What you *thought* your first car might be

[fabes]

I, I mean my mum, insured but I drove a mimosa yellow Dolomite Sprint.

At 17

What was my dad thinking....!

I personally wanted a Lotus, practically any Lotus, though to be fair that thing was probably as fast and certainly more reliable.

My brother totalled it.....

 

[poormansporsche]

A white Sapphire Cosworth for me. I came fairly close with my Black MG Metro

My mate had a 1300 MG Metro as his first car, we swapped the front seats for for some Saffy Cossie Recaros, I can't remember how we made the subframes but I'm pretty sure it included wood somewhere along the line .......

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

First car I can remember lusting after was an MGC GT in JPS colours (black with gold pinstriping) A friend had one and ended up wrapping it around a tree in the wet - I understand handling was not one of it's features!

View attachment 163305

That’s a fine looking car.

When I was 19 years old I really wanted a chrome bumper MG B Roadster. By then they would be what we might now call a modern classic although back then it was just a classic.

My hunch was that classic insurance was less expensive and would be the most affordable route to having something sporty, two seat and open topped for the smallest insurance premium.

The MG B replaced my prior classic bright idea of getting a Porsche 914, but finding a decent one was difficult and after 2 years of looking I gave up on that - they were all rusted through.

After a while I concluded that the risk of rust was too great with the MG B too, although there were already plenty of restored examples around by then, but they were all much more expensive.

Which led me to the Reliant Scimitar SS1, as it was sporty, two-seat and open top but the fibreglass body should reduce the risk of rust. It wasn’t a classic but it was low insurance.

That moved by the wayside for the next bright idea, a first generation Toyota MR2 T-bar, they were too new to know that they would later suffer terribly with rust a decade or two down the line.

That didn’t matter though because that evolution of bright ideas led me to my first car which was sporty, two seat and open top - a second generation Toyota MR2. Blooming lived that car!

 

[baxlin]

Convertible too

Yep, I’ve had four ‘verts over the years (plus the JZR which has no weather gear whatsoever), and I still lust over a C or E-class convertible.

 

[alabbasi]

Before the reality of having to buy, maintain, tax and insure your first car kicked in, what did you think your first car might be?

When I was around 14 years old I used to fall asleep thinking that when I was 17 my first car would be a black Porsche 928 and I would be restoring a gate house, planning to marry the beautiful girl I met on my first day at big school.

View attachment 163296

So what did you hope your first car might be?

I always liked classic cars. My first car was a 76 MK3 Ford Cortina. 2nd was a 71 Mercedes Benz 250CE and the third was an 84 Opel Manta GTE. Today I own or have owned most of my poster cars, including a 928.

 

[Mactech]

Way back in the day, I managed to thumb a lift what was then a new Aston Martin DBS on my way back from school. I think that is what I wanted, but my £30 budget would only run to an early '59 Mini. That was fine as it had the early lightweight shell, but did require a new rear subframe and a new 'Clubman' front end before being road worthy. But by the age of 17, I'd already been building cars for 7 years, all be it 32nd and 24th scale slot cars....
The engine in the Mini mysteriously grew from 850 to 1293cc over the next 18 months until it was obviously quicker than I was and it met its end in a ditch not far from home...


I had also liked the Cortina 1600E in that Aubergine colour and had sprayed the Mini in that same Ford colour.
My mate and I were on our way to see my new girlfriend at the time, but headed back home to borrow my Mum's Mini.
I think I said at the time that my car had broken down, but probably failed to mention it had broken down a small post. a small tree and ended in a ditch...
I suppose the tale has a happy ending as my mate is still just that, I have never had any collision contact with any other road vehicle since then and the girl we were going to see has been my wife for over 50 years now...

 

[SmartAmg]

Always fancied a Jag, when I was a kid. But when the time came, reality kicked in. And I got a Vauxhall Viva. And years later and the amount of different cars I've had. Never had a Jag.

 

[Mactech]

JPS Colours ! That brings back memories. A fellow student had a new Lotus Europa in JPS black.

His dad owned some kind of electrical shop in Ealing. Chap by the name of Curry.

View attachment 163307

Odd what strange facts history digs up.
Back in the day I would never have dreamed that I would do a racing version of the Lotus Evora (in an even more traditional livery) for Lotus!
But this kept me busy in 2010....

A photo taken just a mile from my house at the time

 

[JHS]

This was mine ( or one like it)
View attachment 163298

Still one of my favourite cars. Henry's finest engine.

 

[Mickyh7]

I dreamt of a 3.0 ltr Capri.
Came close with a Bright Yellow 1.6 XL with vinyl roof, pushrod engine. Only a bit faster than a moped!
Two years later a Midnighht Blue 3.0 ltr Ghia with manual pack came up, crashed, repaired, full respray on a 'W' plate.
I bought it immediately.
All my wages went on cars and bikes back then!
I still wish I had that car!
Simplicity on wheels!

 

[StMarks]

When I was a teenager my father had an Austin Healey, that he had brought as a project to do up. Trouble was that he worked very hard, long hours when he was in the UK & was often posted abroad for months at a time, and despite "treating himself" to such fantasies of what he would like to be doing he simply never had the time.
The Healy sat in the back one of the barns, partially stripped but complete.
At the stables where I worked at weekends, the owner's son had an E Type convertible, and even as a naive 14yo the aphrodisiacal effect on all the female stable hands I worked with (and naturally lusted after) was abundantly evident.
So at about 15yo I asked my father if I could do a deal with him.: I would restore his Healey, if I could then use it to be my first car.? ( To me, that could be my ticket to the E Type effect).
Dad was unconvinced. My mechanical knowledge was limited.: Bicycles then on to lawnmowers, then servicing them for neighbours (I mowed lawns for pocket money, as well as working at the stables). By then I had progressed onto motorbikes, but everything was self taught and I had almost no experience with cars.
Instead of turning me down flat, he offered to sell me his Mini Moke (another "awaiting" project), and if he was happy with how I restored that, "we would taIk again about the Healey"....

So my first car was a Mini Moke that I painted bright yellow (so that it stood out ???? ) By the time I was 17 it was on the road, insurance was cheap ( you used to arrange insurance over the phone with brokers back then, and "it's an Austin Mini reg no JMW 857F,," earned me the cheapest insurance category. I called my Moke "Tigger", because it was Bouncy-Trouncy & The Only One..

However it certainly didn't have the "E-Type effect". To the contrary "I'm not going anywhere in that, it looks ridiculous & doesn't even have doors" attitudes prevailed.
I swapped out the 850 engine and gearbox for a Goldseal reconditioned engine from a neighbour's Austin 1300GT that she wrote off drink driving back from the pub, but even with the bigger cc & twin SU carbs Moke ownership was singularly unrewarding. Needless to say, I never got my hands on the Healey either.

My first car, for my (unrequited) sins.:

 

[del320]

Before the reality of having to buy, maintain, tax and insure your first car kicked in...

I don't recall dreaming about what my first car might be, rather than I had to get behind the wheel of any car.

And, so it was, that after first getting behind the wheel (aged 8 on my father's knee) I eventually "taught" myself to drive by TWOC-ing his 1952 Standard Vanguard at the age of 15.



In 1967, the old man invested in a brand new Volvo 145. Now with a driving licence, I was given unrestricted use of it (on his insurance).



Boy! That was a rocket ship that cornered as if on rails. I always had to return it with the same amount of fuel, and because he was a miserable git, he would note the mileage and charge me pro-rata for the servicing! I didn't appreciate it at the time, but it was an invaluable lesson about responsibility.

I didn't get around to actually owning a car until 1975 - of necessity going downmarket somewhat...

 

[JHS]

What I really wanted was something grown up like my neighbour's P6 3500. (An R&D manager at IBM)

View attachment 163301

But what I actually drove for four years, and 40,000 miles, as a student was two of these:

View attachment 163302

I never did get to own my own 22mpg 3.5 P6

Liked the styling of these but would never admit it at the time!

 

[JHS]

When I passed my test in 1964 I wanted to buy an old MG convertible but as my purchase was funded by the Bank of Mum I ended up with an A35, a real one by Austin not the pale Mercedes imitation. It eventually started to use more oil than petrol so I fitted an engine from a Sprite. It ended its life in the local scrapyard and was replaced by a Mini Austin 7.

 

[Tonye]

MK3 zodiac, £60 at an auction and £60 to insure, those were the days.

 

[SmartAmg]

MK3 zodiac, £60 at an auction and £60 to insure, those were the days.

Weren't they, just.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Before the reality of having to buy, maintain, tax and insure your first car kicked in...

I don't recall dreaming about what my first car might be, rather than I had to get behind the wheel of any car.

And, so it was, that after first getting behind the wheel (aged 8 on my father's knee) I eventually "taught" myself to drive by TWOC-ing his 1952 Standard Vanguard at the age of 15.

View attachment 163321

In 1967, the old man invested in a brand new Volvo 145. Now with a driving licence, I was given unrestricted use of it (on his insurance).

View attachment 163322

Boy! That was a rocket ship that cornered as if on rails. I always had to return it with the same amount of fuel, and because he was a miserable git, he would note the mileage and charge me pro-rata for the servicing! I didn't appreciate it at the time, but it was an invaluable lesson about responsibility.

I didn't get around to actually owning a car until 1975 - of necessity going downmarket somewhat...

View attachment 163324

Those 145 estates were brilliant (as was the 245 that came later)

 

[JHS]

What I really wanted was something grown up like my neighbour's P6 3500. (An R&D manager at IBM)

View attachment 163301

But what I actually drove for four years, and 40,000 miles, as a student was two of these:

View attachment 163302

I never did get to own my own 22mpg 3.5 P6

JPS Colours ! That brings back memories. A fellow student had a new Lotus Europa in JPS black.

His dad owned some kind of electrical shop in Ealing. Chap by the name of Curry.

Not entirely practical but the girls seemed to like it.

View attachment 163307

Automotive porn!!!!

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Automotive porn!!!!

Yes, Brigitte loved her Renault Dauphine too

 

[ALFAitalia]

Never really thought about cars when I was young.....only my wall were motorbike posters!........I just wanted a fast bike....which I got when I was about 18! Cars really came into my life when I started in the trade and when I realised that most girls did like a go on the back of the bike....but certainly DID NOT want to go to parties or on holiday on one.......so cars it was!!