What did you drive in the 80s?

[abzmike]

Morris Ital, followed by a successive pair of Alfa33s.

[Slaav]

OCD geek mode on:

‘Inherited’ mum’s Mini Clubman Estate - PYN 115L (whichever of us passed first, got her car and she bought a new one....)

Ford Escort 1.1L (eco version? With red and green leds based on heavy foot) EUG 833Y

Astra 1.6, bought off mum when she changed again, A142 UYF

Ford Escort 1.4, D reg(?) short term...

Peugeot 205, F657 UME - my first ever new car

BMW 325i Conv, G744 OKK, second new car....

At the mid to back end of the 80s, managed to get a part time/weekend job at Uni working for Town & Country rental cars then Guy Salmon. Wow!!! You name it, we drove them....

At around 19, I was hooning down Bayswater Rd in a brand new Bentley Mulsanne Turbo. Around that time, managed an indicated 122 mph in Hyde Park, Southern Carriage; 928 S4 from memory - not my proudest moment.

What fun times!!!

[Buzypea]

When I was 18 I bought a Citroen Visa GT and it was awesome. Much quicker than all my mates cars at the time. Though by today’s standards it would be a pile of poo.

[fttm]

MK1 Mexico , MK3 3ltr Capri Ghia , 2x Citroen CX Safaris , Cavalier GLS ,Audi 80 , IIRC.

[abzmike]

Buzypea said:

When I was 18 I bought a Citroen Visa GT and it was awesome. Much quicker than all my mates cars at the time. Though by today’s standards it would be a pile of poo.

A noble steed...
Joking apart, that’s a great picture and would look good on a wall.

[TonyRPH]

From 1981 to 1989 - all in these exact colours too. (The Toyota may have been a bit more yellow...)

Toyota Corolla SR5



VW Citi Golf Sport



Ford Escort MK II



Nissan Skyline

[Gandahar]

Is this the ultimate separate the men from the boys thread?

I was driving a blue Ford Fiesta Popular Plus 1.1 for my driving test. Just like this one




and then after my test I went to the dizzy heights of a Champagne colored Morris Ital 1.3SL estate with turbo stcker on the back I got from a free handout of Performance Bikes magazine who were heavily into drag racing at that time,



Notice the problem the suspension had whilst static with people aboard. When moving ... ahem ...

At least it was RWD, did some good oversteer action in it with those 80s 155s. The long wheelbase helped the extremely slow steering.

Finally stacked it into a stationary Astra at 70+ mph on the M6 which then wrote off the Pug 206 in front of it due to the billiard ball effect.

Happy days.

Edited by Gandahar on Thursday 21st March 20:30

[Gandahar]

abzmike said:

Morris Ital, followed by a successive pair of Alfa33s.

A fellow Ital owner


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkoEQeJu7x8

[apotts]

longblackcoat said:

205 GTI 1.9 with Skip Brown suspension. Completely awesome!

Exactly the same. With Skip Brown suspension and engine work, and latterly with Nitrous.

Sold in 89, spotted just a few years ago....







And a few decades later:

[Sixpackpert]

One of these...I was 8 in 1985.

[mike9009]

In 1988, I drove my first car at the tender age of 14. Unfortunately it was a 1986 1.6L Austin Maestro.

[Gandahar]

mike9009 said:

In 1988, I drove my first car at the tender age of 14. Unfortunately it was a 1986 1.6L Austin Maestro.

The Maestro was not very good but the inherent balance of the car was fine. You could easily 4 wheel drift one. The balance of our 1.3LX version was far better than the later Rover 216 Vitesse we had, that was quicker but less throwable.

The 2 litre MG version was vastly underated sadly compared to the French cars at the time. The engine was ok and the chassis once again would let you take liberties.

[aaron_2000]

Stuart70 said:

aaron_2000 said:

cerb4.5lee said:

motco said:

1987 on a Granada auto for 170,000 miles - I bought it from the company and ran it until 1995

I'd forgot that you could get the 2.9 engine in the Granada so early on, and that engine wasn't available in the Sierra until 1989. I do have a soft spot for the Granada. Love your Capri's too.

They look cutting edge for an early 80's car IMO.

E reg was ‘87, so hardly early 80’s. I think the jelly Grannies started in ‘86.
From memory early jelly mould Sierra was ‘83 - closer to the point.

Started in 85, they were public in 84 (see Tony Bastable video below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwMAFnc6cao

[abzmike]

Gandahar said:

A fellow Ital owner


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkoEQeJu7x8

I loved it. Like the estate owner above, it was champagne, with brown velour upholstery. It transported me breakdown free for about 25000 miles over a couple of years from Scotland to London, and all over the place camping and canoeing. I even did an oil change and swapped the stick starter motor - happy days. Sold it for not much less than I bought it for.

[ChevronB19]

I turned 19 in 1990, so my record in terms of numbers is fairly poor, but in terms of ownership it was a 10 year old 1.1 Fiesta mk 1 (which I adored), then a 1978 TR7 (rusty, but a better car than people acknowledge).

Other people’s cars, mk3 fiesta 1.6S, dolomite sprint, alfasud, 205 gti, 309 gti, triumph 2.5pi. Alfasud and the Peugeot’s were the best.

[motco]

The Granada of the mid-late eighties was a nice car - even in 2.0 litre form. So much room in the back and a decent load space too. It was much more reliable than the BL Princess/Ambassador. The only trouble with my Granada was the heater matrix failed very early on but the warranty took care of that. The Princess suffered as much from BL poor quality control as it did from the incompetence of the Henlys workshops. I actually had two Princesses. The first was an HL Auto 2200 of 1876 and apart from the almost universal rubber bonding failure on a rear suspension link, it went on and on. It did rust like a 1960s Vauxhall though. Perfect for a young family with sufficient width for two baby seats and an adult in the back. Shame it wasn't a hatchback until the underpowered Ambassador took over. The Capris were simple machines with no complicated cutting edge stuff and they went like stink (for their time) and never faltered.

[jamiem555]

A Lada Riva 1200. Bounced it off every fence and wall on the farm. I was 12. Passed my real test in 1993 2 weeks after my 17th birthday.

[LarsG]

While I owned* some of these cars 1981 onwards I drove Mk1 Astra GTE*, Nova GTE, Jelly Mould Astra 2.0 GTE, Alfasuds 1.5ti*, GTV 6*, Alfasud Sprint 1.5*, Lotus Sunbeam*, VW Sirrocco MK1 MK2*, Golf Gti Mk1, Beetle, Ford Escort, Ford RS 2000, Capri 1.3/1.6/2.0/2.8, Granada 2.8*, Montego, Fiat X1/9, Strada Abarth, Fiat Panda 4x4*, Fiat UNO Turbo*, Lotus Esprit, Renault 5 Turbo*, Peugeot 205 Gti 1.6/1.9, Peugeot 106, Astra van, Cavalier, Mini, Fiesta XR2, XR3/i, Triumph Dolomite Sprint, Vitesse, MGBGT, MG Metro Turbo, Rover 2600.... there are probably a few I have happily forgotten.

[Mr Tidy]

I started the 80s with a Fiat 125, quickly replaced by a Rover P6B 3500S.

Followed by a MK2 Granada Ghia, then a MK2 RS2000 Escort, Capri 2.8 Injection, 1300 Golf, another Capri 2.8 Injection, Granada Scorpio.

Photos are my RS2000 and a Capri in the colours I had.

[hutchst]

Started in an Astra, through 3 Cavaliers and finished with a Carlton