Cars you remember from yesteryear
Discussion
This thread got me thinking about cars we had in SA in years gone by.
I'm sure many of these have been sold in other countries, but they should remind you of SA.
As per the linked thread:
Nissan 1400
Nissan Sentra (Old Man Pints had one)
I was also recently remembering the Toyota Avante (Old Man Pints had one too)
And the Toyota Cressida (Grandad Pints has one - his P&J)
What other South Africa motoring nostalgia have you to share?
I'm sure many of these have been sold in other countries, but they should remind you of SA.
As per the linked thread:
Nissan 1400
Nissan Sentra (Old Man Pints had one)
I was also recently remembering the Toyota Avante (Old Man Pints had one too)
And the Toyota Cressida (Grandad Pints has one - his P&J)
What other South Africa motoring nostalgia have you to share?
This will keep you busy all night:
http://www.carmagblog.co.za/category/custom_and_cl...
Ones I remember, most of which are on the link:
GTV6 3.0. The best looking GTV IMO. Always wanted one. Nearly bought one for about R35000 but it felt sluggish and it favoured left hand corners, so I walked away.
1 third of a 1-2-3 special: Cortina XR6, nearly always red. I remember one scary night being a passenger in one of these in Durban:
Ford Laser 1600i Sport. Local equivalent of an XR2, really. School friend had one, and so did my brother:
Sentras were a highlight through most of my driving there. I ran a Sabre 160GXi as a company car for a few years, same colour as this 200 pictured, and loved it.
That ugly 2.8litre 2 door Skyline from the early '80s, can't remember what it was called and can't find a picture. The department secretary at the company where I broke my boss's 1989ish Sentra drove one. She was so short the car was nearly as tall as her.
And another Nissan, the Exa and Exa Turbo:
Hiace, of course:
_D_front.jpg/250px-Toyota_Hiace_(second_generation)_D_front.jpg)
And do you remember Valiants? Strangely I remember the jokes, but the car does not look familiar
http://www.carmagblog.co.za/category/custom_and_cl...
Ones I remember, most of which are on the link:
GTV6 3.0. The best looking GTV IMO. Always wanted one. Nearly bought one for about R35000 but it felt sluggish and it favoured left hand corners, so I walked away.
1 third of a 1-2-3 special: Cortina XR6, nearly always red. I remember one scary night being a passenger in one of these in Durban:
Ford Laser 1600i Sport. Local equivalent of an XR2, really. School friend had one, and so did my brother:
Sentras were a highlight through most of my driving there. I ran a Sabre 160GXi as a company car for a few years, same colour as this 200 pictured, and loved it.
That ugly 2.8litre 2 door Skyline from the early '80s, can't remember what it was called and can't find a picture. The department secretary at the company where I broke my boss's 1989ish Sentra drove one. She was so short the car was nearly as tall as her.
And another Nissan, the Exa and Exa Turbo:
Hiace, of course:
And do you remember Valiants? Strangely I remember the jokes, but the car does not look familiar
Pints said:
green944 said:
Loved the Venter, thanks for the pic. My first car was a Datsun 120y..loved that car.
Please tell me it was pale green. 
Alfanatic said:
At the time, he also had a '79 Spider, which cost him a small fortune thanks to the rot having set in..
He went from owning 2 of his dream cars, to owning no car at all. And still doesn't!
MrDarkBlack said:
Alfanatic said:
At the time, he also had a '79 Spider, which cost him a small fortune thanks to the rot having set in..
He went from owning 2 of his dream cars, to owning no car at all. And still doesn't!
My ideal would be to get the 3.0 look but with a 75 3.0 engine transplant, or one of Autodelta's stretched engines. I've seen a few GTV6s running around with the multivalve engines in too, that would be fantastic, but then the gearbox becomes the weak point... thing is though, the 3.0s are collector pieces now, and that's not the kind of tinkering I'd want to do with it, so I'd prefer to get a 2.5 and make it look like a 3.0 with the split rims, bonnet, skirts, spoilers and bumpers, lowered suspension.... it would be expensive.
rossw46 said:
Good thread,jeez, forgot about most of those!
my memories :
Skyline (Gramps had one in PE)
I was at a school camp, about an hour up the south coast from Durban, and a friend's dad picked a few of us up to take back home. my memories :
Skyline (Gramps had one in PE)
So Patrick's dad had just bought a 3 litre Skyline(I think it was..), as above, and was doing about 140 km/h or so on the way home. That was until we reached a clear of road and put his foot down. It was showing 210 km/h on the clock...with 4 kids in it. I remember it wallowing all over the place when it went over expansion joints on the freeway..and didn't feel very planted to the road. But when you're 14, it's exciting, as I'd never been that fast before.
Alfanatic said:
Sorry to hear that. I do recall they weren't as dependable as 2.5s, which themselves weren't the last word in reliability to start with. The engines, which were the USP, also seemed to be the weak point. In particular the six carbs were a pain to keep balanced and there were only a handful of independents mechanics in SA that could be relied upon to get it right by the time the '90s had come around.
My ideal would be to get the 3.0 look but with a 75 3.0 engine transplant, or one of Autodelta's stretched engines. I've seen a few GTV6s running around with the multivalve engines in too, that would be fantastic, but then the gearbox becomes the weak point... thing is though, the 3.0s are collector pieces now, and that's not the kind of tinkering I'd want to do with it, so I'd prefer to get a 2.5 and make it look like a 3.0 with the split rims, bonnet, skirts, spoilers and bumpers, lowered suspension.... it would be expensive.
Yeah, my brother wasn't very hands on with the car, and I think it's the sort of car that would need a bit of tinkering now and then. You're right, the carbs never seemed right for very long.My ideal would be to get the 3.0 look but with a 75 3.0 engine transplant, or one of Autodelta's stretched engines. I've seen a few GTV6s running around with the multivalve engines in too, that would be fantastic, but then the gearbox becomes the weak point... thing is though, the 3.0s are collector pieces now, and that's not the kind of tinkering I'd want to do with it, so I'd prefer to get a 2.5 and make it look like a 3.0 with the split rims, bonnet, skirts, spoilers and bumpers, lowered suspension.... it would be expensive.
I stil think that even today, they are great looking cars. That bonnet vent makes it!
FleshMechanic said:
I was at a school camp, about an hour up the south coast from Durban, and a friend's dad picked a few of us up to take back home.
So Patrick's dad had just bought a 3 litre Skyline(I think it was..), as above, and was doing about 140 km/h or so on the way home. That was until we reached a clear of road and put his foot down. It was showing 210 km/h on the clock...with 4 kids in it. I remember it wallowing all over the place when it went over expansion joints on the freeway..and didn't feel very planted to the road. But when you're 14, it's exciting, as I'd never been that fast before.
Not even all that long ago, a trip in south africa wasn't measured in speed,or time, it was measured in cans of Lion,Klerksdorp to Potchefstroom was about a 3 or 4 beer trip So Patrick's dad had just bought a 3 litre Skyline(I think it was..), as above, and was doing about 140 km/h or so on the way home. That was until we reached a clear of road and put his foot down. It was showing 210 km/h on the clock...with 4 kids in it. I remember it wallowing all over the place when it went over expansion joints on the freeway..and didn't feel very planted to the road. But when you're 14, it's exciting, as I'd never been that fast before.
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