Your first car

[t o m]

My first car was a Black 1964 Morris Minor 1000, I'm now on my second car, a blue 1968 Morris Minor 1000 My insurance when I passed at 18, nearly 19, in 2009 was £600. It's now £426, not bad for a 21 year old.

 

[Wyvern]

 

[GearJammer]

My first car was "Charlie Chester" the Ford Fiesta. Think it was a T-reg 1.1 or something similarly underpowered. An absolute bucket. Thank God I managed to sell it!

His last three letters on the reg plate was ALF, so i was kind of lazy in naming him.....but come on GJ, it's no where near as bad as "Miss Cadbury"

"Charlie Chester" "Miss Cadbury"......... i take it back Kernowfem, Alfie ain't that bad afterall

:roll:

 

[flymo]

My first car was a mk2 Ford Escort. It was an S reg, (1978) and bought it when I passed my test in 1984. Cheap as chips and could be opened with anything from a spoon to an coat hanger. Never used to lock it - no point really, any key from any car or anything would open it. Fitted a kill swith though so it never got nicked.
Eventually upgraded to an A reg Micra in about 1987 after the Escort fell apart....

 

[Zoe]

1980s cars may well have been cheap but many were not crashworthy.

 

[90019]

1980s cars may well have been cheap but many were not crashworthy.

What has that got to do with anything in this thread?

Older cars are generally less crashworthy, so should any car that's not currently in production be banned form the roads for being unsafe?

 

[Zoe]

What has that got to do with anything in this thread?

Many people would have had a 1980s car as their first car and may not have considered just how unsafe they were.

 

[90019]

Many people would have had a 1980s car as their first car and may not have considered just how unsafe they were.

So f*cking what?!
It's got sod all to do with the thread.

If you're just here to hijack the thread and have another go at people about unsafe cars, just go away now, please.

 

[Zoe]

So f*cking what?!
It's got sod all to do with the thread.

It has more to do with the thread than creation vs evolution has to do with going to university. The fact is that many people did have a 1980s car as their first car and they were unsafe.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Perhaps we should all have driverless cars...

 

[90019]

The fact is that many people did have a 1980s car as their first car and they were unsafe.

Quick, we must build a time machine to take newer cars back to all those unsafe people in the 80s!!

 

[flymo]

The fact is that many people did have a 1980s car as their first car and they were unsafe.

Crikey, makes me wonder how I've survived until now. :roll: I could have had a brand new car as my first one but as a new driver and being 17 years old the insurance was already very high for my old Escort. The car cost £900 and the insurance was around £300 if I remember correctly, this was 3rd party, Fire and Theft insurance. After getting my no claims for a couple of years and a newer car, then I went fully comp.

There was also more of a chance of me pranging the car as a novice driver but as it was I never had any incidents in the car as I always tried to drive carefully and still do. ANY car can be unsafe, it is how you drive the car as much as what car you drive.

You really do seem to have a phobia about cars and their drivers.

 

[Minilad]

It's the driver that makes a car unsafe. Not the car

 

[GNER 373]

I got my first car 4 months ago a week after passing my test, it's a Peugeot 206 LX 1.4 51 reg only done 48,000. It has now done 53,500 after I decided to travel to a few railway destinations!(see my blog for where) Well I have been waiting 10 years to finally take my test did 10 lessons and passed with only one minor apparently that's a good thing! Cars don't do it for me really (unless it's a Jaguar) but it's a great car easy to run, small but quick and doesn't drink petrol!

 

[GearJammer]

It's the driver that makes a car unsafe. Not the car

Bingo, could'nt have worded it better myself, it bloody annoys me when people also talk about dangerous roads, theres no such thing as a dangerous road, its the idiots that drive on them that make them dangerous.

But....... as 90019 has rather bluntly and correctly pointed out, this has bugger all to do with the topic of conversation, so, back to your first cars........ and the rather odd names you give them?

 

[deltic1989]

Exactly how are 80's cars unsafe? I'm still here and so are my kids and my car recod in full is a 1991 BMW 316 (designed in 1982) 2 1989 318 tourings and a 1987 M3 All RWD all perfectly safe 60's cars had less wattsup features and there's still loads of them about my dad had a 63' Daimler and that went all over Europe. As said its not the car its the way its driven you drive like a t*at then even a Volvo's unsafe.

 

[Pete2210]

My first car was a Ford Anglia 105E, back in the days when petrol was 3/4d a gallon!!!!!!

 

[class377man]

It's the driver that makes a car unsafe. Not the car

What if you're in a two car accident that is patently the other party's fault? I'd rather be in a Volvo than an old Fiesta for example.

 

[Lampshade]

Many people would have had a 1980s car as their first car and may not have considered just how unsafe they were.

But... if you bought your first car in say, January 1990 then it's Hobson's choice :?

 

[deltic1989]

What if you're in a two car accident that is patently the other party's fault? I'd rather be in a Volvo than an old Fiesta for example.

Fair point. How about an 89 Volvo 740? Side impact bars, air bags, can't go wrong in a collision there.

 

[Sun Chariot]

And back to Kernowfem's original question...

After countless times of borrowing my father's Vauxhall Cavalier, my first own car, aged 22 (me, not the car) was a Rover SD1 2600 in Targa red. Lovely straight-six engine and bodywork built like a tank.

I recall a police-car once pulling up beside me, the officer leaning out of his window and wistfully saying: "we used to have them in our force - oh how I miss them!"

 

[ACE1888]

My first car was a Ford Anglia 105E, back in the days when petrol was 3/4d a gallon!!!!!!

First gallon I bought was £1.66 in 1985!:roll:

 

[455driver]

And back to Kernowfem's original question...

After countless times of borrowing my father's Vauxhall Cavalier, my first own car, aged 22 (me, not the car) was a Rover SD1 2600 in Targa red. Lovely straight-six engine and bodywork built like a tank.

I recall a police-car once pulling up beside me, the officer leaning out of his window and wistfully saying: "we used to have them in our force - oh how I miss them!"

A mate of mine had an ex police SD1 V8 (VUA617X) it had the high lift cams but the old P6 twin point distributor so it would only do about 120mph, I went to the scrappy and got a proper electronic distibutor, 145mph across the M62 , happy memories!

My first car was an ex post office mini van, plenty of room in the back!

 

[O L Leigh]

I'm learning to drive now, hope to get my first car soon after. As strange as it sounds, I'd like a Vauxhall Chevette hock:

You are kidding!! My Mum had a Vauxhall Shove-It for a time. I'm glad it had the heated rear window because it kept my hands warm while I was pushing it. Bloody awful thing it was. Finished in rust brown with matching interior, it kept breaking down with electrical problems. This was over 20 years ago, so I wouldn't recommend one now.

My first car was a 1989 VW Jetta with 104k miles on the clock. It was the base model with a 4 speed box, 1.3 litre engine and no power assistance whatsoever. However, it was a great big square thing and I could see all four corners. If I drove it into town for any reason, I'd stooge around looking for a free parking space on the street. Often times I'd find a space that the drivers of much smaller cars would refuse and manage to winkle the darn thing in, often in just one go. It was an amazing car, though ironically that also succumbed to electrical problems, but not before the mileage had gone up to 160k+ miles.

O L Leigh

 

[gg1]

You are kidding!! My Mum had a Vauxhall Shove-It for a time. I'm glad it had the heated rear window because it kept my hands warm while I was pushing it. Bloody awful thing it was. Finished in rust brown with matching interior, it kept breaking down with electrical problems. This was over 20 years ago, so I wouldn't recommend one now.

Could have been worse, when I was a kid my dad didn't believe in spending more than few hundred quid on a car, amongst other 70s design classics he owned a Morris Marina, an Austin Allegro and TWO Skodas :eek:

Compared to that bunch a Chevette is like a Merc.

My first car was a 1986 Vauxhall Astra 1.6GL bought in 1996, great car until some goit pinched it 9 months after I bought it.

 

[kentuckytony]

[FYI: From USA - I converted the $ to £.]
Very first car (used): 1965 Volkswagen square-back sedan. Bought in 1971 - for £77. Air-cooled, engine in the rear. Sold several years later for parts to someone making a dune buggy - for £46.
[I remember waking up on the first freezing morning of winter after I bought it and thinking, "OMG - I forgot to check the radiator for antifreeze!" Then it dawned on me...]

First new car: 1973 Toyota Corolla. Paid sticker price - £1342!
Can't even get a door for that much anymore.

 

[Wyvern]

..... and the rather odd names you give them?

Mine was called Maurice

 

[O L Leigh]

Could have been worse, when I was a kid my dad didn't believe in spending more than few hundred quid on a car, amongst other 70s design classics he owned a Morris Marina, an Austin Allegro and TWO Skodas :eek:

Compared to that bunch a Chevette is like a Merc.

Er, not really. If the Shove-It is going to be likened to a Mercedes then you'd really have to be comparing it to a wheelbarrow. Or walking. Or perhaps taking a blunt and heavily rusted cut-throat razor to some intimate and highly sensitive part of your anatomy. There really isn't any other way that you could make that connection.

We had a series of Morris Marina hire cars whenever we went on holiday when I was very small. They were OK and certainly never broke down.

I don't know much about the Austin Aggro except that the initially promising design never materialised and that it is supposed to be more aerodynamic in reverse than in forward. Apparently they were also structurally weak so that if you jacked one up and then opened all the doors it would flex and you wouldn't be able to get them shut again.

However, the old Skoda Estelle was a brilliant car. A neighbour had a succession of them and they were bomb-proof. The only time his was ever off the road was when he was getting his extension built and a brick fell out of the bale and went through his windscreen.

But if we're talking about unusual first cars, this neighbour bought his son perhaps the oddest car when he passed his test. For several years he unashamedly drove around in a bright blue Reliant Kitten, for which he still has my undying admiration.

O L Leigh

 

[Welshman]

Dear, oh dear - I feel incredibly old!
My first ever car was a black Ford Popular with 4 gears - 3 forward and one reverse - bought in Yorkshire in 1971 for £25.
It did three return trips down the M1 to see my then girlfriend before collapsing in a heap!

It owed me nothing - I reckon I got my money'sworth from those three trips alone.

 

[Wyvern]

Did it have the throttle pedal in the middle?

I drove a Ford van like that for a while. Then I had to brake suddenly, put my foot on the wrong pedal and went through a hedge.