Your Car History...

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  • 1993 Citroën ZX 1.4
    1997 Opel Astra 1.6 Present one
    Both 3-doors, both maroon, both cheap, both scratched and rusty, both economical.

  • ....
    Escort Mk 1 (with ridiculous 1600 engine, twin 40 carbs, stage 3 head etc - dropped into a bog standard body with drum brakes all round...)
    .....

    My Cortina 1600E started life as a bog standard car and morphed into a lower stiffer ride with a bored out 1660 engine fitted with a cam that did nothing until around 4,000 rpm when it kicked you hard in the back. It also sported a pair of webber 40 DCOE's was all ported, lightened and balanced, had a man sized exhaust and would give a 3 litre Capri a good run for it's money away from the lights.

  • Is there a prize for least vehicles owned over the longest time? My entire driving career goes thus:

    Morris Minor van
    VW Beetle
    Lada
    Austin Maxi
    Ford Mondeo
    Ford Mondeo
    Volvo 740 estate
    Volvo 740 estate
    Volvo 940 estate

    That lot has got me through about 35 years. I'm up to about 120,000 miles on the Volvos. No, I don't contribute to the car apprecation thread and I don't watch Top Gear. Does it show?

  • Mazel Tov!

  • You're really into the local car industry.

  • Road going cars:
    Bedford Rascal Minibus
    Peugeot 309 5 door 1.6
    Vauxhall Belmont 1.8 GLS
    Mk3 Vauxhall Astra 1.4
    Nissan Sunny SGX 1.6
    Mk2 VW Golf 1.6, slammed, matt black, stencils, stickers,roof rack, leopard print, every rat-look cliche you can think of.
    6N shape VW Polo 1.4
    Renault Kangoo van 1.4 petrol, most unreliable piece of shit I have ever owned.
    Currently driving a Mk2 VW Scirocco GT2 1.8

    Cars I've banger raced
    Mk2 Astra
    Mk2 Scirocco
    Mk2 Golf
    Mk4 Escort
    Mk2 Carlton
    Mk3 Granada
    Mitsubishi Colt
    Renault 5

    I've also had a few cars pass through my posession which either got banger raced by someone else or were scrapped because there wasn't much metal left in them. A Mk3 Cavalier, Mk4 2.0 Cortina and Hillman Hunter spring to mind.

    Oh, and I had a Range Rover Vogue sitting in a friends yard for a while but I didn't have the time or money to get it back on the road.

  • ford escort 1.3
    vw golf III 1.8
    skoda octavia 1.6
    bmw 118d

  • You lot have had a lot of cars! I've had two, one for ten years and one for 6 months.

  • -1998 Mini Cooper 1.3 in gorgeous baby blue with matching interior. Put it up on 2 wheels on a country lane and fucked the rear end when it came back down again.

    So you did nearly roll it then...

  • Not really dad, it only went an inch or so off the ground....

  • To keep up with a girly myth
    White car
    Red car
    Beige car

    Joking aside, I find this thread interesting. My car history reads:-

    Use of a Mk 3 Ford Escort 1.8
    A 1980s white Mini (almost doing a Fred Flinstone in it the floor was so rusty - this is also the only car I've had that didn't have an automatic choke).
    VW Golf 1.6 (company car for 6 weeks)
    Nissan Micra 1.0
    Rover Metro 1.4

    Then i had a raft of company cars ( the company I used to work for had a subsidiary that were Peugeot Dealers)
    Peugeot 305 petrol
    Peugeot 306 diesel
    Volvo Estate 2.0
    Peugeot 405 Estate 1.4 diesel (This was crazy, it needed a service every 6000 miles and I was doing 50,000 miles a year)
    Peugeot 306 1.9 diesel
    Peugeot 307 1.8 petrol
    and various loan cars (usually a Peugeot 205/206)

    Back to mine:
    Mk 3 Vauxhall Cavalier 2.2 (inherited from my dad)
    Mk 4 Vauxhall Astra 2.2 16v Sri - was lovely when I had a job that paid car and mileage allowance but not so friendly on the pocket now.

  • 82 Golf Mk 1 1.2
    95 Cinquecento Sporting
    83 Renault Fuego 1.4
    96 BMW 520i touring
    82 Datsun Stanza 1.6 GL
    89 Vauxhall Carlton 2.2 auto estate
    87 Alfa 75 2.0TS
    86 Mitubishi Starion 2.0 turbo
    95 Volvo 850
    02 Fiat Punto 1.2
    72 Fiat 500

    Faves: alfa, BMW, fiat 500

  • Lots and lots, then I did buy and sell cars since passing my test. More the broke and battered and MOT challenged to then make in to the shiney, repaired and worth more. The joy of knowing how to weld, filler and fibreglass and replace head gaskets, use spray gun of rattle can and may be paintbrush.

  • Reminds me of one day when I had a new Escort van turn up to be collected later that day by one of my customers. I gave it a quick check over and discovered some scratches inside the load area.
    It was a Saturday afternoon and the parts department was closed so no chance of getting a touch in paint to hide the damage.
    In the interests of avoiding an issue I resorted to touching it in with Tippex instead.

  • Funny, I used this exact one on my boss's Sprinter.

  • '84 Austin Metro 1.0 City
    Utter shite but it was easy and cheap to run and repair, the clutch cylinder leaked, I discovered this on my first trip out in it. There were holes in the floor and no carpet as I was in the process of welding them up, when I went through a puddle great gouts of water gushed into the passenger footwell. I accidentally welded my hidden metal bong to the inside of the door panel whilst working on the outside. Sold it to my mate eventually, he never passed his test and his Mum fell through the front wing there was so much rust. The Red Metro is still spoken about in hushed tones of awe to this day.

    '85 Austin Metro 1.3
    Tuned to the max with turbo wheels and interior, K&N filter and well, that was about it actually. I fitted 'hi camber' hardened bushings to the front suspension and it caned roundabouts (there's a lot in Crawley) but it was unreliable and blew up. I sold it after 9 months.

    '89 Cavalier SRi
    Lowered on Spax springs this too was a roundabout demolishing heathen, combined with a sports exhaust it was too low for Tescos, so I had to shop at Sainsbury's. Like a badass. My then 50something yr old Mum once drove it 90 miles back from Southampton and thoroughly enjoyed it, it wasn't very fast but it sounded the part and that was enough for her.

    '94 Citroen ZX Volcane 2.0
    Utterly standard, but smelled like someone had dropped a bong in it. A hot day made me smell like Bob Marley's pants. Beautiful handling and quite quick too, but despite working for Citroen at the time, it had an unidentifiable stalling problem as it would not idle once warm.

    '97 Mitsubishi Carisma 1.8
    Boredom on wheels, but lasted me 5 years of caning until my GF crashed it into a telegraph pole. She was fine, the car was actually not too bad and perfectly driveable, but insurance he say 'no'.

    '01 VW Caravelle 2.5 TD
    Wicked and I can sleep in it. Approaching 300,000 miles and going strong. My favourite car so far.

    My Crappy Car history, almost 20 years of consecutive ownership there. CSB

  • I accidentally welded my hidden metal bong to the inside of the door panel whilst working on the outside.

    Metros, they never did sort out that hidden bong problem

  • it had a handy hiding flap thing where the door card was floppy, Austin had all eventualities covered.

  • Oooh lovely, am I allowed to post pictures? In order of acquisition:

    1966 Morris Minor
    Lovely, reliable, but a bit slow. Used to be my mother's. Managed to scramble through the MOT the day after I passed my test - gave me a great first summer of motoring.

    1970 MG Midget
    Same engine as above, but strangely unreliable.

    1972 Hillman Avenger GT
    Pretty quick and handled well. Incredible MOT failure on around 30 separate items.

    1992 BMW 750iL
    This car was donated to me by my dad - I needed a car for a couple of months, and this failed to sell for a mere £1,500. 450,000 miles and 12mpg never felt so good. Only used for commuting for a couple of months, then I sold it on his behalf.

    1981 Datsun Cherry
    Matt black with checker-board bonnet. Bought for £150, driven until the 10-month MOT expired, took it apart, didn't put it back together, then sold it for a tenner. A year later, clearing out the garage, I found the hubcaps and sold them for £25. Was the star of the show at Henley Royal Regatta in 2007.

    1989 Toyota Corolla
    At this stage I required a reliable car as I was driving to work, and for £350, I got one. Driven daily for 18 months, went straight through the MOT with no advisories, sold for £450. Perfect car.

    EDIT - reminded me of my work van...
    2002 Peugeot Partner
    When I first got in the van I commented on the mere 22,000 miles. 'No', said my boss, 'it's been round the clock... twice'.

    1979 Mercedes W123 200D (diesel)
    Moroccan taxi. Stunningly comfortable and well-designed car, really, even more so than the BMW. Painfully slow. Broke down on the way home. Broke my heart.

    2002 MG-ZS
    Bought for £450, thrashed for three months, sold for £700. Can't complain.

    Quite a lot of cars for a 25-year-old; most of my friends have just owned the same old Vauxhall Corsa. Old cars have given me some serious headaches at times, but I've had lots of interesting experiences. The Merc was definitely my favourite, but it'd have to be the 3-litre diesel next time, the 2-litre is just too slow.

  • 1989 Mercedes 190e sold
    1992 Peugoet Partner van. Ex policedog car. Bit wee wee smelling. sold
    1989 Mercedes 420se
    1996 Mercedes S600 (another Dad donation)

    On the hunt for another 190e.

  • I'd be very much up for a 190e, or preferably a 190d. Have you driven any other Mercs of the era, other than the big 'un? I'm torn between a W123 300D, a W124 300D or a 190 2.5D.

    Does it have that boat-on-a-calm-lake ride quality that made me love the W123 so much?

  • Anyone's bank security question what was your first car?! ;) So I will skip mine!

    '89 Renault 5 1.2tr
    Weighed nothing, handled well, lacking anything in the way of power.

    '93 Renault Clio 1.8 16v
    Stripped most of the interior, very quick, with coilovers so handled like a go kart, great induction roar, and straight through exhaust for flames and farts on the over run, massive money pit though. Still miss it.

    Big gap of need for a car.

    Current
    54 plate Saab 9-3 2.0T Aero
    Just lovely! Big and heavy but surprisingly quick when needed!

  • I'd be very much up for a 190e, or preferably a 190d. Have you driven any other Mercs of the era, other than the big 'un? I'm torn between a W123 300D, a W124 300D or a 190 2.5D.

    Does it have that boat-on-a-calm-lake ride quality that made me love the W123 so much?

    Only a few w124s, all very serene.

  • 2001 Seat Ibiza 1.4 .cool/s, metallic Mushy Pea green (owned 2005-present)

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Your Car History...

Posted by Avatar for johnnyhotdog @johnnyhotdog

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