Fond memories of cars gone by...

[Davidc]

My first car was a Hillman Imp. Dreadful car (not as bad a s the allegro though). Got rid of it after less than a week.

3rd car was a Mk1 Escort. Used to pump water in through a hole in the floor.

Most had peculiar problems up until the 1990s, when someone invented QC and anyway I could afford better cars!

 

[colly]

75mph in an Allegro?? Was the speedo broken too?

I once had an Austin Allegro (company car)
After collecting it from head office in Manchester my first trip in it was over the M62 back to Yorkshire.

I really thought there was something wrong with it. I could not get it over about 45 or 50 going up hill. I found out pretty soon that that was normal for an Allegro.

 

[Over The Hill]

I once had an Austin Allegro (company car)
After collecting it from head office in Manchester my first trip in it was over the M62 back to Yorkshire.

I really thought there was something wrong with it. I could not get it over about 45 or 50 going up hill. I found out pretty soon that that was normal for an Allegro.

Do you remember the adverts for them?
Tune went;
Allegro's got room - plenty of room
Allegro's got vroom - plenty of vroom

I dont admit to owning one but my mum had one. I think even better than the idea for the square steering wheel was the great design of the boot lid. It sort of came up like a hatchback but from the bottom of the rear window so you had the boot lid sticking out in the way and you had to duck down under it when you put anything in the boot.

Then there was the Vanden Plas version with a funny posh radiator lumped on the front.

 

[Crackle]

My first car was a 1957 Morris Minor XLV 894 the 950 engine, pull start, when it got to 70 on the motorway (yes it did) the wing mirrors folded in. Still remember going past a bloke in a Rolls smoking a cigar. As we went past, his mouth opened and I thought his cigar would fall out. It coincided with my art college years that car. I think I had 9 people in it once.

 

[Piemaster]

I had an Allegro for a while . Actually was my dads, but I used it for around 6 months as he'd just bought one of those new Sierra things. 1500 estate version so no boot issues, the 1500 may have made a difference as well. Think the rear suspension may have been different and hence better than the saloon as well - that's a relative thing though.
Over taking was interesting as there wasn't much power to pull out and pass anything much faster than a road bike. My technique was to hang well back, accelerate and hopefully by the time I got to the back of the car in front there was a gap in the oncoming traffic and I was moving fast enough to get past safely. No gap meant braking and having another try.
Actually I don't think it was that much worse than its contemparies of the period. Also had a late model Cortina of which the rear never actually felt like it was connected to the rest of the car. Like driving a shopping trolley.

 

[Night Train]

I've never had a Mini or a Beatle.

I've had two Skoda 120s with three engines between them. That was fun, rebuilding the spare engine to to keep the other two on the road doing 30,000 miles a year each. I could change an engine between finishing work for the day and dinner to keep a car running.

My first car was an 1100cc Mk1 Escort, from there onwards it was Land Rovers (heavily modified), MGB GTs and vans for many years and then various estates cars. I also had a 1952 MG YB saloon and a 1949 AEC Matador.

Everything was an old banger until I got my first new car, a Skoda Octavia TDi estate in 2001 and a new Harley Davidson FXSTB Night Train in 2002. The Harley was crap and the Skoda is a tool, in the nicest possible way, sporting a 240v inverter, on board air compressor and 1500kg winch.

 

[swee'pea99]

I've heard it said that the Allegro was actually more aerodynamic going backwards, which is surely untrue, but funny nevertheless. Come to think of it, maybe it is true. God what an awful car. British Leyland. Jesus.

My first car I loved to bits. Triumph Herald, 20 years old when I got it. You could see the road between your feet. One of the doors got so rotted I had to replace it, then the other. One was dark grey, the other dark green. The car was light grey.

One day I was parking it in a busy road when there was a horrible clunk and the whole horizon tilted about 10 degrees. I knew instantly what had happened - the nearside wheel had fallen off. People on the pavement were looking at it, and at me. Well, I couldn't sit there indefinitely. I knew at some point I was going to have to get out, walk round the front, and look. Which I did. With a sort of 'ah, my wheel's fallen off' look.

They don't make cars like that anymore...

 

[mickle]

Between my dad, my step dad and my uncle I was exposed to some great cars growing up, a brace of Cortinas including a Mk lll GXL with twin Webers,
A couple of Mk lll P100 pick ups,
A Triumph 2000 estate with overdrive
Various Transits,
A Vauxhall Ventura with a straight six
A 1964 Pontiac Tempest
A Toyota Crown
Short base Landrover
A Mk 1 Toyota Celica
Alfa Sud,
Two 2CVs and an Ami 8
Lotus Elan
Alfa Spider,
1968 Chevrolet Impala with a record player in the dash,
Singer Gazelle estate
VW bay window Van,
Porsche 928 and 924

But my favourite of all was my dad's Alfa Romeo Guilia Ti

My cars have included; Mini metro, Bedford LWB van, Ford Econoline van when I was in the States, VW Fastback, Sierra Estate, Mk4 Cortina, Granada estate, half of a black 5l V12 Ferrari 412, Nissan Primera and my beloved Corrado.


I am actually in the process of purchasing a Mini Metro 1300 automatic which has been in storage for the last twelve years and has 2000 on the clock- since it looks like the Corrado will be off the road for a while.

 

[jig-sore]

my old mini cooper...
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVF6urRjh2Q


sadly he's gone now

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I had five or six Citroen 2CVs and assorted variants (including an Acadiane van). They were great, very good off road, surprisingly enough. I raised the suspension and put the spare wheel on the bonnet of my first one, then made a set of cut down doors which I used to fit in the summer. I loved that car. I graduated to an H van, but then moved on to a Volvo 240 estate before becoming boring and buying a practical but dull Saab 900.

 

[trsleigh]

Over taking was interesting as there wasn't much power to pull out and pass anything much faster than a road bike. My technique was to hang well back, accelerate and hopefully by the time I got to the back of the car in front there was a gap in the oncoming traffic and I was moving fast enough to get past safely. No gap meant braking and having another try.

I remember that well in my old Mini. No bad thing, as it taught you to anticipate and read the road well ahead. Each overtake had to be carefully planned.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I remember that well in my old Mini. No bad thing, as it taught you to anticipate and read the road well ahead. Each overtake had to be carefully planned.

Lots of vehicles made you drive like that. My 2CVs were the same, and the old ERF tractor unit I used to drive on heavy haulage. You had to double declutch down the gears in that, which really did make you plan ahead! We have a similar truck in the yard as a shunter now, and it's very difficult to adjust to driving it on the road after my modern Renault Magnum. But I digress ...

 

[swee'pea99]

Lots of vehicles made you drive like that. My 2CVs were the same.

I'm sorry, are you trying to suggest overtaking in a 2cv? Overtaking what? A pillar box maybe.

Reminds me of a friend geting her car fixed by 'Ray', the incredibly cheap local Vietnamese mechanic. She asked whether he'd fixed the speedo. He looked at her ancient mini with disgust and said scathingly 'you no gonna speed in tha'.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Reminds me of a friend geting her car fixed by 'Ray', the incredibly cheap local Vietnamese mechanic. She asked whether he'd fixed the speedo. He looked at her ancient mini with disgust and said scathingly 'you no gonna speed in tha'.

You'd be surprised how well they go when you get them wound up. They're not that powerful (all of 29 bhp) but they don't weigh much and are very free revving.

 

[peanut]

1. 1950 Ford prefect red and rusty.
2. 1955 vauxhall Velox
3. 1956 Ford Zepher Mkll
3A 1956 Vauxhall Cresta
4. 1950's Wolsley 1550
5. 1962 Mk1 Spitfire knocked the rear lights off every time went round the back . Plywood passenger floor used to fall out
6. 1960 Austin A60 est
7. 1962 Ausin A60 saloon
8. 1955 Austin Westminster A95 3ltr
9.1958 Ford Ashley sports
10. 1961 MGB roadster
11. 1963 MGBGT
12 1962 MGBGT
14. 1971 Datsun 240Z
15 1973 Datsun 260Z
16. 1986 Porsche 944
17. 1990 Porsche 944S2
18 1996 Ford Mondeo
19 1972 Porsche 928
20. 1994 Ford Focus
21 1997 Ford Mondeo
22. 1989 Porsche 944S2
few more I can't remember phew!