Do you remember your first car?

GrandmaKT,
What a nightmare!! Did you manage to stick it back on.

Yes, I was quite old, mid thirties, when I finally learnt to drive, the incentive being a move from London, where we were getting a bit short of space with four children, to the countryside. My first car was a red cavalier, and my first time driving it was up the M1 to our new home. Talk about nervous! I had our eldest child, aged 9, with me for moral support. We arrived unscathed! I then had to find my way around the new area in a strange car, having just passed my test. It was fine, actually, I just took my time.

When I was 22 and wanted to buy a car my dad told me to save up and he would find me one. I surly saved up and my dad had a word with the garage he used and the owner said they had a mini they were doing up for resale and it would be a good one for me. I was thrilled because it was a Mini Clubman with wind up windows rather than the sliding ones found on the normal minis. It was white with a black roof. My lovely dad also paid for it as he just wanted to make me save for it rather than assuming he would.
First day out in it I called round for my best friend to show it off and go for a run and her brother and his friend invited themselves along and off we went. I was picked up for speeding along the Clydeside Expressway as I was doing 48 mph and the limit was 40. A few months later the limit on the CE was increased to 50!

‘Duly saved up’ not ‘surly saved up’ !

Pale green Hillman Imp. Had a minor bump in it 3months after passing my test, very traumatised! Have had a few accidents over the years and they’ve all been in green cars! Haven’t bought a green car for years, really put me off the colour. Touch wood ai haven’t had another accident for years either! Now why did I say that!!

A mini, it was black and cost £90 saved from my first job.
I thought I was the bees’ knees tootling around in it.
Time proved the bodywork was in better order than the engine and it conked out not 12 months later. My BIL declared it unsafe to drive and that was the end of it ?

Oh yes, a little old blue Mini, cost £150 for which I had to get a bank loan and assure the bank manager in person that I would pay it back monthly. Salary was about £100 a month IIRC.
Car was essential for work - I sometimes needed to be there at 3.30 am - cabin crew at the time.

It only had an 850 cc engine, fine except when I had 3 friends with me and it was trying to get up Reigate Hill....

A white 1964 Fiat 500. Engine in the back, petrol tank in the bonnet and suicide doors! Loved it!

Riley Elf Picked it out in a Show Room paid weekly got it at 16. Brother borrowed it till 17 Passed test at 18 first time.

Green mini. Bodywork largely made up of filler. Mum made brown canvas seat covers and carpeted it with spare from the house. (Bedroom I think?). Pranged it first time out as I bent my nail on the sliding window, studied the damage and drove into a small tree!!! Dad went bananas. ?

Scarlet Hillman Imp. I'd been on the lookout for a second hand Triumph Herald on Morris 1000, but my Dad wanted me to have a new car, so I was taken to the showroom and told that this was my car. Imps were the only car made in Scotland and Dad was nothing if not patriotic! I paid him in monthly instalments until I left and went to Africa when he took it on as a second car. I loved that it although it did have a few teething troubles, like refusing to start in the middle of Edinburgh late at night. And I soon found out where the solenoid was and how to restart the car by pressing it! Lots of cars since, but it has a special place in my heart.

Totally agree cb1963 . I love the vehicle, the fun of the actual driving and the opportunity to just go .... ?

Riley elf, the door hinges on the drivers side were rusted, so the door dropped when open and had to be lifted up to close!

Austin 1100 mustard colour an immaculate car to look at but the subframe went on it.

A blue Cortina Estate. DME619A, I think. It had been Mum's, but she now had a newer one - Dad never drove. I finally passed my test, and the world was mine. A couple of weeks later, with 77380 miles on the clock, I blew the engine up on the M3. Sigh. A new engine was installed and I kept it until upgrading to an Escort GT later that year.

My first car was a sort of yellow ochre mini. DH had been teaching me in terrifying vehicles like the Daimler Sovereign that I drove into a stone hedge! I said couldn't I have something small that felt as if I could drive it. The main problem with the Mini was the fuel pump that used to jam as you were driving along. When that happened you had to lie on the road beside the car and bash the pump with a piece of wood which was kept in the door pocket. No spending a fortune getting someone to reset the computer in those days!

A mini traveller, such a lovely little car. Could park it in the smallest place and I drove many happy miles in it. Had to hold the choke out with a clothes peg and not drive through any puddles as the water would come into the footwell. The windows slid up and down and you had to wiggle them a bit to get them to shut properly. But I thought it was marvellous, my pride and joy.

Was enjoying these. Then saw on Next Door that, according to the Manchester Cyber Resilience Centre, criminals collect information like this to work out passwords and answers to security questions.

I saved up after I passed my driving test and bought a red Reliant Robin. I was so proud! But it was a devil for stalling so I only kept it for one year and saved up some more and bought a Vauxhall Viva.

I ought to have read your post first, Grannyfrom Wilmslow!
But that was in the 1970's and I've had many cars since then and don't use them in passwords.

Saab 96 V4.

I loved that car, would have had it yet if I could have afforded the constant upkeep on the bodywork.

The car after that I don't remember but it was as my first with power steering. Drove me mad, I kept driving up on kerbs when turning corners!

Hillman Imp I called Tinkerbelle.

Vauxhall Viva, white cost £100 in 1968. My parents lent me the money and I paid them back.

Also a Hillman Imp but a van! It was blue and (appropriately) it blew a cylinder head gasket on its first long journey! I kept it for some years, carrying DD1 in the front seat with DD2 in her carrycot behind us! Shocking but there were no rules about child safety in cars at that time.

Mine was a Ford Cortina as well. I paid £100 for it ( a lot in 1970). I had to wrap a blanket around the engine at night to keep it warm or it wouldn't start. One night it got stolen. needless to say the blanket saved the day as the only got a 100 yards away and didn't do any damage.