Cars of your youth

[Alexdaredevils]

I'm still in my dam youth!

[magpies]

COG = brilliant story (the parts that were printable)

[phazed]

Pit spannered at Donington today.

Wow the classic cars there in the pits and on track was truely amazing, a real blast from the past.

Elans, Capris, Mustangs, Escorts, Scimiters, Sprites, Bs, Imps, TVRs, Morgans, Porsches, etc, etc.

You had to be there.

http://www.donington-park.co.uk/events/2015/09/05/...

One of my favs was a really nice 2.5PI Triumph I had back in about 74.

Edited by phazed on Saturday 5th September 22:59

Edited by phazed on Saturday 5th September 23:15

[MSamps]

My full car history

[QBee]

I did a 3000 mile Euro road trip in my 67 Mini, starting on my 21st birthday. So many memories. 20 mph up the hills in the Black Forest, fully loaded. 90 mph down the other side.

[DangerousDerek]

[ChimpOnGas]

Here's my Chevrolet Caprice I had when I worked for the Forestry Corporation in Rotorua New Zealand fixing giant forklift trucks, logging straddles and the odd 1950's Kenwood truck.


image for illustrative purposes only

The car had the LT-9 variant of the ubiquitous 5.7 L (350 cu in) small block Chevy V8 and was formerly the Chinese Australian embassy car so its history carried an ironic mix of Communism & Uncle Sam Detroit iron that made me smile some how.

This big old beast handed like pig on roller skates, a drunk pig.

It was gifted to me as a non-runner by the workshop foreman on the grounds if I could get it running I could use it while I worked for the NZ Forestry Corp.

The thing he didn't tell me was it had been converted to compressed natural gas and everyone in the workshop had tried to get the old monster running and failed, I soon found out it was given to me as joke on Dave the Pommy Barsteward.

I had the last laugh when I got the crude mixer system working acceptably, fiddled with the timing and then set about using if for the next four months to get me to work.

I estimate that car weighed 1.6 tonns and made about 90hp on gas from it's 5.7 litre V8, what it gave me was a perverted fascination for gaseous fuels that's stayed with me forever

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Presume Santa Pod pic is (relatively) recent? Certainly since 1995 anyhoo

(to old gits like me the 90s is recent)

[DangerousDerek]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Presume Santa Pod pic is (relatively) recent? Certainly since 1995 anyhoo

(to old gits like me the 90s is recent)

20 years ago sounds about right. I would have been a little older than a youth at 28.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

DangerousDerek said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Presume Santa Pod pic is (relatively) recent? Certainly since 1995 anyhoo

(to old gits like me the 90s is recent)

20 years ago sounds about right. I would have been a little older than a youth at 28.

The phone number is the clue. That system of dialling codes was introduced in 1995

[simonwedge]

Apart from the boring stuff;



Manta GTE, my mothers car really - fantastic car until I wrapped it round a tree just outside Cambridge when I was 17.



Then bought a Cavalier Sportshatch (really a Manta underneath) as I couldn't afford a 'real' Manta. Put a new engine in it as well as wings, inner wings and nosecone before P/Xing it for;



A 1977 Firebird Formula 400. Lovely car previously owned by a Captain in the USAF stationed here. Lots of go-faster bits and a quick car. Sold because it drank petrol faster than I could afford to put it in. Heard later it had been written off in a collision with a bus in Hull.



1974 Firebird LT with a smallblock 350. IN gold just like Jim Rockford's. I loved that car and did many happy miles listening to 'The Ace of Spades'. Sold it when the engine started smoking because I couldn't afford to rebuild it.



1980 Turbo Trans-Am. Solid body but loathsome car otherwise. Absolutely gutless. Effectively ended my enthusiasm for yanks.



Fast forward 20 years and back in V8 heaven :-)

[LongBaz463BHP]

MG 1100 (1st car)
Vauxhall Viscount
Viva HA
Viva HB
1275 GT Mini
TR 6
Renualt 5
Triumph 2000
Scimitar GTE
MK 5 Cortina 1300 2 door.
Capri 2.8i
Vauhall Royal

The Cortina was a brilliant car used to tow my Escort Stock Rod on a 4 wheel trailer all over the country. It was the absolute base model. White with black bumpers and red vinyl interior.

Edited by LongBaz463BHP on Sunday 6th September 10:35

[TV8]

some great cars here and love the yellow cortina story. Anythony has had three of them! good work

[oscrim]

Two vauxhall corsa...



Wrote one off and managed to find the next one registered in the hope my parents wouldn't notice the difference To this day I still believe I shouldn't have been to blame... But lesson learnt to be more cautious of other drivers abilities as well as my own.

Then an astra

Now a chim 400!

[Sardonicus]

oscrim said:

Two vauxhall corsa...



Wrote one off and managed to find the next one registered in the hope my parents wouldn't notice the difference To this day I still believe I shouldn't have been to blame... But lesson learnt to be more cautious of other drivers abilities as well as my own.

Then an astra

Now a chim 400!

Smart thinking, like it.

[OleVix]

Before the chim I had a Merc 190E 2,6 in which I put a 3 liter w124 engine, went well!


Before that I had a 1,6 carb VW Golf that I did a lot to, totalt rebuild to GTI 8v spec, including gastank, wiring, interior, all mechanicals, later on I put a 1900cc ported engine in it and in retrospect the 10x16 Compomotive porsche wheels might have been too big

[blitzracing]

A few of the more interesting ones:

Concept centaur Mk1 gull wing doors- copy of the Adams probe 15 concept car. 998cc highly tuned Hillman Imp engine



Concept centaur Mk2 (the red one) with normal doors. Very early 80's.

|http://thumbsnap.com/QN8vQRe8[/url]

Yes it was road legal before it became a "blitz racer". 650cc air cooled twin



Noble motorspot p4 Repica- 2.6 ltr Renault V6 tuned to 230 BHP and about 12 mpg with 2 x triple downdraughts. Crashed it into a bank at speed.



The forgotten mid engine italian sports car- forgotten because it was rubbish !

[url]

[ClassiChimi]

Some fantastic cars here, I have about a thousand pics of the Tvr but never seem to keep pics of my old motors.
Mk1 Cortina 1500 pre cross flow 2 door... £40
Mk1 escort 1300
Mk3 Cortina 1600.
Mini 1000
Mk1 Capri 1600 GT ( crossover with mk2 dash )
Renault 5 998 cc or something like that, ace car!
Opel Manta, 1800 with all the skirts
Volvo 360 GLS,,, fully loaded. Haha, good for the family.
MBG roadster 1968, with pucker chrome spoke wheels. Mint condition.
Daimler sovereign 1980, 4.2
Jag XJ6 4.2
Jag X308 3.2 sport, had it for nearly ten years, super Ecenomical with LPG conversion I had installed.
Tvr S2.5 2.9 cologne engine. Brilliant car, really regret selling it.
Tvr Chimears 4.6 st heap! Nah it's coming good now!
Loads of vans including my favourite Mk 2 transit hi top long wheelbase with a Perkins diesel and a Zepher Diff,, 30 mpg in the 1980s,,, fully kitted out as my race van for bikes, twin side doors and Champion Spark plug colour scheme, looks the nuts and never ever broke down. Loved it.

A Mk 3 spitfire but never got it on the road much to my dismay as I was 15 and it was rotton. Bugger!

[macdeb]

Vauxhall Magnum 2300 coupe [Firenza] x2
Ford Granada ghia 2 door coupe
1960 Vauxhall Velox [PA Cresta] of which I fitted a small block Ford V8 with manual box. [other stuff too]
Triumph Stag [x2] one of which I fully rebuilt mechanicals from front to back.
Jag XJ6 4.2
Ford Escort RS Turbo
Peugeot 205 1.9 GTI with a turbo technics conversion
Lotus Esprit Turbo
TVR Griffith 500
TVR Griffith 500
TVR T350T
TVR Chimaera turbo [current]

Some boring stuff along side and in between.

Edited by macdeb on Monday 7th September 09:47

[phazed]

oscrim said:

Two vauxhall corsa...



Wrote one off and managed to find the next one registered in the hope my parents wouldn't notice the difference To this day I still believe I shouldn't have been to blame... But lesson learnt to be more cautious of other drivers abilities as well as my own.

Then an astra

Now a chim 400!

How the hell did you find the second one?!