Favourite car your dad had
Discussion
You can blame Darren390 for this thread crawling its way out of the swamp of indifference and onto the primordial General Gassing shore, that, and the fact I couldn't find anything better to do on an unexpected day off. His Orion Ghia (in readers cars) looks to be in as good a state as the examples in these brochure scans, and though a lot of you will cry 'It's just an Escort with a boot!' to be honest it is, though nicely executed. The Ghia injection also had the distinction(?) of sharing its engine with the XR3i of the time, making it something of a sleeper. As always enjoy!
wolfracesonic said:
You can blame Darren390 for this thread crawling its way out of the swamp of indifference and onto the primordial General Gassing shore, that, and the fact I couldn't find anything better to do on an unexpected day off. His Orion Ghia (in readers cars) looks to be in as good a state as the examples in these brochure scans, and though a lot of you will cry 'It's just an Escort with a boot!' to be honest it is, though nicely executed. The Ghia injection also had the distinction(?) of sharing its engine with the XR3i of the time, making it something of a sleeper. As always enjoy!
I saw an 'Onion' on the road just last week! - a rare treat these days. I also remember that exact Ford brochure... picked it up at the NEC motorshow (might even have been the last time the NEC had a proper motorshow).....
...Does look good in red with the black 1/4 lower door trim.
My Dad worked for Vauxhalls, so he had new fleet cars every few months, I was only born in '85 so this was probably the only interesting car from that period that I do remember, as he was more into his bikes.
My Granddad was also a manager in Vauxhalls, he had a white Astre GTE, unsurprisingly it was stolen, seems to be the S3 of it's era.
From what I remember
Ford Capri 2.0GL
Opel Manta 1.9 berlintta coupe
Ford granada 2.3L
Renault 30 tx 2.7i
Ford granada 2.3L topaz- had spotlights and a stripe
Ford granada 2.8 i GL. Rare base spec with the big engine.
Volvo 760 GLT
Ford granada 2.9i ghia x pack with RS rear spoiler.
Then everything went German or Jag.
My fondest memories were in the 2.9i ghia x. He drove it very quickly and it was incredibly comfortable in the back. Was often referred to as a motorised sofa.
His MD was very generous and once or twice most weeks he'd come home in a 635csi, xjs, 750il... depending on what the MD had chosen for his 2 year company car purchase.
We would regularly blast down the M4 at 140mph. School runs were super cool.
Mum had a load of fiestas.
Ford Capri 2.0GL
Opel Manta 1.9 berlintta coupe
Ford granada 2.3L
Renault 30 tx 2.7i
Ford granada 2.3L topaz- had spotlights and a stripe
Ford granada 2.8 i GL. Rare base spec with the big engine.
Volvo 760 GLT
Ford granada 2.9i ghia x pack with RS rear spoiler.
Then everything went German or Jag.
My fondest memories were in the 2.9i ghia x. He drove it very quickly and it was incredibly comfortable in the back. Was often referred to as a motorised sofa.
His MD was very generous and once or twice most weeks he'd come home in a 635csi, xjs, 750il... depending on what the MD had chosen for his 2 year company car purchase.
We would regularly blast down the M4 at 140mph. School runs were super cool.
Mum had a load of fiestas.
wolfracesonic said:
Ford Orion Stuff
We had a couple of these and also the Escort sibling in mk3 shape. We went from a 1.6 Ghia Escort to a 1.6i Ghia Orion which was always called the "Ford Orion 1.6i Ghia so it's an XR3i with a bigger boot" whenever anyone asked what your dad drove. He then downgraded it to a 1.6GLX for some reason!The Orions were replaced by Mondeos with the first being a Citrine Yellow followed by a boring blue looking one with a V6 engine. He's bought a lot of Fords but his choice is very unpredictable.
No doubt you were enthralled by Matt Birds home page article on the resurrection of Arden, purveyors of modded Jags of a certain vintage, yet I've also no doubt you were wondering the article lacked a little something, namely some hastily scanned 300dpi brochure images and price lists from back in the day. Well wonder no more as Wolfrace's attic once again spills its guts, contents below. I seem to remember my teenage self fantasizing over their upgraded XJS and whether I'd have one in preference to a Porsche 928 of the time; Oh well, was another time, another place. As always enjoy!
July-Aug. 1983: Los Lobos were at no. 1 in the hit parade, an attempted coup d'état in the Congo took place, heavy flooding was reported in Montreal and I came into possession of a Ford general model range brochure; heady times I think you'll agree. You can blame another 'Spotted' thread for this instalment, the Ford XR2 (no i, just like in teamwork) and as a bonus the lesser known 'S' model, which slotted in at insurance group 3 as opposed to the XR2's 4, it's 75bhp merely considered 'lively' up against the 'potent' 95bhp of big sister. Both were powered by the CVH engine, which I experienced in a couple of my father's Escorts; the harder you tried to accelerate the slower you seemed to go! As always enjoy.
wolfracesonic said:
July-Aug. 1983: Los Lobos were at no. 1 in the hit parade, an attempted coup d'état in the Congo took place, heavy flooding was reported in Montreal and I came into possession of a Ford general model range brochure; heady times I think you'll agree. You can blame another 'Spotted' thread for this instalment, the Ford XR2 (no i, just like in teamwork) and as a bonus the lesser known 'S' model, which slotted in at insurance group 3 as opposed to the XR2's 4, it's 75bhp merely considered 'lively' up against the 'potent' 95bhp of big sister. Both were powered by the CVH engine, which I experienced in a couple of my father's Escorts; the harder you tried to accelerate the slower you seemed to go! As always enjoy.
We had one of these back then. It was a capable car, but not exceptional. I preferred it to the XR3i. I did 500 miles in one day in it once. I can't remember if I saw this here, given it's an old thread, quite possibly.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/61090099@N04/collect...
Love it. My daughter, fast forward to the future will say;
My dad, he had an Atom, he used to pick me up in it and also the Griffith. My friends all loved the TVR because it made so much noise. My favourite was the NSX, it was so so cool. The Caterham just scared everyone.
We are only here to pass the baton.
My dad, he had an Atom, he used to pick me up in it and also the Griffith. My friends all loved the TVR because it made so much noise. My favourite was the NSX, it was so so cool. The Caterham just scared everyone.
We are only here to pass the baton.
Strange how the clock has turned. Every time my daughter sees an episode of Randal & Hopkirk( deceased) and she spots Randall's car ( old Victor FD), She says "dad had one of them ,in green". Or a photo of an Austin Maxi or a Morris Marina. But these days when we see a photo of a Ford Capri or a MK5 Cortina, we'l hear "Hubby has one of those".
Yes, time is moving on!
My Dad bought one of these in 1972, but sadly was never able to drive after 1975 due to a cerebral haemorrhage.
But in 1977 it became my 2nd car - technically brilliant with the first ever production engine with DOHC driven by a belt, and 4 wheel disc brakes (although the handling was a bit random):-
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&a...
I suppose if I had ever had children they might have come up with these:-
So I suppose that just makes me old!
My Dad bought one of these in 1972, but sadly was never able to drive after 1975 due to a cerebral haemorrhage.
But in 1977 it became my 2nd car - technically brilliant with the first ever production engine with DOHC driven by a belt, and 4 wheel disc brakes (although the handling was a bit random):-
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&a...
I suppose if I had ever had children they might have come up with these:-
So I suppose that just makes me old!
BenWRXSEi said:
Favourite of my Dad's cars has to be the Sierra XR4x4 2.8. He had it for several years in the early-mid 90s, and living in the countryside I got huge bragging rights with my mates at school every time it snowed. I was also sick in the back on at least two occasions... Sadly I believe E244 FRY is long gone now 
Second favourite would be the E30 M3 with AC Schnitzer goodies. He sold it ~10 years ago to a guy from Finland, for about £6k IIRC. I remind him of this constantly
...and yes, I know the M3 is a vastly superior car to the Sierra and blah blah blah, but growing up with the Sierra meant it made a much stronger impression on me
I've just dragged E244 FRY out of a garage last month where it's been sat since 2004Second favourite would be the E30 M3 with AC Schnitzer goodies. He sold it ~10 years ago to a guy from Finland, for about £6k IIRC. I remind him of this constantly
...and yes, I know the M3 is a vastly superior car to the Sierra and blah blah blah, but growing up with the Sierra meant it made a much stronger impression on me
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