Gransnet forums

Chat

Do you remember your first car?

(73 Posts)
cb1963 Sun 02-May-21 23:28:43

I had just passed my driving test and couldn't wait to have my own car.
I remember it was a Ford Cortina. The paintwork was not too good so I decided to hand paint it myself ( maybe not such a good idea) but I thought it was the bees knees.
Can anyone remember their own first car?

timetogo2016 Tue 04-May-21 09:41:22

A Ford fiesta i called Henry,he was dark red.

vampirequeen Tue 04-May-21 09:29:50

Cilla was a silver Corsa. I loved her with a passion. She helped me to escape from ex.

cb1963 Tue 04-May-21 05:45:36

Thank you all for the wonderful stories

GrannyGravy13 Mon 03-May-21 18:40:13

I was immensely proud to buy my own first car a couple of days after my 19th birthday, a dark green Vauxhall Viva.

I really cannot imagine not having a car of my own (current one is a convertible two + two sporty number).

Hellogirl1 Mon 03-May-21 17:57:56

My husband was the driver, not me, but our first car was a Hillman Minx AUTOMATIC estate, the old D reg, we bought it off my BIL for £100 in 1975, when he was learning to drive. It served us well for about 3 years, till the big end went.

silverlining48 Mon 03-May-21 13:58:33

I have never had my own car, we share the family car. If I need it dh uses his old Morris minor which is only 10 years his junior and never lets him down. So far.....

lemongrove Mon 03-May-21 13:26:16

I do indeed, it was a Ford Anglia in two tone ( cream and pale green.) I kept it so clean!?

Saxifrage Mon 03-May-21 13:23:53

Austin Somerset, it had lovely tan leather seats. I let a boyfriend drive it, too fast, and he blew the engine up! About a year later another boyfriend changed the engine for me, in the street in Earls Court. It ran for a few more years but eventually leaked so badly that the leather seats went mouldy!

greenlady102 Mon 03-May-21 13:10:51

green mini estate with the wood on

greenlady102 Mon 03-May-21 13:10:17

Green mini estate with the wood on.

cb1963 Mon 03-May-21 13:09:15

Thank you for all of your comments. Lovely stories

grannytilly2511 Mon 03-May-21 13:08:18

A yellow mini . Loved that car .it was very old .but never let me down .

lovebeigecardigans1955 Mon 03-May-21 13:06:32

I've just remembered that when I first drove by myself I pulled up to the ticket machine and took the key out, looked down and saw that the metal part was still in the iginition and I was just holding the plastic fob! Oh heck, that wasn't in the handbook. I nearly burst into tears but grit my teeth and put the fob back in as it were and they came away together. What a relief. I swapped to the spare keys and touch wood it hasn't happened since.

lovebeigecardigans1955 Mon 03-May-21 12:53:23

I'm still driving my first car as I've only been driving about 11 years. It's a secondhand Smart car which is around 17 years old. It's given me my independence and I dread it having to go to the knacker's yard which is bound to happen one day.

Alioop Mon 03-May-21 12:45:44

I had a red Ford Fiesta. I got my test and went straight out to look at cars, found it and drove it down to show my parents and told them I was getting a bank loan to pay for it. They went bananas, you only got something in our house if you could pay for it in full! They ended up and lent me the money and my mum kept a little book that she marked off every Friday, my payday, until every single penny was paid back. It taught me how to manage my money and save for things, which in later years I was very thankful for.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 03-May-21 12:15:11

A Singer Vogue - black and constantly breaking down.

threexnanny Mon 03-May-21 12:08:31

An elderly mini bought second hand and it was love at first sight!

GrandmaKT Mon 03-May-21 11:53:47

cb1963

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

Yes! I stuck it back in, twiddled it around a bit and somehow managed to get it to engage (this is all whilst still coasting through the traffic!) I managed to limp home and the car went off to the scrap heap!

M0nica Mon 03-May-21 11:48:03

A mid-green SAAB with a two stroke engine. You put a can of oil in the fuel tank and then added 4 gallons of petrol.

I had lots of fun at petrol stations when other drivers saw me open my fuel tank and put the oil in. Lots of men getting very concerned, until I explained.

I had several SAABS. One of them had a loose battery terminal that would never stay connected and I would stall at traffic lights, immediately jump out throw open the bonnet dissapear under it for about ten seconds, shut it down jump back into the car and power away as the lights went green.

Then there was the fuse box in the passenger foot well. Whenever any of the electrics failed (and it was when, not if), I would dive into the passenger well, find the relevant fuse, give the end a good scratch, put it back in and drive away with everything working.

I did love my little SAABS.

cb1963 Mon 03-May-21 11:25:44

bakingmad0203
I can imagine the scene at the traffic lights when you were sat in your sporty car, then were left on the starting grid by the other cars. Made me smile.

Bakingmad0203 Mon 03-May-21 11:02:48

Love this thread cb1963
My first car was a Triumph Spitfire Mark 3 dark blue. I bought it for £100 My boyfriend was doing it up for me and had replaced the windscreen wipers and put in removable covers. The first day I passed my test he told me to drive it to the nearest garage for a repair. However what he hadn’t told me was that it kept cutting out and there I was at the traffic lights with these bigger cars on both sides of me revving their engines, obviously hoping to have a race. Lights changed and I was still there trying to get it to start!

The wheels had a habit of falling off too. There is nothing more scary than to see a wheel passing the side window and the car coming to a grinding stop.
Sold it a few months later for £50.

Newatthis Mon 03-May-21 10:51:12

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.

Newatthis Mon 03-May-21 10:51:12

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.

Ashcombe Mon 03-May-21 10:51:12

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.

FindingNemo15 Mon 03-May-21 10:46:57

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