Most influential car as a kid?
Discussion
These. My Dad had an SD1 V8 new in 1978 and aged 7 I went to the garage with him to spec the car and pick it up. I can still remember the new car smell from the drive home and the weird orange seats. My brother owned it and then me when I was 18. Great car that still looks great to me.
One of my dads mates had a old Reliant Scimitar GTE (SE5) with a 3.5 rover V8 in it.
That still sticks in my mind and was one of the reason for me owning a scimitar GTE.
There is nothing more than going round roundabouts sideways & the noise the rover V8 made to impress a teenage car mad boy.
I wish I still had the scimitar now but I still have nowhere to keep it so that's one that can wait till I have.
My father drove a ta12 Toyota carina for far too many years. He bought it new in 1972 and it was let go somewhere just after 2000.
It wasn't on the road for a number of years and if money was no object I would find one just for the memories it would bring back.
That still sticks in my mind and was one of the reason for me owning a scimitar GTE.
There is nothing more than going round roundabouts sideways & the noise the rover V8 made to impress a teenage car mad boy.
I wish I still had the scimitar now but I still have nowhere to keep it so that's one that can wait till I have.
My father drove a ta12 Toyota carina for far too many years. He bought it new in 1972 and it was let go somewhere just after 2000.
It wasn't on the road for a number of years and if money was no object I would find one just for the memories it would bring back.
I remember having a car book as a kiddo. Around 5 years old. It had a green 911 in it. That car always struck a chord with me for some reason. Same book had Ford GT40 & 70 too.
My Dad always had BMW 3-series company cars (not a rep! ) and that probably explains why I've had 4 of the buggers...
My Dad always had BMW 3-series company cars (not a rep! ) and that probably explains why I've had 4 of the buggers...
Ollie_M said:
Can remember being sat in the back of ma fatha's Volvo at an early age and seeing this flying past being chased by the fuzz.. I Piston Head was born!
LOLI remember Dad recalling how he was stopped by the BIB one evening on the motorway after going flat out in a Classic 900 Turbo T16s. It would have been 135 plus and they couldn't catch him. They intercepted him ahead in their SD1s and he pulled over. Technology not being what it is now they 'agreed' on 90 and he was given a ticket accordingly.
I was never really interested in cars as a kid. They were never on TV in our house, and no mags lay around. I was exposed to working on cars as a kid, but that's mainly because the cars I was surrounded by were utterly un-PH. Skoda Estelle, Lada Riva, Ford Escort 1.3 Popular, Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L (and that excess of power was only to tow a caravan) - that sort of stuff.
Therefore the car which first made me aware that some cars actually had relatively spritely performance and could be driven more enthusiastically than anything I'd been exposed to up until that point was a rather humble 1993 Rover 623iS (156bhp ~ 1,300kg) which was my best friend's dad's company car. With the appetite whetted I slowly became aware of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Cosworths, TVRs and such like.
It was never a poster on the wall but the old 600 series impressed me enough over the sort of budget-white-goods cars my family drove to get one as my first car. I've had 2 smaller engines in parallel but I started at 2litres and have always owned engines at least that size or larger ever since.
Therefore the car which first made me aware that some cars actually had relatively spritely performance and could be driven more enthusiastically than anything I'd been exposed to up until that point was a rather humble 1993 Rover 623iS (156bhp ~ 1,300kg) which was my best friend's dad's company car. With the appetite whetted I slowly became aware of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Cosworths, TVRs and such like.
It was never a poster on the wall but the old 600 series impressed me enough over the sort of budget-white-goods cars my family drove to get one as my first car. I've had 2 smaller engines in parallel but I started at 2litres and have always owned engines at least that size or larger ever since.
Back in 1976, Dad took me to the Earls Court car show and I got to sit in this on the Aston Martin stand:-
As a 6 year old lad, it was by far and away the coolest car I'd ever seen. Then when I sat in the driver's seat and saw this :-
Well.
That was it. Aston Martin became the bestest coolest car maker ever in my young opinion. Then I read Motor magazine's road test of the V8 Vantage (1977 I think??), where they recorded a 0-60 of 5.2 seconds! In the same feature was a picture of the 5.3 litre V8 that powered it, and it had a metal plaque on one of the headers that said, 'Hand made by Fred Waters'. Aston - for me - was then beyond cool, as they had the fastest accelerating car in the world that was powered by an engine hand built in England by a guy called Fred.
As a 6 year old lad, it was by far and away the coolest car I'd ever seen. Then when I sat in the driver's seat and saw this :-
Well.
That was it. Aston Martin became the bestest coolest car maker ever in my young opinion. Then I read Motor magazine's road test of the V8 Vantage (1977 I think??), where they recorded a 0-60 of 5.2 seconds! In the same feature was a picture of the 5.3 litre V8 that powered it, and it had a metal plaque on one of the headers that said, 'Hand made by Fred Waters'. Aston - for me - was then beyond cool, as they had the fastest accelerating car in the world that was powered by an engine hand built in England by a guy called Fred.
vournikas said:
Back in 1976, Dad took me to the Earls Court car show and I got to sit in this on the Aston Martin stand:-
As a 6 year old lad, it was by far and away the coolest car I'd ever seen. Then when I sat in the driver's seat and saw this :-
Well.
That was it. Aston Martin became the bestest coolest car maker ever in my young opinion. Then I read Motor magazine's road test of the V8 Vantage (1977 I think??), where they recorded a 0-60 of 5.2 seconds! In the same feature was a picture of the 5.3 litre V8 that powered it, and it had a metal plaque on one of the headers that said, 'Hand made by Fred Waters'. Aston - for me - was then beyond cool, as they had the fastest accelerating car in the world that was powered by an engine hand built in England by a guy called Fred.
I remember reading that article - seem to recall the Aston needed a replacement differential before they managed to get that time out of it! As a 6 year old lad, it was by far and away the coolest car I'd ever seen. Then when I sat in the driver's seat and saw this :-
Well.
That was it. Aston Martin became the bestest coolest car maker ever in my young opinion. Then I read Motor magazine's road test of the V8 Vantage (1977 I think??), where they recorded a 0-60 of 5.2 seconds! In the same feature was a picture of the 5.3 litre V8 that powered it, and it had a metal plaque on one of the headers that said, 'Hand made by Fred Waters'. Aston - for me - was then beyond cool, as they had the fastest accelerating car in the world that was powered by an engine hand built in England by a guy called Fred.
Finally something had beaten my Ferrari Daytona poster car that had been top of the charts for years with 5.4 seconds to 60 as tested by Autocar (and it looked great) but the AM was about 10 mph below the Daytona's top speed, so for me the Daytona was still the one to have!
Not that I will ever have either barring a lottery win, but that is what dreams are about!
Being a fan of knight rider, the first car to grab my interest was the mk2 astra gte with the mega digital dash, had 4 of them and a few novas, mk1 astras, astra max vans, mk2 and 3 cavaliers and a calibra and gave them all the redtop/digidash treatment. Tempted to buy one now but dont want to ruin fond memories, especially for the money they command now you can get some decent modern kit.
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