My first car.

[scotty]

1970 Mogi Tremendi hand me down
AKA Morris Minor Van

[Sav]

My first 'car' was a Reliant Supervan as I could drive it on my motorcycle licence.

Drove that to Rome from England the first summer! got a hole in the petrol tank that we managed to get welded after quite a big 'pop'. That lifted the galvanising ion the tank and continually clogged the carb up so we could only proceed full choke, no throttle for miles and miles, long story!

An epic journey that was surpassed the following year in a Reliant Robin with a trailer and four lads camping. Boiled the brake fluid on that coming down off the Gross Glockner in Austria, lucky to be here still!

[Colsbeeza]

I got my drivers licence in 1969 in a 1952 Holden Sedan purchased originally by my grandfather, who died in 1963. They were reknowned for a very poor handbrake, and I had to do a stop start from a steep hill, which I did well. When we got back to the police station, he said "How did you learn to toe-and-heel like that?? and I thought I had got away with it. I later purchased it in 1971 from my Grandmother, who charged me heavily. I named it Hector after a 1960's radio programme character.
It has been off the road for about 30 years, but I still have it. That's me in the 1970 photo with curly hair, most of which fell out in my 20's.
Here are the then and now photos.
Col

[Worty]

my oooozing of handsomeness was overwhelming

Bergs - is this a typo

[BagONails]

btw, after the vw, dived fully into Granada MK1 world. Great machinery at great SH prices.
Then got a few of the new MK2's, also great to own and drive.

Technically all very ok & easy to maintain, but incredible attacks of rust ate them all up way too soon.
Then Scorpio appeared, in the eyes of Granada fans a horrible, disgusting, repulsive betrayal by Ford :O)

Among my 'collection', a 3.0 Ghia exactly like the pic. Fondly remembered, had it for over 10 years, felt like king of the road. That one worked good to pick up girls :O) Ahh, memories of those good times...

Being a Ford man myself, very heartened to read this A10GF. Me and an apprentice mate used to commute into Dagenham in an old 3.0 Ghia in that same light metallic blue and it certainly was a head turning car despite being about 14 years old and slurring its gear changes a bit on the old Henry C3 auto. The biggest issue we found with these otherwise magnificent beasts was the damn heaters never worked. I think the problem was engine cooling on the V6 with that horrible aluminium inlet manifold that sat in the V between the cylinders. It used to block up and nothing would get through to the heater, then eventually engine would start overheating.  All winter there we were in our luxury bolide wearing big coats, gloves and wooly hats desperate to keep warm despite the splendid crushed velour and wilton carpetted interior, scraping the frost off the inside of the windscreen...

[RogerSB]

1950s Standard Ten, was my first car. I had it in the late 60s and bought it for £25, also green as illustration. The bodywork and interior was good, but it had a constant vapor trail from the back and wobbly steering.

Also a photo of my 1977 VW Beetle when collecting it from the Car Showroom, in Cornwall. My Morris 1000 is in the background. My son has the VW now.

[Worty]

Nice to hear from you Rog, how's it going. My brother had a beautiful blue Beetle, absolutely immaculate, but was an idiot one night, had a drink and wrapped it round a lamp post and a wall - total write off.  I was at the same pub with him and, on walking back, came across the accident - bit of a shock.  Fortunately, he wasn't too badly hurt (scar on the forehead), but the CAR!

[Rex]

1950s Standard Ten, was my first car. I had it in the late 60s and bought it for £25, also green as illustration. The bodywork and interior was good, but it had a constant vapor trail from the back and wobbly steering.

My older brother had the estate version. It was called the Standard Companion and was a full five door estate and did 40MPG with utter reliability.
Sometimes cars don't seem to have progressed that much since those days.

[BagONails]

Nice to hear from you Rog, how's it going. My brother had a beautiful blue Beetle, absolutely immaculate, but was an idiot one night, had a drink and wrapped it round a lamp post and a wall - total write off.  I was at the same pub with him and, on walking back, came across the accident - bit of a shock.  Fortunately, he wasn't too badly hurt (scar on the forehead), but the CAR!

Glad he got away with it Worty. Your brother wouldn't be the first or the last to suffer the vagaries of beetle handling although having a drink not recommended of course...
Now what was the expression used to describe the handling? "like trying to throw a hammer, handle first!" just about sums it up I think.

I know my beetle's handling wasn't improved much when the steering damper failed on the A12 and the wheel started a violent shimmy which I could barely hang on to until I slowed right down to less than 40MPH. That was a slow journey that night. The 4 wheeled equivalent of a tank slapper. I didn't even know the car had a damper until it failed, I thought the wheels were falling off!

[sean]

VW 1300 Beetle, kept running perfectly until risk of breaking in two in the middle, rust.
With a set of decent tires, what a superb car on snow.

Had some fun in the end of it's lifespan, painted it army green with big stars on the doors.
My gf at the time nearly fainted, and refused to ever sit in it or drive it.

Very much like this model:

when the VWs were shipped from Germany in the 60s they were coated with a heavy wax type material had to be washed off with varsol  likey would have lasted a long time if they left it on  .
too bad cars of today arent so easy to repair and as reliable as the old VW bug

[Worty]

Nice to hear from you Rog, how's it going. My brother had a beautiful blue Beetle, absolutely immaculate, but was an idiot one night, had a drink and wrapped it round a lamp post and a wall - total write off.  I was at the same pub with him and, on walking back, came across the accident - bit of a shock.  Fortunately, he wasn't too badly hurt (scar on the forehead), but the CAR!

Glad he got away with it Worty. Your brother wouldn't be the first or the last to suffer the vagaries of beetle handling although having a drink not recommended of course...
Now what was the expression used to describe the handling? "like trying to throw a hammer, handle first!" just about sums it up I think.

I know my beetle's handling wasn't improved much when the steering damper failed on the A12 and the wheel started a violent shimmy which I could barely hang on to until I slowed right down to less than 40MPH. That was a slow journey that night. The 4 wheeled equivalent of a tank slapper. I didn't even know the car had a damper until it failed, I thought the wheels were falling off!

My dad had about 4 beetles and a Devon caravanette.  Two adults and 5 kids in the beetles at times (I was in the rear footwell), one was a split screen.  The caravanette served us a long time but, even as a 1600, when it was fully loaded up in Wales, we had to get out and push on some of the steeper inclines.  It was left to rust for 20 years before I asked my dad if I could fire it up, he agreed.  Put a battery on it and, after a couple of tries, it fired up in a big cloud of black smoke.  Don't know what happened to it, but the floor had dropped out through rust.

Drove a girlfriend's beetle a few times, and it was like trying to drive with a rudder on the front.

[madsens]

First one was the Austin Maxi 1750 HL - very nice and lots of space, unfortunately a write of after some drunken B......  backed out in front of my wife (wife and dog was ok..) - then got a Talbot Horizon (Rust bucket!) - then got a Ford Taunus L stationcar, also nice and lots of space (the kids referred to it as the Flying Carpet) - then 2 x Renault Espace (1 fase1 and 1 fase 2) - then an Opel (Wauxhall) Zafira, -  and now driving a Toyota Avensis stationcar, still looking for my favorite car (as the original Renault Espace was discontinued ;o)

rgds
Madsen

[RogerSB]

Nice to hear from you Rog, how's it going.

Worty, thanks for asking, just sent you a pm, so I don't go off topic.

My 2nd car in late 60s was an MG Magnette Mk III, one of the B-series farinas. I part exchanged the Standard 10 and had to pay an extra £70.99. When I got home and my wife looked out the window to see our new car she didn't believe it and thought I was pulling her leg.

Edit:  I had a VW Fastback in mid 70s, not a good experience for me. I bought it from a VW dealer in Plymouth but the oil pressure light came on after a couple of months. I took it back under a 3 month warranty and they fitted a short engine. After I got it back one evening there was a knock on the door and it was a mechanic from the garage and his girlfriend, He said he wanted to tell me something about the car that I should know and made me promise not to say he had told me, otherwise he would get sacked. I promised and he told me that the car had a warped crankshaft and it was diagnosed when the previous owner had it. A deal was done with previous owner and the dealer took it back and then put it on the forecourt for sale. The mechanic said he complained about it to his manager at the time who said they were going to leave it and just put it up for sale. The mechanic said he wanted to warn me as the same thing is likely happen again and he felt sorry for me.

To long a story to relate here but I didn't get anywhere with the dealer and I ended up having to pay for a replacement engine, and then sell the car to pay for it. I didn't involve the mechanic, as promised and said I'd had an independent inspection, I even wrote to VW themselves and they washed their hands of it and said it was between the dealer and me.

[Worty]

Nice to hear from you Rog, how's it going.

Worty, thanks for asking, just sent you a pm, so I don't go off topic.

My 2nd car in late 60s was an MG Magnette Mk III, one of the B-series farinas. I part exchanged the Standard 10 and had to pay an extra £70.99. When I got home and my wife looked out the window to see our new car and she didn't believe it and thought I was pulling her leg.

Cheers Rog, got the PM.  I'm sure that Bangers and Cash flogged a Magnette a short while ago - in mint condition if I remember correctly (Derek raved about it).  Can't remember how much it achieved, but it did do well.  Nice looking car too.  Just wondering if that was the one that had a bigger motor put in it (want to say 1275 mini engine but not sure).

[groily]

  . . . Bangers and Cash flogged a Magnette a short while ago - in mint condition if I remember correctly (Derek raved about it).  Can't remember how much it achieved, but it did do well.  Nice looking car too.  Just wondering if that was the one that had a bigger motor put in it (want to say 1275 mini engine but not sure).

Imagine it had the 1622 version of the B series with twin SUs, although the earliest ones might still have been at 1500?
My second car was the earlier curvy ZB Magnette, predating the Farina-bodied badge-engineered stable of marques - with a badge-engineered Wolsely but with the 1500 twin-SU 'B' series as opposed to the rather sedate and slightly smaller Wolsely motor. A superbly comfortable 'driver's car' the ZA and ZB, with a longish 3rd gear (for the day) and superior wooden dashboard & cappings, leather and the trimmings. Above all, rack and pinion steering which made them a better drive than the later versions with their worm and wheel or peg or whatever. Loved mine. Bought it out of a field for £60, sorted it, ran it every day and sold it for £500 three years later  . . . only time I ever made a dime on a car!
(My first car was a Hillman Imp, which I also liked well because of the ohc engine, which made the 850 Minis I'd learnt to drive on seem very pedestrian (until you came to a bend.) Folk said the engines were trouble, overheated, blew head gaskets etc - but after I'd had my head skimmed and generally gone over, it was dead reliable.)