Uncle’s post earlier made me think about the cars I have owned and loved…
So, here goes!
My first car was obviously special – that new-found independence and leaving behind of public transport. I had an Austin 1300 – had my first shag in it too! it was a white Mk3
The Austin 1300 got quite bashed-up (not just the headlining) and suffered from numerous dents, scratches and badly bodged repairs. It was rusting so badly that I got a mate to give me an MoT over the telephone but he misheard me and I had to change a B to a V on the form so that I could get it taxed. Time to give the problems (and filler) to somebody else…
So I traded it for an Allegro just like this: -
I loved that car! I kept it in pristine condition and polished the engine compartment. The only issues I had was after fitting electronic ignition it packed up. I towed it to the garage one night ‘for a service’ and picked it up the next day complete with points and condenser again…
My girlfriend's neighbour decide we were 'too noisy' one night and poured paint stripper all over the offside... I managed to make an invisible repair with dozens of coats of touch-up paint...
Sadly, the GF did not last as long....
I sold the Allegro to me Mum and bought another!
After that and then came my first company car!
A MK4 Cortina 2.0 GL. It had been written off on the M4 and badly repaired so it went down the road sideways… I loved it tho...
The next company car was a Vauxhall Cavalier – again not new but it had a sunroof! My first car with one and it felt so important at the time… I took LL to the Lake District in it - our first holiday away together....
After that came my first brand new car – a 2-door Saab 900 followed up by a 5-door version of the same. Both enthralled me with sodium cooled exhaust valves, the most amazingly complex bonnet mechanism and pneumatically controlled heating and ventilation which hissed when you moved the knobs…
The Saab 900 5-door was followed up by a Saab 9000S… I loved that car and still miss it – I had to give it back when I resigned and went off to start my own business in 1990.
I needed some wheels and bough an extremely high mileage Rover Sterling. It was knackered mechanically but had full leather, all the buttons (electric rear seats!) and looked the part! It had that counterbalanced V6 engine that you could balance a 50p on too (although why you should want to I still do not know to this day)…
Business picked up and I traded the Sterling for THIS!
A Mitsubishi 3000GT – what an awesome motor. Not good in the snow I seem to remember…
At about the same time I had some spare cash and bought a TR6 too – if ever there was a black hole into which you could pour cash then that was it – lovely car tho…
After the 3000GT I considered that I had matured somewhat and went for the jaguar XJR – the best car I have ever owned and driven – I felt like Mr. King driving it. When it started to show its age I bought another that looked exactly the same and moved the number plate over so that nobody ever knew I had a new car…
And then I moved to Cyprus and bought the Pajero – the most incredible on and off road vehicle… Over 160,000Km on the clock and still driving like new (although I had to replace the front anti-roll bar bushes @ €50 each this week)...
It has been my faithful companion for over ten years - the longest I have ever owned a vehicle....
And after that Me-Mi – almost, but not quite full circle… the exact same engine as the first car I ever bought some 36 years ago...
