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Post by Humph on Oct 19, 2017 12:01:16 GMT
When was the last time...you saw a Sierra, never mind a Cortina or an Escort, or an Allegro, or an Austin Princess? So many vehicles that were totally commonplace everyday sights that are very rare now.
What brought this to mind was an old boy in a flat cap merrily piloting his Austin Maestro van down the M6 yesterday. More than keeping up with the traffic and being driven well and skillfully in the rush hour by its elderly driver. It looked "used", not some "classic" restored to its former ignominy. Don't know why, but I did wonder who he was and whether it was his daily driver.
I've mentioned before my pal who is still only on his third car in 42 years of driving. Not that he doesn't use them, he just keeps getting them fixed rather than replacing them. Not all that many people do that do they?
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Post by commerdriver on Oct 19, 2017 12:18:29 GMT
Not specifically seen a Sierra recently but there is someone with a Mk 2 Cortina near us who uses it fairly regularly, someone else with a Mk1 Golf (not a Gti) and another with a Singer Chamois (posh Hillman Imp) who uses it often.
I guess they are all pretty rare now, it just depends which ones of the few are around where you are.
As far as keeping cars long term goes my wife is only on her third car in the last 36 years, A Polo and 2 Golfs, the most recent a 2001 Y reg which she has had from new
Not counting the Commer of course, which we have had since 1986 and which SWMBO's father had run since 1976.
I, on the other hand am currently choosing my 12th (and last) new (company) car since 1978.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 12:48:48 GMT
An elderly neighbour has recently been taken in to hospital long term, and I'm helping out looking after his half acre garden/veg plots/fruit trees and such. I went in to his garage, which I didn't even know was there as it's round the back behind some hedges, to find a tool, and blown me down what's in there but a K-suffix Triumph 1500 (Dolomite before they were called Dolomite). Dark blue, light blue vinyl interior, and connected to a trickle charger, tyres fully inflated, but covered in an inch of dust. I've lived two doors away for nearly 10 years and I've never seen him out in it, so I looked up the reg on the internet and it was last taxed in 2006. I bet he's had it from new, or it belonged to his parents from whom he inherited the house (lived there since birth). It's kind of lovely and I'm so glad it's alive. It's been kept dry and I can't see a spot of rust, which is some kind of miracle. I would feel strangley compelled to take it on should it ever become available.
Anyway, locally the old stuff I see on a regular basis is a Vauxhall Viva (70s), a MkIII Cortina and a FIAT Strada. Oh, and a Volvo 360. Which I do like. There are quite a few Escorts still running around here, late ones though, W-reg and such. There is a local handyman with a Sierra estate which I see sometimes, ladders on the roof and all that.
Mk 1, 2 and even 3 Mondeos are rare these days too. Easy, cheap credit means people replace rather than repair. Can't say I blame them. It's the hassle of downtime with older cars which means most of us don't want them as daily drivers. And it's probably just as well when you consider air quality. So long as some examples of workaday cars survive for the purposes of nostalgia, that's fine.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 19, 2017 13:10:00 GMT
One of my (retired, inevitably) neighbours has a Saab 9000CS. Don't know its history, but it gets used plenty. Probably doesn't count as workaday but it's presumably 20+ years old now.
Incidentally, I love the folklore that says that Saab began by cooperating with Fiat to make the Croma / Thema / 9000, then looked at what Fiat had made, kept the doors and threw the rest away. None of my neighbours has a Croma or Thema - but you can still buy a new Fiat or Lancia. Take your pick!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 13:13:30 GMT
Alfa 164 also. Best of the bunch. Love a 9000, a near neighbour here has one too, commutes every day in it. Scruffy but works.
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Post by Humph on Oct 19, 2017 13:32:47 GMT
Not specifically seen a Sierra recently but there is someone with a Mk 2 Cortina near us who uses it fairly regularly, someone else with a Mk1 Golf (not a Gti) and another with a Singer Chamois (posh Hillman Imp) who uses it often. I guess they are all pretty rare now, it just depends which ones of the few are around where you are. As far as keeping cars long term goes my wife is only on her third car in the last 36 years, A Polo and 2 Golfs, the most recent a 2001 Y reg which she has had from new Not counting the Commer of course, which we have had since 1986 and which SWMBO's father had run since 1976. I, on the other hand am currently choosing my 12th (and last) new (company) car since 1978. What are you thinking of getting Commerdriver? Something you might buy when you retire maybe? |
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Post by Humph on Oct 19, 2017 13:38:45 GMT
Pondering all this further ( for no useful reason really ) if I had to choose a car to use now, but which was a current model on the day I passed my test, and I was allowed/able to have one that had been stored professionally from new, it might, if not probably would be, a Volvo 244 estate. While it would no doubt, feel like an old car, it might also do most of the things I want a car to do, really quite well. What car from your youth would still work for you, provided it still worked, if you see what I mean?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 13:45:22 GMT
Volvo 260, Mercedes W123/4, Ford Granada estate. Actually, was there a Mk4 Granada estate, or just the hatch?
Ooo. Renault 25. Ah.
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Post by Humph on Oct 19, 2017 13:46:46 GMT
There was a Granada estate. Good call actually !
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 13:59:19 GMT
Things don't really rust here, so they're used until they break. Its only in the last few years that they've started to disappear, primarily because they do not have catalytic converters and thus any given day 4 numbers are not permitted on the roads (the last number in the licence plate is used) in Santiago. Still lots of them outside the city though. Seen the following on the school run;  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 13:59:38 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 13:59:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 14:01:06 GMT
See lots of Peugeot 205s, Fiat 500s, the occasional Rover 212/4/6, and many similar. Rarely, if ever, a UK Ford.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2017 14:03:17 GMT
What the huck is the yellow disaster?
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 19, 2017 14:08:17 GMT
Looks to me like a Vauxhall Chevette with a different nose. I can't resolve the bonnet badge - Pontiac, perhaps?
I have a picture from my Santiago trip of a pristine-looking black Fiat 124, from the era when a black car looked distinctive and a little sinister, rather than just me-too.
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