First car

[dannyboy]

I can not find anything similar, so I thought I would ask "What was you first car?"
Mine was a Triumph Herald. I can not remember the registration number, but I bought it in 1972, after just having passed my driving test. I had had it a few months when I asked my first wife if she wanted to go down the motorway. Thinking I was joking, she said "Yes". As soon as I turned onto the slip road, she screamed at me to stop, so I quickly shoved the gearstick into reverse and got off the slip road, (dangerous and illegal I know, but there was no other traffic about  ). Trouble was, that manoeuvre made a mess of the gearbox and I had to drive with no reverese gear for a couple of weeks, until I traded the Herald in for a Ford Cortina. David.

[Bealman]

I left the UK on me 22nd birthday in 1974, and bought a 1967 MGB in 1975!

Didn't even have a driving license! Anyway, when I did finally pass me test, drove the thing to Canberra and back, got home and hurt it big time.

In 1976 I downgraded and bought a Mini. 

[petercharlesfagg]

When I was celebrating my 17th. birthday I was given 2 driving lessons, 4 weeks after those lessons I passed my test and was given my first car, a Morris 8 Series "E" 4 door built in 1947 so it was the same age as myself!  It weighed just over a ton and had an 8 horsepower side valve engine.

It was given to me by my brother after he had used it to work and court his wife.  The car had no clutch, double de-clutching was the only way of driving it, the brakes were poor and worked one wheel after another such that if you did an emergency stop the car slewed sideways!

I learnt by replacing the clutch myself, plus overhauling the brakes etc, all the time I was driving it to my own job!  (When the clutch was repaired obviously!!!)

I kept it for another 5 years until I was attending Agricultural College and driving an Israeli colleague down a hill towards Rochester on the M2 in Kent, a valve head broke off and embedded itself sideways into the top of a piston, the cylinder head broke* and a piece came out through the bonnet leaving a crown shaped hole.  I was doing the fantastic speed of 50 MPH!  (Damage to the connector rods and crankshaft stopped me considering overhauling the engine!)
(* remember that the cylinder head is flat there were NO overhead camshafts in those days or at least they were in the minority!)

After enduring a terrible train journey back to my home on the Isle of Wight I bought a clapped out Morris 100 van with a 948cc engine, WOW, didn't I fly!  You couldn't see me for smoke, Literally!

Since then I have owned 8 different cars none of them new but my first car was the most fun!

JYW 693  We called it joywide!

Peter.

Found this on the web.  Almost the same as mine but I didn't have the headlight extenders or the wing mirrors.  One thing I really miss is the roller blind in the back window that could be pulled up from the drivers seat to stop annoying drivers main beams blinding you!

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[Newportnobby]

Didn't bother with cars from age 16 to 29 as I rode motorcycles, but I finally tired of heroically sliding off in winter and, being bored at work lunchtimes, decided to take my car test. Having passed I bought a 2nd hand 850cc Mini, but within 3 months had written the car off in an argument with a badger (long story). This, in turn, caused me to break my collar bone and my humerus such that I couldn't ride motorbikes any more and had to revert to a car.
Many years later another badger caused £600 worth of damage to a Ford Focus I owned

[Dorsetmike]

In 1960, I bought a 1951 Ford 8 van which somebody had put windows in the sides and an old bus seat in the back; it had half a turn play in the steering wheel, only 1 brake worked properly, tyres were shot and the petrol pump stopped working after 7 miles and we would have to stop for about 20 minutes until it cooled down, then do another 6 or 7 miles. I learnt to drive and passed my test in it, by which time I had replaced he diaphragm in the petrol pump.

Not long after passing my test I drove it from RAF Cosford to my parents home in Poole; father worked at the local Ford main dealership, took one look at it and took it into the works where it got sorted, drove quite well then.

I got sent on a course in '61 and drove it between RAF Cosford and RAF Yatesbury (near Calne Wilts) every weekend, until the then ma in law helped us buy a Ford 100E estate, which after she passed away we used some of her will to buy a new Mk1 Cortina., since then I've had 19 cars, mostly Ford (with dad working for Ford dealer what would you buy?) although I'm now on my 5th Mazda, an 07 reg Mazda2, (the earlier estate version not the current saloon)

[Oldun]

Bought my first car in 1966. It was a little Austin A40 Farina three door Countryman (split upper & lower tailgate)
Registration 360 ALU, Tartan Red & Black in colour with a 948cc engine and four speed gearbox.

Thought it was 'the bees knees' at the time. Kept it for three years then bought an ex London cab. Great fun to
drive, especially as I worked at the British Museum in central London at the time 

Roger

[Bob Tidbury]

My first car was an Anglia 105e reg DBP333 I had many a good spin down to Coverack on the Lizard Peninsular I well remember one holiday we went up the old Porlock Hill we went round the sharp left hand hand bend half way up and we heard a funny noise like air escaping from a tyre ,the car was still driving OK so when we got to the top I pulled up to see which tyre was flat all four OK, we decided to have a brew up opened the boot and found the cause of the noise ,my cousin Terry had packed some shaving foam in his case when we went round the bend it got squashed and there was foam every where .I had that car for about 9 years I loved it in the summer we took the rear side windows out so we kept cool it was a great car very basic but great fun.One other car was a MK2 Cortina and Val loved the MK2 Capri although it was useless for towing a caravan it was to tail happy.many other cars since including my pocket rocket
a Saxo VTS the only time I was very naughty and broke speed limit by miles I actualy went mad and touched 125 MPH but with that car it just had to be done and it was very very early in the morning on the M40 on the way to TINGS one year only me and one lorry on the road for miles and I didn't keep it up for long.
Enough nattering for now .
Bob

[Malc]

After riding a bike for some years, I passed my car test and bought a 1965 VX490, one of Vauxhall's finest rust buckets. A luxury car in its day, twin choke Webber carbs, 1600cc engine. It went OK, but the driver's seat dropped through the floor on the M69 and it dropped a valve on the Derby ring road. I fixed the engine and the seat, but it failed the MOT spectacularly about 4 months later. I bought a Marina next, owned by a rep for Wilson's Snuff of Sheffield (I found tins of the snuff under the spare wheel. When I got to 25, I bought an MGB GT, one of the nicest cars to drive I ever had. I had  125,000 miles on the clock, when I retired it due to metal worm. The guy that bought it, spent a fortune on filler and re sprayed it chocolate brown and flogged it on for a profit.

[jonclox]

I passed my test at 18 but being a low paid apprentice I was unable to buy myself a car so in the end when I was just over 21 my mother presented  me with a 3 year old Bedford  delivery van  (viva style) which I drove until it died after years of (mis)use. V an that length with a 21ft 6inch canoe on top was not really a perfect match but it worked. In Brecon 1 weekend we sopped for a policeman directing traffic and signalled right. When he beckoned us on we turned half way and realised that the stern of the canoe was about to decapitate him so had to straighten up till we cleared him. Soon after that I  sold the van and replaced it with the best motor I ever owned ..   a short wheel based Fords Transit van. In the end it had a camp bed, cooker, etc  and went miles up hill and down dale (the back did see quite a bit of (holiday  action before I got married and Ann wanted something more civilised to ride in

[REGP]

My first car was bought with a friend in about 1960 and was a Morris 8 Tourer built sometime before 1948

We put a lot of work into it, even persuading my mother to make a Tonneau cover for it, the hood needless to say being useless.

It belched rather a lot of smoke, so we decided to change (amongst other things) the valves and valve guides.

When trying to knock out one of the guides it split, sending a rather large splinter into my forearm. Resulting in a fountain of the red stuff  a trip to A & E and 6 stitches.

I've still got the scar but strange enough the car disappeared soon after the incident.

Ray

[Brooksy]

Great for the old nostalgia! Mine was bought for me (and my sister jointly) by my Dad and was a ford escort mkII SYD968W or SYD for short! I passed my test at 17 (1993) and drove it around till I went to university. Since then I've only had  four other cars but still remember old SYD with the greatest of fondness.

[Bob Tidbury]

Yes Only me I only stopped at 125MPH because of the extreme cross winds around the Bicester area the car started to use all three lanes and I promise I wasn't under the influence of any thing .But it was a really fast little motor I could beat  most things away from the lights if I wanted to its exeleration got me out of trouble a few times, I believe the max top speed was 140 MPH without any modification ,didn't like it at first but then really sad when the electronics packed up and caused a bit of damage to the engine sold it as seen two young guys baught it got it going about a month later then wrapped it round a road sign on Marlow bypass didn't do them a lot of good either both in hospital for a few months .These youngsters think they can drive but sometimes just can't handle a car like that,shame the car came to a tragic end .
I must admit my little 16 year old Punto Sport will do me now till I pack up driving.
Bob

[Tdm]

We are going back more than 50 years to me owning a car for the first time, and in the years since I have tended to run all my cars for a good length of time before changing them, so have only "owned" 10 in total but have driven many many more.

I learned to drive in my fathers Ford "Pop" saloon, but after 2 driving test failures in it (it was a "b...ard" to drive), I finally passed my test in a Triumph Herald, following which I bought my first "car" a well used green Morris Minivan.

My first ever "brand new" car was an Austin Mini-Cooper in white and black, and my current car, which I have owned since 1994 and emigrated in back in 2004 is a Triumph Stag.

Pictures of my cars appear below (Ford Popular, Triumph Herald, Morris Minivan, Austin A40, Sunbeam Rapier Mk3A, Austin Mini-Cooper, Triumph Spitfire Mk3, Triumph Spitfire Mk4, Morris Marina Super Coupe 1.8, Ford Capri Calypso, Mercedes 230E saloon, Triumph Stag 3 Litre V8.)

PS. Just thought - if anyone had any interesting adventures in any of their cars (eg. drove it from Wales to Tenerife), might be worth posting the experience on here? As regards my 1st car - farthest I got with it was Bude in Cornwall, but drove a few of the later cars on the Continent (the A40 I drove to the Costa Brava and back on a camping holiday).

[Jon898]

The first car I had was "inherited" from my sister in 1972, who in turn had "inherited" it from our mother who had bought it new...a 1959 Morris Mini Minor in off-white ( I think it was called Old English White).  It was later "taken back" by my sister and replaced in 1976 with a 1968 Austin 1100 which I bought with savings.  That was sold 2 years later for the same money it cost, but with a different engine.  I had swapped the original with one a guy I shared a house with had available (his car was too rusty for the MOT and my engine had died).

There followed a few car-free years in Paris and then a trail of cars here in the US (Mazda 626, Toyota Corolla, Saab 900, Toyota Camry, another Saab 900, Saab 9000, Volvo 850GLT, Mercedes C230, Subaru Outback 3.0, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Mercedes C240 Touring, Mazda Miata).  The Miata was the mid-life crisis car...I told SWMBO that I wanted a little green sports car or a cute redhead  , but obviously for her a Ferrari Testarossa was out of the question.  :'( But I do like the Miata!

[thebrighton]

My first car was a Triumph Dolomite 1850HL SEK523R. I bought it before I passed my test to tinker with and ensure it was mechanically sound ready for the big day as no 'L' plates were going to interfere with its classic lines!
Anyway I learnt to drive in a one litre Ford Fiesta and when I passed my test it was straight home to fire up the Dolomite. It was raining and I encountered my first roundabout within 400 yards of my home. Rear wheel drive and twice the power......................................
Gareth