Practically Classics Forum

FIAT 127 CL 903cc bright orange reg WNM78S bought for £125 in 1988 scrapped 5 weeks and 3000 miles (in five weeks! I still wonder where the petrol money came from) later when it turned out, on an industrial estate still under construction somewhere in Bedfordshire, that I wasn't a future rally world champion . No one hurt and my dad was amazingly understanding even lending me his Wolseley Six until a Mk1 Cavalier came along.

1974 Mini 1000. Owned it from 1982 - 84, after which I bought the MG Midget, that I still own. Eight months after buying the Midget, I bought another Mini 1000 (A 1980 one owner car), to use as a daily driver.

Mk 2 Granada 2.3s Auto in royal blue.

First car, only ever used on private ground (The Duke's land, which technically wasn't public highway ) to drive to school sometimes when I was about 15, was a really knackered Citroen Ami 6.
First all-legal car, however, was XJR 40, my Cumulus Grey, 1963 Austin A40 Farina MK2.

And yes, I have succeeded in reacquiring that plate from the **** who ripped it off by having a pair made, then getting his own car MOT'd with those plates attached and issued with a new V5 based on the plate that appeared on the test certificate - fortunately a now closed loophole - back in the late '80s.

My 1993 Defender 110 CSW that I got in August, and is now back on the road having passed it's first MOT in a couple of years today!!!

Congrats Landy Man.

My first car was my 1968 Morris Minor 1000 that i stil have. It's amazing how much attension it got from girls at college (and still gets for that matter).

I wanted a Mk1 Escort Estate, but money was burning a hole in my pocket when a 3 year old Lada 1200 Estate came along - YCX97R.

It would cruise at 80 - 85 once it got rolling but the accelerator edal was at such an odd angle that I always ended up limping for the rest of the day after driving for more than a couple of hours.

Got my Escort Estate a year later. Had it 6 months and a drunken footballer ran out in front of me from behind a parked Transit. Wrote it off (and damn near himself) with his head. Still he was back to beating his wife up within a year.

A 1975 mini 1000, in that strange funny red / orange colour. That little car could take no end of abuse until one dark rainy night whilst I stood in the chippy having been to the pub for ONE pint and about 4 cokes a nice Taxi backed into it and made it a little shorter.

Bloody police came and breathalised ME I passed the test then the copper told me he'd lost count of how many people he'd banned "for having one pint" and if the car moved before morning he'd be at my door to do me for driving an unsafe vehicle, due to the light lenses being smashed even though the lights STILL WORKED.

Then he let the taxi driver on his way with his dinged back end and no breathaliser test, I waited a little while thinking I'd take it home anyway and during the next half hour police cars went past six times, so it was shanks's pony home for me.

The Leyland bobbies of the eighties were a right shower of sh*t by and large, still makes me fume now thinking about it

Anyway, little mini was scrapped for the sake of a couple of headlamps and wings and replaced by a series of Escort mark twos, Renault 18's, An austin 1300 GT and before the turn of the decade a glorious VX 1800 fitted with 490 engine and running gear which was possibly one of the best cars I've ever owned.

A 1979 Mini Clubman Estate in Inca Yellow. JMB 799T it was bought for £25, virtually every panel was replaced, the engine rebuilt and a respray in Ford metallic Azure blue.

arceye wrote:a glorious VX 1800 fitted with 490 engine and running gear which was possibly one of the best cars I've ever owned.

I had a VX1800 too, and fitted a 2300 as it came included with the 5-speed gearbox that I bought to replace the 4-speed one which by then was popping out of 4th even if I held it in gear constantly.
Only trouble was that the engine was actually from a CF originally. Handy in a way - it ran on 2 star - but not that much quicker than the original 1800 which went back in before I sold that car.