's last MOT in 2024...

[scaryoldcortina]

What's this I once heard, you drive a Bluebird.

You got no money for the petrol, that's what I heard. 

 

Maybe baby fratelli passed her test?

[Metal Guru]

My son wanted to have my Subaru when he passed his test as I was considering selling it. Then we got an insurance quote. £33k!  107 it is then.

[loserone]

4 hours ago, Peter C said:

red L plates

Mrs L1 wins so far in this thread 

[scaryoldcortina]

i was going to tag you and tony because of that

[Rust Collector]

My mrs started her driving career in a beige pre-facelift Favorit.

I’m not sure you could describe her as being enthusiastic about that experience though.

[barefoot]

My first car was a Chevette GLS saloon with an incredibly lush, blue velour interior and matching vinyl roof, what do I win?

[eddyramrod]

Ahem...

[danthecapriman]

My first automotive conveyance.

 

[LightBulbFun]

my first time driving a car, was in @Zelandeth's Lada Riva Estate, where I learnt the basics of Clutch control mainly, a brute of a thing but it was great, it meant the one thing I did *not* have an issue with going forward when. I started driving lessons with BSM etc, was clutch control  (I also after this but before and during BSM lessons drove a whole bunch of other cars and vehicles around the FoD to further refine my driving ability)

steering took a bit* of getting used to!, i'd still love to get the oppertunity to drive a Lada Riva like this again, see how I do this time round now I know what I am doing  (where is L212HBW now? no MOT since 2021...)

and funnily enough at the same very same time as that I was also emailed my first glimpse at what I would go onto purchase as my first car (and sole mode of Transport until very recently)

no pictures of it with P plates because it was generally conceded on these pages it was best not to advertise yourself as a target like that so to speak!

 

it would not be until some 5 years after passing my driving test, that I would get behind something with a steering wheel again!

[Imhotep]

Sadly myself and Mrs Imhotep didn’t have anything overly interesting. Though hers was better than mine. I had an automatic Corsa B donated to me but I guess you’d have to REALLY like cars to put up with a 45bhp auto with no PAS and HGF so you had to drive around with the heater on in summer? Couldn’t afford to mend it so just went until it ran out of compression, put the tax in as it nearly had a year, scrapped it, bought a Peugeot 106 with the tax refund and the scrap money. 
 

Mrs Imhotep had a 306 DTurbo. I really liked this thing. Not really an odd choice for a first car but an odd choice of engine. Most went for the 1.4 petrol. As a second car she’d like my GT86.

 

[Datsuncog]

Back in 1997, most of my schoolchums were passing their driving test and getting into a secondhand Nova or Fiesta, a new Corsa B (posh kids), or borrowing the family estate car.

I deliberately chose to liquidate my Halifax savings account and buy a seventeen year old Cortina in a dubious shade of green:

(My first choice would have been a MkIV Zodiac, but they were a bit thin on the ground plus the 3.0 V6 might have been a hard sell to insurers)

My parents weren't best pleased, and a girl I was trying to impress literally creased over with laughter at the sight of it.

NO REGRETS

[scooobydont]

Fiat 127gt, found an actual pic of it as well on the googles (I think this was after I owned it, I never had a cat):

 

[Somerset Suffolk]

HHW298L   bought off a mate in 1982 (passed my car test in 1981 but carried on riding motorbikes)  The bonnet had "FORD" and the pin pattern for the "F" and the "D" were the same, so I swopped them over so it said "DORF".... hilarious ........ 

[Six-cylinder]

8 hours ago, Peter C said:

There’s an AMG G-Wagen with red L plates round my way. 

Game, set and match.

When my younger son came to driving age his mother had a Golf GTi and there was no problem adding him as a learner to the insurance. As soon as he passed his test they refused to cover him any more!

[St.Jude]

55 minutes ago, Imhotep said:

Mrs Imhotep had a 306 DTurbo. I really liked this thing. Not really an odd choice for a first car but an odd choice of engine. Most went for the 1.4 petrol. As a second car she’d like my GT86.

Speaking as someone who's first car was a Peugeot 306 XLdt with the 1.9 turbo diesel engine - I know why.

Insurance.

The diesel 306 I had was group 5 I think. £1,500 to insure for the year 3rd Party/Fire/Theft/Wank.

My sister had a 1.2 Clio and that cost £2,200 to insure for me.

Insurance logic.

[Imhotep]

1 minute ago, St.Jude said:

Speaking as someone who's first car was a Peugeot 306 XLdt with the 1.9 turbo diesel engine - I know why.

Insurance.

The diesel 306 I had was group 5 I think. £1,500 to insure for the year 3rd Party/Fire/Theft/Wank.

My sister had a 1.2 Clio and that cost £2,200 to insure for me.

Insurance logic.

I think it was a me special that, in truth. It was on L plates with me supervising, she’s never passed a driving test (and still hasn’t!), basically any car was cheap to insure, but she decided a diesel was the thing she wanted. I may have encouraged that by saying they’re a bit more forgiving if you’re learning and haven’t mastered clutch control yet. 

[Missy Charm]

18 hours ago, Bales said:

 

For context, this absolute lump was spotted in late 2023 by myself walking in London, and it came up on my photo shuffle so I had to share,

 

WHO is buying this as their first car? Fairs yk.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hooray, I win something!  My first car was also a Nissan Bluebird, albeit a hatchback one.  Unfortunately, that was back in the days when driving any sort of non-performance Japanese car marked one out as the opposite of a car enthusiast.  

If you've never driven one: reliability is excellent, practicality is practical, equipment is lavish and everything else is awful.  Attempting to corner at any speed higher than 15 mph induced tyre squeal to rival any car chase in The Streets of San Francisco.  

[MorrisItalSLX]

[inconsistant]

My first car.

Absolute fanny magnet.

[Dan302]

First car having just passed my test.

 

[vaughant]

Wasn't mine but a girl I was in school with had a pink Riley elf as her first car in about 1993. One of those girls who I knew, got on ok with, but never really thought much of until we left but she was actually friends with my Mrs from college who didn't know we knew each other until we met up one night and all sort of said " ah that Barbara" and " ah that Vaughan, got it".

We went out a few times and fair play I hadn't realised quite how  shapely and attractive she was, seemed pretty fancy free after a few drinks as well, really good laugh. Mad how you miss things like that when you're young.

She was one of those girls who looked a LOT older than she was so she didn't waste time and started going straight into town when she was 15/16 when we were still going into Mumbles.

I saw her in college one day in the elf and must admit I have ever heard or seen one until then. It must have been 35 years old then. Fair play, cool girl, cool car.

[Weird Car]

Not my first car but the first car I used as a daily after passing my test, LHD column change 

[quicksilver]

My first car was a 25-year old beige Mk1 Fiesta when my friends all had modern dross like Saxos, Micras and Corsas. It was quite a nice thing to drive, crap brakes aside, and had the best unassisted steering I've ever encountered.

No MOT since 2017 but it's SORN so hopefully still alive somewhere and apparently now painted black.

After the Fiesta I moved on to this. Only a 1300 so a bit of a slow and heavy barge but not a bad old thing really.

Last seen sold on eBay in 2023 and also now SORN but I think it was taxed until recently.