I noticed the post about the Marina, and I thought about my first cars. You can't really go back of course, but my first proper, driving around on the road legally car was a 1984 Chevette L 4dr.
It was totally rust-free, had 70,000 miles on it and ran like no other Chevette I've seen since, was mint inside, the underbonnet area was spotless (I used to polish it).
Of course I'd love that car again, but I couldn't have it again. Every Chevette I've seen has been rubbish; even if the body is mint, the engine isn't right, or they're the wrong kind of Chevette.
And after all that, would it be the same? I wouldn't be 17, I wouldn't be exploring the roads and enjoying a newfound freedom anymore.
Hell, I'm not even sure I'd enjoy an X1/9 again... but then I'd hardly be able to find a 4 year old Gran Finale is the condition you'd expect.
My first car I owned and learnt to drive in was a Y-reg Skoda Estelle 120L but the engine seized before I passed my test. Would I want one again? Yes, I'd have one as a second car, but I'd like a 135RiC instead :-) Rare as rocking horse shit it appears though.
My first road legal car was a rotten e-reg 2CV Dolly with 70k on the clock. It ran like a dream, but after I got 6000 miles out of it it died when the chassis snapped. I sold it to my brother for a mars bar and a cup of coffee, and 9 years later and one serious reincarnation later, it lives on but now with an Ami Super Chassis and a rebuilt 1450cc GSA engine with a big bore kit :-) Would I have another standard 2CV? Hell yes, what a laugh!
Mine was a Herald convertible, and it was great fun if a little slow. Much better car then the Moggies andA30/A35 etc that others had.
But I wouldn't want the constant replacement of trunnions, the annoying coming-loose of propshaft bolts, the dreadful lack of rear-end stability (fun though it was at the time, to exploit it/modify the behaviour etc.), the rust appearing in the bodywork where the hood folds into it, the rotting chassis and all those other things that these days I would simply find a pain in the proverbial.
Same goes for the spit that followed it.
Loved the way you could sit on the front wheel to fix the cars, though, and the ease with which engines/gearboxes etc. could be removed/replaced without a pit etc.
NB I still have one of the badges off the rear wing of my first Herald mounted above the garage door - you know, the crossed flags.
And I think I may have some of the trims that covered the welded seams on top of the bonnet and rear wings of the Spit .....
Indeed. First car, Austin 1300 Mk2 Next, Vauxhall VX4/90 FD series First fully legal car, Austin Princess 1800 HL Auto (Wedge) Then I saw sense... Jag XJ6 SII (swb) 4.2 MOD. Then I fell in love.... Jag XJ6C 4.2 converted to MOD Then I got married.... shit!
My first car was a 1939 Rover 12 with terminal body rot. The rear of the body was sagging to such an extent that the filler pipe had been torn partway off the petrol tank, the same fault had squashed the exhaust and the windscreen had to be kept permanently open to avoid the worst effects of CO poisoning, one tyre was oversize and bald and rubbed on the body when cornering, there was 4.5 inches play at the rim on the steering wheel and last and probably least the nearside headlamp was permanently dipped and the offside was switched off on dip. (It had a current MOT certificate*). A proper death trap which so appalled my father that he soon gave me the family car, a 1955 Vauxhall Cresta in which I very nearly did kill myself.
*At that time MOT certificates covered only brakes, lights and steering and there was some doubt whether the tested items actually needed to work as long as they were present. :-)
Of my early cars I think a good example of the Rover 12 or of my 3rd car, a 2 and a half Riley, would have been the only ones I would favour now although I suspect I would be bored to tears with the performance. I sometimes hanker after an Austin Healey but a 3000 rather than the 100/4 BN1 I had.
My real regrets are for the ones that got away. The elder brother of a friend had a fabric bodied Riley 9 that he had laid up for lack of funds which I could have had (for £15) instead of the Rover, A friend was trying to dispose of a mid 30s 1.5 MG tourer (£60 I think) at the time I bought the Riley but he couldn't get it to start when I went to see it and finally there was the Climax engined Lotus Elite that I nearly bought sight unseen for £500 but it was Xmas, I was 200 miles from home and the car was at at least thast far away again.
Driving does tend to be boring these days but at least it is somewhat safer. :-)
The only car I ever bought new. A 1978 1300. Nice to drive but underpowered after an Elan Sprint and it rusted so fast it was scrap after 5 years and 37000 miles. I still have the fitted luggage but that was crap too.
Idling through ebay a few weeks ago (as you do), I spotted the car I'd learned to drive in: not just the same make and model - the very car. My father owned it from 1947 to 1967; I'd made my first car journey in it (home from maternity hospital); I'd learned basic car maintenance on it (and what a sod of a job replacing side valve collets is); and I'd driven it at a minute past midnight on my 17th birthday.
And there it was - DNU 719, a 1937 Series 1 Morris 8 4-door. But... it had been partly re-trimmed (badly), and fitted with a Series E engine. So how much sentiment premium was I prepared to pay? I wasn't particularly desperate for a Morris 8, but then again I do have a photo of my mother and myself standing by it in 1959.
Fairy tale ending? No. I set my price, the seller had set his reserve, and we were 500 quid apart. So he's still got it - but I did leave him contact details and ask him to get in touch one day - whether it's when he's sold it, so I can tell the new owner a bit about its history, or when he relents on his asking price.
Now where's SMH 359, my own first car (MG TC) or TNU 166 (my second, an MG YB)?
: RichardK wrote: : : > I noticed the post about the Marina, and I thought about my first cars. : > You can't really go back of course, but my first proper, driving around : > on the road legally car was a 1984 Chevette L 4dr. : : I don't really qualify to comment in here.... : : My first car was a year old Cinq. Sporting. But, yes, I'd have it back.
Dammit, you must be young. Have you started shaving yet?
I've still got my first car - a 1970 Mk 1 Escort 1100L. Wouldn't part with it for the world. It was my everyday car for 8 years until being replaced by a 1987 Orion 1.6 Ghia - which I've also still got. That was replaced last year by a Focus.
The Escort has been restored but back to as it was originally, the only 'modification' being a sunroof, fitted as a birthday present in the 1980's. It's an unusual colour though, Glacier Metallic, I've never seen another one that colour and that is the original colour. I always get comments when I take it out, usually alnog the lines of "my parents had one of those/that was my first car/I learnt to drive in an escort"
: > : My first car was a year old Cinq. Sporting. But, yes, I'd have it back. : > : > Dammit, you must be young. Have you started shaving yet? : : Not that young.... I always had bikes, so it wasn't until I'd had some : serious arm-twisting from my boss that I took my driving test at 24.
That's better. : It was also quite a late Cinq.... registered around 6 months before they : were replaced by the Seicento.
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