Local cars you would drool over as a child....
Discussion
The Ladbroke Avon XJ6 Estate
https://www.aronline.co.uk/the-converters/avon-coa...
There was a yellow one at a house about five minutes' bike ride from me when I was growing up. Things like this - eyewateringly expensive and unicorn rare, like the Lagonda wedge and Bristol Beaufighter - were more fascinating than supercars. I bid for one on Ebay decades later but, as it required a ground-up rebuild, wasn't willing to pay four figures to buy it. Quite sensible, for me!
I do have a model of one now, though. It was probably this car that sparked an interest in exotic estates. I just sold a model of an Aston Martin V8 Sportsman.....to the owner of a real one! He very kindly sent me a photo of the little toy next to the big toy.
https://www.aronline.co.uk/the-converters/avon-coa...
There was a yellow one at a house about five minutes' bike ride from me when I was growing up. Things like this - eyewateringly expensive and unicorn rare, like the Lagonda wedge and Bristol Beaufighter - were more fascinating than supercars. I bid for one on Ebay decades later but, as it required a ground-up rebuild, wasn't willing to pay four figures to buy it. Quite sensible, for me!
I do have a model of one now, though. It was probably this car that sparked an interest in exotic estates. I just sold a model of an Aston Martin V8 Sportsman.....to the owner of a real one! He very kindly sent me a photo of the little toy next to the big toy.
Edited by Rumdoodle on Sunday 2nd November 21:10
Late 70s, East London didn't exactly have too many head turners lining the streets. Just the usual Fords, Vauxhalls and Leyland stuff. But clearly somewhere a few roads away, someone had one of these.
It was like a huge alien spaceship had appeared and rumbled away whenever I caught sight of it.
It was like this but gold with chrome Cragars ....
A 67 Pontiac LeMans.
It was like a huge alien spaceship had appeared and rumbled away whenever I caught sight of it.
It was like this but gold with chrome Cragars ....
A 67 Pontiac LeMans.
Chap who lived up the road was starting to make it in advertising in the late 60s and celelbrated with a white Lotus Elan Plus 2, which he kindly let me peiv over. My dad was the village GP in a West Riding mining village and one of his patients was 'Spend Spend Spend ' Viv Nicholson , who'd park her pink Mustang Mach 1 with the tired old Anglias and Austin 1100s outside the surgery. But I coveted rather more one of dad's GP friend's car- a gold Reliant Scimitar - not the 'Princess Anne had one you know ' GTE but the rather lovely coupe
First car I remember getting properly excited about as a kid was when one of the neighbours got a bright red SL500, I think it will have been around 1995 when I was 10. He was properly cool, a kickboxing champion I seem to recall.
Looked like this...
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1701232
Amazing.
Looked like this...
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1701232
Amazing.
A farmers son in the village always had modified cars. This would have been around 2005 so had Impreza's, Evo's, M3's etc. He knew my dad so would often pop round to show my Dad his new car and I'd get to have a look. Might be why I always liked the E46, never got to drive one but not sure I could justify a E46 M3 now though.
A mate of mine in our village sadly lost both parents in his early twenties. When family stuff had got sorted he treated himself to a lovely new ice blue TR5. I loved it and we went on several long trips in it. I was surprised when he chopped it in for a Morgan after a couple of years, never found out why as we both moved away for separate careers. I’ve since had 50 years of Fast Fords and Lotus but still hanker after a TR5.
Despite growing up on a fairly modest estate in the early 90s, some of the neighbours on my road had interesting cars, well above the typical Cavaliers and Sierras most people had.
Probably the most notable was the Dad two doors down who had what was then a pretty much new Lotus Carlton, and just used it as a regular car commuting to work in it every day, doing the shopping in it etc. He could only just get it on and off his driveway, and often had to turn the wrong way to get out. This meant he had to drive uphill past our house in a morning to turn round at the top of the cul-de-sac. My Mum often moaned about "that man with the stupid noisy car" when he did this at about 7am each morning, but as a 12 year old I thought it was a pretty good alarm clock.
There was also a man at the top of the road who seemed to have a continuously varying collection of 1960s and 1970s Italian sports cars, all absolutely immaculate. I don't know for sure, but I suspect he was a dealer of some sort rather than him owning them all personally.
Finally, it would have been worth absolutely nothing back then, but there was young lad at the bottom of the road who drove a heavily modified red Mk1 Fiesta XR2 very dangerously around the local area with a loud stereo constantly blaring out dance music. All the parents hated him (and in retrospect he probably was a complete Chav), but at the time all the kids on the road thought he was the coolest guy in the world.
Probably the most notable was the Dad two doors down who had what was then a pretty much new Lotus Carlton, and just used it as a regular car commuting to work in it every day, doing the shopping in it etc. He could only just get it on and off his driveway, and often had to turn the wrong way to get out. This meant he had to drive uphill past our house in a morning to turn round at the top of the cul-de-sac. My Mum often moaned about "that man with the stupid noisy car" when he did this at about 7am each morning, but as a 12 year old I thought it was a pretty good alarm clock.
There was also a man at the top of the road who seemed to have a continuously varying collection of 1960s and 1970s Italian sports cars, all absolutely immaculate. I don't know for sure, but I suspect he was a dealer of some sort rather than him owning them all personally.
Finally, it would have been worth absolutely nothing back then, but there was young lad at the bottom of the road who drove a heavily modified red Mk1 Fiesta XR2 very dangerously around the local area with a loud stereo constantly blaring out dance music. All the parents hated him (and in retrospect he probably was a complete Chav), but at the time all the kids on the road thought he was the coolest guy in the world.
Wasn't a huge amount in my pre-teen years, but as I got more into cars in my early teens, the ones below were all contenders. I lived in the country so had no 'street' to speak of, but some people we knew all within a radius of a few miles (local village or nearby) owned these. Examples below as I have no pics of the originals.
Escort Cosworth - mallard green
Audi S2 Coupe - in a purple shade
McRae series Subaru Impreza - think it was black from memory
Honda NSX - red
Escort Cosworth - mallard green
Audi S2 Coupe - in a purple shade
McRae series Subaru Impreza - think it was black from memory
Honda NSX - red
I used to go the long way home from my girlfriends house in 2007 so I could see (and hopefully hear) a brand new 6.2 C63 saloon, black, 4 door. I've subsequently had 6 of them (3x 6.2 and 3x 4.0), that memory definitely still sticks and absolutely contributed to my AMG love over the years.
Also a 3.2 Carrera locally used to constantly catch my eye, would still love one!
Also a 3.2 Carrera locally used to constantly catch my eye, would still love one!
A mate of mine in our village sadly lost both parents in his early twenties. When family stuff had got sorted he treated himself to a lovely new ice blue TR5. I loved it and we went on several long trips in it. I was surprised when he chopped it in for a Morgan after a couple of years, never found out why as we both moved away for separate careers. I’ve since had 50 years of Fast Fords and Lotus but still hanker after a TR5.
There was a couple of Escort Cosworths near us back in the day. There was a perfect metallic blue one, which looked absolutely mega, and we would see around our local roads and occasionally at the popular pub that all of us youth would go to every weekend. It looked amazing.
A few years later, the owner of the petrol station nearby bought a white one, which we’d see often parked up at his station. Also looked amazing.
Hard to describe how unbelievably cool and unobtainable these cars were in their day.
I think around the same time as the white one appearing on the scene, the guy who owned the blue one traded for a Ferrari 355.
These were all cars of their day, and as a teenager these were hugely inspirational.
A few years later, the owner of the petrol station nearby bought a white one, which we’d see often parked up at his station. Also looked amazing.
Hard to describe how unbelievably cool and unobtainable these cars were in their day.
I think around the same time as the white one appearing on the scene, the guy who owned the blue one traded for a Ferrari 355.
These were all cars of their day, and as a teenager these were hugely inspirational.
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