My Dad had one of those (and those)
Discussion
I was going to put these in the period classic pics thread but it seems to have descended into a "post pictures you found on google images" thread.
Anyway, below pics are of cars my Dad (or in the case of a couple, his Dad) owned over the years - most of which are now either classics or "retro". These are all scanned from photos, so quality may be iffy.
Hopefully some of you find it interesting.
The first car he remembers, his Dad's 1939 Standard 9, pic taken in 1952
1970 now, and Grandad has graduated via at least one Triumph Herald to a 1967 Sunbeam Rapier, seen here with Gran on a picnic. He had a dark blue one of these too. Put it through the automatic car wash every weekend - until the paint wore through
From memory he then had a couple of Ford Cortinas before he passed away.
Dad's first car. In some sort of misplaced loyalty towards the local economy he bought himself a second hand Imp. Seen here whilst out train spotting with some of his pals, one of whom is pointing out the rusty sills. The car wasn't very old (possibly 3). This was, as you'll see, the one and only British car he owned, although I doubt it was the worst.
Having been put off British stuff his next car was a Renault 4, seen here on Grandad's drive.
Then he got married, and bought a house, and a Renault 12 saloon
Now, the 12 saloon became a 16, and then a Volvo 145, seen here at the next house with the Renault 6 that replaced the 4 for Mum. My earliest motoring memory is the day Mum reversed the 6 into a wall outside playschool
And here is the Volvo in all its squareness
The Volvo became a SAAB 99 and the 6 became a Renault 12 estate - no pics of either I'm afraid.
Now, Mum rebelled because she didn't like big cars, so Dad had to get an estate, and she got a saloon. Around this time he became a partner in his firm, so he did something relatively sensible and bought himself a Peugeot 504 estate, and in a fit of what can only be described as insanity, bought Mum a LADA! (or maybe it was to teach her a lesson)
Here is the LADA with 3 very fashionable young chaps
My favourite memory of both involve breakdowns:
- LADA - never ran right, the carb was buggered from new. One day it shat itself on the A737 between the M8 and Linwood, with Mum, me and my 2 brothers in it. That involved us standing by the side of the dual carriageway until someone stopped and took us back to his house so Mum could ring Dad and go a little bit mental. LADA got replaced soon after., see further down.
- 504 - one very stormy day the 3 of us must have been driving Mum up the wall, so Dad decided we were all going to Wemyss Bay to watch the ferries come in - in a force 9 westerly gale. So somewhere on the A78 between Largs and Wemyss Bay the sea was breaking over the road - in fact it broke right over the car......which stopped....dead. We were completely terrified while Dad did his best not to panic. Fortunately we got rescued (by Mum in the LADA) but the poor old 504 had to sit there overnight while the sea did its best to wash it away. However, as everyone knows, 504s are indestructible and once it had dried out it was fine, at least for as long as Dad kept it, which wasn't long....
The 504 became a CX - the coolest car he has ever owned. Unfortunately, while it looked great, it was a bit of a lemon. It had huge electrical issues from the start, and if you tried running wipers, demister, lights etc all at once it would simply die, which meant you lost gears because it had the weird oil bath transmission thing. It also hated sea air, so living on the Clyde coast did it no favours. By the time it was 2 the bottom of the tailgate had rusted through.
Despite the overall crapiness of the CX he decided to replace the LADA with another Citroen - a 2CV!! Now, having just seen the latest Bond movie we wanted the special yellow one with the fake bullet hole stickers. Instead he got a blue one
I think this is the car he kept the longest, 6 years or so all up, replaced by a D reg Renault 5, which became an E reg 11, which became a G reg BX estate, which became an L reg ZX, then a Polo, then a Golf, and now a Skoda Fabia.
Here it is at the World Rally at Doune
And again a few years later (at Fairlie Pier if you were wondering) with its replacement fibreglass roof - fitted because one of the local b
d cats stuck its claws through the original.
It really was a great car, although the thought of the 5 of us setting of for day trips or holidays in it makes me shudder now.
Now, Dad had become senior partner in the firm, and since he was able to buy his car through the business, he went all German, and got this 200T.
Which he kept for 3 years before trading up to his favourite car of all time, and one I think he still misses, a 230TE
His business partner had been impressed by the 200T, so they actually bought 2 of these. The other one was C195 and was cream IIRC. However it disgraced itself by breaking a timing chain and chucking a rod through the block
Now, as you may have gathered Dad has the occasional brain fart when it comes to cars, which may explain why the 230TE was replaced by a V6 Shogun
This was mental - actually quite quick, but drank like a fish. All well and good while he could put fuel through the company, but then he got a sort of promotion which meant he was paying for his own petrol, so the Shogun had to go. It was chopped in for an ex-demo 740 turbo diesel. He used to enjoy leaving "boy racers" behind in a cloud of black smoke.
After a couple of years the Volvo was chopped in against an Accord Aerodeck. We think this was possibly the first one in private hands in the UK. He went to the dealer and asked if they had one he could look at, explained the colour and spec he was after. They had one, but it was sitting on the showroom floor under a cover, waiting for launch night. A deal was done, and it was picked up on the Tuesday - dealer launch was the following Friday.
The Accord became a Legend, and the rest are too modern for this section, and would now be considered "bargain barges" I think (no pics anyway).
Anyway, below pics are of cars my Dad (or in the case of a couple, his Dad) owned over the years - most of which are now either classics or "retro". These are all scanned from photos, so quality may be iffy.
Hopefully some of you find it interesting.
The first car he remembers, his Dad's 1939 Standard 9, pic taken in 1952
1970 now, and Grandad has graduated via at least one Triumph Herald to a 1967 Sunbeam Rapier, seen here with Gran on a picnic. He had a dark blue one of these too. Put it through the automatic car wash every weekend - until the paint wore through
From memory he then had a couple of Ford Cortinas before he passed away.
Dad's first car. In some sort of misplaced loyalty towards the local economy he bought himself a second hand Imp. Seen here whilst out train spotting with some of his pals, one of whom is pointing out the rusty sills. The car wasn't very old (possibly 3). This was, as you'll see, the one and only British car he owned, although I doubt it was the worst.
Having been put off British stuff his next car was a Renault 4, seen here on Grandad's drive.
Then he got married, and bought a house, and a Renault 12 saloon
Now, the 12 saloon became a 16, and then a Volvo 145, seen here at the next house with the Renault 6 that replaced the 4 for Mum. My earliest motoring memory is the day Mum reversed the 6 into a wall outside playschool
And here is the Volvo in all its squareness
The Volvo became a SAAB 99 and the 6 became a Renault 12 estate - no pics of either I'm afraid.
Now, Mum rebelled because she didn't like big cars, so Dad had to get an estate, and she got a saloon. Around this time he became a partner in his firm, so he did something relatively sensible and bought himself a Peugeot 504 estate, and in a fit of what can only be described as insanity, bought Mum a LADA! (or maybe it was to teach her a lesson)
Here is the LADA with 3 very fashionable young chaps
My favourite memory of both involve breakdowns:
- LADA - never ran right, the carb was buggered from new. One day it shat itself on the A737 between the M8 and Linwood, with Mum, me and my 2 brothers in it. That involved us standing by the side of the dual carriageway until someone stopped and took us back to his house so Mum could ring Dad and go a little bit mental. LADA got replaced soon after., see further down.
- 504 - one very stormy day the 3 of us must have been driving Mum up the wall, so Dad decided we were all going to Wemyss Bay to watch the ferries come in - in a force 9 westerly gale. So somewhere on the A78 between Largs and Wemyss Bay the sea was breaking over the road - in fact it broke right over the car......which stopped....dead. We were completely terrified while Dad did his best not to panic. Fortunately we got rescued (by Mum in the LADA) but the poor old 504 had to sit there overnight while the sea did its best to wash it away. However, as everyone knows, 504s are indestructible and once it had dried out it was fine, at least for as long as Dad kept it, which wasn't long....
The 504 became a CX - the coolest car he has ever owned. Unfortunately, while it looked great, it was a bit of a lemon. It had huge electrical issues from the start, and if you tried running wipers, demister, lights etc all at once it would simply die, which meant you lost gears because it had the weird oil bath transmission thing. It also hated sea air, so living on the Clyde coast did it no favours. By the time it was 2 the bottom of the tailgate had rusted through.
Despite the overall crapiness of the CX he decided to replace the LADA with another Citroen - a 2CV!! Now, having just seen the latest Bond movie we wanted the special yellow one with the fake bullet hole stickers. Instead he got a blue one
I think this is the car he kept the longest, 6 years or so all up, replaced by a D reg Renault 5, which became an E reg 11, which became a G reg BX estate, which became an L reg ZX, then a Polo, then a Golf, and now a Skoda Fabia.Here it is at the World Rally at Doune
And again a few years later (at Fairlie Pier if you were wondering) with its replacement fibreglass roof - fitted because one of the local b
d cats stuck its claws through the original.It really was a great car, although the thought of the 5 of us setting of for day trips or holidays in it makes me shudder now.
Now, Dad had become senior partner in the firm, and since he was able to buy his car through the business, he went all German, and got this 200T.
Which he kept for 3 years before trading up to his favourite car of all time, and one I think he still misses, a 230TE
His business partner had been impressed by the 200T, so they actually bought 2 of these. The other one was C195 and was cream IIRC. However it disgraced itself by breaking a timing chain and chucking a rod through the block
Now, as you may have gathered Dad has the occasional brain fart when it comes to cars, which may explain why the 230TE was replaced by a V6 Shogun
This was mental - actually quite quick, but drank like a fish. All well and good while he could put fuel through the company, but then he got a sort of promotion which meant he was paying for his own petrol, so the Shogun had to go. It was chopped in for an ex-demo 740 turbo diesel. He used to enjoy leaving "boy racers" behind in a cloud of black smoke.
After a couple of years the Volvo was chopped in against an Accord Aerodeck. We think this was possibly the first one in private hands in the UK. He went to the dealer and asked if they had one he could look at, explained the colour and spec he was after. They had one, but it was sitting on the showroom floor under a cover, waiting for launch night. A deal was done, and it was picked up on the Tuesday - dealer launch was the following Friday.
The Accord became a Legend, and the rest are too modern for this section, and would now be considered "bargain barges" I think (no pics anyway).
)Great write up.
My Dads car history is far more mundane - always bought new (except for the first and last in this list)Usually serviced the car regularly, average mileage in each and got rid come major MOT failure time. (except for the Mini) Interestingly the Maestro was the lowest ebb in the British manufacture based on my Dads experience.
???? Hillman Imp
1970 Austin Mini
1976 Austin Allegro Estate
1986 Austin Maestro 1.6L <---- I learnt to drive in this!
1993 Rover 214
2004 Honda Civic
My Dads car history is far more mundane - always bought new (except for the first and last in this list)Usually serviced the car regularly, average mileage in each and got rid come major MOT failure time. (except for the Mini) Interestingly the Maestro was the lowest ebb in the British manufacture based on my Dads experience.
???? Hillman Imp
1970 Austin Mini
1976 Austin Allegro Estate
1986 Austin Maestro 1.6L <---- I learnt to drive in this!
1993 Rover 214
2004 Honda Civic
My Dad only had two 'daily' cars during my life (he died when I was 28)
Firstly, he bought an almost new Triumph Herald in '67, in white with a huge black stripe down the side. That car was run as his daily until 1996 / 1997, when he decided that he was too old to keep on top of the maintenance. I went round to visit one day, and the Triumph had gone, to be replaced by a 2 year old mini.
Others came and went, but the Triumph was the daily drive for the best part of 30 years!
Never did find out what happened to the Triumph though.
Firstly, he bought an almost new Triumph Herald in '67, in white with a huge black stripe down the side. That car was run as his daily until 1996 / 1997, when he decided that he was too old to keep on top of the maintenance. I went round to visit one day, and the Triumph had gone, to be replaced by a 2 year old mini.
Others came and went, but the Triumph was the daily drive for the best part of 30 years!
Never did find out what happened to the Triumph though.
Edited by DavidJG on Tuesday 22 March 16:39
Dads cars
Austin 8
Hillman Minx - often broken
Morris Minor EDC 141
Ford Popular 100E vacuum wipers and 3 speed box. Waas offered it when I passed my test and refused it!
Hillman Minx Mk IV had a cigarette lighter, I'd just passed my test at 17, secret smoker, tried lighting up while driving nearly had a fire in my crotch
Ford Cortina Mk 2 1300. Took it to the pub one night and a mate reversed into it...
VW Beetle 1300 a whole new meaning to the term understeer
Renault 5 - wanted him to buy a Triumph 1300
After that we lost touch but he had a Polo for a while
I;m now 62 and could bore you with a whole list of cars owned
Austin 8
Hillman Minx - often broken
Morris Minor EDC 141
Ford Popular 100E vacuum wipers and 3 speed box. Waas offered it when I passed my test and refused it!
Hillman Minx Mk IV had a cigarette lighter, I'd just passed my test at 17, secret smoker, tried lighting up while driving nearly had a fire in my crotch
Ford Cortina Mk 2 1300. Took it to the pub one night and a mate reversed into it...
VW Beetle 1300 a whole new meaning to the term understeer
Renault 5 - wanted him to buy a Triumph 1300
After that we lost touch but he had a Polo for a while
I;m now 62 and could bore you with a whole list of cars owned
My Dad had various snotters in his youth: Morris minors with hand painted wings for £10 (apparently nobody else bid at the auction...) Wolseley 16/60, Beetle (I came home from hospital in this).
He had company cars. Starting with a Marina Van, Then an 80s Vauxhall Astra estate in Merit spec. Then (wait for it)
E reg Montego estate 1.6 L
F reg Montego estate 1.6l
G reg Montego estate 1.6 Clubman
H reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
J reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
K reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
L reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
M reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
And having changed car every year, the company then decided to keep the last one (they really did make M reg Montego estates!) for 3 years.
R reg mondeo LX estate
V reg Zafira
Then they discovered Octavia estates. He has retired now. Can anyone beat 8 near identical company cars?? His only choice was exterior colour.
He had company cars. Starting with a Marina Van, Then an 80s Vauxhall Astra estate in Merit spec. Then (wait for it)
E reg Montego estate 1.6 L
F reg Montego estate 1.6l
G reg Montego estate 1.6 Clubman
H reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
J reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
K reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
L reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
M reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
And having changed car every year, the company then decided to keep the last one (they really did make M reg Montego estates!) for 3 years.
R reg mondeo LX estate
V reg Zafira
Then they discovered Octavia estates. He has retired now. Can anyone beat 8 near identical company cars?? His only choice was exterior colour.
Jader1973 said:
I was going to put these in the period classic pics thread but it seems to have descended into a "post pictures you found on google images" thread.
Shame you didn't. It might have nudged it back into what it was intended to be. A thread for stuff exactly like this. I keep telling Nick da Greek and the other chap but they don't seem to take the hint. Anyone can spend hours on Google dumping pictures of police cars into the thread but as you say they#ve ruined it. Not sure of the age or model, but the first car was shared with a mate and was a 20s Rover. They went on holiday, broke it, got rid of it and came back on public transport.
Then a Morris 8 that did circa 50 miles to the pint of oil - he rebuilt the engine on that one.
An Austin Cambridge of the 1950s
Then a Morris Oxford - and he should have kept the numberplate, 939 CAR
An Austin 1800 mk1
An Austin 1800 mk2
An Austin Princess - also an oil burner. He got fed up with it, thrashed it, and lo and behold, the oil consumption decreased to something reasonable. Quite obviously, the engine had never been properly run in and the bore were glazed.
Then an Austin Montego and his last car, an MG Montego - which was actually quite a good car.
At about the time of the first car, he had one then another motor bike. One was an AJS and I can't remember the make of the other, both were 350cc singles.
Then a Morris 8 that did circa 50 miles to the pint of oil - he rebuilt the engine on that one.
An Austin Cambridge of the 1950s
Then a Morris Oxford - and he should have kept the numberplate, 939 CAR
An Austin 1800 mk1
An Austin 1800 mk2
An Austin Princess - also an oil burner. He got fed up with it, thrashed it, and lo and behold, the oil consumption decreased to something reasonable. Quite obviously, the engine had never been properly run in and the bore were glazed.
Then an Austin Montego and his last car, an MG Montego - which was actually quite a good car.
At about the time of the first car, he had one then another motor bike. One was an AJS and I can't remember the make of the other, both were 350cc singles.
williamp said:
My Dad had various snotters in his youth: Morris minors with hand painted wings for £10 (apparently nobody else bid at the auction...) Wolseley 16/60, Beetle (I came home from hospital in this).
He had company cars. Starting with a Marina Van, Then an 80s Vauxhall Astra estate in Merit spec. Then (wait for it)
E reg Montego estate 1.6 L
F reg Montego estate 1.6l
G reg Montego estate 1.6 Clubman
H reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
J reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
K reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
L reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
M reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
And having changed car every year, the company then decided to keep the last one (they really did make M reg Montego estates!) for 3 years.
R reg mondeo LX estate
V reg Zafira
Then they discovered Octavia estates. He has retired now. Can anyone beat 8 near identical company cars?? His only choice was exterior colour.
Did he work for BL?He had company cars. Starting with a Marina Van, Then an 80s Vauxhall Astra estate in Merit spec. Then (wait for it)
E reg Montego estate 1.6 L
F reg Montego estate 1.6l
G reg Montego estate 1.6 Clubman
H reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
J reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
K reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
L reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
M reg Montego estate diesel Clubman
And having changed car every year, the company then decided to keep the last one (they really did make M reg Montego estates!) for 3 years.
R reg mondeo LX estate
V reg Zafira
Then they discovered Octavia estates. He has retired now. Can anyone beat 8 near identical company cars?? His only choice was exterior colour.
During my Lifetime and up to Dad passing away last month;
Vincent Rapide 1000
Hillman Minx - LVH 86E
Ford Cortina 1600E - EWU 360H
Saab 99L - UYG 99L (this one stayed for more than 15 years and had two Engine transplants and two new Gearboxes)
Saab 900
Saab 90 T16 Turbo
Skoda Fabia VRS.
Only 8 In more than half a century.
Vincent Rapide 1000
Hillman Minx - LVH 86E
Ford Cortina 1600E - EWU 360H
Saab 99L - UYG 99L (this one stayed for more than 15 years and had two Engine transplants and two new Gearboxes)
Saab 900
Saab 90 T16 Turbo
Skoda Fabia VRS.
Only 8 In more than half a century.
My old man had:
'66 VW Beetle
'70 Cortina GT
early 70's Toyota Landcruiser (he lived in Kenya at this time)
'73 Peugeot 304GL
'77 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L in hearing aid beige
'82 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL
'86 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L
'90 Vauxhall Astra 1.4L
'95 Nissan Primera 2.0SLX
And more recently a couple of Ford Focii. Now living the dream, in the favourite pensioner special that makes me shudder everytime I see it - a Honda Jazz 1.4.
'66 VW Beetle
'70 Cortina GT
early 70's Toyota Landcruiser (he lived in Kenya at this time)
'73 Peugeot 304GL
'77 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L in hearing aid beige
'82 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL
'86 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L
'90 Vauxhall Astra 1.4L
'95 Nissan Primera 2.0SLX
And more recently a couple of Ford Focii. Now living the dream, in the favourite pensioner special that makes me shudder everytime I see it - a Honda Jazz 1.4.
Not in period alas, but here is a pic of the first car I remember my old man having. Put in the barn in the mid seventies, sold in the late eighties and recently emerged from a very expensive restoration at The Aston Workshop.
Back in the day, it was solid navy blue and had dead white seats and white carpet.
Back in the day, it was solid navy blue and had dead white seats and white carpet.
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