So, how did your first car die?

[dollywobbler]

A comment on Facebook struck a nerve. It suggested that most 'first' cars end up dying a sad death.

 

In September 1995, I was gifted a B-reg Fiesta Popular by my folks. It had been badly brush painted bright red and had no working temperature gauge, but it did run at least. A strange clonking sound when hurtling down the local bypass on the day of collection (with the car full of friends by now) turned out to be loose wheelnuts!

 

This poor car was driven over speedhumps at far too fast a speed, made to donut when it snowed, crashed into kerbs when it snowed (several) which destroyed the suspension alignment. Then I clipped a barrier after misjudging a car park exit, crumpling the rear quarter. I ran out of money to insure it (monthly insurance!) after three months, so it spent another three months off the road while I got a job and saved up. It stopped ticking over one day, so I loosened and waggled the distributor until it did tickover. Strobe? Pah!

 

By Spring 1996, it had developed such a ridiculous coolant leak that I was forced finally to replace the leaky rad. Then the clutch started to slip. Being skint, I just kept on driving. I could release the clutch in second on a hill, and the car would hold position perfectly, but wouldn't pull away. I discovered this by accident as I thought I'd selected first. By keeping the revs up in lower gears, I was able to keep the car going for quite some time! Eventually, the clutch was replaced, but this was money very badly spent.

 

In June 1996, I was forced to concede that it was right royally ruined, and scrapped it for £30. The bodywork and suspension damage effectively wrote it off. A girlfriend's stepdad was not amused and told me it was fit only for the scrapheap. He was probably right, though he was certainly wrong that his little stepdaughter was an angle. You can't win them all.

 

So, the Fiesta was not a good return on the £520 invested by my parents...

 

So, how did your first car suffer?

[tonedepear]

I rammed it in to the back of a parked Pug 604 at speed whilst fumbling for a dropped tab.

 

saxo_1 by Tony Lloyd, on Flickr

[dollywobbler]

I hope '604' was a typo!

[tonedepear]

605!

[Lankytim]

My first motor was an Allegro in 1999. Had it six months and it went rusty and fell to bits. Hid it in a garage where it festered until it was weighed in in 2003.

 

I did not pull any ladies in this car.

[Tayne]

Rust.

 

Do you remember the episode of Wheeler Dealers where buys a Suzuki SJ without checking of the rear wheelarches and floor were attached to the body?

 

Well I didn't check that when I bought this.

 

3/4 by Tayne, on Flickr

[Cavcraft]

Hillman Hunter estate off singulary the dodgiest car trader of all time. Got annoyed with it, used a roller to paint the sides white (emulsion by the way) and painted some sperm swimming round on it in red paint. Eventually had enough of it and smashed it to bits with an axe and a hammer.

 

The very same death (by axe) also befell a hateful Marina I owned a short time afterwards.

[RoadworkUK]

I've never actually killed a car.

 

My first, the Triumph Acclaim, was still in the prime of life when I sold it to a mate of a mate for £250 after being given my first 800 (when I was 18).

 

I have condemned a car to a certain death, though. The 800 (E193GHJ) did me sterling (!) service through University, eventually being parked on the driveway when I got my first company BMW when I was 24. It then sat there, being ignored while I drove a series of company machines. I couldn't bear to get rid of it, so I still kept it taxed, MOT'd and, ridiculously, insured. Alas, it began to dissolve.

 

In my last year with it, it covered 15 miles between MOTs, but it only just scraped through the last one thanks to judicious use of DUCK tape. Eventually, my parents were responsible for the decision to move it on, they had just spent £4k block-paving the driveway and were fed up with rusty marks appearing. So I put it on eBay, still MOT'd and with a little bit of tax.

 

It sold for £46 to a guy who was alledgedly rebuilding a Vitesse. I cried when it got A-Framed away, coz I iz paftic.

 

(I sold the stereo for £80 for my Sister to put in her Puma).

[Craig the Princess]

I still own mine, a 4-speed, red 1991 1.1 Citroen AX TGE.

 

I did a happy 70,000 miles in that car upto 105,500ish. It's done fully loaded 5 up trips 100 miles to uni, been filled with house moves or a couple of bikes. And I'm not sure I've driven anything quicker to 40mph. I love that car.

 

However after being punted up the back by an MG TF (Thanks luv - and being young and not wanting the insurance company to write my first car off getting nowt for it) it hasn't been right. Still drives straight but the £30 I spent to pull i back to shape means it leaks like a ripped sieve and the windscreen also leaks. So a new boot floor and the windscreen out to repair that. Sadly the leaks have caused there to be two rust holes on the floor pan about the size of two 50p pieces long and one wide, one on either side of the car. One of which is an inch awau from the fuel line.

 

It also needs a rad, headlight and battery. And the driver door resprayed as it's pogweasel pink. And the bonnet as the lacquer is pealing. Oh and I need to fit an interior out of a scraped car I bought as the damp ruined the original one.

 

One day.

 

 

(The only picture I have of it on here, I'll try and take a couple on Sunday)

[jonathan_dyane]

The Dyane Cote d'azur referenced elsewhere.

 

It was absolutely rotten pretty much everywhere, but after I'd nursed it through an MOT (after father plated over the worst of the cancer) it lasted 8 months of terminal abuse, and I even managed to drive it to the Shetlands and back again. It's end came when, following the rectification leaking brake pipe, I discovered that one end of the rear axle tube was breaking free from the rotten chassis. I managed to get another chassis for next to nowt, but at that point realised that the body was well fucked too. Thankfully a free 2cv with snapped chassis and somewhat less fucked body turned up and saved the day...

 

Don't suppose free 2cv's turn up so much these days

[The Moog]

Rover 216 VDP head gasket went. Tried to fix it but did more damage so scrapped it!

 

Shame as I loved that car. The leather, the carpets, the electric windows

[cort16]

Rust. My first car was a cortina, which has already been in the family for 8 years before it found it's way into my possession. It was venetian red with a red interior, which I've only seen a couple of time since. My Dad was a painter and panel beater and had kept the car alive during his ownership thanks to various patches and spray jobs he'd do to it once a year to keep it presentable. Once it was in my tenure things started to slip as my Dad by that time had chucked the car game and gave all his tools (not to me) so there was no-one to do the work.

2 Years on it failed it's MOT and couldn't bare to part with it so I stashed it outside a mates under a cover for year then moved through the dead of night to a garage.

A year later when I went to get it I tried to jack it up to free the wheels off and I couldn't find a place the jack didn't go through the floor or chassis. A week later I towed it to the scrappies and didn't go back there for 2 years as I couldn't bare to have seen broken up and in bits. That car got me through a lot of hard times in my life, made a fantastic tour bus when I was in a band and was generally at the centre of the universe for me and my mates for it's ownerships.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The first three cars I owned (1970 Austin 1300, 1961 Rapier and 1972 Marina) were all hauled away by Hallet metals in Crewkerne. But I had no licence, didn't drive them on the road *cough* and they were rubbish anyway, 20 quids worth of scrap.

My first proper car - a 1977 Mini Van - was sold in 1987 and not seen again until a chance meeting with a Mini nutter who turned out to have owned it for the last 10 years.

Brings back some memories that does. Me and my Dad working outside in the freezing winter of 1984 replacing the rear subframe, brake pipes and the usual old Mini shit, the first solo drive without L plates, clouting a parked Golf, getting 90 on the clock down the A34 to Newbury.

[RedSparrow]

Probably told you all before but...

 

White Vauxhall Nova, D127 MKM.

Pulled out of my parents driveway without looking properly and the front was ripped off by an old chap in a brand new (at the time, R reg) Polo.

Luckily he was very nice about it, despite his wife who was in the passenger seat having to go to hospital after a heart attack. I was convinced for a few hours that she would die. Terrifying.

[M'coli]

Mine was a 1983 Metro 1.3HLE in black that I bought (alone!) from Graham Street Auctions in Glasgow in August 1990 for £900. Sold on to a guy named Guy the following June for £850, just as the clutch slave cylinder gave out. It had a new gearbox within a couple of months, and the last time I saw it in late 1991, the bonnet was held down with a bungee strap.

[ifc63]

Rust, old age and engine problems.

The only pics I've ever had of it are when it went to the scrap yard. c.1985.

[Father Ted]

I have only killed one car, and it wasnt my first - something like my 15th....

 

1992 Fiesta Popular - was stolen by one of my patients and joy ridden, recovered (by me) and pressed back into daily service following a bloody good clean to get rid of the finger print graphite, dimps, syringes and other injecting drug user paraphernalia.

 

Mock stick on bullet holes adorned the dented bits, a chubb bolt was affixed to the drivers door and the steering cowel was fixed back together with zip ties and gaffer tape.

 

Bloody thing threw a rod on the M55 and grenaded just 6 weeks later

[theorganist]

I didn't kill my first car although I think it was on borrowed time!

 

I got my first car in August 1992 when I was learning to drive. We (me and my parents) been looking at a few cars, Metro's, Allegro's etc around W reg when we saw this tidy looking A reg Renault 5TL in what we called Canary Yellow. The bottom third was painted hammerite. As a late mark 1 it had a (leaky) factory fit sunroof and a five speed gearbox. It was only eight years old and had done around 96,000 miles. I couldn't see beyond the fact that it was newer than the other cars, had a 5 speed gearbox................and a Sunroof. Well I had to have it. My friends loved it, the body roll was great, the seats were super soft and supremely comfy, girls seemed to love it, what more could I want?!

 

Within weeks it wouldn't start properly and eventually a blown headgasket was diagnosed. Shortly after the gasket was replaced and the head reskinned my father borrowed it to go to a meeting in Rubery. On the M42 the crankshaft went. We located a engine in a scrapyard in Wednesbury and had it fitted. It became obvious when it wouldn't start the the headgasket was suspect on that, so they fitted the good head from the old engine.

 

By now I was close to passing my test. It acually passed the MOT at the time with an advisory on a worn steering rack and subframe.The the circuit board behind the dashboard burnt out so we had not night time illumination. I eventually passed my test and started using the car. The speedo cable broke but I did not bother to get it fixed. One day I pulled onto a roundabout at Merry Hill whilst a nearly new Volvo 440 was speeding down the Pedmore Road, I thought I could beat it.....wrong its front nearside hit my front offside. The Volvo was badly damaged and the wheel was buckled so they had to wait for recovery. The R5's thick plastic bumpers had a fairly deep scratch and the bottom of the wing was a little dented. I was expecting carnage!!

 

I passed my test then got a job and started driving to work every day, it was okay for a few months although the oil pressure light regularly came on in traffice. I eventually traded it in at a local bomb site garage for what turned out to be an even worse W reg Fiesta!! The last thing I remember was seeing it driven away down the car lot and hearing the creak from the suspension. The garage actually managed to sell it on as the buyer rang us to ask if all the things he had found wrong with it had happened during our ownership!! From what I can recall I don't think it lasted much longer!!

 

It was a right pain in the arse to own it and I hated it by the end but loved it too as it was my first car. Would I have another, abosultely definately!!!! I think maybe another trip to France is in order next year.

[TimothyClaypole]

MK1 Golf Driver, couldn't afford a GTi so bought it purely because it looked a bit sporty against a normal MK1.

 

Had a piston replaced (my dad paid for it as I was skint) then suspect my lack of mechanical sympathy ie. driving it flatout on the M1 the 20 miles to work and back everyday killed the new piston

or something and I limped it into the back of the local VGA dealers as a px on a MK2 Golf 1.3.

 

I still feel bad over it.

[myglaren]

Hillman Minx that was pretty much a wreck when I bought it.

It was back at the garage I bought it from as the distributor shaft had sheared.

 

Went to collect it after leaving work and the place was closed.

Still closed when I called in on my way to work the following morning.

Caught them at lunch time.

 

"Haven't you heard"? says the guy.

Heard what? How would I when you were closed?

 

They had repaired it then taken it to the pub car park over the road - out of sight of their workshop, and left it there with the keys on the rear tyre.

 

Some local kids had knicked it and gone teararsing around the local pit heap. Tore the bottom out of it along with all the brake pipes etc.

 

Had to sue the buggers for the cost and damages as he wouldn't claim on his insurance - if he actually had any.

Replaced with a £60 Renault 4 that had been bounced off a drystone wall, so you can imagine how sleek that was.

Damned sight better than the Minx and cheaper to run too

[gdhaydock]

1st post on here, but have been lurking and reading for a while.

 

Anyway back to the topic in question......

 

1981 Austin Metro paid £500 for it in June 1994 - it was in good nick, one owner from new, always waxoyled and had something like 46000 miles on it.

 

I was 18 and driving home a bit quickly one evening, came round a bend to find another car coming the other way, no room for us both, so I drove into a row of parked cars on my left, seem to remember I hit a Renault 19 and pushed it into a MK2 golf.

 

Scrapped the car a week later and got £30 for it.

[dieselnutjob]

I sold my first car!

 

It was a 1978 Peugeot 305 diesel. Not the XUD but the 1.5 litre with the gearbox in the sump. 49bhp (or 42 with the cooling fan on). It had 350,000 miles on it when I sold it to a trucker. It was the cheapest diesel he could find and I'm pretty sure he was going to nick the fuel from work.

 

Second car was scrapped though. A 305 estate with XUD goodness. It was down on compression and the body was rotten having been written off three times.

[CreepingJesus]

^Welcome aboard Mr Haydock!

 

I scrapped my first car, an Astra Mk2 estate. I did nurse the old beast up to 187.000 miles, but the rust was getting a good hold. It wasn't that which was remarkable tho; it had a very distinctive dent on the bonnet, very much like what I'd assume a hit-and-run would look like. It came as a freebie with the car, and seemed to give it some presence...

Imagine my surprise, when I was able to drive trucks big enough to see over scrapyard walls, to see that bonnet poking up out of a pile of scrap, like the last wave of a drowning man. I've never felt as cold and methodical about scrappies ever since. Now I look at bits of twisted metal, and piles of loose wheels and wonder what the story was, of how they got there. Spooky...

[gdhaydock]

^Welcome aboard Mr Haydock!

 

Cheers - perhaps I should have done a 'hello' post first - anyway in retrospect 'Hello Everyone'

[pompei]

It was a Mini. I loved it and had just had it repainted. I was in a queue of traffic and was hit from behind by a large Peugeot (can't remember the model) which shunted me forward into the rear of a Morris Oxford ( ) crushing both front and rear. So that was that

[Volksy]

Mini 1100 Special, Hit a curb at 40mph, ripping the engine from it's mounts, cracking the inlet manifold, steering rack and diff casing.

 

Bodged back together, then punted through the auctions where it sold for £85, precisely £35 more than I paid for it.

[Bren]

My vauxhall royale was killed by a transit going into the back of it at 30 mph in July 1990 - all the panelwork was fooked but amazingly, the rear lights were'nt even cracked.

 

To be fair it was fucked before the accident - rust everywhere, strut tops had been repaired but even the metal the repairs were attached to was going. Plus the big Solex 4A1 carb was knackered, single figure mpg and a big cloud of black smoke when you mashed the accelerator.

 

Replaced it with a skanky X reg mk5 tina for £300 - after a clean up and some missing bits were replaced it was ok - had it for three months then part ex'd it against my first SD1 when I realised that the boot floor had gone AWOL.

[andrew e]

Hmmm had to not kill a 127, two mark one VW golfs (second one driver that I did lightly love tap a brand new mondeo glx in 93) before killing a 6 month old AX Derv I only owned a grand of... but hey I got a new one (+ I walk like a cripple now too as a bonus!) Annoyingly my dad would never loan me his car, or buy me one, but I can see his method now.

[maxpower]

my first car was a v-reg maxi in electric blue... it was a proper bus, i even moved house with it somehow managed to get a washing machine then a cooker in it with back seats down

 

then one day the council decided to resurface the road took the top layer off and left a fuggin great manhole cover in middle of the road...that night i goes driving along and BANG! took the sump clean off the car oil pissing everywhere like "car blood" so i switched his life support off and scrapped him

[Rusty Pelican]

Didnt kill my first car but had to rebuild it after hitting a bus of all things ,

I sold it in 87 where it sat on a drive til last year

 

 

In its hay day on Blackrock sands in 86

 

Its demize , 20 odd years sat outside with a leaky sunroof in N. Wales tends to kill cars