Cars from your childhood......
Discussion
For some unknown reason I started thinking back to 2 cars from my childhood that were not in the family but belonged to some stranger. The first was a silver Jensen Interceptor and the second was a Porsche 928, I think it was Bronze or Gold. I even remember the numberplate of NOT 45 as I'm sure it was transfered to the Porsche.
What cars do you recall that were not 'in the family' but still hold a place in your heart?
What cars do you recall that were not 'in the family' but still hold a place in your heart?
When I were a lad (in the 70s) a family friend had a gold 928 with the "teledials" and that bonkers checked cloth interior. It remains the only Porsche I've ever ridden in, I must try harder.
Dad used to get to borrow some pretty tasty stuff as a muttering rotter, stand-outs were the Rolls Royce Camargue and Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
Dad used to get to borrow some pretty tasty stuff as a muttering rotter, stand-outs were the Rolls Royce Camargue and Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
Red e12 BMW 525, 1973/4. Owned by a friend's Dad. Big Beemers were a rarity back then and it was the first car I was driven in at over 100mph. Hid mum also had a Renault 16 with the quad square lights.
Another 928 - white 928 S2 .ca 1985. Did the school drop off, wasn't friends with the boy who's mum drove it but in a sea of Escorts and Fiestas it looked like it had been beamed down from outer space. Jaw dropping.
Several 60s Triumphs and Rovers in great nick that we used to see on holiday in Anglesey every year. V little salt on the roads there, so they didn't rust away like they did at home in Yorkshire.
Another 928 - white 928 S2 .ca 1985. Did the school drop off, wasn't friends with the boy who's mum drove it but in a sea of Escorts and Fiestas it looked like it had been beamed down from outer space. Jaw dropping.
Several 60s Triumphs and Rovers in great nick that we used to see on holiday in Anglesey every year. V little salt on the roads there, so they didn't rust away like they did at home in Yorkshire.
As a young lad in the seventies, one of my friends dad had a lovely jaguar mkII.
I can still remember the smell of the leather and cigar smoke as we wafted along on a magic ride accompanied by a lovely engine and exhaust note.
The sight of that lovely switchbank and classic dials set in a sea of walnut was something to behold exuding proper class at the time.
It is probably the defining thing that ignited my love of cars.
Another friends dad had a triumph 2.5 saloon with the most gorgeous engine/exhaust note. Lots of noise but not fast at all. Seemed to be lots of noise (gorgeous) but no real get up and go. A bit weird.
We had a Ford Executive, and I remember a very comfortable ride with big plush seats and lovely leather smell interior mixed with smell of oily bits - it did leak engine oil and auto transmission fluid - nice ride though. Dad used to call it his tank!
Mum had an Austin A40, the one with the flat back, which I had my first drive in. Another car with a nice exhaust note.
I often wish we had an album of all those lovely old cars to look back on. They do crop here and there in family photo albums but would have been great to have made a proper record of the cars over the years.
I can still remember the smell of the leather and cigar smoke as we wafted along on a magic ride accompanied by a lovely engine and exhaust note.
The sight of that lovely switchbank and classic dials set in a sea of walnut was something to behold exuding proper class at the time.
It is probably the defining thing that ignited my love of cars.
Another friends dad had a triumph 2.5 saloon with the most gorgeous engine/exhaust note. Lots of noise but not fast at all. Seemed to be lots of noise (gorgeous) but no real get up and go. A bit weird.
We had a Ford Executive, and I remember a very comfortable ride with big plush seats and lovely leather smell interior mixed with smell of oily bits - it did leak engine oil and auto transmission fluid - nice ride though. Dad used to call it his tank!
Mum had an Austin A40, the one with the flat back, which I had my first drive in. Another car with a nice exhaust note.
I often wish we had an album of all those lovely old cars to look back on. They do crop here and there in family photo albums but would have been great to have made a proper record of the cars over the years.
Walking to school one day in the mid/late 60s (showing my age now!) a light blue Sunbeam Alpine with the roof down passed me and I was wowed by the shape. No idea why it impressed me so much, I've never owned one as an adult or even been tempted by one, but seeing them in the metal or even a picture has always transported me back to that sunny morning.......
I remember loads from the 70's. A teacher had a Messerschmitt and a Jenson Interceptor. Another had a 1930's Austin 10, which I helped make suspension bushes for. A bloke in the next road had a mini cooper with a lowered roof, always wanted one of them. The bloke who lived round the back of our house had a 911 for road and a 911 for racing.
Ah, the good old days!
My big one was on my 6th birthday walking home from school with a friend - turned onto our street (which, being the early 70s was empty of cars at 3:45 on a weekday) to see a single car parked way up the street - looked to be near our house.
Impossibly low, wide and definitely 'not from around here'. Here being suburban Manchester. As we got close it was clearly parked outside our house. Smudged noses on the window revealed it to be a two seater that even an almost 6 year old could look down into. It was light in colour - the 70s rather appropriately appear in monochrome in my memory.
The lettering on the back spelled out L-A-M-B-O-R-G-H-I-N-I. A Miura!
I rushed into the house to tell my mum to find her chatting to my uncle, who had 'borrowed' (he was that kind of uncle) a mates car to take me out for a spin as it was my birthday, and also I suspect to try and cadge some money off my mum for his latest harebrained scheme/midnight flit...
The rest of the day and the drive out is I am ashamed to say a bit of a blur and sadly I don't have any pictures as we didn't have a camera in those days... At least the memories remain.
My big one was on my 6th birthday walking home from school with a friend - turned onto our street (which, being the early 70s was empty of cars at 3:45 on a weekday) to see a single car parked way up the street - looked to be near our house.
Impossibly low, wide and definitely 'not from around here'. Here being suburban Manchester. As we got close it was clearly parked outside our house. Smudged noses on the window revealed it to be a two seater that even an almost 6 year old could look down into. It was light in colour - the 70s rather appropriately appear in monochrome in my memory.
The lettering on the back spelled out L-A-M-B-O-R-G-H-I-N-I. A Miura!
I rushed into the house to tell my mum to find her chatting to my uncle, who had 'borrowed' (he was that kind of uncle) a mates car to take me out for a spin as it was my birthday, and also I suspect to try and cadge some money off my mum for his latest harebrained scheme/midnight flit...
The rest of the day and the drive out is I am ashamed to say a bit of a blur and sadly I don't have any pictures as we didn't have a camera in those days... At least the memories remain.
In no particular order:
my Dad's RAF Standard Vanguard Beetleback staff car so not strictly 'family', also the first car I ever 'drove' sitting on his lap,
a grey Fergie tractor (the second thing I drove, standing up, whilst spud picking on a Lincolnshire farm,
a teacher's '48 Vauxhall,
a cafe owner's Nash Metropolitan,
my cousin Alan's pink Vauxhal Victor,
a neighbour's Auto Union 1000,
Nicola Moody's dad's Vauxhall Cresta,
another neighbour's Vauxhall Wyvern,
my girlfriend's dad's new Rover 2000 that someone had driven into within days of purchase,
next door's Sunbeam Rapier,
another girlfriend's dad's maroon Wolseley 15/60,
another girlfriend's dad's Standard Vanguard,
the girl next door's dad's Alfa Romeo Guilietta,
a girlfriend's neighbour's Alfa Spider,
a headmaster's MG 1100 (which was advertised in a local paper at a knock down price by a naughty schoolboy <cough>)
my physics master's Fiat 500 Estate (which was planted in a school flower bed up to its axles).
Then I grew up - possibly.
my Dad's RAF Standard Vanguard Beetleback staff car so not strictly 'family', also the first car I ever 'drove' sitting on his lap,
a grey Fergie tractor (the second thing I drove, standing up, whilst spud picking on a Lincolnshire farm,
a teacher's '48 Vauxhall,
a cafe owner's Nash Metropolitan,
my cousin Alan's pink Vauxhal Victor,
a neighbour's Auto Union 1000,
Nicola Moody's dad's Vauxhall Cresta,
another neighbour's Vauxhall Wyvern,
my girlfriend's dad's new Rover 2000 that someone had driven into within days of purchase,
next door's Sunbeam Rapier,
another girlfriend's dad's maroon Wolseley 15/60,
another girlfriend's dad's Standard Vanguard,
the girl next door's dad's Alfa Romeo Guilietta,
a girlfriend's neighbour's Alfa Spider,
a headmaster's MG 1100 (which was advertised in a local paper at a knock down price by a naughty schoolboy <cough>)
my physics master's Fiat 500 Estate (which was planted in a school flower bed up to its axles).
Then I grew up - possibly.
^^^ Post of the week above by Om!
Sadly not ridden in by me, but I saw Rod Stewart with his white Miura S as a kid in Kensington on a family visit, l remember looking down on it from the top deck of the bus we were on being utterly mesmerised by it. Almost five decades later I found myself chatting with the then owner on facebook during the period he had it restored back to the condition it was in when Rod bought it in 1970. He bought it from Amari in Preston, by which time it had been painted dark blue and upgraded to SV spec.
Others not family owned but vividly recalled now are the kingfisher blue RR Corniche owned by the headmaster of my middle school, the bronze coloured Bentley T1 owned by a friend of my grandad and the metallic blue Maserati Bora that belonged briefly to the son of the old lady who lived over the road from us in the early '70s, all of which seemed so exotic considering we lived on the edge of a council estate at the time.
Sadly not ridden in by me, but I saw Rod Stewart with his white Miura S as a kid in Kensington on a family visit, l remember looking down on it from the top deck of the bus we were on being utterly mesmerised by it. Almost five decades later I found myself chatting with the then owner on facebook during the period he had it restored back to the condition it was in when Rod bought it in 1970. He bought it from Amari in Preston, by which time it had been painted dark blue and upgraded to SV spec.
Others not family owned but vividly recalled now are the kingfisher blue RR Corniche owned by the headmaster of my middle school, the bronze coloured Bentley T1 owned by a friend of my grandad and the metallic blue Maserati Bora that belonged briefly to the son of the old lady who lived over the road from us in the early '70s, all of which seemed so exotic considering we lived on the edge of a council estate at the time.
I was probably about 8 at the time, with my Dad driving along moorland hill tracks in a borrowed early Series Land Rover. As the track got rougher I can remember being fascinated as he fiddled with the various knobs and levers to engage four wheel drive and then low-box.
The memory of that standard vehicles capabilities has stayed with me since then and started my love of off-road vehicles, which is still with me today!
Another from about the same age is being given a lift in a friends father's Citroen DS; even at that age it's futuristic looks and soft luxurious ride left an unforgettable impression.
Edit: Also, the first time that I saw a (classic) Range Rover at the local Highland games - a brand new 2 door in that beige colour they came in. At the time it seemed to me to be the perfect vehicle and I vowed that one day that I would own one. Fifty years later I still haven't, however my son also caught that bug and and has just restored one - he parks it at my house and I have use of it, so result!
The memory of that standard vehicles capabilities has stayed with me since then and started my love of off-road vehicles, which is still with me today!
Another from about the same age is being given a lift in a friends father's Citroen DS; even at that age it's futuristic looks and soft luxurious ride left an unforgettable impression.
Edit: Also, the first time that I saw a (classic) Range Rover at the local Highland games - a brand new 2 door in that beige colour they came in. At the time it seemed to me to be the perfect vehicle and I vowed that one day that I would own one. Fifty years later I still haven't, however my son also caught that bug and and has just restored one - he parks it at my house and I have use of it, so result!
Edited by jhonn on Wednesday 14th July 11:01
Also I recall from the early 80s a Japanese exchange student who was lodging with a neighbour. He obviously had a bit of money spare and bought himself a green early 70s Mustang convertible not too dissimilar to this one:
Only in my minds eye it had wider arches and more eagle. What a fine rumbly thing. It could really turn a ten year old boys head!
Only in my minds eye it had wider arches and more eagle. What a fine rumbly thing. It could really turn a ten year old boys head!
In the late fifties I was about 10 years old. We were not at all rich. The house next door was rented to a young Iranian medical student.
We did not have a car ourselves. One evening I heard an unusual rumble and a brand new Facel Vega pulled into the driveway next door driven by the student.
It was to me the most exotic car imaginable. He took me for a drive in it. I recall that it was fitted with a record player. It could play a single 45rpm disc.
I remember the sound of the big V8 vividly.
We did not have a car ourselves. One evening I heard an unusual rumble and a brand new Facel Vega pulled into the driveway next door driven by the student.
It was to me the most exotic car imaginable. He took me for a drive in it. I recall that it was fitted with a record player. It could play a single 45rpm disc.
I remember the sound of the big V8 vividly.
At Primary School (so early 90's) I have distinct memories of one of the teachers owning a light blue TVR Tasmin coupe, with that funny vertical rear glass.
It was just like this - in fact, given how few were made, it could qute easily have been this car:
Given the carpark would have otherwise been Sierras, Metros, Novas etc, it was rather exotic! (plot twist, the 6 cylinder TVRs, these and the S, sound better than the Rover V8 cars...)
Finally a few years later my first experience IN an interesting car was a ride in a 1997 40th Anniversary 'Ruby' Caterham Seven with a famiyl member who owned Noble Motorsport in Chesterfield:
exactly the same as that one!
I finally have very fond memories of my Dads car in the 90s - D482 HUA, Series 1 Renault Espace, in the 'launch' colours of Orange over Brown with Orange interior. Like something from the space age:
It was just like this - in fact, given how few were made, it could qute easily have been this car:
Given the carpark would have otherwise been Sierras, Metros, Novas etc, it was rather exotic! (plot twist, the 6 cylinder TVRs, these and the S, sound better than the Rover V8 cars...)
Finally a few years later my first experience IN an interesting car was a ride in a 1997 40th Anniversary 'Ruby' Caterham Seven with a famiyl member who owned Noble Motorsport in Chesterfield:
exactly the same as that one!
I finally have very fond memories of my Dads car in the 90s - D482 HUA, Series 1 Renault Espace, in the 'launch' colours of Orange over Brown with Orange interior. Like something from the space age:
A boy at school was a bit 'odd', I'm sure he should have gone to a (what was known back then in the early 80's and PC was not a thing) special school.
He lived up the road from me, his dad a Citroen DS, it was different than anybody elses car, it sat funny, had lights in the roof at the back and had headlights behind a glass bubble.
How little did I know that I'd grow up to wanting one.
My Dad had a Land Rover (that was it, it was called a Land Rover, before the name Series etc was given to them and an 8 year old me, LOVED it) and he had a nice (lol) 1750 Maxi.
He left the lights on the Maxi overnight to flatten the battery, so the next day it wouldn't start... we were going a wedding, we had to go in the Land Rover, it made me very happy, my Mum was not very happy. I remember watching all the smoke bellow out when he started it and my Mum's hat being the only visible thing left of her. My Dad sold it soon after, I can know figure out why.
He lived up the road from me, his dad a Citroen DS, it was different than anybody elses car, it sat funny, had lights in the roof at the back and had headlights behind a glass bubble.
How little did I know that I'd grow up to wanting one.
My Dad had a Land Rover (that was it, it was called a Land Rover, before the name Series etc was given to them and an 8 year old me, LOVED it) and he had a nice (lol) 1750 Maxi.
He left the lights on the Maxi overnight to flatten the battery, so the next day it wouldn't start... we were going a wedding, we had to go in the Land Rover, it made me very happy, my Mum was not very happy. I remember watching all the smoke bellow out when he started it and my Mum's hat being the only visible thing left of her. My Dad sold it soon after, I can know figure out why.
My Dad brought home various interesting things.
XR3i when they were brand new and no-one had seen one
Ditto 205GTi
944 Turbo
928 S4
Marcos Mantis
Bentley S2 owned by Alpine was quite a nice thing to be picked up from school in
Others I remember are a maroon Fuego Turbo a neighbour had, and another neighbour had a couple of lovely SD1 Vitesses.
Relative also had a very early Sierra which was quite something at the time.
XR3i when they were brand new and no-one had seen one
Ditto 205GTi
944 Turbo
928 S4
Marcos Mantis
Bentley S2 owned by Alpine was quite a nice thing to be picked up from school in
Others I remember are a maroon Fuego Turbo a neighbour had, and another neighbour had a couple of lovely SD1 Vitesses.
Relative also had a very early Sierra which was quite something at the time.
snotrag said:
I finally have very fond memories of my Dads car in the 90s - D482 HUA, Series 1 Renault Espace, in the 'launch' colours of Orange over Brown with Orange interior. Like something from the space age:
Your Dad was Harold Shipman? 
Jokes aside, my Dad always wanted one of these, but could only stretch to a 21 Savanna.
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