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Jul 19, 2022 14:00:28 GMT
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So I have a few weeks off to do work on our new home in deepest north kent , sitting on a chair feet in my daughters paddling pool having some lunch, I got to thinking of putting a little bit of history here about myself and where my car enthusiasm came from,
And more importantly where it is now at 54 years of age
I suppose it was bound to happen really, my grandfather who was killed in WW2 had a breakers yard in south London , my mum has some drawn pictures , rough sketches of the yard really
On my dads side there’s many tales of wronguns In the family after the war doing all sorts with cars , basically selling g and buying dodgy motors around the old kent road area
My first clear memory was my dad taking me along when he bought a bottle green mk3 zephyr 4 from an old kent road car front near the Thomas a Beckett pub
During that time we lived in a flat in Peckham rye south London
My dad was then driving Bedford tk lorries for the glc
Come the early 70s we moved to Bexleyheath kent an up and coming commuter town
My dad then did two years of the knowledge and became a London cab driver
There we had a good few FX4 taxis for the next 25 years
I remember many times helping my dad work on the cabs passing spanner’s , wrenches etc
So it was no real surprise I got my first car in 1984 a mk1 escort
I was 15 years of age then and thought I knew everything!!…….sound familiar to anyone ??
I then went off to college to learn car mechanics and then flunked out after two years much to my parents disgust
After a few car related jobs , car sales fronts valeter, tyre and exhaust fitter , I started buying and selling many cars
Enjoying them for a few weeks as I went
I bought and sold so many mk1 escorts in the late 80s I’ve lost count and had a massive thing for 1600E cortina’s owning four of them a good few other cars came and went a rover p6 v8S and an auto one , escort Mexico mk1 , flat front rs2000 replica many cortina’s mk1 to 5
Then came the 90s……capris became my big Love
My parents helped me along the way buying a couple of 3.0s models and good few 2.8i capris
It’s probably about 1993 now and I meet a girl and decide to marry……..don’t says my mum but hey I do it anyway, and yes my car hobby goes out the window for the first time in my life
Move forward to 1999 and the said marriage is over no kids luckily
And I sell everything and move back home…first thing I do is buy a mint mk2 XR2 and runabout in that for a while , at this time I bought a smiley transit hi cube and became a self employed courier
Plenty of money coming in I buy a mint 1982 capri 2.8i in black
And buy a second van a four metre merc sprinter
Then one night in early 2000 I got to a local pub with my uncle for a pint…….well you know where this is leading , I meet a lovely young girl some eight years younger than me
She drives a very nice Toyota Corolla gti a 1990 model and proceeds to blow the doors of me in my Capri a few days later….
Within a year we buy our first house together and Bev activally encourages my car hobby….much to my mums disgust!!!
Between us we go on to own some beautiful cars, Orion ghia injection, escort gti mk6, and a good few classics granadas, more capris, and a few tidy daily cars
Around 2008 I sell up the courier vans
And go back into employment for a food company as a salesman
At last after many years I find something I’m very good at!!!
Must be my b@@lsh&t apparently!!
Buy now we have a son born in 03 and then a daughter born in 08
The car hobby is at its best I’m running a mint cortina mk2 and attending shows far and wide
Picking up a best in show at billing aquadrome
A year later the cortina goes as we need the money
I then become very interested in Mercedes w202s and mk2 granadas
Some nice ghia x Granadas come and go but the merc thing still persists to this day
My son then becomes interested and has a mk 6 escort estate
At 14 , at the same time goes to work on Saturdays at my pals garage
History unfortunately repeats itself and George leaves the garage much to our disgust…..yes dad you were right I say to my old fella!!!
I carry on playing with my cars and buy and sell a few and between us me and George build a lovely escort van with big help from our pals at the fraud owners club
That van was sold a year ago
And now I run a Mercedes C200 W202
And I’ve recently bought a booted Mondeo to tinker with
We now have more room as we bought our dream home in March
So I’ve got more driveway space , everything has to be done on a budget now,
But I’m enjoying the cars more than ever
This is a small bit of my car history just thought I’d share it as I’ve been on this forum for many years
Some people in here know me form the RR shows , some don’t so here’s is a small bit of background….
WouldI change anything??? Hell yes I should of listened to my old fella and got my car mechanics papers
But I’m settled a good job with a good team of people I help and look after and a nice settled home life
But I could of been playing with more expensive stuff….but hey I like old motors suits me just fine…
The son??? Well we will just let him find his own way in life now
Currently driving a modern Corsa thing and a plasterer as work
And On a final thing what would I really like to own before I reach 60……just has to be a mint 1600E series 2 in either aubergine or gold
Thanks for reading my little thread
Danny
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Last Edit: Jul 19, 2022 17:44:28 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member
1999 Jaguar s type
1993 ford escort
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norm75
Part of things
Posts: 658
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Jul 19, 2022 16:01:36 GMT
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Funnily enough there are a few similarities with my past and love of cars. Although it wasn’t a family member but my best mates dad that used to run (but didn’t own) a breakers yard, and we would go there and mess about in the yard, or at his house where the back yard was pretty much like a breakers yard as well. His brother was quite a bit older than him and was old enough to drive, he had a droop snoot Firenze in blue and white metal flake with slot mags, and then got himself a bronze/brown metallic capri mk1 3 litre GXL, along with a metallic red mk2 1.6L that was a left hooker, and then added to those with a white mk3 2.8injection with full bodykit. He still has the 2.8 injection over 30 years later.
I went to college after leaving school to learn mechanics. There was a lot of maths and science on the course so lost interest. I learnt more about car mechanics after I left and hanging around with mates that would mess around with cars.
I was also a courier for the best part of 25 years until the company I worked for wound down.
My dad was also a bit of a petrol head. He was at Goodwood when Stirling Moss had his near fatal crash. He used to take me to Brands hatch fairly regularly to watch racing, be it touring cars, truck racing or motorcycle racing. He also used to take me round a lot of car dealerships where I would collect brouchers and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of various different make and models of cars and all the different trim specs each model had.
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,658
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Jul 19, 2022 17:04:01 GMT
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My obsession was born out of my mum and dad - in the 1970's he always bought toyotas, which were a rare sight on the roads back then. He had a 1971 corolla, then a 1978 corona, both of which reached 200,000 miles. He was obsessive about looking after then. Cadbury's Flakes were banned in the car for fear or ruining the rather nice grey V-weaved seats. Whilst the neighbours were always moaning about their british cars breaking down all the time my Dad's Toyota's just needed servicing and MOTs.
Mum and dad split when I was 6 or 7, and my mum would buy the cheapest cars she could get. These were Morris Travellers, Minis, and a short lived renault 14 - the Cadbury's flake equivalent of a car.
When I passed my test I had my mums mini to use, which I used far too much! I had to get my own car. I was told that the easiest car to work on was a VW beetle - and I quite liked the scene so purchased a VW beetle for 400 quid. Done me well for ages as had to fix it every week to get to college. It would wreck clutches due to the clutch arm being worn but at the time these were cheap - around 70 quid for the kit, and I would be able to change the clutch in 45 mins - I even cut a access hole in the rear to gain access to the clutch adjustment bolt and the all important main engine bolt to the gearbox - this speeded things up considerably.
I then got into BMW 2002's after swapping a beetle for one - It was like going from being a rough sleeper to a room in the ritz overnight. I had interior heating! This was revolutionary! Had a few of them before owning more cars than I could possibly mention here from Merc 280 coupes to Fiat 124 sports, Skoda S110R, VW split screen vans then accidently won a saab 900 turbo on ebay after a drunken forgotten bid, and now that's all I have. I use them daily for work as whenever I get something modern I drive it badly, I feel cut off from everything - and my attention goes as I simply don't care about the car ... Put me in a nice 9000, I get the comfort and it's something I care about I drive far better now due to this. Did 25,000 miles in my old daily last year - I think it is possibly one of the oldest cars you can buy which still have really good reliability for daily use.
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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Jul 19, 2022 17:44:41 GMT
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Stories like that show what makes proper car people. its clearly in your blood, its always been there and will probably never go away. looks like youve been involved in alot of cars. ive already done my story so wont repeat it, though i have found something that id forgotten to include so ill add that later.
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Jul 19, 2022 21:02:33 GMT
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Stories like that show what makes proper car people. its clearly in your blood, its always been there and will probably never go away. looks like youve been involved in alot of cars. ive already done my story so wont repeat it, though i have found something that id forgotten to include so ill add that later. Yep there’s so much I’ve missed, I could probably write a book on the laughs and not so laughable things that Have happened over the forty years of car ownership |
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Fraud owners club member
1999 Jaguar s type
1993 ford escort
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norm75
Part of things
Posts: 658
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Jul 19, 2022 21:16:59 GMT
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Stories like that show what makes proper car people. its clearly in your blood, its always been there and will probably never go away. looks like youve been involved in alot of cars. ive already done my story so wont repeat it, though i have found something that id forgotten to include so ill add that later. I’ve just been reading your thread. I was interested to read about the oval racing at smallfield as I used to work in horley. Then I stumbled across a comment about your dad racing at billingshurst. I’m from the area and lived there for 10 years, still have a couple of shops there. I didn’t know about the oval racing, I only knew of the 24hr lawnmower racing that was held there so googled it. I read that it was at Rosier farm. We have a friend that lives next door at rosier gate so found that very interesting. |
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Jul 22, 2022 17:27:54 GMT
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Don't know where my car mania comes from, certainly not family! My grandad, who could drive, but only ever had company cars, always said "you'll never be rich if you own a car" I've owned in excess of 200, often several at once (I think 14 was the record) HE WAS RIGHT! My dad was a weekend tinkerer, as many hard up dads were in the late 50s, never let me help and left my mum when I was 8. My mum had no interest in cars and didn't pass her test till I was 19 and had given her lessons. Even then she was a lousy driver who wrote off almost every one of the dozen or so cars she owned, some more than once! Me? I was fascinated by cars since I was a toddler, my mum used to relate (with some pride) that the first car I ever correctly identified was a Borgward Isabella (which most adults can't pronounce and very few these days have heard of) I was just 3 years old at the time! I spent all my time at school designing fanciful cars ignoring teachers and left for a mechanics apprenticeship as soon as i'd finished my O levels at 16. and for a year rode a couple of motorbikes till I bought my first car, a 56 MG magnette ZA, a few weeks short of my 17th birthday. Which was also the day I took and passed my driving test. I did my first engine transplant before I was 18, putting the 1800 engine and overdrive gearbox from a written off MGB into the ZA. The rest is history, I've messed about in some way with every car i've ever owned, the fascination has never left me, i've retired from commercial spannering now, but still doing restomods in the garage, the latest should be road ready in a week or two, another Vauxhall powered Dolomite. Nether of my wives minded the hobby too much, I lost the first to cancer in 02 an remarried in 04, raised 5 kids (2 of mine and 3 from wife no 2) I've never had much money but i'm pleased with the life i've had and consider myself truly blessed to have had 2 women that supported my dreams. Steve    Consul with essex V6 from 1975, Triumph from last week! |
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Jul 22, 2022 22:15:12 GMT
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^^^^carledo , that is a very uplifting reply thank you for sharing it 👍and it how much do I need a consul in my life …too much
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Last Edit: Jul 22, 2022 22:16:30 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member
1999 Jaguar s type
1993 ford escort
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Well, those stories took me right back {sigh} ..... my Grandad put me on the 'right' track ... " I'll show how to do it, once, I'll show the tools and put 'em back in the right place or you can't use 'em again ..."
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Last Edit: Jul 23, 2022 8:48:32 GMT by westbay
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Jul 23, 2022 13:28:17 GMT
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Got talking to my dad last night and he had a good laugh reminding of when a fella brought back my mk1 cortina has it had “blown up”
I was out at the time but my dad ended up with two complete meatheads In the doorstep with a bull terrier on a chain!!
My dad is very old school from south London and never stood for any arguments of me or for that matter two Planks
He stood his ground and told them exactly where they should head , but also said I would be sorting it
Me dad hit the roof when me and my pal Tony went home
We then went to the fellas house in a rough part of Dartford
I gave the fella his money back…….went to a garage got a can of petrol in the cortina drove it home and promptly sold it again
The plank had simply run it dry but his expert mate told him the 1700 x flow was knackered
Man I sold it too ran it for a year or so after he bought it with no problem
But my dad has never forgot that one!!!
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Last Edit: Jul 23, 2022 13:28:59 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member
1999 Jaguar s type
1993 ford escort
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Jul 23, 2022 22:05:43 GMT
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Got talking to my dad last night and he had a good laugh reminding of when a fella brought back my mk1 cortina has it had “blown up” I was out at the time but my dad ended up with two complete meatheads In the doorstep with a bull terrier on a chain!! My dad is very old school from south London and never stood for any arguments of me or for that matter two Planks He stood his ground and told them exactly where they should head , but also said I would be sorting it Me dad hit the roof when me and my pal Tony went home We then went to the fellas house in a rough part of Dartford I gave the fella his money back…….went to a garage got a can of petrol in the cortina drove it home and promptly sold it again The plank had simply run it dry but his expert mate told him the 1700 x flow was knackered Man I sold it too ran it for a year or so after he bought it with no problem But my dad has never forgot that one!!! That's a cracker, though I was born and brought up north of the Thames (just) I can remember those types well and the imagery is so vivid I can almost SMELL the pitbull!
I also had a MKI Tina, my 3rd car, a "Bishop" 1500 woody estate with a 1650 PCF and 2000E box. A bit of a rarity for me, to tune the existing motor, i'm normally more of a "no substitute for cubes" transplant knid of guy.
Steve
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So just revisiting this thread
I few personal circumstances mean I’ve completely lost the mojo to go to any shows or meets this year
Plus only one year in the new house out on the coast means plenty of work for the wife and me
I just find I’m happy in my own world tinkering with my two cars
And still enjoying the valeting of friends and neighbours cars
It’s a difficult to explain to my pals how I feel atm, but I’m cracking on and sure better times are ahead
Still dreaming of that Series 2 1600E!
But I’m quite happy with what I see is a modern day interpretation of one my W202, a four door saloon with some nice factory bits
Unfortunately I’ll
Miss out on RR weekender this year hope to see plenty of pics here
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Last Edit: May 13, 2023 10:01:53 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member
1999 Jaguar s type
1993 ford escort
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Sometimes it's good to step back, chill, take stock and regroup ... circumstances and priorities change, stay with what keeps you sane!
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Last Edit: May 13, 2023 9:26:18 GMT by westbay
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brachunky
Scotland
Posts: 1,318 
Club RR Member Number: 72
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May 13, 2023 10:32:47 GMT
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So just revisiting this thread I few personal circumstances mean I’ve completely lost the mojo to go to any shows or meets this year Plus only one year in the new house out on the coast means plenty of work for the wife and me I just find I’m happy in my own world tinkering with my two cars And still enjoying the valeting of friends and neighbours cars It’s a difficult to explain to my pals how I feel atm, but I’m cracking on and sure better times are ahead Still dreaming of that Series 2 1600E! But I’m quite happy with what I see is a modern day interpretation of one my W202, a four door saloon with some nice factory bits Unfortunately I’ll Miss out on RR weekender this year hope to see plenty of pics here Tis crazy Dan but I'm in a similar situation since moving to rural Scotland, house and surrounds have kept me really busy & sometimes out of my depth. Obviously pals are too far away to meet up and virtually no local car meets, only a couple of big(no vibe) semi corporate shows some distance away. The result is that one has to keep your own car motivation going which can be tough. The RR Weekender has never been achievable although I would really love to attend one day. I carry on tinkering on the Chevy which I enjoy so that's all good and at some point, work on the little Daihatsu truck will commence. Moving home comes at a social cost indeed. |
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May 13, 2023 10:43:07 GMT
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Don't do it if you're not feeling it. Come back to it later. We don't all have to do it all, all of the time.
I've had "rest periods" when other priorities took over, its just how life goes. Enjoy whatever it is you are doing.
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1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Roach
Part of things
Posts: 717
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May 13, 2023 16:36:20 GMT
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My grandad was stationed in Antwerp I believe… he had 2 split window beetles.
Absolute nothing to do with why I love cars, just thought it was cool he had 2 52 splits. 😂
Don’t know where my love of automobiles comes from… max power magazine I guess back in the mid 90’s. 😁
Cool to read about you proper born and bred types. 👍🏼
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May 13, 2023 16:38:24 GMT
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I've had "rest periods" when other priorities took over, its just how life goes. Enjoy whatever it is you are doing. Absolutely agree with this. Sometimes other things are happening. RR (and the wider car world) will be here when time is easier and mojo is higher. |
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May 16, 2023 13:17:53 GMT
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The first word I ever said was "car". My dad is a retired policeman, my grandad was a typesetter: neither had any interest in cars. My mum couldn't drive until her late forties.
One of my dad's contacts through work had a used car garage. He needed a valeter / car washer. I started there age 14. Bought my first car (Mk1 Escort, NGR 822H) at 15 and learned to drive on a beach. Sold it at 16, for a profit.
First kid in sixth form to pass his test, 27 days after my 17th birthday, in a rusty Sandglow Marina 1.3. Made decent money chauffeuring school friends around.
Parents divorced a month after I got my licence, which put a stop to my academic career. I left school, moved away and got a job.
Fast forward 4 years and I'm bored of being an estate agent, so I get a job as a car salesman selling new Peugeots and a variety of used cars. I catch they eye of a young girl working as a waitress in the next door greasy spoon. She moves in, after completing university.
A couple of changes of franchise later, I'm bored again so go to work for the UK's first online parallel import website. This is fun, but challenging. I get to play with a few bars full of classics and drive some seriously desirable cars, the highlight of which is a 1958 Aston Martin DB 2/4 Mk3. There are celebrity clients, and I'm often giving radio interviews. I do some research into Dutch tax-free car prices for Quentin Willson on Top Gear (for which I didn't get paid).
Years pass, my grandmother dies and leaves me some money, part of which I invest in a Saab 900 Convertible that I'd go on to own for the next 21 years. I marry the young girl working as a waitress in the next door greasy spoon. We have 2 children, the older of which loves old cars - so the hobby is in safe hands as far as I'm concerned.
I finally get my head around tertiary education and achieve a Masters with Distinction in 2018, 31 years after I left school. I'm now working towards a PhD and am still married to the young girl working as a waitress in the next door greasy spoon (who of course is now a senior manager earning roughly twice what I do).
The current plaything is a 1971 Triumph GT6.
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May 16, 2023 18:06:44 GMT
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Superb^^^^^😁👍
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Fraud owners club member
1999 Jaguar s type
1993 ford escort
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