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Great thread Dan. OK here goes. My first proper memory of driving is visiting some old family friends in Godstone. It was here at age 8 that I drove a MG 1300, the Austin 1100 shape. Next up my elder sister bought herself a Mk1 Mexico and that Escort had me hooked, I was about 10 at this time and my other sisters boyfriend had a red Mk1 with Wolfrace slots and jacked up rear. After my sister sold the Mexico she bought a Mitsi colt turbo, my first experience of boosting. Much fun. So I guess I blame my big sister for my addiction. Which 40 odd years later is still very much with me.
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New cars. Who needs em.....
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,108 
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Also, Great idea for a thread! I have three distinct memories of cars that I think did it for me.
1) Sitting in the back of my dad's 1969 Mustang - It was bright yellow with black stripes
2) Sitting upside down in my mum's Oldsmobile Cutlass Diesel. Widely recognized as one of the worst engines in a pants car.
3) Playing with the controls of my Dad's 1979 Mercedes 300SD.
Result? odd German diesel power perversion.
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Reminds me a little of this thread I started way back in 2014, re-imagining our family car history. Some of you obviously had much cooler parents than me, judging by their car tastes. I don't know if cool, but my dads car taste is varied between deeply sensible, and plain odd. A few over the years... 2x sierra ghia (new) 2x rover 820 hatchback 1x 200tdi discovery E reg lada Samara Mk4 escort Ghia Rover 214sei Ford explorer Volvo c70 lpt Mitsubishi shogun sport Then there was a step change... Jag xk8 Merc 280ce (w123) Merc 230sl (w113) Aston Db7 volante 3.2 supercharged Jag s-type 3.0v6 From a Lada Samara to an Aston DB7 - that is quite a step change! |
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If at first you don't succeed........
....Don't try skydiving!
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brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,108
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2) Sitting upside down in my mum's Oldsmobile Cutlass Diesel. Yes, sitting upside down. Legs over the back of the seat. No seatbelts. Good times. |
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drpete
Part of things
Posts: 125
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A great friend of mine, who used do banger racing, and now I save cars from this
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heathrobinson
Part of things
Broken everything
Posts: 848
Club RR Member Number: 111
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Again, it's dad's fault. Two of my first three memories are car related -
My first is looking up at the bottom of my dad's v8 109 (that he'd stuck a warmed-up SD1 lump in long before Land Rover had gotten to doing the stage 1).
One of the next two is being taken for a rag in it. I might have only been two, but that noise has stuck with me ever since.
Then there was his V6 Transit, the Granada, and a succession of range rovers.
Funny how I've never really been interested in 4-pots, ain't it?
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I have 2 "defining memories" which made me a car nut, the first being my dad/grandfathers Mini (which I now own) which we used to get driven in when we were kids on our grandparents farm. He had a copy of the Italian Job we'd watch and loved the chase scenes in it (although found out many years later we had a censored copy of the movie)  The second one was when my dad bought us a 1995 Mitre 10 team Ford Falcon Matchbox (I was 5 at the time). We had plenty of toy cars before then, but this one got us hooked on watching the car racing on the TV and it snowballed from there. I still have it on the shelf. Link to a similar one on eBay www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-64-FORD-MOTORSPORT-MITRE-10-RACING-FALCON-M-LARKHAM-10-Matchbox-32234-/281417266025?hash=item4185c6b369:g:V7MAAOSwxN5WXRnm |
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I can't remember what kicked it all off, but I appear to have been obsessed with anything on wheels almost as soon as I came out of the womb!
I distinctly remember my Dad riding off on his BSA. I can't have been older than 3 as he took it apart in '81 and hasn't put it back together yet!
My Dad tells me he tried kicking a football with me and I had my back turned looking at the road instead!
My Mum remembers thinking she should harness this passion to teach me the colours but when she asked me what colour a car was I'd tell her what make and model it was instead.
I had an awesome AA pedal car which I was so proud of. Must see if there are any pics of that next time I'm at my folks.
I remember arguing with my Dad about whether Barry's BMW in Auf Wiedersehen Pet was a 3 or a 5. I can't remember who was right but I reckon it was me! ;-)
I used to buy Auto Trader with my pocket money rather than comics.
End result? a 37 year-old who has lost count of how many cars he's owned - at least 50 - and spends every waking hour thinking about cars.
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@pistonbroker on Twitter
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mgmrw
Part of things
Posts: 701
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Jan 10, 2016 21:02:55 GMT
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I don't know if cool, but my dads car taste is varied between deeply sensible, and plain odd. A few over the years... 2x sierra ghia (new) 2x rover 820 hatchback 1x 200tdi discovery E reg lada Samara Mk4 escort Ghia Rover 214sei Ford explorer Volvo c70 lpt Mitsubishi shogun sport Then there was a step change... Jag xk8 Merc 280ce (w123) Merc 230sl (w113) Aston Db7 volante 3.2 supercharged Jag s-type 3.0v6 From a Lada Samara to an Aston DB7 - that is quite a step change! Retirement! Stopped working on a filthy corrosive industrial site, stopped buying a new car for family use. Now has a £650 s-type for daily, and the mercs and Aston in the garage. Spread your money different I guess as its probably no more expensive than a well spec'd TDI Audi A4 |
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Jan 15, 2016 22:09:43 GMT
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My biggest memory of my childhood involved a very much loved car that my mother bought new just before I was born. A 1968 Sunbeam Stiletto. This was used to collect me from the hospital, and transport me as a child sitting in my child's seat in the rear left. Having been diagnosed with cancer, we travelled around the country.... Once to see my grandparents in Stornaway.....we lived in Slough! She died in 1976, and my Father sold it shortly after. I was heartbroken. Years later I was given a car for spares, hand painted lime green, and as it was totally knackered, stripped it for sporty bits for my imp... Bought as it was as close as I could get to my Mums. On sweeping up the garage floor, I found a bank card with my mothers name on it.....it had fallen out of the heater vent...along with a lot of broken windscreen glass (which broke on the m4 near Reading) So it turns out that 14 owners later, the car found its way back home, here's the only pic I have of my Mum and her car....  The story in the press......   At home.....  I think what has always fascinated me is that a lot of cars have a huge story, it's just that most people don't notice or care. |
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Jan 15, 2016 23:14:31 GMT
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That is such a great heartwarming bit of history, I'm not an emotional person, but that really has struck me ,thank you for sharing it with all on here,without doubt one of the most emotive things I've read in my life....thank you Danny
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Fraud owners club member
2003 W211 Mercedes E class
1989 Sierra sapphire
1998 ex bt fiesta van
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Jan 15, 2016 23:50:57 GMT
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Thanks. I've not posted anything about it on here before, as I put it into storage 15 years ago, and am just in the process of getting it ready for the road again.......and getting quite enthusiastic again! I have so many amazing memories of this car, my mum, and the places we visited. The breakdowns, broken windscreen, the massive drive to Stornaway, the scary ferry and great fun days out with my grandparents, and then later on, my mum struggling to get into the car with my help, and then seeing the new owners drive off.
If I leave the windows shut, it still has the smell it did then.......I think it's the rubber on the rear shelf!
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If I leave the windows shut, it still has the smell it did then.......I think it's the rubber on the rear shelf! As said, a great story and thanks for posting it! On the sentence above...I really must have a good clean up in my mind  |
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Another Dad story here, my dad used to go through cars like a trooper. One of the oldest memories I have an am often reminded about was of a car I can't even recall the look or colour from the outside, just what happened. I distinctly remember being very cramped sat in the back of a tiny little car with my older brother in the seat next to me when all of a sudden the roof collapsed hitting us both on the head and flapping about. This seemed to have scarred me because I was only 2 or 3 years old at the time and remember literally nothing else about the car or have any other memories that old and have a fear of hitting my head on things often flinching for no reason. I have been reliably informed by my dad that the car was a red Spartan kit car that had a big coke logo on the side, I don't think he has any pictures of it as he never seemed to be into doing that with any of his cars. Having just googled what those cars actually look like, there are no back seats, just a space behind where my mum and dad would have sat. Good job home built sports cars are the safest around eh. Here's a picture of a Spartan and the space big enough for a basket, or two children.  |
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My dads fault, he was a massive Ford guy and I remember being quite small in the back of his 3 door Cosworth and seeing his mate in a mk3 Cav Sri, and absolutely annihilating him, and laughing like mad as the punch from the turbo welded me to the back seat. A few fords came and went, but my all time favourite was a basic 1.6l 3dr in blue, with a 2.0 5 speed conversion  (I distinctly remember being allowed to put the 5 speed knob on and feeling like it was a massive achievement). That car went off ther clocks when he sold mums Sapphire Cosworth and realised he had left her house keys on it, cue a chase down the A55. Dad sold it very begrudgingly in 2002 as the garage was full of RS500 and he had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease, it was immaculate when sold, it cropped up on eBay last year as a rolling shell in 18 different colours with a badly fitted fibreglass body kit, broke my heart seeing it like that. I did briefly own his RS as well, but being 12 (made for epic bragging rights at school lol) it was sold rather than stand and rot, the guy still has it and occasionally pops round to show it off.  Used to do all the Tatton Park shows every year, he is fully to blame for my love of cars. |
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Feb 24, 2017 14:58:26 GMT
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I've still got one of them in the box somewhere, I was mad into the Dukes as a kid in the early 00s and my dad got me loads off a relatively new and unused eBay, remember typing Sierra in and it would come back (after 10 minutes on dial up) with maybe 50 hits, how many now |
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Feb 24, 2017 14:58:30 GMT
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the Dukes of Hazzard for me. Cars were everything after watching it.  |
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Feb 24, 2017 15:37:54 GMT
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I've still got one of them in the box somewhere, I was mad into the Dukes as a kid in the early 00s and my dad got me loads off a relatively new and unused eBay, remember typing Sierra in and it would come back (after 10 minutes on dial up) with maybe 50 hits, how many now Before I wrote that I swear there was a post with an Ertl General Lee in it |
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fad
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,781
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Feb 26, 2017 13:07:48 GMT
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My Dad going at a bit of rust on the bonnet of an MG Midget is my first car memory. But my old man aint a petrol head in the same way I am. He likes modern stuff and regularly tells me how wonderful his economical eurobox is (though he drives a Kia C'd now). He came close to getting my interest with his Cupra R and his Scooby but neither were special in any way. He has always wondered why I have always driven old stuff no matter what sort of cash I was earning and could not understand why I was trying to buy an S6 V8 (older one) when I could easily afgord so many "nice" modern cars. He still doesnt understand the Volksrod in my avatar pic.
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