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!

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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.

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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...