Favourite car your dad had

[RicksAlfas]

August 1st 1984, Dad got a three door one of these in gold, with gold wheels.
Colour coding had just arrived!

[Uncle John]

My Dad had a fairly eclectic mix when I was growing up and amongst others highlights were:

Mini Moke
Daimler XJ6
XJ6 3.2
Triumph Stag
Hillman Imp
Talbot Sunbeam
Matra Simca Bagheera
BMW 318
Chrysler Alpine
Peugeot 505 Estate
VW Camper
Golf GTI mk2 8v

[Tyre Tread]

mightymouse said:

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Not my dad, but can I own up to having had one of these ?
Same colour and actually was a good bit of kit and a 7 seater

I test drove one of these in about 1982. It was crap. No other way to describe it. And I was comparing it to a 1.3 Marina.

The gear change was more of a lucky dip and it rolled all over the place.

[jingars]

In that green. Prior to that he had a silver Simca 1100.

My dad went from this to an Alfasud - 5M rather than the ti. This stayed in the family until I managed to write it off when I was 18.

Dad handed the Simca over to my mum, who had only recently passed her driving test. Her first and only car had been a very knackered mini 850; to say that she struggled with the migration was something of an understatement.

[droopsnoot]

I think my Dads first car was a D-reg Morris 1100, which was replaced by a new J-reg Morris 1300. He's still got that one.

[jezzaaa]

I was born in 1973, and I remember these cars from when I was growing up:

Red Opel Ascona
Blue Opel Ascona automatic (I was so disappointed when the gear lever didn't move itself!)
White Opel Manta (loved the head light wipers!)
Green Renault 18 saloon
Silver Renault 18 estate
1983 'Y' Reg White Cavalier 1.6L
1984 'A' Reg Brown Cavalier 1.6L
1986 'C' Reg Silver Rover 216
1987 'D' Reg Black Cavalier 1.8GLi
1989 'G' Red Cavalier 2.0 SRi
1992 'K' Blue Carlton 2.0 Plaza

Brings back good memories...

[ChasW]

RicksAlfas said:

August 1st 1984, Dad got a three door one of these in gold, with gold wheels.
Colour coding had just arrived!

We had one in 1978 shortly after the model change from the previous shape which was also a good looking car. It was 1.9SR and my Dad insured me on it so I could do Heathrow drop offs and pick ups, from home in Yorkshire! Used to bomb up and down the A1. A great way to spend a day as a student. These cars handled quite well.

[McFarnsworth]

My dad had one of these:





To my 6 year old self that interior was a damn spaceship, and the car could talk ... like KITT ... in French! How awesome/weird was that?

Amazingly, despite their reputation, nothing ever went wrong with it in the 9 years and many miles that we had it, ... until the wiring caught fire.

[McFarnsworth]

My dad also had one of these:

Audi 80 GTE, basically a posh Golf GTI with a boot.





He owned it for three years, then it hit a tree, fell into a ditch, went airborne, fell into another ditch, and hit another two trees. He may have been going slightly faster than the recommended speed.

[Blu3R]

wolfracesonic said:

Ok, so your dad most likely didn't have one these but it was the next one in the pile so here it is, responsible for sending more lazy motoring journo's backwards through hackneyed cliches than any other 1980's German rear engine sports car. It was still the daddy in the Porsche range then too: getting into one would cost you £3000.00 over its 928 cousin, though looking at values nowadays in the PH classifieds, it would have been well worth the extra if you had kept and looked after it.

Mine did:



And he's been beating himself up for the last 8/9 years since selling it

[noell35]

Thankfully he then got enrolled in a company car scheme

[wolfracesonic]

Here's a little curio: What's the big deal you might ask? It's just some 80's metal festooned with grp and go faster bits. Well, as it says in the blurb the company is run by Simon Saunders, yes the one of Atom fame and who also it seems had a big falling out with Aston Martin Tickford, his former employer. Is it a Tickford?

[andygo]

Best car my dad had was a new Mk1 Escort Twin Cam. It was one of the first 50 pre production cars built, the deal arranged by Bill Allen, father of James Allen the F1 pundit.

Tremendously cool at the time, dad used it in the Players No.6 Autocross Championship as well as the Sandraces held on Ainsdale beach, near Southport. Was a spectator magnet.

He got shut of it fairly quickly as the pre production cars didn't have the full type 49 shell strengthend top mounts and so the struts were making a bid for freedom. It was, in such a change to cars of today, his daily driver, so it went, in favour of a 'special' Anglia, (LOL) and a Mk1 Capri 1600 GXL I think.

He also got a new very early MK2 RS2000, first one sold north of Birmingham. He liked it so much he later bought another one, a custom with the fishnet headrests, which he didn't register for years, keeping it under wraps in the garage. It was 'X' reg eventually, IIRC.

He had quite a few other top cars, such as an ex Mark Lovell Mk2 that he used to rally, YYC 442X, and in his later years, a 1928 Riley that he used to compete in Classic Trials - or mental off road hill climbs where modern cars would never even get a sniff at.

God knows how much they would all be worth today.

Edited by andygo on Monday 27th April 20:29

Edited by andygo on Monday 27th April 20:43

[vanordinaire]

Maybe not my favourite but the first of my Dad's 'cars' that I remember. It had a replacement 1100cc engine from an Austin A40 and the rear chassis and springs beefed up to take more weight I remember going on holiday from Edinburgh to Devon, Mum and Dad up front, 4 kids and a dog and camping equipment in the back. It had the van body cut off and fitted with a breakdown crane after we were finished with it in the mid 70's and I still saw it being used by a local garage into the 90's. That's me perched on the bonnet in 1965.

[Gary C]

My dad had a large list of great cars

Supercharged anglia 105e, lotus cortina, 944 but my favourite was his red 1989 911 3.2 carrera. He bought it in 1993 and promptly went to work abroad. Had it until 2007 when it had only covered 22k miles.

Then I bought it !

[thelawnet]

The only one I can remember not being st was a Honda Accord

[Piersman2]

First Jag - 420G, a truly massive motor at the time, we had to remove the gateposts to get it in the drive. My parents went to the auction to buy a Maxi and came back with a 420G.

I was too young to really appreciate the 420G, but he has a Series II a few years later, BUR 85T, that was lovely in signal red and I have fond memories of.

Then more recently an Rolls Royce that I borrowed off him for 3 months, and now the daft old fool has got himself a Bentley Flying Spur, which is immense as he's retired and in his 70s now.

I wonder where I get my love of cars from!

[wolfracesonic]

If one of these isn't ideal 'Shed of the week' material I don't know what is, the Datsun 280C, or Datsun Gaylord Moist Pantyboy as was known in its home market(probably). Usual fare of velour, plastic wood, and chrome of a big Datsun, with a hint of Soccer mom thrown in, thanks to the seven seat capability, the occupants of which would have had an excellent view of the car about to rear end them on a rain soaked road courtesy of the twin rear wipers. Don't all rush to the classifieds, there aren't any.

[gizlaroc]

McFarnsworth said:

Amazingly, despite their reputation, nothing ever went wrong with it ... until the wiring caught fire.

Haha, that tickled me!


On why oh why don't we use this for mpg instead of the stupid 39mph for extra urban we use now...

[Neith]

The only cars I remember my dad owning were these (these aren't the actual cars but same type)

Cavalier SRi


Ford Cortina (which he somehow rolled onto its roof while going uphill )


And the car that survived a massive multi-car pile up weeks before I was born:

(Not a turbo though)

Was involved in a 5-car smash which wrote off the other 4 cars. The Saab's only damage was an indent in the bumper