Topic: Your Cars

[Allan L]

Subaru Imprezas Allan; so you do like some modern cars then?!

Well remembering that of my two dozen cars all but five were new or recent at the time I owned them and of the five one was all I could afford as the student I was at the time so only four were bought with age as one of the reasons for buying 'em.
The Impreza, since you raised the matter was a normal small/medium hatchback endowed with plenty of power which it transmitted using all four wheels. It could (and did) tow a trailer of up to 1600 k.g.  I'd have had another byt the equivalent car is either not made or not available in UK, hence the BMW which I can already say has too many "bells & whistles" fitted because they can and not enough down-to-earth engineering - e.g. no spare wheel, jack or wheel spanner because they believe the run-flat tyres are all that is needed. PM me for the full diatribe

[barrett]

I think the last time I posted here I had a rotten Bond and my Standard 8. Quite a lot has happened since then.

The Herald was here for about a year but never worked properly. Sold at a very small profit last year.

The Allegro cost £200. I did more than 10,00 miles in it as a daily driver and it's never let me down. Currently looking forlorn and awaiting a few MoT jobs

The Silver BX replaced the Allegro as my daily and is fantastic. It looks like a shed but drives better than any other car I've tried. I've done maybe 35,000 miles in it and I love it

The green BX was cheap and near and I felt sorry for it. Needs a good week's work and a few hundred quid throwing at it to get it on the road

The Peugeot 404 was also cheap. Currently in France having an engine rebuild. Will be lovely, one day.

The Panhard 24C was a case of 'never meet your heroes'. Achingly pretty but I only did one successful journey in it. Otherwise, a whole year of fiddling trying to get it working before I gave up and got rid a few weeks ago.

The Dyna X is its replacement. A nice, mostly original low-miles car but more of a curiosity than something that can actually be used. This is going up for sale next week to free up much needed funds for other projects.

The blue thing is a Heron saloon body on an A7 chassis. As far as I know the only survivor of this type. Needs an engine and thorough recommissioning. A very well-built Special that should be a fun thing to go to the pub in when it's done

The Model A I haven't even seen yet. Bought sight unseen, but from somebody I know. It runs and drives but has the 14.9hp engine so I'm on the look out for a 24hp to slot in instead.

[barrett]

Oops, I knew I'd forget something!

This has been here for about two weeks and I've done about 1000 miles in it. A very, very rare UK-market survivor, mostly original and unmolested. Great fun!

[Arthur Dent]

barrett - I love that Heron Austin Seven - very neat looking and unique! What a wonderful collection of motors you've had and have.

[Carnut]

I had it in my mind that you said you didn't have a driving licence barrett!
Was I dreaming?  Or have I confused you with another prominent puzzler?

I must have been dreaming because aren't you something to do with 'Old Motor' or a similar car mag?

[barrett]

When I joined this site years ago as a fresh-faced 20-something I didn't have a licence! I was a very late starter and consequently I missed the boat on a lot of cars I like so I'm making up for lost time... 13 motors in three years isn't that much compared to a lot of people I know, but I don't have enough money to indulge as much as I'd like to!

Now as a not-so-fresh-faced 30 year old I've been driving for three years. I think I've driven around 60 cars since then, with a couple of exceptions they've all been 'old'.

Old Motor folded in 1982  It's one of the other ones that pays my wages...

[Carnut]

Old Motor folded in 1982  It's one of the other ones that pays my wages...

You'd thiknk I might have noticed..
I just couldn't remember which one it is but I know it's a respected old car mag.  It's not one that I subscribe to though; you have to draw the line somewhere and C&SC, Classic Cars, Octane and Classic Car Weekly is where the line is (since I also have to get through Auto Italia, Sprint TVR mag, Ferrari and 4 copies of Autocar and Auto Express every month as well!

[Ultra]

Promote this site in the mag?

Just asking....

[Arthur Dent]

Popped in so time for an update?

Since the last time I've bought and sold a few things.

The Chevy S10 got sold.

The Austin A40 was very rusty and folded itself in half once the doors were removed. Ugh.



Bought myself a 1991 Honda Nighthawk 250 and taught myself how to ride this summer.



2001 Dodge Grand Caravan for the wife's business. Soon to be sold I hope.



1983 Dodge Aries K-car which I used on a beater rally. Now sold.



And undoubtedly the nicest classic car I've owned - 1981 Triumph TR8. The more rare TR7 variant with the V8. Mine is the 5spd as well.

[Allan L]

Glad you still have a look sometimes AD!
The TR7/V8 looks in good shape and so far as I recall when they were works rally cars they go well too!

[Oguerrerob]

My first car, an heroic Renault 4L.
Then Renault 11 12 Estate 
Chevrolet Malibu 1978 
Fiat Fiorino 
Fiat 147 Spazio 
Lada Niva 
Toyota Land Cruiser 1984
Ford Sierra 280LS Automatic 1987
Ford Explorer 1996 
Honda Civic 1999 

[Oguerrerob]

Renault Scenic 1999 
Honda Fit 2002 
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 2004 
Honda CRV 2004 
Honta Civic Coupe 2006 
Toyota Fortuner 2008 

And I bought a Renault 4L to restore. And I did it, but it didn't work and I gave it away

[oko94]

Renault 11 Estate

Do you mean Renault 11 Hatchback or was it an obscure market-specific version ?

[Oguerrerob]

Was this awful orange lowsy estate. I've bought new from the Renault dealer and 6 month later was leaking oil from the engine

[Wendax]

So it must have been a Renault 12. 

[Oguerrerob]

Yes, you're right. My mistake

[Oguerrerob]

Corrected. Renault 12 Estate 1980

[Carnut]

Glad you still have a look sometimes AD!
The TR7/V8 looks in good shape and so far as I recall when they were works rally cars they go well too!

Isn't it a genuine TR8?  Looks like one...

[Allan L]

Surely in the UK we knew them all as TR7s hence TR7/V8

[Arthur Dent]

Yes it is a genuine TR8. Only sold in North America. Just about 2800 or so of them.

[Ultra]

Taught yourself to ride!!   Nice work AD.

[Arthur Dent]

Thanks - quite enjoyed it. The Nighthawk 250 is great around town but I will be very tempted to get something a bit more highway friendly this summer.

Sold off the minivan since the above posts.

[Carnut]

I've never actually sat down and listed all the cars I've had before, but looking at Djetset's list made me think I perhaps should before I forget.

So here they all are in chronologial order, starting with my first car when I was 17:

Austin Mini
VW Beetle (oval window)
Morris Mini-Cooper
Austin 1100 Mk 1
Austin 1100 Mk 2
Morris 1300
Triumph Toledo (worst car by a long way..)
TVR Vixen
Austin Allegro (yes, really!)
Alfasud Sprint
Alfasud Sprint Veloce
Ferrari Dino 246GT
VW Scirocco GTI
Trident Venturer
Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT
Ford Escort Mexico
TVR Trident prototype No. 3 (I still have this one)
Audi 80 quattro
Audi 90
BMW 320i
Alfa Romeo 164
Alfa Romeo 166
Alfa Romeo 156
VW Eos 2.0 Turbo
Audi A5 2.0 Turbo
Audi S3 Saloon 2.0 TFSI Quattro DSG (new September 2014) Stolen on August 3rd 2017
Audi S5 - to replace the stolen Audi S3

There are plenty of others I wish I'd had, and one or two I wish I hadn't had there...

It also struck me that there are several cars I owned or still own that are not on the list because I have them for others to drive, although some of them I've driven many miles in myself - mainly because I like them!:

Fiat 128 3P
Fiat Panda (original style)
Fiat Panda (another original style one)
VW Polo Coupé
VW Polo
Fiat Panda (2nd style)
Latest style Fiat Panda (I still have this one)
VW Lupo

Another thing struck me just scanning the list to see if I'd forgotten any:

All the cars without exception are either  British, German or Italian!  Nothing French, Swedish, Japanese or anything else!

List updated 20 August 2017

[nicanary]

Sorry to hear about your S3 being stolen. That's a bummer. At least you owned and drove it for nearly 3 years - I had a new A4 2.0Tdi back in 2007 which I owned for approximately 5 weeks. Woke up one morning to find the cat very confused as to why we couldn't find the front-door keys to let it in.  My keys and my daughter's handbag were gone, together with the car. It's known I believe as a creeper burglary - they broke the lock on the patio doors and I slept through the whole thing. The car was found about 6 months later, or what was left of it. They break them down for spares.

I hope your loss wasn't too traumatic. It's the nuisance value as much as anything - all the rigmarole of changing house locks, reporting stolen bank cards, new locks on my daughter's car (costs a fortune because they're all ECU-linked), plus having to fork out for another car until the insurance coughs up, which took months. Plus I lost the use of my personal reg plate for ever.

Sorry - am I rubbing it in? I expect it's a bit raw at the moment. Really tough luck.

[Carnut]

It's always a complete bummer when anything like that happens.   I was fortunate that they took nothing else, just the car and 5 sets of car keys, two of which were for my Audi.  My daughter and her husband have been able to have their cars reprogrammed so thay can't be started with the keys which were taken.
My S3 was meant to be for my retirement.  I ordered it 2 years before it was delivered and there's no chance of finding another with the same specification.  I had no Gap insurance...  That'll teach me!
I've found a very nice Audi S5 which cost about the same as I should get from the insurance company.  It's not new but looks and feels it.  I avoided getting the same as it would remind me of the one which was stolen so now I have the fun of a completely different car: just as fast but somewhat less lairy and more grown-up!
It's not so much the car, which is at the end of the day just a hunk of steel and other materials, but it was full of my personal stuff like CDs, footwear and all sorts of items.  They are irreplaceable.
Boy, if I could get my hands on the perpetrators....