Your first car, what was it please?

[Llew]

Its still on the road according to the DVLA website! Its just been MOT'd the last couple of weeks.

https://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/Default.aspx

Well I'm blowed! It failed the MOT with rustworm in the sills, and I sold it for £3oo to a guy in about 2008 I think. He lives locally, it's a long shot but if he still has it he might have it outside - he doesn't have a garage, so I might just have a look sometime.

 

[2cvbloke]

Could be that it was used as an engine & transmission donor (one of the fun things about vehicle registration is you can swap the plates if you have certain components off the donor vehicle that qualify it to take on the ID of the old and scrapped one), or they took the time to restore it, one or the other...

 

[davemurgtroyd]

My first car was an Austin J40 - bought new in 1953 for £27 0 6d. My first motor car was a 1959 Morris Minor 1000. I learnt to drive in a Hillman Imp and Morris Oxford V, later cars I owned were Wolsely 1500, Ford Anglia 1172 sidevalve (which I sold back to the guy I purchased it from 3 years later), Vanden Plas Princess 1100, Vauxhall Viva HA, 1973 Morris Marina 1800 Estate, Ford Escort 100 Estate, 1979 Morris Marina 1700 Estate, 1968 Reliant Scimitar (2.5 l V6) SE4 coupe (later fitted 3 l engine), 1969 Reliant Scimitar SE4 coupe fitted with 2l V4 Engine, 1989 Rover 820i fastback, and finally 1998 Rover 25 (1.4) . Also part owned Rochdale GT (1172 Ford sidevalve engine), Datsun 240Z Super Samurai track only car, Porsche 914/6 ( a 911 beater in its day), Jensen Healey GT, and MGB automatic roadster.

My two favourites for road use were the Rover 820 and Reliant Scimitar.

 

[hairybadger]

Oh I like the orange one

me too. must resist temptation, have motorbike to buy..... (plus running out of garage space!)

 

[bim]

Sorry about the picture quality. It's a scan from a photo taken with a boots instamatic taken in 1974 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mini cooper s with a gold seal engine ,5.5 J tyres sh** off the shovel at the time. Lowered suspension so the exhaust was held on to the manifold by a jubilee clip. If you were 2 up and came out of the white lion car park it would always get knocked off. 2 secs to fit back on !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Archived-1]

If you were 2 up and came out of the white lion car park it would always get knocked off. 2 secs to fit back on !!!!!!!!!!

Where was this picture taken please bim, it looks like Westfield avenue Sheffield, near to where my mum lived before she passed away.

 

[archive10]

Mine was a charcoal-grey 1986 BMW 520i, bought in 1996.

No kidding - I survived without a car 'till then (cars ownership and cost thereof is ridiculous in Denmark).
Ran well, although it was showing its age around 15 years with some reluctance to start on winter mornings etc.

Most notable experience in it was driving the entire length of Germany south to north (almost 1000 km from Basel to Puttgarden) one fine summer day (28 celcius outside) with the internal heating on max, and therefore the windows rolled all the way down.
Cooler was on it's last round (i.e. almost not working), meaning the damn thing would boil unless I kept the heating in the car full-on.
Needless to say, it was a very, erh, windy experience for the four occupants of the car!
Bu we got home alright, and in time.

 

[timo_w2s]

(cars ownership and cost thereof is ridiculous in Denmark).

Yeah, what is that all about? I thought it was bad in Finland but in Denmark it's just silly.

 

[Llew]

Could be that it was used as an engine & transmission donor (one of the fun things about vehicle registration is you can swap the plates if you have certain components off the donor vehicle that qualify it to take on the ID of the old and scrapped one), or they took the time to restore it, one or the other...

I would guess it would have been restored, as the shell was in excellent condition. I'd garaged it for the near 25 years I owned it, just that the engine was tired (high mileage).

Nothing that an enthusiast couldn't fix.

 

[Hughes]

My first car was a Belgian 2cv built in 1960 and imported into the UK in 1968. I remember the registration, VLC 148G, and its peculiarities included suicide doors, and windscreen wipers driven by the speedometer cable. At a standstill they didn't work at all. The car was much lower on the left side as the suspension was broken, and so it failed the MOT, although I claimed this was set up to compensate for camber on French roads! That was in 1972 while at university in Southampton where I studied French and Spanish, and since then I've had 5 Citroën 2cvs, 2 Dyanes, an Ami 8 and 2BXs. My daily drive is an Acadiane or Dyane 6-400M as they're called here and I've got a Mehari waiting in the wings.

 

[lovelyperson]

Yeah, what is that all about? I thought it was bad in Finland but in Denmark it's just silly.

Shocked with the comment re: Denmark.
Forgive me but the dates are approximate as the event was some time ago.......1992'ish,UK living then but I bought a brand new tax free Peugeot 205 from specialist export company in Denmark had it delivered to the Costa del Sol....then they drove it to Alicante....bunch of flowers on the passenger seat...all for 4000 GBP



....re- registered in Andorra for tax purposes as I had property there .....every year drove to Andorra to do my tax return...bought (in those days) all those lovely tax free goods, car fully laden for the return to Spain....customs happily waved you through as the motor had Andorran registration plates! .......ran for many happy years until the tax rules changed then I sold it to conform to the law !!

¿Is car ownership and running costs that expensive in Denmark?

 

[2cvbloke]

My daily drive is an Acadiane or Dyane 6-400M as they're called here and I've got a Mehari waiting in the wings.

I feel somewhat jealous, I'd love to have a Mehari...

 

[Hughes]

¿Is car ownership and running costs that expensive in Denmark?

I remember in the nineties car tax was so high in Denmark that car manufacturers sold their vehicles really cheaply before tax to make them affordable for the Danes. There was also a market for imported old cars from Germany which had failed their technical inspection, but which passed in Denmark. My Danish brother- in- law has just bought himself a Peugeot 206, but not from Germany.

 

[bim]

Where was this picture taken please bim, it looks like Westfield avenue Sheffield, near to where my mum lived before she passed away.
View attachment 75615

What is making you think that Martin is that you can see an Airy house which were built after the war up and down the country, one of the first prefab houses and not very good. The photo was taken in east anglia where all these houses have either been repaired or demolished due to defective concrete reinforcing.

 

[Archived-1]

What is making you think that Martin is that you can see an Airy house which were built after the war up and down the country, one of the first prefab houses and not very good. The photo was taken in east anglia where all these houses have either been repaired or demolished due to defective concrete reinforcing.

Yes bim, I no they was built during the war, but I have never seen them anywhere else and I have travelled up and down the country in my younger days, the ones I've posted are still going strong, I placed a offer on one before I bought this place, there nice and spacious in side, a few people on this street have bricked round them.

 

[Archived-1]

One here bim .

 

[bim]

Yes bim, I no they was built during the war, but I have never seen them anywhere else and I have travelled up and down the country in my younger days, the ones I've posted are still going strong, I placed a offer on one before I bought this place, there nice and spacious in side, a few people on this street have bricked round them.

I have seen small pockets of these all over the uk. I should imagine the unrestored ones now are unmorageable. I grew up in one and later purchased it for 10k . After we bought it, it came to light they had structural defects and the grant was 14k to repair. I had my own building company at the time and new this was in no way enough to cover the costs. 11yrs forward and many letters to our local MP we finally got a grant of 30k and with our 10% it did the job. I've got some pictures of the repair system we used; but basically it was remove all walls and reconstruct new cavity walls with underpinning. That takes me back!

 

[Archived-1]

I can recall all this work being done to them bim, I also remember the outdoor toilet and the old Belfast sink in the out buildings, more memories for you I guess .

 

[bim]

I can recall all this work being done to them bim, I also remember the outdoor toilet and the old Belfast sink in the out buildings, more memories for you I guess .

We used to call that the wash house. A nice wooden draining board and a gas copper boiler for the monday wash and don't forget the mangle for wringing the clothes. They were really spacious houses with big gardens where everyone grew the veg. We did extend it a great deal.

 

[Archived-1]

Two of my friends lived in them, yes massive gardens, I recall going apple scrumping in the gardens on a few occasions, like I say it was only three years ago I put an offer in on one, I would have been very happy to live there .