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Myself and my dad were talking over Xmas about why I'm such a petrolhead and why I've had so many cars over the last 32 years I clearly remember that first experience of a car sales site back when if my dad is right would have been 1973, me being 5 years old. I went along with dad to a car sales on the old Kent road in south east London my dad tells me it was more or less next door to the Thomas-a-Beckett pub, I can clearly remember the big green Zephyr 4 mk111 my dad was about to buy being edged out of the small,showroom,and the salesman lifting up the metal roadside railings to get the car out onto the old Kent road,my dad was quite surprised I remembered all this, but doesn't seem to remember the salesmans office being lined with matchbox cars, which for a five year old was heaven!,,,remember the deal being done and my dad handing over the cash and us driving back home to Peckham in that wonderful big Zephyr,so that's my first memory which started my obsession, over to you?
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Last Edit: Jan 3, 2016 20:59:27 GMT by Mercdan68
Fraud owners club member
2003 W211 Mercedes E class
1998 ex bt fiesta van
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mikeymk
Part of things
'85 Polo Coupe S 1.6 16v
Posts: 931
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Dunno, mad about cars for as long as i can remember. Four years old and toy cars were my world, it's all i wanted to play with.
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First car-based memory is going camping in South Wales in Dads Mk1 Escort estate. Ma and Pa in the front, back seats folded down, all the camping gear in, then me , little sis and the family dog all lay down on top!! 1100 Kent under the bonnet, and the old man giving it the beans to the Gower coast in South Wales..... Hit 90 in that car more than a few times!!!!! Oh, and I still own that very same car  |
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'96 Volvo 850T5 x2, '97 Alfa 145 Cloverleaf '96 Alfa 155, '91 XR2i 2.0 Zetec (sold), '88 BMW 520i slug (sold), '81 Escort Mk3 Project, '68 Mk1 Escort Estate, Berlingo Parts Chaser.
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Many as a kid . We were near a USAF base and some always parked a transam with eagle on the bonnet there . The farmer up the road who was friend with my dad had Mante GTE coupe .
Uncle had a S2 Black RS Turbo
Hairdresser had a xr2
My dad was always fixing his old bangers , mk3 escort and maxi so that was something.
As i got into my teens i knew where every Cosworth was in all the local villages .
I had a trip in a 3dr black Rs Cosworth when i was 14 , which was amazing . Then the chap bought a nugget yellow G60 Corrado so i had a go in that [ i think it was the one from car sos ]
Dodgy chap in the village had a citreen ? yellow cosworth , a 205 gti on tsw blades and a r5 turbo .
The famous RS Cosworth ' E500 FLY ' was local as well , which i saw being spanked about .
Cars that i wanted were all around me growing up , the 90s just seemed so much more intense in that respect. Every street had some sort of souped up or hot car on it , even if it was just hopped up escorts with xr3 bits on .
My small village had 2 cosworths , a s1 escort rs turbo , a souped up Nova SR [ my brothers ] , 3 or 4 xr2's , a really nice oak green e plate 16v golf [ wolfsburg edition ?] two mini 1275gts , etc .
All made a massive impression on me but it was the cosworths that i really wanted , you were a total badass if you had one back then .
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I have always been obsessed with cars, for me it was an avenger with a 3.0 Essex with triple webers that my dad built, I loved that car and cried my eyes out when a taxi driver crashed into the back of it it when it was parked outside our house, it got hit that hard it got propelled forward writing off our neighbours cortina estate, because of that car i was hooked, always out with dad when he was spannering away, helping and learning, i remember the 1st job I did for someone else on my own when I was 13, it was for a friend of my uncle, he had asked my uncle to change the front shocks on his silver sierra sapphire but he had bust his ribs doing a job so asked if I fancied doing it and earning myself a few quid as my dad was working, the guy dropped the car off and couldn't believe that a 13 year old was going to be doing the work, he hung around talking to my uncle and when I had finished the job said he wouldn't have believed it unless he saw it with his own eyes, i love tinkering and havn't looked back, I still have the last car me and dad worked on together when I was 17 I'm 30 now, he had to give it all up due to health issues but he loves me going around to hear about stuff I've been doing or to mess with his car, oh how times have changed, he's my assistant now bringing me tools if I'm doing anything for him
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Last Edit: Jan 3, 2016 19:18:58 GMT by fordperv
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First clear memory of a car was of my uncle's fiat strada. I always thought it was an odd looking car.
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Found a picture of one like my dads, wouldn't Mind owning one now!  |
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Fraud owners club member
2003 W211 Mercedes E class
1998 ex bt fiesta van
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We lived in Finchley (London) when I was a kid and around 1966 (I was about 4) our neighbour was a young, square jawed blade who drove an E Type Jag. Even at that young age I could see that guy had it going on! The women all looked at him and the guys, I dare say envied him a bit!
I remember he always wore a leather bomber jacket, faded jeans, Hush Puppie boots and stringback driving gloves as he piloted (usually fairly briskly) the E Type around the neighbourhood. I used to sit astride my trike and watch him wash it and he would show me under the immense bonnet and the cockpit that, to me at least, looked like exactly that - the cockpit of an aeroplane!
One day the E Type was gone and replaced by a saloon car!! What was my hero thinking?? That red roadster had been replaced by this fairly anonymous white Consul Cortina!! Ok, so it had a green stripe down the sides and little yellow badges on the rear wings that I couldnt read looking at it out of the front room window but surely he couldnt have parted with the E Type for that?!
The first time I saw him gunning it down our road and heard the bark of the induction roar I got it!!! When I next watched him washing it on a saturday morning and he explained what a Lotus Cortina was - I got it even more!! Ive been "getting it" ever since!
Ive been lucky enough to own a couple and they lived up to my expectations.
They still excite me now, but not seeing them parked, gleaming in a show field but being driven - and driven hard! Low, hard suspension bobbling, Webers snorting and wearing a bit of road dirt!!
I have a pretty diverse taste in cars these days and have had everything from Cal Look bugs and buses to Mopar muscle and Mercs but it was the iconic Lotus Cortina Mk1 that started it all for me!
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gazz81
Part of things
Posts: 842 
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My first car memory captured in a photograph!  |
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,719
Club RR Member Number: 94
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Going with the old man to pick up his new rally yellow Beetle from Fenns VW dealership in Burton on Trent, it was late 1974 and I was three but I can still remember it clearly as there was a Herbie replica parked on the forecourt as "Herbie rides again" was on at the cinema at the time
The old mans was GBC662N and he kept it for around nine years, now sadly long gone. Weirdly I've always loved Beetles but never owned one, the old man had three as he used to drive them in Germany when he was in the R.E.M.E so he knew them literally inside out.
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a |
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,719
Club RR Member Number: 94
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a |
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randywanger_
Part of things
Nissan Bluebird P510 SSS Coupe
Posts: 946
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My old mans Alfetta GT did it for me. Wasn't bothered by the crappy old f**ds that he had but the Alfa started it for me, also made me never want an Alfa, it was a terrible car.
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choaky
Part of things
Posts: 284
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My first memory was at about age 4 of 5 and was my dad's mk1 Granada 2.0L in Brown with a tan vinyl roof and tan interior. I can remember having sweets that came with Flintstone stickers which me and my brother used to stick to the dashboard. I remember me and my little brother going with dad and my uncle to pick up the granadas replacement, a mk1 sierra ghia! I remember the drive home in the sierra which felt like a space ship compared to the Granada, although I was having fun in dads new car I kept looking behind to check on the Granada which my uncle was driving.The main thing that sticks in my mind is the small screen the sierra had, a bird's eye view of a car that showed when the doors opened and a snowflake on the roof when it was cold. I was pretty pleased about dads new car til I realised he had to sell the granada that had lost pride of place on the drive and was now parked out on the road and even had a homeless person sleep in it one night! I remember the night the granada was collected I cryed my eyes out, that car was definitely the trigger to start my car obsession.
If anyone happens to know the whereabouts of the Granada (TYA 702R) or the Sierra (B660 CBO) Please let me know ;-)
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Escort Mk4 ST170 powered sleeper
Instagram: @f670_pur
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Granada long gone and sierra not taxed since 1998
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Apparently I identified my first car correctly (a Borgward Isabella) at the age of 3! I don't remember it personally and am surprised I could pronounce it, but my mum swore it was true. First sat behind a steering wheel aged 8 on boxing day 1962 with the first of the snow falling. I only steered cos I couldn't reach the pedals, A Ford Taunus estate it was. Drove a split screen camper and MkII Lotus Cortina round a field at 11 and a Renault 4 at twelve. At 14 I bought my first car, a 100E Anglia that I shared with a mate from school. Passed my bike test at 16 and my car test on my 17th birthday. My first road legal car was a 56 MG Magnette ZA and i've had a thing about leather seats, wooden dashes and push button start ever since. Petrol heads are BORN not made!
Steve
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First car-based memory is going camping in South Wales in Dads Mk1 Escort estate. Ma and Pa in the front, back seats folded down, all the camping gear in, then me , little sis and the family dog all lay down on top!! 1100 Kent under the bonnet, and the old man giving it the beans to the Gower coast in South Wales..... Hit 90 in that car more than a few times!!!!! Oh, and I still own that very same car That's mega, I wish I had one of my old mans cars. My earliest memory is probably my dads Viva estate, in silver it was. Then he went up to a Victor, L' reg, 73 I think, blue estate |
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As a young kid I was in the back of an SD1 V8 with twin cherry bombs out the back on a narrow street and the noise the snaking I had to get me some of that.
Plus I was different to all my mates I was Max Power before they even knew what it was, they all got FHM or Nuts I was an avid Max Power or Revs reader from before I could even drive.
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Some days you just need to take a grinder to an inanimate object, just to make your day a tiny bit better!!
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dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,604
Club RR Member Number: 16
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The very rotten fiat 126 my dad placed in our back garden for us to play with. I was three and my sister two , so it has to be 1979.
We drove all over the world in our backyard.......
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We lived in West Midlands and grandparents on edge of Exmoor so in late 1950's visiting was an all day "road trip". My fathers car was an Austin Devon van with side windows and a rear seat that was brush painted bright blue. he had that until change of job got him a brand new Anglia van |
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Dad's father had a near new Mk3 Zodiac when I was little. I loved that car. Wish he'd kept it cos then I'd more than likely have it today instead of the EN Civic he bought new in 1981 after a succession of cool FWD BMC cars through the '70s (Tasman, Kimberley, Allegro, Allegro). Had my first driving lesson in a car in one of those Allegros when I was about twelve. Mum's uncle had a '56 (I think) Morris Oxford which I thought was pretty cool too even though it was pretty beat up and rusty as a really rusty thing. When I discovered the Hindustan Ambassador I remember thinking "wow, cool, those are just like uncle's old Oxford but new". I wanted one then and I still fancy them.
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