Your first car

[GROWLER]

What was your first car then ey?

1962 105E Anglia here. Primrose yellow with a white roof and loads of rust.

Took me all over the country with the lads on board though. Virtually lived in the bloody thing. New points and dissy rotar arm every 3000 miles.
Masserati air horns, chrome pancake air filter, blue spray on tinted windows, LFC stickers and a matt black grill too!

Ahhhh, they were the days.

[Misunderstood]

What was your first car then ey?

105E Anglia here. Primrose yellow with a white roof.
Took me all over the country with the lads on board though. Virtually lived in the bloody thing. New points and dissy rotar arm every 3000 miles.

Ahhhh, they were the days.

1956 100E Anglia. SV  Went from Camden to Wimbledon to pick it up and drove back during evening rush, found wife had missed bus to Leicester Square because she figured I'd give her a lift.

   I can still remember the terror of driving through Piccadilly et al on my first day of driving,  brings me out in a hot sweat just to think of it.

It didn't put me off though, within a week I was off to Wales in it, because it was raining I had to follow a lorry for miles down the A40 because every time I put my foot down to overtake it the wipers stopped!  Aaarrgh!

Oh Yes, now I think of it, I had to hold it in second gear all the time - it only had three - must have been all that traffic light racing down Tottenham Court Rd that did that... 

....and had a welsh-cake griddle plate for a floor to stop my foot going through the hole.....

Happy days...

[GROWLER]

....and had a welsh-cake griddle plate for a floor to stop my foot going through the hole.....

Happy days...

 That's the sort of caper i'd have got up to, that and rolled up newspaper to shove in the sills before the filler was applied.

I remember an Austin 1100 I bought from the auction and the big ends started knocking, so I drained the oil and shoved 5 liters of Hypoid 90in it. Stopped it knocking but was an absolute bastard to start.

Anyone ever try the 'sawdust' trick? Wonder if it really did work?

[Snoopy]

My first car, purchased for 25 quid in 1964 was a 1949 Ford Prefect.



For the petrol heads:

This charming sidevalver was built by Ford of England at Dagenham, Essex. These cars have come to be known as the "Upright Fords" due to their rather tall and narrow, or upright look.

It was powered by a 4 cylinder 1172 cc side valve engine that developed 30 bhp. The rather small differential with a final drive ratio of about 5.5:1 delivered 10 hp to the road wheels which were shod with 5.00x16 tires. Naturally, if you got stuck going up Khandala it would not pull away from a standstill and you would have to reverse back to the bottom of the current slope and start again. All hills had to be attacked flat out. 1st and 2nd gears had no-synchromesh, so gear changes called for double declutch and jam, at peak revs to make progress.

The engine had no water pump, but relied on a thermo-siphon cooling system (the expansion of the coolant itself would force coolant to circulate through the system). It was common to see a steamy Ford Prefect after a hard drive pull into a petrol bunk, cool off for 30 minutes and have its radiator refilled. The engine had poured babbitt main and rod bearings. The engine also lacked an oil filter. At sustained high speed 70 km/h it would build up crankcase compression and throw out the oil through the back main into the clutch. The car could be coaxed to 100 km/h for a brief while but would quickly overheat and mess itself up with oil.

For suspension, the car had a beam front axle, transverse semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear - like the Ford Model T. Shock absorbers were the Armstrong lever type. There were no anti-roll bars. These cars had Girling mechanical brakes using rods and levers, which were barely adequate when all was in perfect order, unless you had a particularly heavy foot.

The Prefect had an interior in Bakelite imitation wood and imitation leather PVC seats The car had 6 volt electrics. Its wipers were operated off engine vacuum, which meant the wipers would slow down while going uphill.

I do recall having to reverse up some hills in Wales where we (GF and I) went at weekends.

[Pastis]

An old Standard 8, quite comparable to the pic below 



Took the engine out over the winter, replaced it with a Vitesse's, remote gear shift as opposed to the 'proggling stick' it possessed, underslung the suspension and... wa'hay! Got done for speeding in the first week out 

[Nick]

Custard yellow Renault 4 with a trombone gear change. She was called Lulu.

OK?

Died on the A3, sadly

[GROWLER]

An old Standard 8, quite comparable to the pic below 



Took the engine out over the winter, replaced it with a Vitesse's, remote gear shift as opposed to the 'proggling stick' it possessed, underslung the suspension and... wa'hay! Got done for speeding in the first week out 

I remember them as frightening me when i was a nipper. Always looked aggresive imo.

[Barman]

My first car, purchased for 25 quid in 1964 was a 1949 Ford Prefect.



For the petrol heads:

This charming sidevalver was built by Ford of England at Dagenham, Essex. These cars have come to be known as the "Upright Fords" due to their rather tall and narrow, or upright look.

It was powered by a 4 cylinder 1172 cc side valve engine that developed 30 bhp. The rather small differential with a final drive ratio of about 5.5:1 delivered 10 hp to the road wheels which were shod with 5.00x16 tires. Naturally, if you got stuck going up Khandala it would not pull away from a standstill and you would have to reverse back to the bottom of the current slope and start again. All hills had to be attacked flat out. 1st and 2nd gears had no-synchromesh, so gear changes called for double declutch and jam, at peak revs to make progress.

The engine had no water pump, but relied on a thermo-siphon cooling system (the expansion of the coolant itself would force coolant to circulate through the system). It was common to see a steamy Ford Prefect after a hard drive pull into a petrol bunk, cool off for 30 minutes and have its radiator refilled. The engine had poured babbitt main and rod bearings. The engine also lacked an oil filter. At sustained high speed 70 km/h it would build up crankcase compression and throw out the oil through the back main into the clutch. The car could be coaxed to 100 km/h for a brief while but would quickly overheat and mess itself up with oil.

For suspension, the car had a beam front axle, transverse semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear - like the Ford Model T. Shock absorbers were the Armstrong lever type. There were no anti-roll bars. These cars had Girling mechanical brakes using rods and levers, which were barely adequate when all was in perfect order, unless you had a particularly heavy foot.

The Prefect had an interior in Bakelite imitation wood and imitation leather PVC seats The car had 6 volt electrics. Its wipers were operated off engine vacuum, which meant the wipers would slow down while going uphill.

I do recall having to reverse up some hills in Wales where we (GF and I) went at weekends.

My dad had one of those!

My sister and I used to have to hit the side of the car to get the trafficators to come out when we went around corners.

Every couple of years we would paint it! He mixed emulsion paint with some varnish or other and we daubed it on with two inch brushes!

[Barman]

My first car was a 1973 Austin 1300.

Great motor and a huge engine bay for DIY repairs, etc.

Unfortunately, it slowly but surely rusted away to the point where I had to get my MoT?s from a mate over the telephone and sent through the post.

[GROWLER]

My first car was a 1973 Austin 1300.

Great motor and a huge engine bay for DIY repairs, etc.

Unfortunately, it slowly but surely rusted away to the point where I had to get my MoT?s from a mate over the telephone and sent through the post.

I had a 1973 teal blue 1300GT in 1975. Twin SU's.

 One of the best cars i ever had.
It was the complete dogs bollocks imo, and looked spendid until some arse hole in an old Zephyr decided to use me as his way of slowing down. Had it repaired, but it was never the same again.

[Barman]

My first car was a 1973 Austin 1300.

Great motor and a huge engine bay for DIY repairs, etc.

Unfortunately, it slowly but surely rusted away to the point where I had to get my MoT?s from a mate over the telephone and sent through the post.

I had a 1973 teal blue 1300GT in 1975. Twin SU's.

 One of the best cars i ever had.
It was the complete dogs bollocks imo, and looked spendid until some arse hole in an old Zephyr decided to use me as his way of slowing down. Had it repaired, but it was never the same again.

A GT! 
Check this out...
http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/

[Snoopy]

My first car, purchased for 25 quid in 1964 was a 1949 Ford Prefect.



For the petrol heads:

This charming sidevalver was built by Ford of England at Dagenham, Essex. These cars have come to be known as the "Upright Fords" due to their rather tall and narrow, or upright look.

It was powered by a 4 cylinder 1172 cc side valve engine that developed 30 bhp. The rather small differential with a final drive ratio of about 5.5:1 delivered 10 hp to the road wheels which were shod with 5.00x16 tires. Naturally, if you got stuck going up Khandala it would not pull away from a standstill and you would have to reverse back to the bottom of the current slope and start again. All hills had to be attacked flat out. 1st and 2nd gears had no-synchromesh, so gear changes called for double declutch and jam, at peak revs to make progress.

The engine had no water pump, but relied on a thermo-siphon cooling system (the expansion of the coolant itself would force coolant to circulate through the system). It was common to see a steamy Ford Prefect after a hard drive pull into a petrol bunk, cool off for 30 minutes and have its radiator refilled. The engine had poured babbitt main and rod bearings. The engine also lacked an oil filter. At sustained high speed 70 km/h it would build up crankcase compression and throw out the oil through the back main into the clutch. The car could be coaxed to 100 km/h for a brief while but would quickly overheat and mess itself up with oil.

For suspension, the car had a beam front axle, transverse semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear - like the Ford Model T. Shock absorbers were the Armstrong lever type. There were no anti-roll bars. These cars had Girling mechanical brakes using rods and levers, which were barely adequate when all was in perfect order, unless you had a particularly heavy foot.

The Prefect had an interior in Bakelite imitation wood and imitation leather PVC seats The car had 6 volt electrics. Its wipers were operated off engine vacuum, which meant the wipers would slow down while going uphill.

I do recall having to reverse up some hills in Wales where we (GF and I) went at weekends.

My dad had one of those!

My sister and I used to have to hit the side of the car to get the trafficators to come out when we went around corners.

Every couple of years we would paint it! He mixed emulsion paint with some varnish or other and we daubed it on with two inch brushes!

It was my 17th Birthday Pressy to me ~ I had "left" home 18 months earlier.

[GROWLER]

My first car was a 1973 Austin 1300.

Great motor and a huge engine bay for DIY repairs, etc.

Unfortunately, it slowly but surely rusted away to the point where I had to get my MoT?s from a mate over the telephone and sent through the post.

I had a 1973 teal blue 1300GT in 1975. Twin SU's.

 One of the best cars i ever had.
It was the complete dogs bollocks imo, and looked spendid until some arse hole in an old Zephyr decided to use me as his way of slowing down. Had it repaired, but it was never the same again.

A GT! 
Check this out...
http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/

I haven't seen a GT for many years now. Keep checking out in the classic ads., but nowt.

I'd buy one tomorrow if I could.

[Marley's Ghost (Imbiber of Spirits)]

OK, I'll join in this one 

First transport was a Triumph Tina scooter 

This was replaced after passing car test with a mini - an Austin 850 to be precise, pale blue with a black roof 8722 KB was its reg. Had the old style 'magic wand' gear stick and a starter button on the floor! I used to run it on a shoestring which meant cheapo cross ply tyres which only got replaced when you could see the canvas (no tread depth regulations in those days!)

That was followed by (wait for it):

Triumph Herald 12/50
Ford Cortina Mk1 1500
Triumph Herald 13/60
Ford Cortina MkIII 1600 GT
Humber Hawk Automatic
Triumph Vitesse MkII convertible
Rover 3500
Wolseley 1300 + Austin Mini (now a two car family)
MG Midget
Triumph 2500 PI
Morris Marina 
Commer Camper van
Volvo 264 automatic
Ford Cortina MkIV 2.5
Rover SD1 Diesel + Morris 8 Series E  (going backwards now - this was my 'classic' phase)
Peugeot 305 + Renault 25 Turbo Diesel (in France)
Citroen 2CV (also in France to replace the Pug)
Vauxhall Cavalier 1600
BMW 525TD
Rover SD1 2.6 Auto
Vauxhall Carlton 2L auto
Vauxhall Omega 2.5 auto
Vauxhall Omega 3L MV6 auto
Renault Clio 1.4

Phew! There were a couple of motorbikes chucked in at various points such as a Triumph Tiger Cub, a pair of Honda CX500's (one tourer one custom) and a Honda 400/4

Anyone else care to post their vehicular history or have I sent you all to sleep?

[Uncle Mort]

1971 Ford Escort Mark 1 4 door

Like this but pale blue (!)
 


[Edit re Marley's Ghost post] Only had three other cars since

Vauxhall Chevette 

Renault Clio

Currently - Ford Fusion