What year would you go back to?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You're the same responsible adult you are now, but for one year only, you can go back in time to any year you want. Take your wealth with you but it stays as it is - so your house value (for example) stays at £85000 or whatever and isn't adjusted down to 3 shillings and tuppence. Where would you go, and what would you do?

 

Me? 1977. A good hot summer and wicked snowdrifts in the winter. Go to Stranglers and Pistols concerts, buy a decent farmhouse with a few outbuildings for 20 grand. Buy an unrusty urestored RS1600 for £800. Go to a Ford dealer and order a Signal Orange Capri 3000S, and by November buy an early Maxi for £300 for the coming winter. Drive past Longbridge and see them all out on strike. Know that Elvis is going to die soon, but there's all the Silver Jubilee stuff to cheer you up and a banging Queen album. Bang your foxiest schoolteacher.

 

Spend 3-4 days a week driving around the country, hoovering up the cheap/solid but tatty Mexicos, Mini Coopers and S's, 3.8 E Types and stick them all in your barn. Buy wisely, and retire on what they're going to be worth.

 

Don your Rallye Sport quilted jacket, stock up on sarnies.Thermos and watch the RAC rally.

 

And bang - you're back in 2011.

[Guest]

1973. After gazing in wonder through the Austin dealers window at the new Allegro I would get into my Vauxhall Victor fd

and cruise the streets while listening to Slade on the stereo. May even buy and store mk1 Lotus cortinas and spares for the future

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I would get into my Vauxhall Victor fd

 

 

Surprised you wouldn't 'go Transcontinental' and get yourself an FE.

 

2200SL with individual fronts and floor shift, job done.

[M'coli]

If financial gain and security were the only reason, then 1974, buy a barn and any flat-floor E-types and Manx Nortons that came up. Otherwise, I couldn't make the decision. 1979, for the first full season of ground effect Formula 1 with all the weird developments going on? Summer 1985-summer 1986, for the full-fat Group B experience? One of the years in the mid-sixties during the Japanese expansion and domination in motorbike Grand Prix but prior to the rules being tightened? 1957, for the V8 Moto Guzzi? These are just a few of many wonderful opportunities - I wouldn't be able to make my mind up!

[ashmicro]

1980, just to experience the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Oh, and buy as many 2 door mark 2 Escorts as I could. I also remember going to The Ulster Motor Show to see the new mark 3 Escort. The car was cordoned off, but the chap from Ford let me and my Dad sit in the car anyway. He must have known, because 11 years later I bought one!

[Guest]

I would get into my Vauxhall Victor fd

 

 

Surprised you wouldn't 'go Transcontinental' and get yourself an FE.

 

2200SL with individual fronts and floor shift, job done.

 

The FD is the best looking old Vauxhall ever made - The FE is good but the FD wins every time

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I would get into my Vauxhall Victor fd

 

 

Surprised you wouldn't 'go Transcontinental' and get yourself an FE.

 

2200SL with individual fronts and floor shift, job done.

 

The FD is the best looking old Vauxhall ever made - The FE is good but the FD wins every time

 

You're not wrong, but an FE Ventora with vinyl roof and Rostyles is a knee trembler.

 

 

Motor shows - I stick with '77 really. The full glory of BL, the Porsche 928, the first 7 Series, the Fiesta, Audi 100 Avant and LHD Golf GTi.

I think 1977 was the first NEC show, and the NEC is magnificent because of it's mediocrity/expanse ratio.

 

As my Dad said upon viewing the Ambassador at the 1982 NEC - with a completely serious deadpan face - "It has to be said - that's a lot of crap for the money".

[Rusty Pelican]

Id go back to whenever gullwing Mercs were cheapest and hoover up a barnload of them ,

 

[boobydoo]

The first NEC Motor Show was 1978. I remember going up there as a teenager in the back of the parents Marina. Funnily enough, I don't recall much about the show...but I do still have a 'Chrysler News '79' brochure thing outlining all the exciting models on display on the Chrysler stand.

 

 

The Horizon launch was imminent but everything else was pretty long in the tooth. Avenger, Hunter, 180, Simca.

 

It must have been a Sunday cos I remember listening to the Top 40 on the way home. Donna Summer 'MacArthur Park' was played I'm sure. How weird to remember that?

[dollywobbler]

The 1960s please. Not sure which year, but I want all of the hippy stuff, including a British-built 2CV with flowers painted on it. Ideally, I'd have enough money to buy myself an E-Type, which I could then enjoy on the speed-limit-free motorways. Would also be good fun to own something like a brand new Fairthorpe Zeta, just because people were still selling brand new cars built in sheds.

[Cavcraft]

I'd go back to about the middle of the sixties and I wouldn't be taking money. I'd be taking Japanese motorbikes of the seventies and give them to Triumph, BSA and Norton, followed by me begging them to steal the technology and use it wisely.

[Craig the Princess]

I'd go back to about the middle of the sixties and I wouldn't be taking money. I'd be taking Japanese motorbikes of the seventies and give them to Triumph, BSA and Norton, followed by me begging them to steal the technology and use it wisely.

 

Even if you did, they would have ignored you

[Guest]

In a Back to the Future and Life on Mars type of story we could take knowledge with us and change a few wrongs. I would go back to the end of ww2 and make the Rootes group keep the VW Beetle they dismissed as no use - thus turning around their fortunes and giving us the possibility of a genuine UK car manufacturer today.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The first NEC Motor Show was 1978.

 

Arse. Earls Court it is then.

 

 

The NEC Motor Show (for me at least) is sorely missed. It really was a great day out. My first was 1982 with stuff like the Sierra, facelift Rover SD1. Metro Turbo etc being launched. I went again in 1986 - 16v Golf, Rover 800, XJ40, Alfa 75 and Sierra Cosworth. Again in 1988 with the E34 5 Series and about 3-4 times in the 1990's. The last one I went to was a bit shit as neither BMW or Alfa Romeo were there - two big reasons to go to the NEC and drool. Apparently it's the NEC's greed that killed it off - and the manufacturers (for whom it was always a loss making event) told them to fuck off. Nice one NEC - a massive money making three day event down the pan.

 

I'd like to go back to 1965, walk into Vincents (Austin) in Yeovil and get a new Cooper S on order - Tartan red with black roof, reclining seats, extra fuel tank and an oil cooler. Wouldn't it feel very odd though to inhabit a time before you were born? At least I remember the seventies.

[scaryoldcortina]

I have been thinking about this a bit today, I've decided the best plan would be to travel back to around 1850, invent the 2 and 4 stroke internal combustion engines and get proper patents on them. Even my modest means now would equate to a fortune back then too, and on my return I would be fabulously wealthy and able to buy anything I wanted.

 

There is a small possibility that my actions would cause an alternate future where gas engines were never developed and the Talbot Tagora was a luxury 4 horse carriage instead, but it's a risk worth taking. It's either that, or 1985 and steal Doc Brown's DeLorean.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It's either that, or 1985 and steal Doc Brown's DeLorean.

 

Hmmm, and a PRV V6 crossing the space/time continuum isn't ridiculous at all........

[warren t claim]

After giving it careful consideration I think if I had the chance I'd go back to 2010.

[scaryoldcortina]

It's either that, or 1985 and steal Doc Brown's DeLorean.

 

Hmmm, and a PRV V6 crossing the space/time continuum isn't ridiculous at all........

 

There was a DMC-12 at Santa Pod (retro show) which made 82mph up the strip. Everyone was disappointed.

[scooters]

I like it now - ok it could be better re economy etc but the good thing is most chod I like is now pretty cheap whereas when it was new I would never have been able to afford it,

 

However, if you were to seal me up in a cave afte4r sending me back in time - to wake up today then I would say mid 60's - I would buy up EVERY scrap splitty and chuck them in a lake for 50 years so I could recover them and sell them to pricks for £20k a pop

[warren t claim]

2011 is a great year to be a shiter.

 

There's so much affordable chod out there for the taking. Nowadays we can buy a decent family saloon that will be reliable and safe for less than £500. In years to come the VED rates will kill all the interesting shite off the roads and what's left will be a diesel powered DMF/particulate filter failmobiles.

 

We've never had it so good.

[George-Roper]

1987 / 1988 So I could nip round to Powertrain / Rover and tell them that the K series headgasket will kill off the company.

[dollywobbler]

1987 / 1988 So I could nip round to Powertrain / Rover and tell them that the K series headgasket will kill off the company.

 

I'd be very interested to know when K-Seal was invented. Maybe someone beat you to it...

[Albert Ross]

1957. I would be rubbing shoulders with David Bache, who styled the Series 2 Land Rover, and tell him to do it exactly as he planned. CHANGE NOTHING!!! I would also ingratiate myself with all sorts of British manufacturers, and try to be a test driver for most of them. I would buy ex-prototypes for peanuts, like the ERA, Rover Gas Turbine, Land Rover centre steer, (allegedly still around until the early 60s but there is no conclusive proof........) that kind of extremely rare, one off, and unobtanium motors, and also visit a farmer on Anglesey to buy his old Land Rover that he got cheap..... The 1st pre-production RHD 80"! (R01 also known as HUE166) I would barn store the lot, and also a couple of AC Aceca Bristols, a Healey Silverstone, Late 30s Rollers, Delage, Hispanos, Austin Sevens, all the popular and eccentric shite too. (I know exactly the place, been in the family for years) then come along in 2011, and declare my "Barn find" cache, and retire on the proceeds, keeping one of the Aceca Bristols for fun.

[Justin Case]

1974, as it's the date of the oldest 'Motor Sport' that I could find, to give me an idea of prices If I was on the average wage of £2150, I'm sure I would be able to borrow enough for at least some of the following:

 

1961 E-type - £1,000

1964 Aston Martin DB5 - £1,250

1963 Maserati 35900GT - £1,450

1963 Ferrari 250GTE - £2,350

? Healey Silverstone - £2,500

1969 Ferrari 330GTC or 1972 Ferari Dino - £3,995 apiece

 

For a daily driver I would have chosen the year-old RS 1600 at £1,500, as I would have thought that the £450 Lotus Cortina would have been a bit fragile with its alloy panels and A-bracket suspension , but definitely not the 2 year old Marina 1300 coupe at £750

 

As for a track-day special, the Xk 120 Roadster that had won its class in the 1954 Alpine Rally would have been tempting at £2,000, but I would probably have gone the whole hog and had either the 1953 ex-works Cooper Bristol Formula 2 car (driven by Ken Wharton) at £6,000 or splashed out another £250 on the 1966 Ferrari GTB/LM which finished 7th at Le Mans, driven by Piers Courage and Roy Pike .

 

That seems to be the Golden Age, most of that stuff wouldn't have been around in the 50s and would have shot up in value later.

[overheadvalve]

1987 / 1988 So I could nip round to Powertrain / Rover and tell them that the K series headgasket will kill off the company.

I like your style Freddie!

For me it would have to be

Buying several Rover V8's and a aeroplane hanger........

To house this lot

I would go back to around 1974 or 1976 when a 9 or 10 year old Etype was about £200 and buy a complete SHITLOAD, I would also buy around 100 Mini's and several hundred 2 door Mk1 Escorts. So same as everyone else really.

To be able to live from the procedes of selling one of each a year would be fun fun fun...Oh wait T Bird???, oh i would have some Yank shite too, like a 69 !/2 ( i fink) Mustang Grande, Several Dodge Chargers and Challengers, a Corvette or 2 and around a dozen Camaro's ss 's all with large V8's in natch.

Thanks for starting this thread!

[Barry Cade]

I'd go back to 1992 and give myself a good slap for swapping my mint signal orange RS2000 for a Polo coop S.

[Pete-M]

2011 is a great year to be a shiter.

 

There's so much affordable chod out there for the taking. Nowadays we can buy a decent family saloon that will be reliable and safe for less than £500. In years to come the VED rates will kill all the interesting shite off the roads and what's left will be a diesel powered DMF/particulate filter failmobiles.

 

We've never had it so good.

 

I'm having a ball when it comes to cars. Rangie, XJR, Heep, 604, and an Mk2 in suspended animation. Yeah, they cost a bit to fuel but decent ones will never be this cheap again. Three to five years and there'll be forum threads about all of 'em and how people wish they'd bought them while they were cheap.

 

Other than the Jeep and 604, obviously.

 

All those stories about folks who ran E-type Jags, Interceptors, Buicks etc in the '70s when they were buttons to buy? This is a repeat. People are scared to spend money. Other people are flogging stuff stupidly cheap because they themselves are skint. There are some properly nice big cars floating around for less than the price of an eight year old diesel Fiesta, if you've got the balls to take a chance. Even then it's not a big risk, they break for more than the purchase price if you buy a pup. Just expect to spend a lot of time in petrol stations, spending money on fuel.

 

Alternatively, you can £5k on a six year old sensible TDi blandmobile that does 50 mpg and might just suffer DMF, EGR, ETC failure at any time.

 

 

 

If I was going to pick a year and take a few bob with me, it'd be 1978 and I'd be buying things from the local RS dealer.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

I'm having a ball when it comes to cars. Rangie, XJR, Heep, 604, and an Mk2 in suspended animation. Yeah, they cost a bit to fuel but decent ones will never be this cheap again. Three to five years and there'll be forum threads about all of 'em and how people wish they'd bought them while they were cheap.

 

Other than the Jeep and 604, obviously.

 

All those stories about folks who ran E-type Jags, Interceptors, Buicks etc in the '70s when they were buttons to buy? This is a repeat. People are scared to spend money. Other people are flogging stuff stupidly cheap because they themselves are skint. There are some properly nice big cars floating around for less than the price of an eight year old diesel Fiesta

 

'Twas ever thus though. I can recall going into Cross Keys scrapyard in the mid seventies with RBJ Snr. and seeing a row of old Mark 2 and 10 Jaguars that had been driven in. During and after the Yom Kippur fuel crises, these cars were not worth a cup of cold piss and some really nice ones were weighed in. A mate (R.I.P) used to buy tatty Cooper S's for £150, swap the S lumps for an 850/998, do a quick paint job and out them for £300. The S was uninsurable due to their 'reputation' with Youths and high theft rate, but an 850 Mini was very saleable. The S engine and box was £100 in the back of CCC to a racer or other hero.

 

30 years from now, a nice XJR or X300 Sport will be very rare and worth money. XJ40's won't though - they will always be the '420', the one nobody really wants.

 

 

As for E Types. In the early to mid seventies, a colleague of RBJ Snr bought a 2.8 XJ6 with a buggered engine for around £400 when a good running one was a grand. New engine? A rotten 3.8 E Type roadster was bought for peanuts, the engine fitted to the XJ6 and the rest of the car chopped up with a felling axe. "I was doing an extension at the time, so we chucked it in the skip and covered it in rubble.

[AnthonyG]

1962, test drive the brand new Cortina and the BMC 1100 and then buy the Cortina.

 

Also pick up some thirties chod that have failed the new MOT and store them in a barn - Lagondas, Alvis, Alfa Romeos, poss Bentleys or Bugattis. Or just buy about 20 Austin Sevens (rare types like roadsters, racers, pick ups or just the really early ones) for about 10 quid each!

[The Moog]

Probably 1990

 

Buy a nice C900 plus a few cossies. Buy up all those dirt cheap Mk1 GTi and also Mk2 escrotes. Remember a guy at school bought one for £200 3 door ... bargain.

 

Plus Acid House and lots of drugs ...