Your favourite car, boys and girls!

huntertitus · Post by **huntertitus** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:53 pm

OK this is a bit childish but being a confirmed petrol-head (I think that is the term) I do have a slight problem deciding which of my cars I like best. I bought a 1964 Rover 110 straight 6 - side valve - very English - very quiet - almost, but not quite stately - anyhow I ran it from 1984 when I was a student who didn't even have a driving licence until this year when it seized up for the last time and was towed away to a chap who put in a new engine and failed to sell it on ebay. Second car I owned was a 1974 Mercury Cougar with a Cleveland 351 V8 under the hood which looked ugly but impressive, sounded awesome, went like a rocket (351 c.i. = 5.7 litres - flames would sometimes come out of the exhaust pipe) and never went wrong in the 3-4 years I owned it. That was a blast, but since the demise of the Rover I have just got a Mercedes E320 coupe which is much faster than the cougar and as reliable but has the sort of gentlemanly cool of the Rover - massive doors, built like a tank, and bits of wood inside. I am happy with the Merc. Always fancied a Dodge Challenger R/T though, with a Hemi engine, naturally.

Tim_MaA_MidB · Post by **Tim_MaA_MidB** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:47 pm

I am, or used to be, a Beetle driver. Preferred them because they were simple to maintain and they sound good. Unfortunately, I had some epileptic seisures a while back...for no apparent reason and cause undetermined by a battery of tests... so I had to stop for a while. Started using the bus and even though I could go back to driving now, I find I don't need a car and enjoy having the extra money that cars consume.

I like http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/index.shtml though.

Mid A 15 · Post by **Mid A 15** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:25 am

I'm afraid I've always had a utilitarian approach to cars. A to B without breaking down or costing an arm and a leg in petrol and I'm happy.

That said a friend had a "Morse" Jaguar and I did enjoy being a passenger in it.

Katharine · Post by **Katharine** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:13 pm

I had a boyfriend at Uni whose Dad was MD of Rolls Royce Car Factory (or some such position) he used to say that there was nothing better than sitting in a Rolls with your feet on the dashboard eating fish & chips out of paper!

Said boyfriend used to drive his mini like a demon, that and many other reasons explain his being part of my past life not present life!

J.R. · Post by **J.R.** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:38 pm

For comfort and performance you can't beat a Jaguar/Daimler Sovereign.

Knocks a Roller or a Bentley into a cocked hat !

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:49 pm

My first car (aged 28 ) was my Mum's old Fiesta which very embarrassingly (for both of us) had to have a new engine within 3 months of me buying it from her.

In the US I had an Escort and it amused the lads at the service station that I did my own (minor) repairs as US "ladies" didn't even pump their own 'gas' as it might break their nails.

Husband had a red penis extension (sorry Thunderbird,) -manure off a shovel- but dreadful in the winter as it had front wheel drive)

On return I had a Metro Van Den Plas. Friends laughed about the automatic and walnut veneer, then one night just before Christmas I was stopped by the police to check if it was my car as apparently they were popular ones to steal and it was broken into outside the house but they couldn't get it started. As it would have cost more to repair than it was worse it got scrapped.

We now drive a Honda CRV, loads of room in the back for long-legged teens, can carry bikes etc and gets out of the mud when trying to leave points-to-points (?)

Tim_MaA_MidB · Post by **Tim_MaA_MidB** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:52 pm

My brother has recently aquired a Passat which automatically disengages the handbrake when the car moves forward - this seems like a damn fine innovation and makes tricky hill starts a thing of the past.

I used to have a VW CL5 Passat which was a fine car and had an early form of fuel consumption indicator.

mr tall · Post by **mr tall** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:56 pm

I am of the 'don't care if it gets me AtoB' persuasion. However, head and leg room come into play when one is a reasonable two metres from head to toe! Thus a very boring VW Passat estate does it for me, diesel of course.

Now, if we are talking bikes, it is a differnt matter. My K100 BMW for long distance and speed and comfort and my 1978 Harley XLH for sheer glorious sound, polishing and posing.

Perhaps I should start a 'What motorbike' thread.

Tim_MaA_MidB · Post by **Tim_MaA_MidB** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:59 pm

Just hijack this one

huntertitus · Post by **huntertitus** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:49 pm

Steady, troops - I want no insurrection in the ranks

Shame on you all not to have the childish glee of enjoying fast / noisy cars though at least one of you does admit to a motorbike in that category

cj · Post by cj » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:23 pm

A Renault 4, preferably in the lovely French leaf-green colour. Ours were fairly dull colours, grey, silver-blue or white. However I loved/still love them with a passion and since mine died and was taken away to be a donor car, I've not felt quite right. RIP Flossie.

http://www.renault4.co.uk/

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:25 pm

cj wrote:A Renault 4, preferably in the lovely French leaf-green colour. Ours were fairly dull colours, grey, silver-blue or white. However I loved/still love them with a passion and since mine died and was taken away to be a donor car, I've not felt quite right. RIP Flossie.

http://www.renault4.co.uk/

I had a Montego estate called Flossie. What a rust-bucket, I didn't need a key to get in, just put my hand through the hole in the door.

the children cried when she went though.

cj · Post by cj » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:28 pm

englishangel wrote:
cj wrote:A Renault 4, preferably in the lovely French leaf-green colour. Ours were fairly dull colours, grey, silver-blue or white. However I loved/still love them with a passion and since mine died and was taken away to be a donor car, I've not felt quite right. RIP Flossie.

http://www.renault4.co.uk/
I had a Montego estate called Flossie. What a rust-bucket, I didn't need a key to get in, just put my hand through the hole in the door.

the children cried when she went though.

I too had to absent myself when the time came for her to be taken away.

My Dad got them originally because he could transport sheep in the back easily - he bred Soays. And I could fit in a planning frame and other guff for archaeological surveying. Fantastic little cars.

huntertitus · Post by **huntertitus** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:51 am

cj wrote:A Renault 4, preferably in the lovely French leaf-green colour. Ours were fairly dull colours, grey, silver-blue or white. However I loved/still love them with a passion and since mine died and was taken away to be a donor car, I've not felt quite right. RIP Flossie.

http://www.renault4.co.uk/

Did you know that green is the colour of cars which ave the most accidents

I hired a Renault 4 in Morocco which broke down half way from Marrakesh to the Atlas mountains. Out of the bush / desert at the side of the road came several dusty adolescent boys who exposed themselves to my wife. William Burrough no doubt would have enjoyed the spectacle immensely but I was not impressed.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:49 pm

I have so far had a lamentable collection of cars...

My first car was a D reg Vauxhall Nova saloon that I borrowed off trisha Childs (old dance teacher at CH) for a year or so whilst she lived in Greece. This got broken into whilst at uni and I had to replace a lock which was screwdrivered and ll they took were some jump leads from the boot. (nothing else to take!!)

When she came back, I needed to get another car and my grandparents took pity on me and bought a C reg Micra from their next door neighbout who was a mechanic. This car was all very well but it had only 4 gears and any speeds above 50mph were far too scary.

But there were far worse problems to come. one day I got into my car to drive a friend down to the station. It was all going very well until the car just stopped. completely. I noticed that the fuel gauge was empty (which was strange as I knew it was half full!) Luckily I had a petrol container in the boot for these emergencies. It was then that I noticed that the fuel cap had been tampered with. I poured the petrol in, only to hear it gushing out of the bottom. In the night, someone had come and siphoned the fuel out and then had bust the fuel tank with a brick. So, I buy another fuel tank for a lot of money...

2 days later I had driven down to a friend's barn dance in Cornwall from Exeter and was driving back with Mrs Plum and 2 friends. The car then decided to amsuingly explode on the A38 and the engine caught fire. I had taken back my friend's instruments and we were sitting waiting for the AA on the side of the road with a violin, mandolin, flute, penny whistle and didgeredoo! I felt like a travelling minsterel!

And those were my first two cars!