I had 2 Metros - great little cars.Ahh first mention of the Metro..15 pages
bloody things
The wife had one when we met to replace her Volvo belt drive 340 i for the life of me cant decide which was more
Which Car Do You Remember with Affection from your Youth?
- Thread starter Cycleops
- Start date
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gaijintendo
Guru
- Location
- Scotchland
I remember my parent's Orange Citroën 2CV, which I don't think was ever functional, but which was unlocked in the driveway. We'd have endless hours of fun making engine and indicator sounds.
Levo-Lon
Guru
Hers wasn't..the drivers seat snapped at 80 ffs i had to steer until she could brake!!!
OP
OP
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
[QUOTE 5107798, member: 76"]My first car was one of these....
View attachment 390505 [/QUOTE]
You might remember that BL gave it Ital Design in Italy who designed many famous top end cars, to jazz up a bit, hence the revamped model named after them. Years later a glossy book was produced featuring the historic projects that Ital had been involved with. Even tractors featured but no mention anywhere of the Morris Ital, strange that.
View attachment 390505 [/QUOTE]
You might remember that BL gave it Ital Design in Italy who designed many famous top end cars, to jazz up a bit, hence the revamped model named after them. Years later a glossy book was produced featuring the historic projects that Ital had been involved with. Even tractors featured but no mention anywhere of the Morris Ital, strange that.
Levo-Lon
Guru
Will Spin
Über Member
Did they ever get old?
Yes.
OP
OP
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
We haven’t had many Citroens so far. Much later I had a CX Safari like this one:
Very idiosyncratic. The seats were way too soft and it was such a lazy car you could never drive it fast. It was huge though, I got a double wardrobe in it once. All Citroens with the Hydropneumatic suspension could be driven on three wheels.
Very idiosyncratic. The seats were way too soft and it was such a lazy car you could never drive it fast. It was huge though, I got a double wardrobe in it once. All Citroens with the Hydropneumatic suspension could be driven on three wheels.
Nigeyy
Legendary Member
- Location
- Massachusetts, USA
This thread has really brought me back to memory lane. Here are some random thoughts about cars I remember, and apologies for the length of the post (I already have mentioned the Standard Ensign Estate and Austin 1800):
1. My first car was an ex-RAF Ford Escort Estate, I think 1972. It was a military green inside with a dark red exterior. Excellent car, super reliable, always regretted selling it (sold it when I went to college and couldn't afford to run and insure it anymore). In my more impressionable days I remember being cajoled into driving 13 other full size adults in the car to the next pub on north Nottinghamshire country lanes on a Xmas Eve as I was the designated driver..... Always wondered if that was a record (not small people either, though all of them were worse for wear for drink as well!)
2. Hillman Imp, pale blue, early 1970's I think). Not mine, my friends. A hideously ugly car, but again was the mode of transportation many times for visits to pubs in North Notts. The last I heard it was rusting away in his sister's garden and we all made fun of him for wanting to "restore this classic car".
3. Ford Cortina Mk 1, sport. Late 1960's I think. It had the fins on it, and a vast multitude of dials and gauges inside. It was, even for an awkward teenager in the mid 1980's, a super, super cool car. Was my friend's and he drove it like a lunatic (as well as driving like a lunatic in his father's Rover P6 -a car which was not cool for a teenager).
4. The same friend from 3. had a Frankenstein creation of a Ford Escort Mk2 Estate in metallic blue that had a 1600 engine shoehorned into it. The problem was he was offered a "mint" 1600 engine and the thought of getting a faster car appealed to him. However, he hadn't reckoned on the engine and attached gearbox being longer (as well as shortened gearing at his original transaxle for the setup). This resulted in his gear stick being almost behind his back and an incredible amount of ridicule from his (me and others) friends. Also, his driveshaft was too long so we ended up chopping it and welding it back to together by eye resulting in an unbalanced shaft that made heinous knocking noises as the engine out revved itself with the short gearing. Did we laugh and ridicule him? We certainly did. He had the last laugh though; he ended up with a lovely red Ford Capri that was gorgeous.
5. My other friend had a Mini from the late 70's. I just remember it went like hot stink around corners, and when he did end up in a ditch on a snowy night, we all got out and lifted it back on to the road (5 people can lift a Mini). It was in this car when he ran over a badger with 4 of us in the car as well. He knew he couldn't avoid it, so ran right over it, the number plate clipping its head and knocking it out, but at least it wasn't squashed. We were young and very stupid so put a semi-conscious badger in the back of the mini with the three of us on the back seat and took it to a vets..... It was fine the next day according to the vet. I blanch thinking about what would have happened had it gained consciousness....
Other cars I personally owned: an Austin Maxi handed down by my brother (hated the thing) and a black 1980 Renault 5 which was a great car, so easy to work on. I also had a great attachment to a dark green 1995 Saturn SW1 estate (US car), I had it 12 years, 170,000 miles and hardly any trouble with it, the most reliable car I've ever had. I only got rid of it once I needed a new exhaust and the cost of the exhaust was more than the value of the car, I figured it didn't owe me anything by then.
1. My first car was an ex-RAF Ford Escort Estate, I think 1972. It was a military green inside with a dark red exterior. Excellent car, super reliable, always regretted selling it (sold it when I went to college and couldn't afford to run and insure it anymore). In my more impressionable days I remember being cajoled into driving 13 other full size adults in the car to the next pub on north Nottinghamshire country lanes on a Xmas Eve as I was the designated driver..... Always wondered if that was a record (not small people either, though all of them were worse for wear for drink as well!)
2. Hillman Imp, pale blue, early 1970's I think). Not mine, my friends. A hideously ugly car, but again was the mode of transportation many times for visits to pubs in North Notts. The last I heard it was rusting away in his sister's garden and we all made fun of him for wanting to "restore this classic car".
3. Ford Cortina Mk 1, sport. Late 1960's I think. It had the fins on it, and a vast multitude of dials and gauges inside. It was, even for an awkward teenager in the mid 1980's, a super, super cool car. Was my friend's and he drove it like a lunatic (as well as driving like a lunatic in his father's Rover P6 -a car which was not cool for a teenager).
4. The same friend from 3. had a Frankenstein creation of a Ford Escort Mk2 Estate in metallic blue that had a 1600 engine shoehorned into it. The problem was he was offered a "mint" 1600 engine and the thought of getting a faster car appealed to him. However, he hadn't reckoned on the engine and attached gearbox being longer (as well as shortened gearing at his original transaxle for the setup). This resulted in his gear stick being almost behind his back and an incredible amount of ridicule from his (me and others) friends. Also, his driveshaft was too long so we ended up chopping it and welding it back to together by eye resulting in an unbalanced shaft that made heinous knocking noises as the engine out revved itself with the short gearing. Did we laugh and ridicule him? We certainly did. He had the last laugh though; he ended up with a lovely red Ford Capri that was gorgeous.
5. My other friend had a Mini from the late 70's. I just remember it went like hot stink around corners, and when he did end up in a ditch on a snowy night, we all got out and lifted it back on to the road (5 people can lift a Mini). It was in this car when he ran over a badger with 4 of us in the car as well. He knew he couldn't avoid it, so ran right over it, the number plate clipping its head and knocking it out, but at least it wasn't squashed. We were young and very stupid so put a semi-conscious badger in the back of the mini with the three of us on the back seat and took it to a vets..... It was fine the next day according to the vet. I blanch thinking about what would have happened had it gained consciousness....
Other cars I personally owned: an Austin Maxi handed down by my brother (hated the thing) and a black 1980 Renault 5 which was a great car, so easy to work on. I also had a great attachment to a dark green 1995 Saturn SW1 estate (US car), I had it 12 years, 170,000 miles and hardly any trouble with it, the most reliable car I've ever had. I only got rid of it once I needed a new exhaust and the cost of the exhaust was more than the value of the car, I figured it didn't owe me anything by then.
Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
[/QUOTE]
I could never bring myself to feel sorry for the workers at Longbridge when it finally folded, they had themselves to blame just as much as poor management because they just did not do their jobs properly.
When I first became an ADI I did a couple of months at BSM when they ran Metros. They were the vilest heaps imaginable, loathed by everyone at the branch. I remember taking an old one to Coventry where ours were supplied from and driving back to Ilford in my brand new replacement. It broke down twice on the way home and once again the next morning on a lesson. All silly little things, wires and hoses that had not been secured properly. When I first went there and had a week of using a few spare cars I wondered why they all had a flattened cigarette box jammed under the glass on the instrument binnacle. When I took one out I discovered why - the glass was such a bad fit it rattled like a pneumatic drill. One guy there took a new car out on lessons and when he got the pupil to perform an emergency stop the car stopped perfectly - or rather most of it did, the exhaust system carried merrily on down the road. Same old BL problem, missing securing bolts and clamps.
I could never bring myself to feel sorry for the workers at Longbridge when it finally folded, they had themselves to blame just as much as poor management because they just did not do their jobs properly.
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
What is it screenman?Seeing as I was a busy car dealer from about 76 until 88 I can remember buysing and selling to many of those cars, great looking back. The 16 was a favourite, but the $ was my go to banger for shifting gear. A Morris Traveller we used as a rubbish bin, when it was full it did a run to the skip.
My wife's favourite she has just told me was one of these, not any where near as big as it looks here.
Colt Celeste, it looks huge in that picture whilst in real life they were quite small. I would buy one now if I could find a nice one.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Imagine that car in really good nick, chrome and woodwork painted matt black, twin spotlights and a lovely soft yellow paint job and 12 inch wheels...mine really was a pretty car if i say so myself.
Minis, Allegro, Marina...mine were all pretty reliable although a bit uninspiring. Most were brought as bangers but still ran reliably. I agree, they didn't ncessarily deserve the stick they got.
Ironically I had maybe the most rust free V reg Beta I ever saw...1.6 ltr not a HPE, its body work was really quite good....but every ime you did anything under the car it was a battle...i scrapped it in the end because ALL the brake cylinder bbeed nipples had seized solid...too expensive to repair.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
A former colleague of mine had one in the maybe 1980s or 90s...a very nice, almost luxurious car, he was particually fastidious about it and went as far as injecting all the cavities and inner panels with waxoil. AFAIK, he may still have it...i hadn't seen him for maybe 20 years but he did put it in his barn eons ago as a potential future classic
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
Love the Corsair.... and the original Capri with the long boot.
