Just to get away from football for a sec, I passed my test in 1976 and bought a purple VW beetle, 1971 vintage. Loved that car until the cills fell off. After that I had a Vauxhall Viva HB , fabulous drive, memory stirred because I was driving through Rotherham this afternoon and saw a mint HC Viva Real cars! In those days as an18 year old, a Haynes Manual was compulsory! Don't think todays 18 year olds have any clue as to how a car works because of the computer chips etc. Dad..what is a carbuerettor?
A silver Ford Ka. I passed my test ten years ago at 21 as I was sick of lugging boxes of marking home on the bus during teaching placements. My mates were going on holiday for a week to Crete and wanted everyone to take £500 spending money. I decided for that money I’d rather learn to drive so they went to Crete and I did an intensive course and took my test, best decision I ever made!
Vauxhall Cavalier. My brother gave me it when I passed my test. It was a right rust heap and was green with a red wing from the scrappers. Spent some time trying to get it tidied up but all to on avail, as the rear axle parted company with the chassis. - it was like driving a bouncy castle I eventually sold it for spare parts at a profit.
who remembers "gun gum" the grey paste to seal a leaking exhaust which lasted about 2 hours? Or the "redex" petrol additive which had absolutely no effect except on your wallet?
Ah, those days, lying on my back under a Morris Marina with a gearbox on my chest and the pages of a Haynes manual fluttering in the wind. Luxury.
Ford Fiesta Mark 2, 1979. I say Mark 2, I think looking back it was a cut and shut because the front looked like a mark 1 and the back like a mark 2. I had it 3 years during university and in that time must have got through 6 or 7 clutch cables. They seemed to be as fragile as a piece of string. Luckily they were only a tenner to replace. Oh, and it hated damp weather. From November to March I spent as much time on the bus as I did in the car because the bloody thing refused to start if they was a whiff of moisture in the air.
Datsun Sunny 1987. It had everything in, even a tape cassette player and a electronic aerial. Meatloaf and Level 42 got smashed in.
That reminds me, it appeared our Ford Fiesta’s clutch went after the pedal depressed and wouldn’t come back up again. I did some googling, attached a cable tie and drove around no bother for the next 2 years we had the car.