Your "first car" modifications

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verytalldave

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
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Location
Bromley, Kent
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W203 C200K Cubanite
Spured on by a thread in a different topic, it made me think.
Someone commented on how awful the little blue led lights stuck into the bonnets of the cars driven by younger car drivers look.
Now being to close to retirement, I agreed with the sentiments and think many things look stupid - including exhaust pipes the size of a telegraph poles.
But then I thought.............hold on......I did similar things with my first car all those years ago.
Perhaps I should cut some slack and just be less critical.

My first car was a 1964 Hilman Imp finished in the appaling shade of Balmoral Grey.
Only being a very poorly paid engineering apprentice my modifications were never costly and often nothing short of abysmal.
Black tape lines across the bonnet and over the roof (a la Fiesta Sport) and on the chrome wheel hubcaps for that genuine alloy wheel look(!)
A replacement leather rimmed alloy steering wheel that was so small you could hardly turn it. Twin spotlights, stick-on heated rear window panel and radio completed the ensemble.
I tried to spray on tinted window colour but it turned out so bad I had to remove it all straight away.
I would have liked to do some engine mods but my pocket wouldnt stretch to that. Perhaps just as well looking back.
A friend of mine had a Mini and he put a set of "Paddy Hopkirk" bucket seat covers in it. Terribly uncomfortable and looked bad after about 2 weeks use of working loose.
Happy days though.........:)
 
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On a Mini Traveller, 9369 KF, mine were:-

Full set of Smiths gauges on a home made dash in-fill consiting of ammeter, voltmeter, vacuum gauge, clock etc all went up in smoke when the ammeter wires shorted to part of the metal dash.

Over-head console, also home made, containing an 8 Track of all things.

Leather/alloy steering wheel.

Leather front seats from a Rover 2000 simply welded onto the original hinges.

Furry seat covers, I think they were simulated Beaver :D . Now, I've seen some beaver in my time and believe me they were deffo not the real deal!!!!

Home made center arm rest containing my 8 Track tapes.

Two front driving lights.

Extended gear lever.

Portzy.
 
First car was a MK1 Capri 1600GT. Orangey/yellow colour with black vinyl roof. I bought it off a lad who worked at the same place. He'd done quite a bit at it. Cosmic alloys with 175 tyres (considered wide in those days), lowered uprated suspension, rear spoiler, fogs and sports steering wheel.

It looked the business! All I did to it was stick a bigger carb on it and make a new dash/center console with all the gauges in it - it looked a bit aftermarket:D

Very fond memories.:)

.
 
Escort MKII 1300 Sport in Bright orange..

car Mods that i can remember:

Spax lowered spring kit
Janspeed exhaust
K&N Air Filter
RS Alloys
Mexico MK1 Seats
1/4 tip bumpers
Tiny steering wheel - I think it was 10" !

Driver mods:

2 x earings (both in left ear)
Lots of hair gel
 
Austin 1100
Three different coloured ashtray light (with switch)
My own invention immobiliser which cut out the engine when the dynamo output reached 12v
Spotlights
Engine fan that changed pitch as the revs increased
A sort of additional warning light thingy that lit up the whole background in amber or red according to the importance, and the individual item in a sort of blue. Made bt Smiths IIRC. I monitored lots of things like sidelights on, dip beam on, main beam on, oil filter blocked etc etc.
Very useful.


Mini 1000
Savage wheel trims
Rokee dash
Tiny weeny steering wheel.
A Smiths Industries 'Fasten Seat Belt' light with a button you pushed to cancel (standard 2" gauge size)
Cassette player
Furry seat covers
etc etc

I was Soooooo cool.
 
My first company car was a white Metro. :eek: I put a white Mountney steering wheel on it. Double-:eek:
 
First car was a 78 MkII Granada - only two mods were additional underseal around the bottom 6" of the car to hold the rust together and a spliced T into the fuel pipe before the carburettor so I could siphon fuel back through the system when it ran out and got an air lock.. I drove it about in the red constantly as I couldn't afford more than £5 of petrol at a time...

Actually there was another, it had a cheapo exhaust bandage round the front down pipes where they were blowing. Made a brilliant noise (2.8 V6)


Ade
 
1980 MGBGT- one of the last 50 made.
Front spoiler
Rear spoiler
Dashboard pod with ammeter, voltmeter, vacuum gauge
Leather front seats
Imitation leather back 'seat'
Black imitation leather steering wheel glove
Brake lines redone in copper
Pancake air filters
Homemade exhaust brackets
100 watt h/light bulbs
Chromed brass headlight surrounds instead in place of the steel ones
Major stereo system (for its day)

RH
 
Mk1 Cortina 1500 GT, after a few years ended up with a Rover 3.5ltr lump in it and a Jag rear axle (was the thing to do in those days!!) Dash ended up looking like the inside of an aircraft dash with lights and switches everywhere.
Somehow ended up doing the same thing for a living, you can blame me for all those saxos and novas running around with neon lights and stupid sound systems, still, pays the bills.
Last one i did was my Skyline, took it to 550BHP but had the engine polished for a bit of bling!!

Bob
 
Upgraded stereo on my Fiesta XR2 1985
 
Toyota 1000cc , ultra rare car never seen another on the road

My first mod was fitting a "backflash" this was like a sunstrip on the rear window, a striped red decal that read "toyota"

Prior to this a spent a weekend with a mate cleaning and painting his rear axle red and fitting a light above it :):):)

all tastefull stuff
 
my first car was a mk2 escort escort estate, drove it about 2 weeks and got fed up with how slow it was so i bought a rusty RS2000 and transgered all the running gear and most of the posh interior over into mine, was much more fun after that and it started me off so that now almost none of my cars have remained standard for very long, the last car i had before my current 280ce was a mk5 cortina with a 200bhp cossie lump in it. :D
 
First car was mid '97, a 1yr old Fiat Punto 55S - P885 SDS

Within a week I'd dropped in an Ericsson hands free kit, Alpine CD player, new speakers, amp and a small sub.

Followed by (in relatively short succession):

A set of Cibie Oscars
Sticky 14" tyres
Shorter springs and geometry tweaks.
Braided hoses, Ferodo competition pads and vented discs from the 1.6.

Spent 3 years driving it like I stole it, it's still running around somewhere according to the tax disc records.
 
Cibie Oscars ? ? ?
Blimey, that takes me back.....................
 
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As you can see in my sig, my first car was an '01 Clio and it was completely stock, even with all the original wheeltrims.

I don't really like 'modified' cars.
 
My first car was a Singer Chamois (slightly posh Hillamn Imp) My mods....

Stripped interior
De-cambered front suspension
VX Viva front hubs / discs
Revolution alloys 12x6" with Yokohama tyres
Mote Carlo springs / Koni shocks
998cc Rallye engine
1" drive shafts
Heavy duty doughnuts
Front mounted radiator
70 Amp alternator
Cibie Super Oscars spots/fogs
Corbeau seats / full harnesses
12" Mountney Steering wheel
 
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On a Mini Traveller, 9369 KF, mine were:-

Full set of Smiths gauges on a home made dash in-fill consiting of ammeter, voltmeter, vacuum gauge, clock etc all went up in smoke when the ammeter wires shorted to part of the metal dash.

Over-head console, also home made, containing an 8 Track of all things.

Leather/alloy steering wheel.

Leather front seats from a Rover 2000 simply welded onto the original hinges.

Furry seat covers, I think they were simulated Beaver :D . Now, I've seen some beaver in my time and believe me they were deffo not the real deal!!!!

Home made center arm rest containing my 8 Track tapes.

Two front driving lights.

Extended gear lever.

Portzy.

I want to know more about his beaver experiences.... :devil:
 

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