Dad's cars

[obewan]

Following on from the Top Gear episode that stirred sooo much emotion got me thinking of a few my Dad had

First one I can remember was a timber framed Moggy traveller - I spent miles and miles stood on the transmission tunnel looking out between the front seats
Progressed to a 2-tone Hillman Minx - nough said
Next one I remember was a 3 speed auto Ford Corsair. I recall we couldn't find the fuel filler cap, so took it to a garage and said 'fill her up'.
Attendant looked around for a bit and asked where the filler was
Eventually found it behind a hinged rear number plate!

Then a series of Austin Maxis Learnt to drive in one

Outstanding memory of most of these cars was all the servicing carried out before you went out at week-ends
Also sitting in the garage for hours while my Dad was under the bonnet. I used to practice going through the gears whilst listening to radio Luxenberg, which was randomly interrupted by 'try starting it now'.

Happy days

 

[mr.tourette]

My dad never owned any car, never even drove one as far as I know

 

[IRD]

My dad’s first car was a new red MG1100. Reg was UGR 211. It was his pride and joy and he suffered greatly because I was just at the age to learn to drive. I can still see the pain on his face when I made the usual learner’s mistakes. :roll:

 

[Jamie25]

Stand outs for me would be traveling to and from Robin Hill On the Isle of Wight for (I think) my tenth birthday in my dad's 2.8i Capri with four of my mates with most of us standing up, squeezed together, heads out the sunroof.

And cutting the roof off and generally ripping apart one of many Granadas he'd had. This was very exciting as we dismantled it to use as a doner car for the Sumo kit Cobra he built.

Then much later bitter sweet memories of his 111R Elise - lots of fun days out with him, lots of fun borrowing it, less fun when someone pulled out in front of him, wrote it off and broke his neck last year. He's recovering amazingly well but being in his mid seventies it's really knocked his confidence.

For anyone who saw my thread about swapping the engine in my hydrolocked E85 in Dec/Jan, I think the reason I hesitated was the lack of my dad as back up on something of that size. Which is a weird thing to admit in your mid forties! Up till then we'd work together on any mechanical projects of size, usually in person or at least with words of wisdom/support. Had to minimise his exposure to my recent engine swap to minimise his frustration at his (perceived) slow recovery.

And on a more upbeat note, him teaching me to drive in his fully kitted out Westfalia T25 on the way home from school and taking my test in the same van whilst all my mates were paying for lessons in modern, small bland cars.

 

[jabber]

My dad was a vauxhall man I learned to drive in a 3 speed column change cresta 3.3 Sadly he passed away in 1978 at 56 I was 21 so he didn’t get to see me happily married and my 3 boys the older I get the more I realise how much he didn’t get to see

 

[KevBrowne]

First car I remember of my dad's was a Vauxhall VX490. He had an FB in red & an FE in blue. Also a gold 3.0 Granada, beige Triumph 2500, silver Rover SD1, two Orion Ghia injections - black MK1 & silver/blue MK2, black Sapphire 2.0 GLS, & dark red Merc 190e. Looking back, they were quite cool cars in their day, although he never really seemed interested in cars :?

 

[Vornwend]

My dad was a vauxhall man I learned to drive in a 3 speed column change cresta 3.3 Sadly he passed away in 1978 at 56 I was 21 so he didn’t get to see me happily married and my 3 boys the older I get the more I realise how much he didn’t get to see

Like you my Dad passed at what I now consider to be a very young age - 59, when I was 17. He didn't get to see my 3 sons, a source of great regret. The cars I remember him driving were a Humber Supe Snipe - A huge tank of a car with luxurious leather and wood interior, then a Ford Zephyr 6, a Hillman Hunter and briefly a Vauxhall Viva which felt like a pocket rocket compared to the Zephyr!

 

[Nictrix]

Unfortunately my dad was a British Leyland fan (dont know why, he was constantly repairing rust spots on all his cars) and for that I was never into cars much at a young age. Soon as I turned 16 got a bike and went down that route. Didnt have a car license till I was about 25.
My dads cars that I remember started with Maxis, Princesses, Ambassadors, Montegos, Rover 214s, Rover 45 until he finally bought a Honda Civic.

 

[Ole gits rule]

Unfortunately my old man (god rest his soul - his funeral today) loved GM and had a string of their cars

Opel ascot 20.SR
Vauxhall Viceroy
Omega
Carlton
Chrysler neon
Mazda 6
Astra
Corsa which I now have

Few others in there along the same lines, the best one was the Ascona which was just a cavalier with a different grill but went pretty well back in the day.

 

[obewan]

So sorry to hear that.
Thoughts are with you today

My Dad also had a 1.3 Opel Kadette we were convinced it had the wrong engine in it as a bit like your Ascona it went like stink

 

[Hilly30si]

My dad’s cars as I remember were
Austin Westminster bull nose 6 clyd
Ford Zodiac V6
Rover P6 2000 TC
Triumph 2.5 pi
Triumph 2.0 TC

 

[buzyg]

Dad had all sorts of cars. Here are a few I have fond memories of.

Yellow Ford Cortina Mk2. Stolen 5 times, buy joy riders in Liverpool, before it finally vanished for good. It drove past me once on the A365, after someone had nicked it. Alas I was too slow to catch it.......On my push bike.
Blue 2.0 Hillman Hunter. He taught me to drive that one. :driving:
Fiat 850, van.
His favourite. An Austin 3.0. That was some car at the time.

 

[Argyll Andy]

1973 Ford Cortina 2.0 GXL DGE 475K plastic vinyl seats- burnt legs in the summer - WRITTEN OFF BY MY DAD
1978 Ford Cortina 1.6 GL DSX 250S - TRADED IN
1977 VX VIctor 2300 VGA 888R - WRITTEN OFF BY MY DAD - caught fire while on his way to hospital to see my brother being born
1980 VX Cavalier 1.6 GLS DSB 904X X plate because Irish import - WRITTEN OFF while being driven by dad. 85 yo straight through roundabout into the side of him
1982 VX Cavalier 1.6L WGE xxxX - Traded in
1986 VX Cavalier 1.6L C102 SSB - his first brand new car - 1st company leased car handed back after 3 years
1989 VX Cavalier 2.0iL F62 BSB - leased car - WRITTEN OFF by my younger brother 3 weeks after passing his test
1991 VX Cavalier 2.0 SRi H 397 xxx - WRITTEN OFF BY ME - hit a deer
1990 Peugeot 309 Diesel loan car while waiting for replacement for SRi to arrive - WRITTEN OFF by me - hit another deer
1990 Renault 21 short term replacement for SRi/309 - engine blown up by younger brother WRITTEN OFF - uneconomical repair
1992 VX Cavalier 2.0iL J526 HSB - handed back after lease
1995 VX Cavalier 2.0iL M765 MSB - handed back after lease
1997 VX Vectra 2.0 GLS Diesel R765 xxx - handed back when retired
Rover 420 SL Diesel L420 xxx - sold privately
Renault Scenic 1.6 Sxxx SGB - WRITTEN OFF BY DAD
Renault Scenic 1.6 NU06 VBO/U -WRITTEN OFF by youngest brother after dad had his license taken off him

There in one post quite clearly shows both my dad’s dislike of driving and goes some way towards explaining why insurance is so bloody expensive. My dad had to learn to drive for his work. If not for that I don’t think he’d ever have driven.

Even given the above he went completely through a 40 year driving period and not one conviction, don’t even ever remember him getting stopped, Christ knows how.

My favourites definitely have to be the 1982 & 1986 Cavaliers as that’s what I learnt to drive in. Not taught by my dad as he didn’t have the patience. Dad’s input was to throw me the keys and mate who was 6 weeks older than me sat as co-driver (in silence most of the time, when he wasn’t screaming)

The one I really associate with dad was the 1980 Cavalier, I was the first one with a rev counter and I thought that made it sportier. It also made me buy an Ascona 2.0SR

Typing this all has made me smile and made me sad, my dad would’ve been 80 tomorrow if dementia hadn’t got him. RIP and happy birthday dad, you were a great dad but a sh!te driver :rofl:

 

[Zedebee]

1973 Ford Cortina 2.0 GXL DGE 475K plastic vinyl seats- burnt legs in the summer - WRITTEN OFF BY MY DAD
1978 Ford Cortina 1.6 GL DSX 250S - TRADED IN
1977 VX VIctor 2300 VGA 888R - WRITTEN OFF BY MY DAD - caught fire while on his way to hospital to see my brother being born
1980 VX Cavalier 1.6 GLS DSB 904X X plate because Irish import - WRITTEN OFF while being driven by dad. 85 yo straight through roundabout into the side of him
1982 VX Cavalier 1.6L WGE xxxX - Traded in
1986 VX Cavalier 1.6L C102 SSB - his first brand new car - 1st company leased car handed back after 3 years
1989 VX Cavalier 2.0iL F62 BSB - leased car - WRITTEN OFF by my younger brother 3 weeks after passing his test
1991 VX Cavalier 2.0 SRi H 397 xxx - WRITTEN OFF BY ME - hit a deer
1990 Peugeot 309 Diesel loan car while waiting for replacement for SRi to arrive - WRITTEN OFF by me - hit another deer
1990 Renault 21 short term replacement for SRi/309 - engine blown up by younger brother WRITTEN OFF - uneconomical repair
1992 VX Cavalier 2.0iL J526 HSB - handed back after lease
1995 VX Cavalier 2.0iL M765 MSB - handed back after lease
1997 VX Vectra 2.0 GLS Diesel R765 xxx - handed back when retired
Rover 420 SL Diesel L420 xxx - sold privately
Renault Scenic 1.6 Sxxx SGB - WRITTEN OFF BY DAD
Renault Scenic 1.6 NU06 VBO/U -WRITTEN OFF by youngest brother after dad had his license taken off him

There in one post quite clearly shows both my dad’s dislike of driving and goes some way towards explaining why insurance is so bloody expensive. My dad had to learn to drive for his work. If not for that I don’t think he’d ever have driven.

Even given the above he went completely through a 40 year driving period and not one conviction, don’t even ever remember him getting stopped, Christ knows how.

My favourites definitely have to be the 1982 & 1986 Cavaliers as that’s what I learnt to drive in. Not taught by my dad as he didn’t have the patience. Dad’s input was to throw me the keys and mate who was 6 weeks older than me sat as co-driver (in silence most of the time, when he wasn’t screaming)

The one I really associate with dad was the 1980 Cavalier, I was the first one with a rev counter and I thought that made it sportier. It also made me buy an Ascona 2.0SR

Typing this all has made me smile and made me sad, my dad would’ve been 80 tomorrow if dementia hadn’t got him. RIP and happy birthday dad, you were a great dad but a sh!te driver :rofl:

Brilliant, just brilliant although a sad ending. Great memories.

 

[Argyll Andy]

[ref]Zedebee[/ref],

Brilliant, just brilliant although a sad ending. Great memories.

Thanks, glad you liked it

Yes, great memories, even the ones where we had to fess up about what we’d done to the car this time, he would go off his nut :rofl:

 

[Pondrew]

My dad never had cars: "we" had cars. From as early as I can remember they were "our" cars as I was more obsessed with them than him.
First one I remember (aged about 3) was a red VW Beetle which he made some new exhausts for out of 15mm copper.
Next was a Saab 96 two stroke; SBH 250D with free-wheeling hubs to save fuel! It had rally style fog-lights!
My ultimate family car was an RA23 Toyota Celica 1600ST; JJJ 656K (the Jap mini mustang). It had "Cosmic" alloy wheels. I loved that car and still do. If only I could find an original one (I have been looking for 20 years).
After that it was a string of company cars; Cortina 1600L; NOO 123V, Cavalier; PMH 724X, Capri Laser, Escort MK5, MG Maestro.

His last cars when he retired were a BMW 320i cab, then a Merc C200 coupe. He really thought he had made it when he got the Merc, bless him.

Like so many here, he died in Jan 2018 aged 77. I do miss him, but thank him for my love of cars.

RIP dads!

 

[craig3.2]

Unfortunately my old man (god rest his soul - his funeral today) loved GM and had a string of their cars

Opel ascot 20.SR
Vauxhall Viceroy
Omega
Carlton
Chrysler neon
Mazda 6
Astra
Corsa which I now have

Few others in there along the same lines, the best one was the Ascona which was just a cavalier with a different grill but went pretty well back in the day.

Sorry for your loss.

I too like Vauxhall's,some great iconic cars over the years

 

[Mr Tidy]

My Dad had a couple of pre-war Morris Minors, a Fiat Topolino, Riley Monaco (with a fabric body) and an Austin 8 before I was born.

But apparently the newly-born me came home from hospital in his 1954 Austin A40 Somerset which was a greyish-blue colour registration RKP 264.

Anyway as we like photos (albeit not a good one) it looked like this, but this is one of my mate's old crusty classics!



Sold for £30 in 1967 because he had bought a 1964 Hillman Minx registration AYE 245B in this colour (but not his car) that cost him £425.



The Hillman got replaced in 1972 by a 1970 Fiat 125 registration FME 446J that cost £895. Photo is not his car, but the right colour.



I remember he used to swap wheels around now and again to even out tyre wear and when I was a bit older I was allowed to pick stones out of the tyre treads, and was always keen to get involved when he had the bonnet up!

The Fiat had some bitter-sweet memories because when he got it he wasn't convinced the 2nd choke on the carburettor was working, so we had some fun "Test Drives" on the nearby A3 trying to find out. :lol:

But then in 1975 aged 61 Dad had a massive cerebral haemorrhage and spent most of a week in a coma.

Mum kept his Fiat in the hope he would be able to drive it again but when he still couldn't stand up after 2 years it became obvious he was never going to drive again so an 18 year old me bought that twin-cam Fiat as my 2nd car! I had some great hooligan fun with that car and mates with MG Midgets, MGBs, Cortina GTs, etc.

And Dad did get to ride in it whenever we brought him home from his nursing home for a day for the 2 years I had it.

 

[Ole gits rule]

Unfortunately my old man (god rest his soul - his funeral today) loved GM and had a string of their cars

Opel ascot 20.SR
Vauxhall Viceroy
Omega
Carlton
Chrysler neon
Mazda 6
Astra
Corsa which I now have

Few others in there along the same lines, the best one was the Ascona which was just a cavalier with a different grill but went pretty well back in the day.

Sorry for your loss.

I too like Vauxhall's,some great iconic cars over the years

Thank you, I have also had quite a few Vauxhalls over the years:

Manta GTE
Astra GTE
Cavalier SRI
Cavalier GSi 16V 4x4

 

[craig3.2]

Unfortunately my old man (god rest his soul - his funeral today) loved GM and had a string of their cars

Opel ascot 20.SR
Vauxhall Viceroy
Omega
Carlton
Chrysler neon
Mazda 6
Astra
Corsa which I now have

Few others in there along the same lines, the best one was the Ascona which was just a cavalier with a different grill but went pretty well back in the day.

Sorry for your loss.

I too like Vauxhall's,some great iconic cars over the years

Thank you, I have also had quite a few Vauxhalls over the years:

Manta GTE
Astra GTE
Cavalier SRI
Cavalier GSi 16V 4x4

Astra gte,mk 1 or 2?

Cav gsi was a great car

Had a Nova,
Astra,astra van,
Cavalier 2.0 8v mk3 (modified quite a bit in my ownership).

Loved those cars :driving: