Car Talk

[grendel]

my first car was a vw variant (air cooled estate with the engine under the loor in the back) my second was a mk1, and 2 1300/1600 escort (a bitsa gar, bitsa this one and bits a that one cobbled together from 3 cars. then we had the v4 transit parcel van, followed by a lada riva, then a bedford camper, a vw jetta, and then a string of volvos- 340's 440's 850's 940, v70, v40 and finally my current v50- along the way I also had quite a few motorbikes.

[StillCruising]

Here's my eclectic mix.

Bond Mk C

Austin  40 Farina (passed test)

Worsley 4/44 (very smokey)

Triumph Roadster 2L (dikie seats)

Rover 90

Rover 100

MG Midget Mk 2 (great fun car)

Rover 3 Ltr Coupe (Still got)

Austin 1100

Austin 1300

Daf 66 (vario matic - weird)

Vauxhall Astra Estate 

Rover SD1 2600 

Ford Granada Mk 3 ( Big end went)

Ford Escort x 2 (1 heavily modded)

Volvo 145 (7 seater)

Rover 218 SLD ( my first diesel car)

Rover 600 ( Honda engine)

Rover 75 diesel auto (still got)

Rover 75 CLD manual (my daily drive

[floydraser]

Blimey, some of you have got through some cars.

Mini for free: Teacher at school said he had two and if I swapped the engines in Vehicle Engineering class, I could keep one.

Austin 1100: for learning to drive. Badly advised and bought it from an ex speedway rider. It had a dodgy MOT and got scrapped before I passed.

Triumph Herald 12/50: With sunroof which started our affection for them which still exists. No clutch or MOT but no problem as the gearbox comes out through the passenger door. Bolt on new sills and a bottom half respray. Bought my first set of Snap-On sockets which I still have.

'68 Vauxhall Ventora 3.3: Why does everyone say “Ventura”?

'56 Austin A30: “Chuggaboom” ex-Mother in Law's. On a cold morning it would stop after ½ mile and she thought she was clever by wiggling the plug leads to make it start again. When it did it for me I had a look under the air cleaner and the carb was a block of ice! It was an air leak at the gasket.

'70 Ventora UBC 5H: Lovely car, had a front end rebuild before I owned it so no rust.

Vauxhall VX2300: Even more comfortable, had a family now. Idiot pulled out of a farm gateway in a mini and I caught the front end. I was airborne for a bit but landed safely. Witness said the mini span round about four times. I thought he looked a bit dazed. Wrote off the car and my model aeroplane in the boot. Well I also had the Ventora gearbox in there and....

Vauxhall Carlton 1.8 saloon: Comfortable, reliable, took it round the clock and a half. Had to, we were broke.

Peugeot 405 diesel estate: Bullet proof engine, the rest not so good but a good tow car for our first caravan. Took it round the clock.

Vauxhall Omega diesel estate: Very comfortable, our first brand new car. Took it round the clock, passed it on to one of the lads. It lasted 13 years then went out with a bang – literally, banger racing!

Volvo XC90: How comfortable can it get!? 76K in 10 years, it'll be around for a while yet.

 

And a little bit on the side:

As we came out of our own little recession – A Formula 27 “kit car” which it wasn't! I bought a set of drawings and a welder, some tube and a grinder. I made the bottom level of the chassis and screwed it to the garage floor in perfect alignment as a “jig” for the rest. Cavalier 1.6 engine but I can't remember which gearbox. I sold it when they brought in the SVA.

Triumph TR7, russet brown: I welded in at least 6” all the way round the bottom of the car then converted it to V8. Someone backed into it so during the repair we accidentally sprayed it Ford Daytona yellow and fitted a spoiler. Going to work has never been such fun; all country lanes. I traced it's history and the first owner offered me the original steel wheels! Sold and gave the money to Heartlink, the charity at Glenfield Hospital.

Jensen Healey X2: One LHD California import and a rust bucket. I didn't like driving the LHD but we discovered Mrs Raser loves convertibles!

Vauxhall Astra Convertible: Told you. Rule 1: top down only above 12 degrees C. Unless you're going over the Hardnott Pass – has to be done!

1936 MG SA: Joy to own but turned out to be a project too far.

Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 diesel: Bought when I realised how much it was costing to travel to work every day in the Volvo, work which was “temporary” and went on for ten years!

I think that's it, it's been fun remembering!

[oldgregg]

50 minutes ago, floydraser said:

Vauxhall Astra Convertible: Told you. Rule 1: top down only above 12 degrees C. Unless you're going over the Hardnott Pass – has to be done!

I'm in agreement with all of this.

Which reminds me, I've not been over Hardknott in a while. I did do the Bealach Na Ba in September though....

[chrisdobson45]

OK, here goes:

 

VW Beetle 1303 (VAL 63L), was my father's, learnt to drive at 17 years old, was probably the slowest, most awkward car to drive, ever...

Ford Fiesta 1.6D Popular Plus (D93 FNG), my first company car, courtesy of May Gurney in Norwich. Didn't have a radio, loved that car, did miles in it, pulled like a train

Austin Maestro 1.6HLE, in a very (un)fetching brown, the worst car ever, would stall in traffic on the Earlham Road in the morning traffic and would usually be pushed onto the forecourt of Duff Morgan to await May Gurney's recovery truck to take it back to Trowse. In the end I refused to drive it and was provided with an ancient Vauxhall Cavalier with 150,000 miles on the clock, at least this was reliable, until it caught fire on the A11 Attleborough bypass a few months later (I idly wondered what the smoke was behind me, then other cars began to flash me so I pulled over and got out, saw lots of smoke from underneath, and I did the unforgivable, I opened the bonnet, it was soon well alight and was reduced to a shell sitting on a pile of ash). This was replaced with a Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6LS, now we're talking, a proper car, in Postman Pat Red. Unfortuntely, the previous driver had a bearded collie who had eaten the knobs off the rear window winders and the foam off the arm rests...

Then a brace of Sierra Sapphires, one a hatch (maroon), the other with a boot (Wedgewood Blue). The latter was written off on the A16 by a chap in a Saab Turbo attempting an overtake, he hit me head-on, I had nowhere to go. My car disintegrated and I was in a ditch, sat in the wreckage with two broken wrists and thumbs... "Sorry mate, didn't see you there, thought I could get past...."

I took a rest from company cars and purchased an 8v Golf GTI in tornado red with Pirelli alloys from an airman at RAF Coltishall, who had purchased it duty free in Germany and kept it for the three year qualifying period. The interior had been stripped out in order to make it lighter (when I went to see it, the rear seats, door cards, parcel shelf, etc., were in a collection of bin bags in the guy's garage. I spent many happy hours screwing the interior back together). I really enjoyed this car, living at the time in North Norfolk it suited the roads and th fact that I was young & single. One evening, returning from a trip to the coast with a girlfriend, we were heading from Holt to Saxthorpe when a lump of well rotted cow s**t flew in through the open sunroof (flicked up from muck spreading in the adjacent field) and dropped into her lap. She was wearing a short white demin skirt at the time, trying to encourage her to keep her thighs together to stop the s**t from staining the seat was a job. Funnily enough, when we got back to the cottage and she'd showered and changed, she managed to keep her thighs together all night...

In 1992 I left UK to work in Saudi Arabia so a procession of Jeep Cherokees, Toyota Landcruisers, Nissan Patrol and finally a Landrover Discovery were my daily drives for the next seven years. The Disco was the worst of the bunch, the Patrol was bomb-proof.

1998 saw me back in UK and company cars again, this time a couple of Vauxhall Vectra estates, before I changed jobs and was able to benefit from a PCS scheme (salary sacrifice and company contribution to allow me to drive what I wanted, within reason) so a Ford Mondeo estate in Ghia X trim and then a Volvo V70 SE D5 graced the driveway, ideal for the growing family. I then rather unwisely had a VW EOS for three years, and drove it in all weathers with the roof down...

2011 saw me travel to Western Canada for three years, where a Ford Explorer (V6, 3.2lt) was my trustly stead (and at just over $1.10 per gallon of petrol, who could blame me?)

Since returning to UK in 2015 I've had a succession of 4x4's, including a Nissan Pathfinder, and now a 2018 Kia Sorrento which has just gone through the 70k mile barrier without any major issues. We reckon that we've done 24 trips to / from Brundall so far this year...

 

[dom]

We once did Hardknott and Wrynose 5 up in a brown Citroen Visa with horrible soft rolling suspension and a gutless 1100cc engine. I think you'd struggle to come up with a less appropriate car for the job. I genuinely thought we were going to have to get out and push at a couple of points.

[chrisdobson45]

An old neighbour had a citroen Visa in cream, it looked like it was attempting to cock its hind leg when cornering. It was always driven "spiritedly"...

[dom]

21 minutes ago, chrisdobson45 said:

It was always driven "spiritedly"...

Probably more a case of thrashing it to within an inch of its life in the vague hope of achieving a sensible speed.

The engine was set at a stupid angle, which made it a nightmare to change plugs and they also regularly ate clutches and broke gearbox forks. I inherited one which I half killed before passing on to some poor unsuspecting buyer at Norwich auction.

The only redeeming feature was the "satellite" controls, which I actually quite liked the ergonomics of, once you got used to things like having to switch off indicators manually.

[oldgregg]

41 minutes ago, dom said:

We once did Hardknott and Wrynose 5 up in a brown Citroen Visa with horrible soft rolling suspension and a gutless 1100cc engine. I think you'd struggle to come up with a less appropriate car for the job. I genuinely thought we were going to have to get out and push at a couple of points.

There is a bit which is very steep, if I remember rightly that bit is the steepest gradient in the UK.

Last time I went up there, I actually stalled (in first gear) because some idiot slowed to a crawl right in front of me on the deep dip at the very steepest bit and I had to stop to avoid them.

They hadn't stalled but for some reason were driving ridiculously slowly. We think it was americans in a hire car, why they didn't go faster I really don't know. They ended up being passed by everyone.

Anyway, my Honda - being a Honda - didn't have enough low-down torque to deal with a hill start on the sort of gradient so I had to reverse (with cars behind me) and take a run at it.

 

[dom]

There's also a "gravity hill" at Knock in Cumbria which is an interesting experience. Park your car facing downhill, take the brakes off and it rolls backwards, rather than forwards. 

[floydraser]

2 hours ago, chrisdobson45 said:

She was wearing a short white demin skirt at the time, trying to encourage her to keep her thighs together to stop the s**t from staining the seat was a job.

 

Moderators: it was him wot wrote it, I just did an edit...

[grendel]

now I can see why you didnt want to be moored up next to Mark....

[WherryNice]

5 hours ago, grendel said:

along the way I also had quite a few motorbikes

Oh well, while we're at it, '89 Honda MT5, '92 Kawasaki KR1S, '98 Yamaha Fazer 600, '82 Honda CM125C,  '90 Yamaha XJ600, '85 Kawasaki gpz 900, '00 Triumph Sprint RS, '89 Honda NS125R, '97 Triumph T595 Daytona, '85 Honda CB125, '97 Yamaha Fazer 600, '01 Kawasaki ZRX1200R(Eddie Lawson colours), '96 Kawasaki GT750 and an '87 Kawasaki KMX125 which is and has only ever been a box of bits/living room art.....as before there may have been others.

Actually I missed an Orion 1.4 LX off my car list......

I should say that with one or two notable exeptions most of my stuff has been pretty knackered and/or built/rebuilt by myself..

[grendel]

my newest car was the lada riva, and that was 5 years old when I got it

motorbikes, now lets see if I can remember, peugeot 103 moped, kawasaki z250c, yamaha 100cc, honda c90, honda 400 superdream, cx 500, BMW r80RS. I think thats all the bikes though maybe not in that order.

[BroadAmbition]

Cars I have owned legally on the road, but some of the early ones may not have been road legal, well not for all the time I owned them

Late 70's - Austin 1100 - changed the head to a 1300, bigger carbs, furry dice, furry cloth everywhere, the obligatory sunshine strip with names on it, I got that tired of changing the passenger name so had the idea of changing it once more to  'Him and Them' my Mum was far from impressed. A row of spotlamps meant the dynamo just couldn't manage

Vauxhall Ventora 3'300cc straight six which tripled the capacity of the Austin 1100 - the ventora was a really comfortable cruising car

Then the order gets somewhat hazy  -  Mk1 Capri 2000 GT  with a V4 in it, black vinyl roof, Ford escort van 1300cc loved that one. Mixed in around here somewhere is a Dutton Phaeton kit car - Still got that one -  A proper hooligan.  MKIII escort the cvh 3 door. Granada 2:3 V6, probably my favourite one of all, had this with us in Norway, it really was a 'Gudden' did al sorts of upgrades and farkling - Wish I still had it. Another MkIII escort cvh this one was a 1600 Ghia. Then came along a Ford Sierra 2:0L 5 door GLSi had that for a while, a lot of farkling enjoyed that one a lot.  Mondeo Ghia estate followed, our first diesel.  Then we went to two vehicles, MrsG with a nearly new ford focus 1600 diesel and now with her Q5 that cost more than our present house! I went down the van route, Merc Vito - Terrible.  Vauxhall Vivaro - Very good and currently Transit custom sport - best one yet.    BMW Z3 Sunday afternoon hooligan - great fun.  Bikes - just two on the road, a 1976 Honda 400-4 and of course the mighty Triumph Tiger 1050, both of which I still own.

I've probably missed a few out somewhere, I once borrowed a mates brand new ford capri Laser, we took it to a wedding near Peterborough.  On the way home to Donny with the then girlfriend, stopped off at Clumber park (Temporarily ran out of petrol of course) and got an embarrassing bollocking off a local policeman in the park - Happy days

Griff

 

[BrundallNavy]

My cars, (its a big list)

Vauxhall Viva HB (wrote this off after 3 weeks)

Another Vauxhall Viva HB, 

Ford Cortina mk 2 deluxe

Morris Marina 1.3 (My brother wrote this off)

Ford cortina 1600 GT 

Ford Cortina 1600E

Morris Marina Van with a 1.8 TC engine

Nissan 120y

Nissan 140

Ford escort Mk1 GT

Ford Escort 1600 BDA (I swapped this for the next car)

Lotus Elan +2 135 

Hillman Hunter (daily driver as the Lotus spent most of its time off the road)

Hillman Avenger

Alpha GTV 2.0

Lotus Excel

Mk2 Fiesta XR2

Fiesta Ghia

Peugeot 405 SR

Reliant Scimitar SS1

Peugeot 205 GTi

Escort Mk 2 

Rover 400GSi

Rover 200 convertible 

Rover Metro Turbo

3 MG midgets 

Escort Mk3 estate

Ford focus Zetec S

BMW 1 series coupe

BMW 3 series estate 3.0 

BMW 3 series 2.0 petrol 

3 series estate E46

Another Lotus Elan +2

Golf Estate

Golf Plus

3 more BMW 3 series

5 series BMW (Total loss by a Polish lorry driver)

BMW X3 2.5 

BMW M240i 

Porsche 911

BMW 330e hybrid

Golf GTE Hybrid

BMW 3 series Diesel hybrid

BMW Z4

Focus ST estate

And I expect I have forgotten some.  

 

 

 

[BrundallNavy]

2 hours ago, BrundallNavy said:

My cars, (its a big list)

Vauxhall Viva HB (wrote this off after 3 weeks)

Another Vauxhall Viva HB, 

Ford Cortina mk 2 deluxe

Morris Marina 1.3 (My brother wrote this off)

Ford cortina 1600 GT 

Ford Cortina 1600E

Morris Marina Van with a 1.8 TC engine

Nissan 120y

Nissan 140

Ford escort Mk1 GT

Ford Escort 1600 BDA (I swapped this for the next car)

Lotus Elan +2 135 

Hillman Hunter (daily driver as the Lotus spent most of its time off the road)

Hillman Avenger

Alpha GTV 2.0

Lotus Excel

Mk2 Fiesta XR2

Fiesta Ghia

Peugeot 405 SR

Reliant Scimitar SS1

Peugeot 205 GTi

Escort Mk 2 

Rover 400GSi

Rover 200 convertible 

Rover Metro Turbo

3 MG midgets 

Escort Mk3 estate

Ford focus Zetec S

BMW 1 series coupe

BMW 3 series estate 3.0 

BMW 3 series 2.0 petrol 

3 series estate E46

Another Lotus Elan +2

Golf Estate

Golf Plus

3 more BMW 3 series

5 series BMW (Total loss by a Polish lorry driver)

BMW X3 2.5 

BMW M240i 

Porsche 911

BMW 330e hybrid

Golf GTE Hybrid

BMW 3 series Diesel hybrid

BMW Z4

Focus ST estate

And I expect I have forgotten some.  

 

 

 

I did forget a few. 
Dolomite sprint, VW Derby, VW combi bus, Ford Transit motor home 3 Ford KA’s VW Passat and a VW mk 1 golf in bright yellow. 

[Turnoar]

With an armada like that you’re bound to forget some BrundallNavy! I note not too many Japanese in the mix so the indicator stalk has probably been on the same side most of the time which when you’re changing cars as often as it seems is handy.

The Dolomite is a beauty which I think extolled the use of vinyl roofs so at least that part of the body shell could rust in peace lol!

The VW Derby if I recall correctly was a 2 door with a boot that wasn’t made in Derby but the floorpan of which may have risen to become the polo breadvan?

Whilst there was no competition intended I think you have earned the Turnoar prize for contributing the most to automobolia experience, I presume you haven’t owned as many boats as you have cars but if so I’ll start another thread for long listing...

[Wussername]

I joined a forum about the rivers, broads, marshes, fishing, boating, sailing, walking, bird watching,.

It seems to have degenerated in a bit of waving of Uncle William.

A bit boring to be honest. 

For those who have an interest in The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads.

I could list my cars, but are you really, really intersted?

 

[ExSurveyor]

The broadscot lounge section is where other non broads threads can be discussed, given this one is at 83 pages now it is obviously popular.

 

[oldgregg]

You can filter out the topics / forum areas you don't want to see and create your own 'view' of the content so you'll never see the stuff you don't want to.

I think in general cars are a popular topic as most of us have owned one or more of them and also it helps boost engagement with the forum, which can only be a good thing.

[MargeandParge]

For us, this forums many different subjects have taught us loads and helped us with many pitfalls that our members have very kindly shared. From technology, maintenance, health   news ,maintenance and transport as well as the vast knowledge of the Broads and the people that enjoy and work on them.

It is a wonderful thing that like minded people can safely discuss many topics and not get beaten or humiliated for making mistakes (reminder to self never post after beer).

So we say thankyou to all that make the forum work and it really ain't broke so it don't need fixing. 

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

 

[Gracie]

The Broadscot Lounge

Non Boat/Broads Related Topics and Discussions

Nuff said x

[Chris1986]

I keep checking this thread for an update on Robins new car 🚗 

[BroadAmbition]

Ye Gods 

Received an email from Trevor Transit current insurance company with notice of the renewal price.

I renewed the policy February 2023 and it cost £432

The renewal price quoted for Feb 2024?   £709  

They can take a long walk off a short plank

I'm now wondering if their pricing policy is modelled on the Blessed Authorities Tolls increase

Griff