Childhood car memories

CtrlSource

For those of us whose interest in motoring goes back to early childhood, i thought it would be nice to share stories about the cars we remember from way back when. Family or friends' cars, or cars you remember admiring on the street as a chisler. The good, the bad and the ugly!

Starting from when i was born, the following is a partial list of cars i remember my parents driving:

1978 or 1979 Citroën CX Prestige
1978 Toyota Celica (see Second Generation / A40 model)
1981 Toyota Crown 2.8 Super Saloon (like this)
1984 Saab 900 GLS (much like this grey car in foreground. Ours had the exact same wheel hubs)
1984 Nissan Prairie
1986 Mercedes Benz 300SE
1987 BMW 316 1.8L 4 door
1993 BMW 520i SE
1994 Toyota Carina E 1.6L GLi
1996 BMW 525i
2000 BMW 728i (still have it)
2001 Audi A3 1.6L 5 door
2003 Subaru Forester 2.0X
2006 Subaru Forester 2.0X (still have it)

So many fond memories, particularly of the 80's vehicles... family holidays, breakdowns, break-ins etc

i don't actually recall the Citroën, but i believe that it was the car i was brought home from the hospital in and it was very unreliable

Martron

this is the first car i can remember. my grandads fiat ritmo. you were never sure whether it was a door handle or petrol cap ha ha

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/IrishRover/fiat/550_fiat_ritmo_abarth_130TC.jpg

or this is the first family car i can remember

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Talbot_sunbeam_lotus.jpg/800px-Talbot_sunbeam_lotus.jpg (rust holes not included)

then we upgraded to this
http://www.ajovalo.net/Historia/images/81Mazda323f.jpg ( back in the days when it took 6 days to get to cork)

then my dad had midlife crisis and got this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Renault_19_Chamade_rear_20071204.jpg/800px-Renault_19_Chamade_rear_20071204.jpg ( except my dads one had alloys , a spoiler, sunroof, and fog lights. Was good for 1990 oh and a clutch that would snap anytime you would use it.

then it was back to mazda in 95 i think
http://digiads.com.au/carsales/used-cars/car_ad_photos/digiads_car_ads_109369_1.jpg ( ours were gold though)

then times got bad there was then a bunch of cars
mazda 121 (when it looked like the fiesta)
peugeot 406 (that used more oil than petrol)
Toyota carina (nice car)
Focus van 04(company )
focus van 06(company)

and to my current trusty steed the toyota avensis.

Wishbone Ash

Similar thread here.

Slig

My first car at 14 was a ford transit bus (MK2) it didnt turn off at the key, you had to pull a stopper chord. At the time I was too weak so I'd just put it in top gear and let off the clutch to turn it off:D

My parents had a VW jetta when I was younger (late 80's) they flipped it on the way back from Cork and I dont know if it was because I was young or because of the car but I didnt see any damage to it at all

peasant

The first car I remember was this one:


I was three years old when it got sold to some Turkish fella. I hated him for taking it away and leaving us with a dinky Renault 4 instead.

CtrlSource

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Similar thread here.

See, me never would have found that over in All Things Retro :rolleyes:

Thanks for link

CtrlSource

peasant wrote: »

The first car I remember was this one:


I was three years old when it got sold to some Turkish fella. I hated him for taking it away and leaving us with a dinky Renault 4 instead.

What is it, Ford Anglia? Don't think so actually (too big) but i can't make out what's written on the wing or grille....

peasant

It's an Opel Rekord Olympia from the late 1950's

CtrlSource

Nice one

mike65

My earliest car memory is in the front of a Hillman Husky sitting on top a small pile of large books so I could see forwards! I bet it was only a lap seat belt as well. :eek:

Mike.

CtrlSource

Hillman Husky - what a name for a car! Second only to the Hillman Minx, of course

RobAMerc

first memory was an Opel Commadore - red one, my dad loved it.

My first memory of a test drive was in the back while my mum grinded the gears on the R5 (dash mounted gear lever)

First time I drove - started the family mini estate with a penny and crashed it into the other side of the yard.

First time I drove on the road - dad was teaching the sis in our 127 sport and I had a go. I was 10 !

peasant

One of the older guys in our road got himself one of these:



I remember me and my friends crowding around it and admiring it. When he mentioned that it had 90 bhp (did it?) we were really impressed, as all our fathers' cars at the time had 50 to 70 bhp max.

54321

Great topic. Like most of us on the board, isn't it funny how the interest in cars goes way back! Always remember in junior or senior infants (in the 80's) my friends dad's cars, VW Passat the 5 door hatchback, Fiat 128 and the Daihatsu Charade.

ART6

The earliest car in my family that I can recall was a Ford my dad bought. It was built like a tea chest (Oh Man, I am showing my age now!). It had a vertical windscreen and rear window, and a hole in the radiator to insert the starting handle. However, the technological wonder was that it had a thingy called a "self starter". This was red button on the transmission housing, and if you first switched on the ignition (a switch on the dash as far as I can remember) and then pressed the button, it would occasionally start. It was the only car in our village that was like that, and I was the envy of all the other lads ("Jasus, his dad's car has a self starter").

My dad was in the explosives demolition business (No, not that one), and he used to drive it to work with a couple of boxes of gelignite in the boot. I used to go to work with him in school holidays, and spent many happy hours in that car sitting in a field in a thunderstorm, discussing if a lightening strike could set off gelignite:D

CtrlSource

What model Ford was it? Can't think of anything with the features you describe that would place you in anything other than your late 60s - 80s, unless your Dad bought it as a classic or vintage at the time!

Max_Damage

When I was born, my parent's had an orange Fiat Ritmo. They vowed never again to buy a Fiat after that shít heap!

The first car I remember when I was a young lad in the early 90's was our '82 Ford Escort Mk3 (still remember the reg. 263 PZU). Engine went on fire in the end.

Then in 1993, we got a Jap import '86 Toyota Starlet (86-D-2689). That was another heap of scrap. Leaked and burnt oil, and it was reluctant to start on cold days. It got stolen in 1998, when it was recovered, it had more petrol in the tank than before it was stolen! We left it to rot in a scrapyard.

Ah, memories of my childhood!

CtrlSource

Ah the old style reg plates! i remember loads of them from cars we we were growing up. i know that the system we have now is more logical, but there was something cool about the old ones and the way that a lot of people couldn't tell the exact year of your car by looking at the reg number.

Like 767 FZH - the '78 Celica that my Mum drove for 6 years until she got a Saab 900 - GZS 194 i saw GZS 194 parked on a road between Smithfield and Blackhall Place 6 or 7 years ago and was amazed by how well it looked. It's probably scrapped by now (she would be 24 years old if still on the road). Always had a soft spot for it and it's quirky electrical faults. For instance, when the fuel reserve light came on one time, the horn started sounding randomly, hehe!

pclancy

Early memories of mum giving out like mad at the lack of power steering in our Capri Always remember how massive the bonnet looked and how futuristic the car seemed

Also have vague memory of mums friend having a Yugo??

ART6

CtrlSource wrote: »

What model Ford was it? Can't think of anything with the features you describe that would place you in anything other than your late 60s - 80s, unless your Dad bought it as a classic or vintage at the time!

I have no idea what model it was, but he would have bought it in somewhere around 1950, and it wouldn't have been new then. I do remember that it was a once a year job to remove the cylinder head and carry out a decoke on the valves. It also, as far as I can recall, had a windscreen that could be folded down. The boot was surprisingly small, and its lid also folded down, making it difficult to get things into it, so for that reason he tended to put tools etc on the back seat. Thinking back on it I wouldn't even be sure that it was even a Ford - could have been a Morris or something. Too many years ago and clouded in time.

greatgoal

i remember my da had a blue ford cortina mk1,would have been around 1968, after that he had a fiat 1100 and i remember being disappointed as i loved the shape of the old cortina compared to the box like shape of the fiat.:(

cormie

My cousin used to collect car models, this is when I first saw a Lamborghini and since then I've always wanted one, I was about 5 at the time. Never had any interest in any other cars, still don't :P

colsers22

VW Beetle (When I was born, so don't remember it.
Citroën GS
Fiat 128 (Never worked, sat in our drive broke down for about a year, we used to play in it!!)
Citroën Visa 1.8 x 2
Citroën BX diesel (Loved this car! It was always in the garage, they had NO idea how to service the thing. I think it was the fancy suspension!)
Fiat Punto x 2 (WHY!!?)
Peugeot 206
Peugeot 307 1.4 (crap car, so underpowered)
Kia Cee'd 1.6 diesel (excellent car)

hamsterboy

Well seeing that I'm bloody old this could be fun....here goes

Morris Minor........when I was born, don't remember it

Then

Ford Cortina MK 1 in black. Thought it was so cool cos it kinda had fins like the Batmobile (or so I thought at the time )

Then my favorite

Datsun Cherry F10 coupe, in sky blue with black vinyl roof.....classy or what.

Progressed then to another soon to be classic

Fiat 131 Mirafiori in Dark Metallic Blue....comfy car, ended up 2 feet long after a truck driver fell asleep and ploughed into it outside my dads factory

After that it got uninteresting

Toyota Corolla E30 in Silver

Otheres after that not worth mentioning

HB

biko

First car I remember us having

mike65

We had a dark blue example - 1965 model RKI 73 when it was re-registered. It ended its life in 1977/78 as a chicken coup out near Fenor Waterford.

Mike.

Blue850

When I was a small lad back in the 70's, my Dad had 4 Triumph 2000s in a row, I remember one hitting 100mph and another distinct memory is having the backs of your short pants clad legs scalded by the vinyl seats on a hot summers day:D
He then got a W114 Merc 280E , he loved that car except it was pig on juice, when he passed away it got sold and after a while my Mam learnt to drive in a Fiat 127, mighty little yoke.
Thing is, theres a Triumph 2000, Merc W115 and a Fiat 127 in my shed now

flanzer

1981 and one of these. I was 3. A Renault 18 in Green



Then in 1986. A Burgundy Louisienne Model



In 1988. A 2.0i Ford Sierra Sapphire Ghia



In 1991. A red Mazda 626 Estate 2.0D, like this one



1999 Ford Focus Saloon 1.6
2003 Ford Focus Saloon 1.6
July 2008 Ford Focus Saloon TDCi
.
.
.
Spot the trend!!

carchaeologist

I started a similar thread to this on the all things retro forum for anyone who is interested...some good stories out there!!:D
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055297698

CtrlSource

carchaeologist wrote: »

I started a similar thread to this on the all things retro forum for anyone who is interested...some good stories out there!!:D
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055297698

Thanks

Wishbone Ash linked to it early in the thread. Some interesting ones alright!

Standard Toaster

Dad had a Hillman Hunter GT....was a golden colour though with a black vinyl roof.



Had a MGB....I remember it had black plastic bumpers....not the chrome ones



Fiat 131....same colour as time one



Loads of other cars & motorcycles but them three stick in my mind.