Thracian Posted 3 September 2005 Posted 3 September 2005 Davieg's illustration of a Morris Minor 1000 made me wonder what's the most memorable vehicle you've ever owned?. I go back to Ford Consul Convertible days but the one machine I'll never forget was "Cuddles". It was a converted two litre Ford Van that had tyres over a foot wide, was painted in psychadellic shades of blue in all sorts of Country and Western designs and had a speaker system which allowed music to be played either inside or outside the vehicle. In fact there were 8 outlets for external music which meant we could park it in the middle of Overstone Park in Northampton and stage a disco that could genuinely be heard across the entire 300-odd-acres of that parkland paradise. It had a double bed with leopard-look bedspread, power operated winebar and fuel consumption was 8mpg. Only trouble was that when music was being played internally through its various speakers there was no way of hearing (with the windows shut) whether the music was on outside. Anyway one night after a party we headed for a Northampton night club and parked right next to a police car totally unaware that the exterior outlets were on and blasting music all over Northampton City Centre. Needless to say the police were not amused and I was never so compliant in accepting a verbal berrating while all the while praying that they wouldn't bother with all that brathalyser nonsense. Another vehicle I owned for a year or so was a Chinese Double Six motor coach (for personal use) which I drove down the old A46 for a bit of experience. Somehow I took a wrong turn and was headed into Stratford-on-Avon town centre on Market Day. Not really a good idea and I quickly decided to do a three point turn. What I didn't realise having only taken recent delivery of the coach was that it had no power steering. Have any of you tried to manouvre a motor coach with no power steering?. Honenestly it was more than a 20-point turn - how we didn't hit anything I'll never know - and my forearms were so hot and strained they all but doubled in size with my efforts. Drivers were lined up in either direction waiting patiently and all, as I could see, laughing themselves silly. After all of eight minutes for an intended three point turn --- I determined then never to put the thing in reverse gear ever again... and I didn't!
Matt Posted 3 September 2005 Posted 3 September 2005 I've only had 1 car and thats my current car - Vauxhall Corsa - and i'm proud to say that as a new driver I havn't had one bump, one scratch, nothing (touch wood) hopefully I can carry on that way because if I do have a bump bang goes my insurance I'm not sure where i'll be in two years I may be planning for Australia to do a 12 month working-holiday maybe even to live, but if that plan goes out of the window or I decide not to go Australia I plan to buy a Golf, I love VW Golfs, I two years I will probably have saved enough for a newish VW Golfs, and insurance on a golf, but as I said if I go to Australia theres not really much point in wasting much needed money on a golf
SystonFox Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 my only car as to date is a citroen saxo, needless to say its being repaired as i crashed it on greengate lane in birstall. it is a 1.1 97 p reg, 42k on the clock very reliable untill you want to stop and the brakes are useless as i proved! i currently drive a vaux corsa 54 reg courtesy car. its nice and comfy, good to drive but slow as fook its so huge compared to my saxo.
rossporterlc Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 none owned for me, planning to buy my first car soon, i want a 3-wheeler for a laugh
Matt Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 none owned for me, planning to buy my first car soon, i want a 3-wheeler for a laugh You don't actually need a licence for one of them, You can drive a 3 wheeler on a Moped licence. (Apparently)
rossporterlc Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 You don't actually need a licence for one of them, You can drive a 3 wheeler on a Moped licence. (Apparently) yeh that's what my dad said, i saw a great one the other day, bright yellow
Matt Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 yeh that's what my dad said, i saw a great one the other day, bright yellow I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole to be honest but whatever floats your boat
davieG Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole to be honest but whatever floats your boat That reminds me of an occasion when I came out of the pub with some mates and some idiot in a yellow 3 wheeler had blocked the only entrance/exit. So we decided to lift it out of the way, things were going fine until we were just about to put it down when the chassis came away from the body and we were holding this big piece of yellow fibre glass . Needless to say we didn't hang about to find out what would happen - mind you serves them right for the way they parked.
cisono Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 My best car to date: Red Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 SRI. Not the best in the world, of course (I would rather drive my old Italian neighbour's Ferrari Testarossa), but it's "sprinty" and it works for me right now...
stez Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 either my first car; the unbeatable mk2 escort a fantastic machine held together with poly filler or my 2nd car; the german version of the vauxhall chevette. the opel kadett. mine was the same as the one below, same sports kit (which was two spot lamps and sports look wheels!) but was a hatch back. the best 250 notes i ever spent! one of the best things about having older cars is popping down wesley street scrappies to get a part or two. i spent 3 weeks trawling leicestershires scrappies looking for a prop shaft for the opel (the chevette one didn't fit) sadly, her head blew (gasket) and the cylinder head warped. i was gutted!
Guest Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 My fave is my current car, an MG TF. However, my first car was a Lancia Y10, fully electric kit, except the drivers window, which needed some manual adjustment before the electrics kicked in
stez Posted 4 September 2005 Posted 4 September 2005 My fave is my current car, an MG TF. However, my first car was a Lancia Y10, fully electric kit, except the drivers window, which needed some manual adjustment before the electrics kicked in thats what makes old cars fantastic! (and that's what i will keep saying while i'm driving my current bag 'o bolts!)
King Kyle lcfc Posted 5 September 2005 Posted 5 September 2005 I had a reliant robin when i was 16 suppose it was better than a hair dryer mo-ped but i rolled it after about 8 months quite funny really
Thracian Posted 5 September 2005 Author Posted 5 September 2005 I remember rolling a car once - a Ford Escort van. It eventually smashed into a tree, my head cracked against the windscreen and I emerged dazed and bewildered onto the Brackley-Banbury Road with blood pouring from my head. There are two lasting memories from the occasion. One was having the presence of mind to calmly turn off the ignition and rescue my diary. Second was how 50 or 60 people simply drove by me - totally ignoring my obviously bloodied state and the fact I was waving for help - as if potential killers are forever writing off vehicles and dressing up as hospital emergency patients (gore and all) especially to waylay unsuspecting motorists. The passers by reminded me of vicars. In years and years of hitch-hiking around the country as a kid the only people who never offered to help were the clergymen who spend so many Sunday afternoons pontifcating about the Good Samaritan.
kenny Posted 5 September 2005 Posted 5 September 2005 My first car, the only car where it is completely unnescessary to do a 3-point turn as it can do a u turn in any road, awesome stuff.
stez Posted 5 September 2005 Posted 5 September 2005 My first car, the only car where it is completely unnescessary to do a 3-point turn as it can do a u turn in any road, awesome stuff. a mate of mine had the 126 version of that (he paid a grand for it in '94! the fool) my advice to anyone getting one is to not try and drive up the peaks in derbyshire! we needed a gear lower than 1st!
kenny Posted 5 September 2005 Posted 5 September 2005 a mate of mine had the 126 version of that (he paid a grand for it in '94! the fool) my advice to anyone getting one is to not try and drive up the peaks in derbyshire! we needed a gear lower than 1st! That is a 126 stez But you are right about the hills, it really used to struggle on the A46 let alone peak district, it would quite happily cruise at 80mph flat out, quality motor!!
Guest Posted 6 September 2005 Posted 6 September 2005 That is a 126 stez But you are right about the hills, it really used to struggle on the A46 let alone peak district, it would quite happily cruise at 80mph flat out, quality motor!! They were talking about 1st cars on RL this morning, and I can't remember what model they were going on about, but the only way to drive it up Beacon Hill was in reverse.
Simon Posted 6 September 2005 Posted 6 September 2005 My favourate car is my new (well 03 plate) Polo- metalic blue! However the car that was most fun to drive was my 1991 VW 1.6 Golf Driver with the double kickdown- went like s*** off a shovel. Sadly it only lasted one month as some ejit pulled out of a junction infront of my girlfriend and wrote the thing off The WORST car I've ever driven was probably the Fiat Punto we had as a curtosey car- awful, awful AWFUL car!
Willis Posted 6 September 2005 Posted 6 September 2005 Have to agree, Punto's are awful. We had one and it broke down all the time, only 3 years old. I've never actually owned a car, but I've driven a fair few. Personal faves: Volvo 240 estate. I learnt to drive in one. Built like a tank and goes like stink once it's above 40mph. Volvos have the most comfortable seats ever. Drove round Slovakia in a Skoda Fabia - awesome car, totally reliable and much more comfortable than a Punto Personal hell cars: Fiat Punto - dreadful relaibility Toyota Space Cruiser - looked cool but it made you feel sick to be in it
cisono Posted 6 September 2005 Posted 6 September 2005 What's worse than a Punto? A Panda (if you are not sure which one that is, it has the thinnest cardboard-like bodywork you can dream of). Earlier Panda's especially. My friend died in a car crash while driving a Panda manufactured about 10 years ago. The car offered NO protection at all.
Guest Posted 6 September 2005 Posted 6 September 2005 My friend died in a car crash while driving a Panda manufactured about 10 years ago. The car offered NO protection at all. Sorry to hear that.
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