What car did your dad drive...

carchaeologist

Ponster wrote: »

Not surprising as they would have had problems passing a MOT back in the days when they were still only 3 years old. Asking to have one pass 20-odd years later is a bit of a joke

I'm off to the Talbot factory just outside Paris next week so I'll take some pics

Do, that would be interesting!!:)
Id love to know if there is an original irish alpine still doing the rounds in ireland...

carchaeologist

Max_Damage wrote: »

Well, I'm not to sure of the cars he had before this list, but starting from the Toyota Starlet that both my parent's shared, my aul lad has had the following since 1998:

'85 Rover 213 (nice car, got rear ended after some woman served to avoid a cat and ran into the back of the car)
'85 Mazda 626 (nicest car of the lot, he somehow managed to blow the engine in it, don't ask....)
'89 Fiesta (first of the many Fiesta's he has had)
'88 Fiesta (it was one of the first cars I ever drove, nice enough, engine eventually died in it though)
'95 Fiesta (got stolen and burnt out in the end)
'97 Fiesta (current car, very nice to drive, although it's a bit hard on petrol)

He had a bit of hard luck with some of the cars didnt he,the 97 fiestas arent a bad old bus, i had fun with one in a field last year!!;)

Max_Damage

You have no idea! I remember just after the Rover got rear-ended, he still drove it around for about 2 months afterwards (this was back in the pre-NCT days). I used to be ashamed being collected from school in the Rover 'hatchback'!

colm_mcm

Various soulless Jap boxes, the most exciting of them was a brown Datsun 120Y

mymo

First family car was a ten year old 68/69 Ford Corsair in a deep purple colour(yes purple), Leather seats and carpet to match! we all loved it dearly, he used to let us polish the chrome if we were good. We could recognise the sound streets away and i still think it was a beautful car(Fords best design). He had it ten years before it's problems became to expensive to keep fixing and we all shed a tear when it finally drove away(we all had to push it about half a mile to start it).
Most vivid memory of it was at grandparents place, parked in the yard. We were sitting in the front all 4 of us fighting over who should "drive" when someone hit the hand brake and it rolled back into the ditch! My god did we run, all of us were out before it stopped moving, and we didn't go back to the house for hours, even missed dinner. Thank the lord there was no damage but we were very careful from then on.

carchaeologist

colm_mcm wrote: »

Various soulless Jap boxes, the most exciting of them was a brown Datsun 120Y

What other jap boxes did he have?:D

LoanShark

79-81 A red Hillman Hunter( A seriously strong car considering that we all got out of one after a telegraph pole landed on it).

81-83 A white Hillman Hunter.

Dad Got a job With Greenshield stamps So various cars came along.

There was a

Renault 21 (A Class white one with a black roof and a sunroof he crashed that one).

Ford Escort Estate.

A Silver Pugeot Estate I think it was a 405 (it had a button start on it)

GREEN SHIELD CLOSED so back to buying his own cars

An Opel Ascona (White) my brothers had put White alloys on it it was the dogs! plate no PZP174 we traded it for an Orange Ascona VZP 69, And the garage owners son took the White on up a bog road and totaled it..

He then changed to a
Nissan Bluebird(red) 2985 ZP Loved that car.

Then he bought his first ever brand new car,
A White Nissan Bluebird Classic Sunroof,Electric Windows, Electric Ariel which I broke loads of them.. Colour Coded Mirrors and Boot Spoiler plate 90 DL 2107

A Red Nissan Primera (secondhand) 92 DL ????
A Grey Nissan Primera (Secondhand) 94 DL ??? This was a cool car too e/w,s/r,a/c and his first Diesel car..
A Silver Nissan Primera (Brand New) 01 DL 31XX I bought this car. 2ltr TD. s/r,e/w sports seats and a 6 disc cd..
A Black Hyundai SantaFE He totaled this one..03DLXXXX
A Lovely Blue Santa FE all leather interior a/c,e/w and all chrome finish.. 05DLXXXX,Sadly he did'nt get much use out of this one...
Mam changed it to a Tuscon after his months mind..

Loads of happy memories though, and reading some of the stories that others have posted has reminded me of all the fun we used to have withhim in all our adventures... Really enjoying this thread..

chuci

carchaeologist wrote: »

Haha, nasty,though seeing as you appeared he must have forgave her!!!:D

yup jsu about id say knowing my dad. after i was born it was all tyota carina, corolla and then avensis's my dad doesnt like change.

colm_mcm

carchaeologist wrote: »

What other jap boxes did he have?:D

lots of Corollas (some of which could be worth a something now given that RWD is back in!), a Cortina, and an Austin 1300 (which myself and my brother wrecked aged 10...)

jos28

Ponster wrote: »

My Grandfather ran 3 garages in Clonmel in the 1970's/80's which were Talbot (Chrysler) dealerships so we went through:

1 Talbot Sunbeam
1 Talbot Horizon
1 Talbot Solara

and more Alpines than I care to remember

From what I remember those Talbots were all built in Santry. It was originally the Chrysler plant, then Rootes,finally Talbot motors. My late Dad worked on the assembly line there. God the stories I could tell......

LoanShark

colm_mcm wrote: »

lots of Corollas (some of which could be worth a something now given that RWD is back in!)

Would they have been twin cams and hatchbacks?

Max_Damage

LoanShark wrote: »

Would they have been twin cams and hatchbacks?

I'd reckon he's talking about the E30 Corolla:

carchaeologist

LoanShark wrote: »

Would they have been twin cams and hatchbacks?

Ha,everyone straightaway thinks of twincams when they hear old corollas,but the corolla goes back alot longer than the 'cam....

First Generation — E10 series
The first Corolla generation was introduced in October 1966 with the new 1100 cc K pushrod engine. The Corolla Sprinter was introduced as the fastback version.

Second Generation — E20 series

In May 1970, the E20 was restyled with a more rounded body and the 1400 cc T and 1600 cc 2T OHV engines were added to the range. The now mutually exclusive Corolla and Sprinter names were used to differentiate between two slightly different treatments of sheet metal and trim. The Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno names were introduced as the twincam version of the Corolla and Sprinter respectively.

Third generation — E30, E40, E50, E60 series

April 1974 brought rounder, bigger and heavier Corollas and Sprinters. The range was rounded out with the addition of a 2 door liftback. The Corollas were given E30 codes while the Sprinters were given E40 codes. A facelift in March 1976 saw most Corolla E30 models replaced by equivalent E50 models and most Sprinter E40 models were replaced by equivalent E60 models.

Fourth generation — E70 series
A major restyle in March 1979 brought a square edged design. The Corollas had a simpler treatment of the grill, head lights and tail lights while the Sprinter used a slightly more complex, sculptured treatment. The new 3A and 4A "Hicam" OHV engines were added to the range as a running change. This was the last model to use the K and T series of engines.

Fifth generation — E80 series

A sloping front bonett and a contemporary sharp-edged, no-frills style was brought in during May 1983. Most models now used front wheel drive except the AE85 and AE86(TWIN CAM)hatchbacks. The new 1800 cc 1C diesel engine was added to the range. From 1985, rebadged E80 Corollas were sold in the U.S. as the fourth generation chevrolet nova.

Sixth generation — E90 series
A somewhat more rounded and aerodynamic style was used for the E90 introduced in May 1987. Overall this generation has a more refined feel than older Corollas and other older subcompacts. All models were front wheel drive. Many engines were used on a wide array of trim levels and models, ranging from the 1.3 liter 2E to the 165 horsepower supercharged 4A/GZE. The E90 Corolla was also the first generation to be rebadged and sold in the U.S. as the GEO PRISM.

Seventh generation — E100 series
In June 1991 Corollas received a redesign to be larger, heavier, and have the completely rounded, aerodynamic shape of the 1990s. The Corolla was now in the compact class, rather than subcompact, and the coupe was no longer available. Refinement reached new levels, as development chief Dr. Akihiko Saito strove to create a "mini-lexus".

Eighth Generation — E110 series
May 1995 saw a minor redesign for the Corolla. External differences from the E100 series were minimal. Evolutionary technological improvements continued, however, and in 1998 non-Japanese Corollas received the new 1F ZZE engine. The new engine was the first in a Toyota to have an aluminum engine block and aluminum cylinder heads, which made this generation lighter than the E100 Corolla.

Ninth generation — E120 series
In August of 2000 the ninth generation Corolla was introduced, with edgier styling and more technology to bring the nameplate into the 21st century.

Tenth Generation — E140 and E150 series

Introduced in October 2006

carchaeologist

jos28 wrote: »

God the stories I could tell......

Without sounding cheeky,id love to hear them...:)

jos28

There were about 80-90 assembly workers there back in the day. There seemed to have been a great atmosphere in the workshop. When the finished car came off the assembly line it had to be checked. There was no Quality control inspectors then, it was just the foreman or the lads themselves who gave the cars the once over.The quickest way to check the boot for leaks was to put someone into it and close it. Your man would look for gaps etc etc. The man they used for this very responsible job was called 'The Crusher'. He was about 4'10, he would climb into the boot, the lads would close it and drive the car over the road to the car park. Crusher would be shouting back about the state of the boot seals or whatever. Sometimes they would leave the poor b*****d in the boot and go off for a drive all around Santry. I suppose he was lucky there were no speed bumps in the 1970s! It's hard to believe that there was a car park with acres of brand new 'Irish' made cars. Not just in Santry, there was Fiat in Ballyfermot and loads more besides. Where Datsuns assembled on the Naas Rd ?

carchaeologist

jos28 wrote: »

Were Datsuns assembled on the Naas Rd ?

Thanks for that jos28,i love stories like that!!
I think so, it was brittains that assembled them from CKD kits,i have a scrap cherry with a brittains tag on it, CKD meant Completly Knocked Down,they were just assembled here,but im not sure where the plant was.Anyone know?

jos28

Not sure where Brittains were. I will check with my brother (he has worked in the motor trade since the early 70s). He is a great source of 'useless' knowledge.

Max_Damage

That Nissan factory is still on the Naas Road, I think they now assemble forklifts. What year does anyone know did they stop building cars?

There is also an Hino factory across the road that still make trucks I think.

carchaeologist

jos28 wrote: »

He is a great source of 'useless' knowledge.

No such thing when it comes to cars!!:)
Im not sure if the Hino depot makes trucks there,i think they just sell them from there,though i cant say for certain...

jos28

Had a chat with the big bro. He thinks Brittains were originally in Islandbridge and that they may have assembled the mini there back in the 1960s. They became Brittain-Smiths, moved to the Naas Rd and assembled Datsuns. He reckoned that Toyotas were made up on the Naas Road too.

Max_Damage

carchaeologist wrote: »

Im not sure if the Hino depot makes trucks there,i think they just sell them from there,though i cant say for certain...

I was going past there the other day and outside the warehouse was a load of axles and chassis', so maybe they still do make them there.

degrassinoel

my old man had one of these for around 10 years, by the time it was sold for scrap it resembled the old flintstones car on the passenger side.

Still ran perfectly, the only trouble with it was the rust, which eventually got to the radiator.. but every couple of days a fresh medium sized egg, (yes a chicken's egg) was popped into the radiator to keep it from leaking, and it worked too happy days

Zaph

Volkswagen Variant



Followed by a Fiat 128 Estate



Followed by the best of them all, a Triumph 2000



And then a Fiat 131

Tabnabs

My old man was an ardent Opel record fan; from the early days



to the glory years of the 80s

When they ended that model he carried on with the Omega;

carchaeologist

degrassinoel wrote: »

my old man had one of these for around 10 years, by the time it was sold for scrap it resembled the old flintstones car on the passenger side.

Still ran perfectly, the only trouble with it was the rust, which eventually got to the radiator.. but every couple of days a fresh medium sized egg, (yes a chicken's egg) was popped into the radiator to keep it from leaking, and it worked too happy days

yes,the datsuns(and most other 70s tin) were serious rotters,the mechnicals went on for ever though!!

deemy

1st car that i remember my dad driving was an old chevette vaxhaul i presume. He had it for years. There was holes on the floor in the back and we could see the road as we were going along. It made a terrible rally car sound towards the end of its life.It used to be sooo embarassing in it. head down as if noone knew who owned the car like. :rolleyes: remember also coming home from somewhere somenight when he stopped the car took out a lighter and started driving slowly and was dead chuffed when it passed the 100,000 mile mark. When the brother took up driving i think he made ****e of it.
Next car was a jetta imported from england. brother made ****e of that too. next was a 87 carina h/b which he sold on and was still driving up to 2/3 yrs ago. Then a 97 peuguot 407. pure luxury this was. all electrics, code to start it the works. Been all peugots since then up to 08 308(??) now.
Bf father had a few ladas so any embarrasment i had ever could be trippled by him.

kippy

First car I can remember my dad driving (circa 1983) was a red ford escort.
He's pretty much stuck with the Ford since. Cortina, Sierra, newer Escort but his most recent has been a Daewoo.
Allegedly he used to own an Anglia in days gone by as well.
Kippy

omb0wyn5ehpij9

My dad has a red ford escort and then a red honda civic saloon back in the day

carchaeologist

deemy wrote: »

1st car that i remember my dad driving was an old chevette vaxhaul i presume. He had it for years. There was holes on the floor in the back and we could see the road as we were going along. It made a terrible rally car sound towards the end of its life.It used to be sooo embarassing in it. head down as if noone knew who owned the car like. :rolleyes: remember also coming home from somewhere somenight when he stopped the car took out a lighter and started driving slowly and was dead chuffed when it passed the 100,000 mile mark. When the brother took up driving i think he made ****e of it.

Good story:)!!I have a chevette myself now, it only has 18,000 miles done though,bit of a difference!!

barryfitz

I remember dad driving one of these. Cant find many pics on tinternet and this doesnt look exactly like the car but its very similar. It was a Toyota Carina and I dont know why but in 15 or so years I have never forgotten the REG: FSI 786.