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Aug 17, 2010 14:17:31 GMT
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This Bank Holiday I am hopefully driving my Rochdale for the 1st time ever ;D Car is in for MOT this week after major rebuild. I am stupidly excited and stupidly nervous. Anyone got any strong memories of their 1st drive in a car? I bought the car in 2003 out of a tax rebate. It had been sat in a field for at least 10 years. It has been a 7 year build project, absolute nut and bolt job - shameless to say me paying rather than doing the work myself. The car that we have ended up with bears very little resemblance to an original Rochdale, and as such, I have NO idea how it will drive. K series engine. Type 9 box. BMW E30 based running gear, adjustable Avo's, LSD. 16" Split rims. How fast will it feel? How noisy will it be? Will the steering be crazy heavy? What will the ride be like? Will I enjoy being in it? I have not even driven an original car as a barometer to how a Rochdale would feel in standard form. I have sat in it, to get the driving position correct, but even that was indoors. To say I am counting the days would be an understatement. I have spent so much of my cash on this car, so many hours pondering every choice we have made along the way, it has only dawned on me now how risky it all is. Is this an automotive equivalent of ordering a bride over the internet? ;D Never done a Readers Ride thread but I will be posting up as much from my 1st weekend as possible to share with you guys. This is one of the 1st pics, after the initial strip down -  This is a typical Olympic in standard fettle -  This is it as of August 2010 -  |
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Aug 17, 2010 14:37:38 GMT
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Excellent work! I've been very interested in this car since you posted a pic of it in another thread, it looks fantastic! I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the first drive, I mean just look at it! Since you asked, my first drive in my current Beetle was quite interesting. I'd had a Beetle before, so knew what they were generally like, and had bought the car mostly stripped-out and fitted my own engine, clutch, brakes, electrics, etc.   The car had almost no fuel in the tank, and the starter motor was playing up. I managed to start it by jacking up one rear wheel, taking the handbrake off, 4th gear, ignition on and then "throw" the wheel forwards by hand to get the motor spinning. It turned over from cold and idled fairly happily, so I had to go for a drive. The first thing I realised is that the steering wheel was 90 degrees out of line! It was exhilarating though, and it drove pretty much perfectly straight away. I was cruising round the block with only the drivers' seat and missing the front bumper, but don't worry, it was registered and insured! Later that night my mate came over and we went to go fill it up at the servo. I didn't have a passenger seat for it so we installed the back seat and he sat in the back with no seat belt. We push-started it, cruised up to the servo in the dark and filled it up. Push-starting again in the petrol station forecourt turned some heads, and around every corner on the way back there was an extremely strong smell of fuel sloshing about. But it didn't matter because nothing could wipe the smile from my face that day! |
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Aug 17, 2010 14:41:03 GMT
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Best of luck with the outing, old chap - take lots of pics and give us a full report! Exciting times. ;D
First drive stories? How about my first ever solo drive?
I have quite a clear memory of it - July 5th 1999, the day I passed my driving test. Torrential downpours in Herne Bay that day, but I soldiered on. My instructor dropped me home afterwards and said 'let it sink in for a bit, lad - I wouldn't go out in this weather if I were you'. 'Sod that', I thought, 'my whole life has been leading up to this moment. I'm going for a drive!'
I jumped into my mum's trusty mkII Fiesta and powered off into the downpour. The car seemed weirdly massive and echo-ey as I drove along with no-one in the passenger seat for the first time. I was ecstatically happy to being driving around by myself. My time had come!
As I rounded a corner near Hampton Junior School, I failed to realise that the road ahead was about eighteen inches deep in water. I drove into the puddle, the car died and I had to wade out. It goes without saying that the school had been closed early and there were dozens upon dozens of schoolkids watching me push the car out of the rapidly expanding lake...
My instructor was right. After I got the thing started, I dropped the car off at home, went to the pub and got smashed. ;D
My first assisted drive (i.e. me doing the steering and pedals, someone else doing the gears) was pretty memorable too. I was fourteen years old, driving an ultra-rare Citroen DS Decapotable. But that's another story...
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Aug 17, 2010 14:48:15 GMT
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my first legal drive on a proper road with my pink license, legally and everything etc. was back in February this year. I had just bought my Herald, and I was having problems starting it, got it going with a jump start in the end. It was icey, raining, and cold, and I could not work out which switch was the heater, so I had my girl friend at the time in the front passenger seat wiping the windscreen of condensation, and my mate in the back doing the rear screen just so I could see lol. I wwas just driving around the local back streets at about 20mph is second gear. The car stalled several times and would not start for about 20mins at one point so I caused a massive hold up at a t junction. Ah well, all good fun lol.
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Aug 17, 2010 15:00:14 GMT
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Sounds like you're in exactly the some position I was a couple of weeks back, except I did pretty much all the work myself and therefore it was pretty much guaranteed not to work. Except.... it did!  Your Rochdale looks magnificent. If its built to half the standard of the Toledo you should have no problems! |
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1997 TVR Chimaera
2009 Westfield Megabusa
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Memories of First Drives?BenzBoy
@benzboy
Club Retro Rides Member 7
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Aug 17, 2010 15:01:46 GMT
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This car has got to be one of my most anticipated cars on RR! I searched and searched for a Reader's Rides thread, now I realise why I couldn't find one! ;D Really looking forward to photos, it looks superb in the pics I've seen, I'm sure your first drive of it will be incredible!
My first drive of a car was when my dad let me have a go in his Mk1 Sierra when I was 14, on a field whilst on holiday. I don't know if I managed to get into 2nd gear or not...
I distinctly remember my first "solo" drive after I passed my test - I went out in my Skoda Rapid, going nowhere in particular and loving not having an instructor sat next to me! ;D
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Aug 17, 2010 15:11:17 GMT
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Another fun one - first drive in a Mercedes 450SLC a few of my friends bought at an auction about five years back. The three of them had been putting up money together to buy cars from auction, tidy them up and shift them on eBay to make a bit of spare cash. This '73 SLC came along at a too-good-to-be-true price and they couldn't resist... but then they couldn't bring themselves to sell it. It was just too beautiful. So it lived in my friend Barrie's parents' garage for a few months. Then it lived in my old garage for a few months. Then it lived in my friend Will's parents' garage for a few months. Eventually it was decided to bite the bullet and say goodbye to the old girl. After all, everyone was out of pocket and no-one was actually driving the thing. So, me and Will dragged the car out of the garage, gave it the cleaning of its life, then took it out for a spin down some country lanes. It's the closest I've ever been to dying in a car. As we wound through the country lanes outside Faversham, the throttle jammed wide open. The old, ineffectual brakes were doing little to slow progress and, horror of horrors, the autobox was stuck in Drive as well. The key wouldn't turn in the ignition. It seemed like there was no way to stop the car, bouncing off the rev limiter and screaming at warp factor ten down worryingly narrow lanes. On a straight stretch of road, Will took off his seatbelt and dove headfirst into the footwell, returning moments later with the accelerator pedal in his hand and a look of utter bafflement on his face. With a Herculean effort, between us we forced the gearlever into neutral and coasted to a halt, the engine still redlining. Then, in a scene straight from a dodgy b-movie, it slipped itself back into Drive and we pelted down the road, leaving the longest number-eleven skidmarks you've ever seen. And then it ran out of fuel. Seriously, you couldn't have scripted it better. It's the most terrifying first drive I've ever had. Here it is moments later, acting all innocent like nothing had happened.  |
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Aug 17, 2010 16:13:52 GMT
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Thanks for the positivity guys.
The Toledo has been far more hands on for me, so I guess more of a known quantity. The Rochdale is far more of a mystery at the moment.
Some great stories already guys - although the near death experience from dbizzle isn't what I want to hear about before driving a 240bhp plastic car built by a guy in a big shed ;D
I remember the 1st drive in the 1st car I owned, a Dolly 1500HL. Driving back from Burnley, the Overdrive kept shorting out, causing what were in effect involuntary gear changes. The smell of the burning wires, the random rise and fall in revs, and my ignorance about what was going on made it a very scary trip back. I still bloody loved it though.
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Aug 17, 2010 16:17:02 GMT
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First drives, wow that takes me back to 1990 in a clapped out chevette that i had been on holiday in to devon where it performed without fault, enter it`s new owner(me) and i owned it for 8days and it broke down every single day so it`s next home was the scrapyard...i had a count up of the vehicles i had owned and insured and used, and in 19 years of driving i have owned the grand total of near on 50...i was shocked...CARS i love em...buying and selling them spending on them (not good with spanners)and justifying them...:-) my friends are shocked when i tell them how many i`ve had but it`s just been something i`ve always done(since i could afford it) i just wish i had taken pics of them all..with the old poleroid instamatic..lol that is my big regret..
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I only remember the little issues: First drive in the kombi at night = cabin full of smoke as a wire to the accessory gauges shorted. disconnected the wire, continued on, on the way back noticed that the headlights were dimming just as we were getting near a parked police car, realised the alt wasn't charging, got it past the cop car, flicked the headlights down to parkers, then pulled over around the next corner and hooked up the spare battery. First drive in the Type 3 post registration, came to amber traffic lights hit the brakes and nothing happened. slightly wet day and I slid straight through the intersection - in one side at 80, out the other at about 75  New tyres fitted the day after Volvo 122S - pleasure, even better once I figured out that the high beams weren't broken, the switch was just on the floor  |
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Remade In Australia
thereimaginarium.com.au
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Aug 18, 2010 12:06:05 GMT
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I broke down on my first ever drive after my test, about a mile from home ;D
Sign of things to come I guess!
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Aug 18, 2010 12:51:26 GMT
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My mini set its boot alight on my first drive, about 15 miles from home... thank god mum made me buy that recovery with the insurance
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Sept 1, 2010 14:34:32 GMT
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,518
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Sept 1, 2010 14:52:10 GMT
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Totally missed this thread as we were away. Haven't yet clicked on your new link. Oooh, the excitment! |
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable. |
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Sept 1, 2010 16:32:36 GMT
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'relaxed cruising but the car goes mad if you want it to'Sounds like you're having a lot of fun with your toy! 
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New tyres fitted the day after 
