Your first car?
May 21, 2019 21:35:55 GMT
Post by Humph on May 21, 2019 21:35:55 GMT
My first car was a brand new Mercedes 190 SL. Pale blue bodywork with chrome trim and whitewall tyres. I was so proud of it and drove it at every opportunity. It was a 1960 model and was a gift from my parents.
Before you you think I'm imagining all this, it was sadly only a pedal car and I was just 2 years old.
My first real car was a 1968 Wolseley Hornet which I bought as soon as I'd passed my test in 1976 for £230. Two tone green, pale green body, dark green roof, walnut dash, pale green leather seats, chrome overriders on the bumpers. Colway crossply remoulds.
I spoiled it a bit by fitting a Momo leather and perforated aluminium spoked steering wheel which I thought looked very sporty indeed, but which really didn't suit it. Indicator stalk on the right with a little green repeater light in the end of it.
It was of course, even by the standards of the day, hopelessly slow and despite its Mini underpinnings, the handling was somewhat challenged by the more or less grip free tyres. Drum brakes all round, which taught me a fair bit about brake fade on a trip to the Scottish Borders four up. Getting round a sharp right hander at the bottom of a long steep hill with no brakes and those tyres very nearly turned me religious. Still, character building in a way I suppose.
It was fairly quickly replaced by a much less cared for Spitfire which only had one operating front brake, albeit, in its defence, this time a disk, and that in turn was substituted by a Triumph 1300. It was followed by an Escort Mk 1 with 1100 whole CCs and about the same number of holes in the bodywork.
The next was an MG Midget, one of my favourite early cars, navy blue with chrome wires. No discernible boot floor in it though. Not entirely sure what was holding together back there but it served me well enough for a while.
Started getting company cars after that, the first of which was a banana yellow 1.6L Cavalier Mk1, surprisingly good to drive actually.
All gets a bit blurry after that, there have been a lot, both those provided by employers and those paid for by me.
I made a list one day, and I got up to 46 cars and I'm fairly sure I'd forgotten some.
What at did you start with?
Before you you think I'm imagining all this, it was sadly only a pedal car and I was just 2 years old.
My first real car was a 1968 Wolseley Hornet which I bought as soon as I'd passed my test in 1976 for £230. Two tone green, pale green body, dark green roof, walnut dash, pale green leather seats, chrome overriders on the bumpers. Colway crossply remoulds.
I spoiled it a bit by fitting a Momo leather and perforated aluminium spoked steering wheel which I thought looked very sporty indeed, but which really didn't suit it. Indicator stalk on the right with a little green repeater light in the end of it.
It was of course, even by the standards of the day, hopelessly slow and despite its Mini underpinnings, the handling was somewhat challenged by the more or less grip free tyres. Drum brakes all round, which taught me a fair bit about brake fade on a trip to the Scottish Borders four up. Getting round a sharp right hander at the bottom of a long steep hill with no brakes and those tyres very nearly turned me religious. Still, character building in a way I suppose.
It was fairly quickly replaced by a much less cared for Spitfire which only had one operating front brake, albeit, in its defence, this time a disk, and that in turn was substituted by a Triumph 1300. It was followed by an Escort Mk 1 with 1100 whole CCs and about the same number of holes in the bodywork.
The next was an MG Midget, one of my favourite early cars, navy blue with chrome wires. No discernible boot floor in it though. Not entirely sure what was holding together back there but it served me well enough for a while.
Started getting company cars after that, the first of which was a banana yellow 1.6L Cavalier Mk1, surprisingly good to drive actually.
All gets a bit blurry after that, there have been a lot, both those provided by employers and those paid for by me.
I made a list one day, and I got up to 46 cars and I'm fairly sure I'd forgotten some.
What at did you start with?
