My Dad had one of those!
Discussion
I like this thread! My Dad has always been into driving, just never been into cars and always wrecks anything he has. This stems from having company cars when they would always get fixed no questions asked. Here are the ones from my lifetime
Austin Metro
Ford Capri (written off by drunk driver crashing into it while parked, had only done 3k!)
Citroen BX GT saloon
Ausin Montego 1.6 estate (worst car ever, broke down every 1k miles, Austin couldnt find the fault, many early memories of being in AA relay truck everytime we went on a long journey)
Peugeot 505 Gti Estate 1988
BMW 318i estate 1990
Citroen XM estate 2.0 1994
Ford Focus 1.8 1999
Citroen Xantia 1.9TD 1999 (engine blew up after he overereved it on a dodgy head gasket while trying to get my sister to Heathrow on time (she made the flight))
Citroen C5 2.2Hdi Estate 2002 (bought after citroen garage said the Xantia was effectively written off as it needed a new engine. Has now done 101k and EVERYTHING is wrong with it, electrics, doors, suspension and now head gasket. Looks like it'll get scrapped soon).
Up until the focus they were all company cars which got replaced at 40/60k miles
My faves are the 505 Gti from when my Dad chased the London-Glasgow train on the old A74 doing 115 leptons ish, the dashboard on the BX GT with the mad indicator buttons, the 318i E30 estate from the memories of when we got stuck in the sand in France and a French rugby team literally carried the car out (it'd only just been run in
Dad didn't care as it was a company car. I was raging as a car loving 8 year old!), the Montego Estate when we pulled a road sweeper out of the mud, the XM for its mad exendable suspension that let us go through floods.
What memories!
Austin Metro
Ford Capri (written off by drunk driver crashing into it while parked, had only done 3k!)
Citroen BX GT saloon
Ausin Montego 1.6 estate (worst car ever, broke down every 1k miles, Austin couldnt find the fault, many early memories of being in AA relay truck everytime we went on a long journey)
Peugeot 505 Gti Estate 1988
BMW 318i estate 1990
Citroen XM estate 2.0 1994
Ford Focus 1.8 1999
Citroen Xantia 1.9TD 1999 (engine blew up after he overereved it on a dodgy head gasket while trying to get my sister to Heathrow on time (she made the flight))
Citroen C5 2.2Hdi Estate 2002 (bought after citroen garage said the Xantia was effectively written off as it needed a new engine. Has now done 101k and EVERYTHING is wrong with it, electrics, doors, suspension and now head gasket. Looks like it'll get scrapped soon).
Up until the focus they were all company cars which got replaced at 40/60k miles
My faves are the 505 Gti from when my Dad chased the London-Glasgow train on the old A74 doing 115 leptons ish, the dashboard on the BX GT with the mad indicator buttons, the 318i E30 estate from the memories of when we got stuck in the sand in France and a French rugby team literally carried the car out (it'd only just been run in
Dad didn't care as it was a company car. I was raging as a car loving 8 year old!), the Montego Estate when we pulled a road sweeper out of the mud, the XM for its mad exendable suspension that let us go through floods.What memories!
ones i can remember are
3ltr capri
alfa gtv
volvo 244
volvo 9something
audi a6 quattro
he does keep telling me that he had 2 triumph tr3a's,the first one he had sufferd a cracked cylinder head,the garage that was fixing it said there was a six week waiting time for one,as my dad was about to be married and go of on honeymoon with the car he wrote to the md of triumph explaining how urgent it was and within a week triumph had sent a head down and he had the car back in time.
3ltr capri
alfa gtv
volvo 244
volvo 9something
audi a6 quattro
he does keep telling me that he had 2 triumph tr3a's,the first one he had sufferd a cracked cylinder head,the garage that was fixing it said there was a six week waiting time for one,as my dad was about to be married and go of on honeymoon with the car he wrote to the md of triumph explaining how urgent it was and within a week triumph had sent a head down and he had the car back in time.
Some of these lists sound so familiar. I undoubtedly inherited my interest in cars from my father but he really never tested the boundaries probably because he was just so cautious. Nonetheless here is his list:
Ford Popular - inherited from my grandfather
Ford Anglia '63 - first car he bought himself. He even dug a pit in the garage to do servicing!
Ford Corsair - probably '64 (A reg and I mean ABC 123A). His first company car and I still remember him coming home with it. It's probably one of my earliest memories.
Hillman Hunter D reg - he had to keep this for years as the company went through tough times and it had well in excess of 100k miles on the same engine which was impressive in those days.
Morris Marina 1.8 K reg - seemed such an improvement on the old Hunter
Ford Cortina MkIII 2.0XL Estate - really was an improvement on a Marina!
Ford Granada 2.0GL R reg - quite a motor in its day
Ford Granada's 2.3 and 2.8 - went through a number of hand me down Grannies. One of them was a more sporting version - can't remember the exact spec - but he used to let me take it out and clear the cobwebs on the newly opened M27!
Ford Cortina 2.0GL saloon '79 T reg - his last company car. I bought it off him in '82. I think it's still on the road!
After that it was a succession of indifferent Fords - Escorts and Orions. The last one I sold after he passed away in '99.
And the moral from the story - feed your passion. Only real circumstances prevent me from indulging more often at the moment but I'm biding my time....
Ford Popular - inherited from my grandfather
Ford Anglia '63 - first car he bought himself. He even dug a pit in the garage to do servicing!
Ford Corsair - probably '64 (A reg and I mean ABC 123A). His first company car and I still remember him coming home with it. It's probably one of my earliest memories.
Hillman Hunter D reg - he had to keep this for years as the company went through tough times and it had well in excess of 100k miles on the same engine which was impressive in those days.
Morris Marina 1.8 K reg - seemed such an improvement on the old Hunter
Ford Cortina MkIII 2.0XL Estate - really was an improvement on a Marina!
Ford Granada 2.0GL R reg - quite a motor in its day
Ford Granada's 2.3 and 2.8 - went through a number of hand me down Grannies. One of them was a more sporting version - can't remember the exact spec - but he used to let me take it out and clear the cobwebs on the newly opened M27!
Ford Cortina 2.0GL saloon '79 T reg - his last company car. I bought it off him in '82. I think it's still on the road!
After that it was a succession of indifferent Fords - Escorts and Orions. The last one I sold after he passed away in '99.
And the moral from the story - feed your passion. Only real circumstances prevent me from indulging more often at the moment but I'm biding my time....
The Peugeot 505 GTI keeps popping up! My Dad never had one but a kid that lived up the road his Dad had one, it was a B reg in met blue, thinking back it was quite a distinctive car!
My Mum & Dad's next door neighbours (still are) he worked for one of the big banks he had a string of Vauxhall Carlton's one of them that i really liked was a C reg 2.2 CDI in met red with brown trim, i used to sometimes get a lift to school in this and it was very "velor" He also used to from time to time bring home re-posessed car's (not sure why but it was part of his job) and some of the cars that stick in my mind are a white Y reg Esprit, a Sierra 2.0 S, a Masserati Bi-Turbo (not sure which model exactly but it had the cartier clock on the dash) and the one i liked the most a B reg Maroon XJS with cream leather!
My Uncle used to work for Jaguar, he started there when he left school and retired from there about 10 years ago, his job at one point was to chauffer the bosses around, and every other sunday he used to visit and almost everytime he visited he was in a different Jag! I used to look forward to Uncle Michael visiting to see what car he was in and i never got bored of going around the block in the Jaguar's!
My Mum & Dad's next door neighbours (still are) he worked for one of the big banks he had a string of Vauxhall Carlton's one of them that i really liked was a C reg 2.2 CDI in met red with brown trim, i used to sometimes get a lift to school in this and it was very "velor" He also used to from time to time bring home re-posessed car's (not sure why but it was part of his job) and some of the cars that stick in my mind are a white Y reg Esprit, a Sierra 2.0 S, a Masserati Bi-Turbo (not sure which model exactly but it had the cartier clock on the dash) and the one i liked the most a B reg Maroon XJS with cream leather!
My Uncle used to work for Jaguar, he started there when he left school and retired from there about 10 years ago, his job at one point was to chauffer the bosses around, and every other sunday he used to visit and almost everytime he visited he was in a different Jag! I used to look forward to Uncle Michael visiting to see what car he was in and i never got bored of going around the block in the Jaguar's!
Number 5 said:
The Peugeot 505 GTI keeps popping up! My Dad never had one but a kid that lived up the road his Dad had one, it was a B reg in met blue, thinking back it was quite a distinctive car!
The 505GTI was a decent motor in its day. 2.2 litre injected engine, 5 speed, limited-slip diff, taseful velour upholstery... I had never seen a saloon one until my Dad brought his home. To a 12-year-old, anything with a little boot spoiler was coooooool!
) estate...Hmm....
Some great retro stuff going on in the forums at the mo...
IIRC, my dad had:
Ford Corsair,
Chrysler Alpine (brill in the snow apparently),
Mitsubishi Sapporo GSR (cool, pillarless thing that did 70,000 miles without a service somehow).
Rover 820se (Was in the garage being fixed more than it was on the road - a right electrical nightmare)
Then a few lease cars that I can't even rememeber,
Finally a Mitsubishi Lancer (noting interesting, just a boggo thing).
I nearly talked him into getting a Rover SD1 Vitesse once. He decided to have an AA inspection doen on it and they slated it for allsorts of problems. That's when he went for the Sapporo. That was a great car.
Some great retro stuff going on in the forums at the mo...
IIRC, my dad had:
Ford Corsair,
Chrysler Alpine (brill in the snow apparently),
Mitsubishi Sapporo GSR (cool, pillarless thing that did 70,000 miles without a service somehow).
Rover 820se (Was in the garage being fixed more than it was on the road - a right electrical nightmare)
Then a few lease cars that I can't even rememeber,
Finally a Mitsubishi Lancer (noting interesting, just a boggo thing).
I nearly talked him into getting a Rover SD1 Vitesse once. He decided to have an AA inspection doen on it and they slated it for allsorts of problems. That's when he went for the Sapporo. That was a great car.
Actually my father's had some halfway interesting stuff in his time, even though he's not really all that interested in cars:
From what I remember:
MGB GT V8
Mercedes 280SL "Pagoda" (which got flogged when I was due to be born)
BMW 2002tii
Toyota Corolla Liftback (a low point obviously)
Lancia Beta HPE
Volvo 265GLE Estate
Volvo 240 Turbo Estate
Vauxhall Senator 3.0 CDX
BMW 520i SE (E34)
Range Rover 3.9 Vogue SE
Range Rover 4.2 Vogue LSE
Range Rover 4.6 HSE
Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
another Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
Audi RS4 Avant (B7) (his current steed)
From what I remember:
MGB GT V8
Mercedes 280SL "Pagoda" (which got flogged when I was due to be born)
BMW 2002tii
Toyota Corolla Liftback (a low point obviously)
Lancia Beta HPE
Volvo 265GLE Estate
Volvo 240 Turbo Estate
Vauxhall Senator 3.0 CDX
BMW 520i SE (E34)
Range Rover 3.9 Vogue SE
Range Rover 4.2 Vogue LSE
Range Rover 4.6 HSE
Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
another Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
Audi RS4 Avant (B7) (his current steed)
Well since I can remember my parents only had:
'78 Hillman Avenger 1300 Super
'77 Ford Escort MkII 1300 Van
'87 Mitsubishi Mirage Spacewagon (which is now my dily runaround)
'94 Nissan Sunny Van
'91 BMW 320i (they still have this)
'64 Jaguar E-Type S1 3.8L Roadster
Not exactly an illustrious history butmy dad's a proper petrolhead through and through, just never seen the point on spending much money on cars.
'78 Hillman Avenger 1300 Super
'77 Ford Escort MkII 1300 Van
'87 Mitsubishi Mirage Spacewagon (which is now my dily runaround)
'94 Nissan Sunny Van
'91 BMW 320i (they still have this)
'64 Jaguar E-Type S1 3.8L Roadster
Not exactly an illustrious history butmy dad's a proper petrolhead through and through, just never seen the point on spending much money on cars.
Riley Elf
Mini
Escort GT
Escort 1300
I arrived so he needed something roomy so he bought....
Mini 1000
Peugeot 104
Renault 18TS
Renault 9 Avenue - tried to get him to buy a R11 Turbo, 'too much to go wrong' (may have had a point)
Renault 21GTS - car trivia fans note the R21 was sold with 4 different wheelbases
Renault 21GTX - manual windows, manual locking, electric sunroof - why??
Got sick of French unreliability so bought...
Fiat Brava SX
Back to the French bosom with....
Peugeot 406 Td - AT LAST, A CAR WITH ELECTRIC REAR WINDOWS!!!! Shame I was 30 when he bought it!
Mini
Escort GT
Escort 1300
I arrived so he needed something roomy so he bought....
Mini 1000
Peugeot 104
Renault 18TS
Renault 9 Avenue - tried to get him to buy a R11 Turbo, 'too much to go wrong' (may have had a point)
Renault 21GTS - car trivia fans note the R21 was sold with 4 different wheelbases
Renault 21GTX - manual windows, manual locking, electric sunroof - why??
Got sick of French unreliability so bought...
Fiat Brava SX
Back to the French bosom with....
Peugeot 406 Td - AT LAST, A CAR WITH ELECTRIC REAR WINDOWS!!!! Shame I was 30 when he bought it!
Edited by soxboy on Tuesday 11th November 21:18
RacingTeatray said:
Actually my father's had some halfway interesting stuff in his time, even though he's not really all that interested in cars:
From what I remember:
MGB GT V8
Mercedes 280SL "Pagoda" (which got flogged when I was due to be born)
BMW 2002tii
Toyota Corolla Liftback (a low point obviously)
Lancia Beta HPE
Volvo 265GLE Estate
Volvo 240 Turbo Estate
Vauxhall Senator 3.0 CDX
BMW 520i SE (E34)
Range Rover 3.9 Vogue SE
Range Rover 4.2 Vogue LSE
Range Rover 4.6 HSE
Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
another Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
Audi RS4 Avant (B7) (his current steed)
Oh, I forgot, he also had a lovely Coombs-spec Jaguar Mk2 3.8 O/D in BRG with a red interior for a while but he sold it about 8 years ago. I coveted that.From what I remember:
MGB GT V8
Mercedes 280SL "Pagoda" (which got flogged when I was due to be born)
BMW 2002tii
Toyota Corolla Liftback (a low point obviously)
Lancia Beta HPE
Volvo 265GLE Estate
Volvo 240 Turbo Estate
Vauxhall Senator 3.0 CDX
BMW 520i SE (E34)
Range Rover 3.9 Vogue SE
Range Rover 4.2 Vogue LSE
Range Rover 4.6 HSE
Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
another Audi Allroad 2.7T quattro
Audi RS4 Avant (B7) (his current steed)
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