Local cars you would drool over as a child....
Discussion
...when you were growing up?
I know many of us may have had bedroom walls plastered with cars. I had mine covered with all sorts as my Dad would regularly go into car dealers on his travels and pick up brochures for me, plus along with the regular posters, I would have the centre page spreads of various car mags stuck to the wall.
However, when out and about on your BMX etc, what made you think "One day.....", simply stopped you in your tracks or made you go that way quite often just to look?
For me, there are a few that spring to mind.
A chap a few houses away from us always seemed to have Lancia or Fiat sportier looking models, so things like the Lancia Beta 1800, coupe & HPE would appear along with the 131 / 132 / Mirafiori and they always looked incredible to me in a sea of beige and brown Austins.
Not far from our house, there were two E type jags always parked nose together, inches apart, on the main road. I fell in love with the shape and interiors and thought the triple wipers were fantastic and that the multiple exhausts (or "smokers" as I called them back then) were simply brilliant.
Next up, my parents friend would often vist and park up his bright yellow TR6 outside our house. I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen and assumed he was clearly the coolest adult on the planet. I mean, at that time, we probably had a Marina!
Again, a few houses away, a chap had a Rover P6 and whilst I admit now that would be my prefered choice, at the time, I thought the newer Rover 3500 vanden plas that appeared in my friends road was like a futuristic space ship.
There are many more I could mention, but all of the above were right on our doorstep so I limited it to those.
So, apart from the odd fast Ford, these really flicked my switch. How about you?
I know many of us may have had bedroom walls plastered with cars. I had mine covered with all sorts as my Dad would regularly go into car dealers on his travels and pick up brochures for me, plus along with the regular posters, I would have the centre page spreads of various car mags stuck to the wall.
However, when out and about on your BMX etc, what made you think "One day.....", simply stopped you in your tracks or made you go that way quite often just to look?
For me, there are a few that spring to mind.
A chap a few houses away from us always seemed to have Lancia or Fiat sportier looking models, so things like the Lancia Beta 1800, coupe & HPE would appear along with the 131 / 132 / Mirafiori and they always looked incredible to me in a sea of beige and brown Austins.
Not far from our house, there were two E type jags always parked nose together, inches apart, on the main road. I fell in love with the shape and interiors and thought the triple wipers were fantastic and that the multiple exhausts (or "smokers" as I called them back then) were simply brilliant.
Next up, my parents friend would often vist and park up his bright yellow TR6 outside our house. I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen and assumed he was clearly the coolest adult on the planet. I mean, at that time, we probably had a Marina!
Again, a few houses away, a chap had a Rover P6 and whilst I admit now that would be my prefered choice, at the time, I thought the newer Rover 3500 vanden plas that appeared in my friends road was like a futuristic space ship.
There are many more I could mention, but all of the above were right on our doorstep so I limited it to those.
So, apart from the odd fast Ford, these really flicked my switch. How about you?
Butter Face said:
Chap down the road from me had a CRX VTEC, I loved it. When I was 18 I bought my first Honda and 17 years later I’ve had 13 of them!
That's a good point actually! I never did own anything I drooled over. I did once come close to buying a Granada coupe as I loved those, but it seems like I went to sleep one night, woke up and they were no longer £500 and could demand 10k+ for a nice one!Teachers in school. One had a black mk2 Ford Capri 2.8i. Another had a white Triumph Stag, and sold it for a Mitsubishi Starion. At the time I didn't think much of the Starion compared to the Stag. Now, maybe because of watching too much Wheeler Dealers, Car SOS etc, it's about even 
.
.As a paper boy I used to occasionally deliver to a house that had a bright red Ferrari Testarossa parked outside. There was no garage and it was parked outside in all weathers.
This was a working class northern village in the early 90s so was a highly unusual sight. I remember been amazed at how wide the thing was and unlike most cars I saw on the road.
Weirdly as much as I loved it I still lusted over a 300ZX tucked down the back of another house. Must have been new at the time and just looked so right.
This was a working class northern village in the early 90s so was a highly unusual sight. I remember been amazed at how wide the thing was and unlike most cars I saw on the road.
Weirdly as much as I loved it I still lusted over a 300ZX tucked down the back of another house. Must have been new at the time and just looked so right.
ajprice said:
Teachers in school. One had a black mk2 Ford Capri 2.8i. Another had a white Triumph Stag, and sold it for a Mitsubishi Starion. At the time I didn't think much of the Starion compared to the Stag. Now, maybe because of watching too much Wheeler Dealers, Car SOS etc, it's about even .
Ah yes, teachers! .One of ours had a TR7. Looking back, that made her rather cool compared to the other teachers and their vehicles on display.
There was an Escort Mexico that used to park at Ipswich Railway station, at the age of 14 me and my mates always looked at it, as we went past on our BMX's, AVO yellow, fully striped up. Then, at the age of 19 I owned it. GBJ266N, got written off by the bloke I sold it to.
I used to walk to school past a 3.0 litre manual Capri, with a full bodykit in black and it looked awesome, DAK435V was the plate and I met one of the previous owners years ago. It went as good as it looked he told me.
Lastly, it was a White Colt Lancer Turbo with orange striping that used to park at a BT Building where my brother worked. When we bunked off school we'd go to see him as he was issued luncheon vouchers which we could use at McD's (they used them as currency for poker, and my brother was a damn good player). I don't own the actual car, but I do own one exactly like it.
I used to walk to school past a 3.0 litre manual Capri, with a full bodykit in black and it looked awesome, DAK435V was the plate and I met one of the previous owners years ago. It went as good as it looked he told me.
Lastly, it was a White Colt Lancer Turbo with orange striping that used to park at a BT Building where my brother worked. When we bunked off school we'd go to see him as he was issued luncheon vouchers which we could use at McD's (they used them as currency for poker, and my brother was a damn good player). I don't own the actual car, but I do own one exactly like it.
When I was about 10 the house 3 doors down belonged to the local church and the vicar lived in it. I was in the garden one day when heard a ridiculously loud car, ran out to see what it was and on the vicars drive a Lamborghini Countach! There were very rarely any ‘supercars’ near my area and this thing just blew me away!
We also used to go conker picking at this old ladies house and peeking through the garage window once and seeing a bright red NSX that always stuck with me.
We also used to go conker picking at this old ladies house and peeking through the garage window once and seeing a bright red NSX that always stuck with me.
Edited by Glenn63 on Monday 23 December 21:43
Digby said:
...when you were growing up?
seemed to have Lancia or Fiat sportier looking models, so things like the Lancia Beta 1800, coupe & HPE would appear along with the 131 / 132 / Mirafiori and they always looked incredible to me in a sea of beige and brown Austins.
Yeah very similar to you sporty Italians as per your list Lancia’s and add to that Alfa sprint/gtv, x1/9, Bmw ‘s seemed exotic especially a 3.0 csi or 635 csi or 2002 turbo or tii would need a close up look if possible!seemed to have Lancia or Fiat sportier looking models, so things like the Lancia Beta 1800, coupe & HPE would appear along with the 131 / 132 / Mirafiori and they always looked incredible to me in a sea of beige and brown Austins.
Loads...I went to a posh school which meant all the kids got dropped off in great stuff. Used to love a E24 635 and 911 Turbo my mates' dads had. Also a W124 300E seemed ultra cool.
We were very poor so only had old Novas and Astras. Having a nice car was a dream for me as a kid unfortunately.
We were very poor so only had old Novas and Astras. Having a nice car was a dream for me as a kid unfortunately.
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