Motorshow 1986 - nostalgia!

V8 Interceptor

swarlb wrote: »

I was being sarcastic. The amount of people today who insist on a 7 seater, while only having 2 kids !

My American sister in-law was home with the kids and hired a 5008 and she kept referring to it as "the little car"

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V8 Interceptor wrote: »

My American sister in-law was home with the kids and hired a 5008 and she kept referring to it as "the little car"

The 5008 is definitely big by European standards!

corks finest

Old diesel wrote: »

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Says someone who probably never owned one.

I owned two of them and my Dad had two of them also, not one single mechanical issue between any of the 4 cars over 12 years total ownership. They were great cars.

I think he said he had one and two of his friends had them.

But your experience is far more normal in terms of Bluebird ownership experience.

Nissan didnt get a reputation for been among the more reliable brands in this era for nothing.

Like any car a Bluebird could go wrong occasionally but the 1986 to 1990 generation was probably the high point of Nissan quality and reliability in my opinion.

They started slipping after that.

Correct ref 2 friends ,some ppl post without reading first to what they are replying to

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JoeA3 wrote: »

I'd imagine the main problem with Nissans (and other jap cars of that era) was rust... but by the mid to late '80's I think that problem wasn't as bad as it was before?!

Jeeez, I remember those Nissan Praire's too. They were relatively common!

We had an 89 Carina and rust was never an issue- great car that! Think the japs had mostly mastered the rust issues by thr mid to late 80s. Pity Ford couldn’t do the same!!

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swarlb wrote: »

I was being sarcastic. The amount of people today who insist on a 7 seater, while only having 2 kids !

Sister three kids- had to get a people carrier for the individual child seats - we got around in a Fiesta with no seat belts!
How times have changed...

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kyote00 wrote: »

comments on the Renault Espace are interesting also .... ' a 7 seater for business, clubs and groups'....

Irish motoring journos missing the point even back then :cool:

I’d say it was more the cost of the vehicle- the Espace was likely mad money here at the time. They were never common here until the later series of late 90s onwards

Philb76

Most cars back then had nothing in them so motoring journalists used to get excited about rear seatbelts or wishbone suspension now it's about all the technology a car has great bit of footage when old top gear used to broadcast from the british motorshow used to be exciting in a sad way over the latest escort lol

V8 Interceptor

road_high wrote: »

The 5008 is definitely big by European standards!

Sure is. Those Yanks are fookin mad.

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JoeA3 wrote: »

Yeah I think it was more common and seen as a big perk. I’d say a lot of middle/senior managers would have had a company car.
I think the BIK taxation was very different too, a company car these days can be more of a burden than anything, as it’s taxed heavily if you don’t do much company mileage. So unless you actually need a car for work, e.g. sales rep, then there’s less tendency to opt for one or be offered one.

Bik is a silly tax- the more driving you do, the less tax you pay! In these environmentally conscious days it’s seems like totally typically unjoined up thinking. Some people genuinely need a car for work travel.
It’s a tax on a tax as the gross list price of the car (including vat and vrt) is used in the calculations

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colm_mcm wrote: »

We had an 89 Corolla without rear seatbelts.

When did they become compulsory? Must have been early 90s or so. Insane what they got away back then. Course the fact safety equipment is taxed same as everything else doesn’t help

JoeA3

JoeA3 wrote: »

I remember the Bluebird being a pretty fancy car in the ‘80’s! Neighbours of ours had one and it was definitely the poshest car in the parish. They were loaded with kit too, electric windows all round, sunroof, etc. Think they even had an electric aerial! They did definitely lose their way from the mid 90’s. Those early Primera’s and the Almera were dreadful yokes............

The series 1 Primera (1990 release iirc) was decent.

V8 Interceptor wrote: »

Perhaps motoring wise but back then you could buy a house and rear a family on one average income. Now both parents have to work fulltime and most can't afford a child or two until they're in their mid-thirties. Which is also why our fertility rate is plummeting leading to a possible demographic collapse in the near future.

But I guess that's for a different forum

Meh ........ jobs were scarce and social housing was plentiful. I remember the 80s was like beirut where I grew up in Cork. A gang either attempted or pretended to overturn a garda car car one night that arrived to disperse them.

Neighbouring parish was a joyriding hotspot. Loads of folk heading to England for work.

JoeA3 wrote: »

My favourite position as a young lad was to stand up on the centre tunnel and hold onto the front headrests ...........

Same here, happy days with my parents, fnck knows they must have been fond of children to put up with me :pac:

JoeA3

road_high wrote: »

When did they become compulsory? Must have been early 90s or so. Insane what they got away back then. Course the fact safety equipment is taxed same as everything else doesn’t help

My mother was a maternity nurse back in the 70's and 80's and I was asking her what the norm was with transporting babies in cars.

She said typically you just placed the child in a "moses" type basket and left that basket on the back seat - unsecured :eek: That was the accepted way to do it in the absence of any alternative! And newborns often went home on their mother's lap in the front seat...

I think it was into the '90's before rear seat belts were a compulsory fitment but I think it was much later again before they became compulsory to actually wear?

fancy pigeon

corks finest wrote: »

And as for the bluebird- heaps of ****e

Mostly links at the back and gearboxes gave some bother at high miles but otherwise a plush way to get around!

They weren't all bad

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fancy pigeon wrote: »

Mostly links at the back and gearboxes gave some bother at high miles but otherwise a plush way to get around!

They weren't all bad

Compared to a lot of what we had back then they certainly were. Weren’t bad value either. The ancestor to the Quoshqui!

fancy pigeon

road_high wrote: »

Compared to a lot of what we had back then they certainly were. Weren’t bad value either. The ancestor to the Quoshqui!

The Kumquat can't hold a candle to the Bluebird

Wibbs

JoeA3 wrote: »

She said typically you just placed the child in a "moses" type basket and left that basket on the back seat - unsecured :eek: That was the accepted way to do it in the absence of any alternative!

As a baby at the end of the 60's that's how I was transported about. Moses basket in behind the seats of my da's Triumph Herald coupe. The car I remember a few years later was a Ford Cortina, sliding around on the red vinyl in the back seat, or if I was just with the da, sitting in the front seat minus seatbelt. On family trips often with the grandparents I was either jammed between them in the back, or sat on the da's lap "helping him steer", often actually steering when he'd want to light up a ciggie. :eek: By the time I was 11, I was regularly enough actually driving in remote spots. When we'd go for a day's fishing, I'd usually drive a good bit of the way back home. These days my oulfella would be clapped in irons and I'd be in care.

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JoeA3 wrote: »

My mother was a maternity nurse back in the 70's and 80's and I was asking her what the norm was with transporting babies in cars.

She said typically you just placed the child in a "moses" type basket and left that basket on the back seat - unsecured :eek: That was the accepted way to do it in the absence of any alternative! And newborns often went home on their mother's lap in the front seat...

I think it was into the '90's before rear seat belts were a compulsory fitment but I think it was much later again before they became compulsory to actually wear?

We had baby seats but compared to now, harmless affairs. And definitely not strapped in properly- how could they be with no rear belts or restraints !

colm_mcm

We had a car seat back in the day, they were strapped to points on the car (parcel shelf-saloon and in the gap between the seatback and cushion) using gutter bolts! Think this was the norm back then if you even had a car seat.

Old diesel

road_high wrote: »

We had baby seats but compared to now, harmless affairs. And definitely not strapped in properly- how could they be with no rear belts or restraints !

I remember we had a Datsun Bluebird - the early 80s last of the rear wheel drives (910 for the Geeks) as a loaner while the 180 B was in for repairs and I'm fairly sure it had some strapping/restraints for a child seat from someone that used or owned the car before us.

I remember thinking how the duck it was meant to work.

Speaking of loaners maybe it was just our local garage but getting a loaner car or a decent test drive seemed far easier back then.

We had that Bluebird at least twice.

Youd normally get the loaner for the it will take a few days type repairs rather then a normal service.

Meanwhile in 2019 I see BMW are making a bit of a mountain of supplying temporary for the EGR recall. Even though it really should be BMWs problem.

Like I say though that could be just our local garage

colm_mcm

road_high wrote: »

When did they become compulsory? Must have been early 90s or so. Insane what they got away back then. Course the fact safety equipment is taxed same as everything else doesn’t help

I think they got rear seatbelts in 1990.

I don’t buy the safety equipment being taxed argument.

StereoSound

My parents had an 87' Bluebird 1.8SLX for 10 years and it gave feck all trouble. Great engine in it zipping over sallys gap on the Summer holidays year after year, super comfy in the back, shoes off playing the Gameboy. Nice memories of that car, we nick named it "Long Silver" because it was a big silver car. We looked at the Sierra and Volvo 740 first but it ended up being the Nissan.

CJhaughey

The Bluebird was a great car, very comfy to drive for the standards of the time and plenty of space in the back.

bigroad

What was the price of a bluebird against the competition back then,it must have been a bit cheaper with more extras.

Wishbone Ash

road_high wrote: »

We had baby seats but compared to now, harmless affairs. And definitely not strapped in properly- how could they be with no rear belts or restraints !

Actually they were strapped in properly as they you had to go to a tyre/exhaust centre and get the child seat bolted on as colm has said. They were a pain in the arse though as they couldn't be removed ad hoc. If someone gave you a lift, you'd often end up sitting in the bloody child seat if there were other passengers present.

Transporting babies was usually done via the old style pram. You simply removed the body of the pram off the frame and put it across the back seat. The folded frame went in the boot.

My mother used to child mind in our home in the 1970's and some mothers would drive to and from our house with a small child in their laps. :eek:

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bigroad wrote: »

What was the price of a bluebird against the competition back then,it must have been a bit cheaper with more extras.

They said it in the video. Was around £10k punts or so if you watch it back. Think it was attractive deal relatively

1874

They were mad for spouting out the sales percentages, must have thought they were some gordon gecko types
whats with the direct comparison to sterling prices, surely sterling was much stronger back then, I recal it was always 40+ or 50% more for sterling? and the presenting, who's the young lad?? in his jumper? very stiff presenting from them all, love the sound effects and the dangerous overtaking :eek:
Amazing the MR2 still has hold its looks I think, was looking at and heard mention of classic ones here and the styling of the facelifted? version from a few years later ('89) now looks amazingly modern given its age, dont know about the red nissan concept car to go into production, never even heard of it. I still think the Bluebird looks very nice, I recal a few people who had bluebirds and one that lasted well into the noughties, nice spec that I recal, only knew of one person with an Accord and it was like a spaceship, bells and whistles, some of the cars looked appallingly crap though.

I recal going to one car show and coming back with loads of stickers, could have been that one, but maybe earlier, I do not really remember the cars though.

Stallingrad

Do you remember the Ford Sierra Lazer when wrap around bumpers where worth mentioning? You could win one on Murphy's Micro Quiz-M, not sure anyone ever did!

JoeA3

Stallingrad wrote: »

Do you remember the Ford Sierra Lazer when wrap around bumpers where worth mentioning? You could win one on Murphy's Micro Quiz-M, not sure anyone ever did!

lol I remember that show well! Not with very fond memories, as it was on just before Glenroe on Sunday nights if I recall. You knew the weekend was over when those shows were on the telly

I remember the Sierra alright - not quite as bad as Know Your Sport, where the big prize was a know-your-sport umbrella :pac:

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Stallingrad wrote: »

Do you remember the Ford Sierra Lazer when wrap around bumpers where worth mentioning? You could win one on Murphy's Micro Quiz-M, not sure anyone ever did!

No but I remember my granny had a Fiesta Laser- nicely trimmed little car for the late 80s, even had a sunroof! Nice blue color it was

swarlb

road_high wrote: »

No but I remember my granny had a Fiesta Laser- nicely trimmed little car for the late 80s, even had a sunroof! Nice blue color it was

Was it like this one ?

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swarlb wrote: »

Was it like this one ?

No it was more a darker blue almost purple. Think it had a little rear spoiler and laser stickers back and sides

road_high

Another rte gem of the Dublin Motor show;
https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0219/1031481-dublin-motor-show-preview/

Gas how they try put the Dublin show almost on a par with Geneva re Renault 25 launch! I loved the format and uniqueness of an event like this, nothing like it now I suppose due to changes in marketing and how money is spend and targeted. 95% of visitors were probably tyre kickers

Philb76

Renault interior design was like that well into the 90s and the regata with stop start wonder why it didn't catch on then

Marcusm

Stallingrad wrote: »

Do you remember the Ford Sierra Lazer when wrap around bumpers where worth mentioning? You could win one on Murphy's Micro Quiz-M, not sure anyone ever did!

By that stage it was. a Ford Orion!

Old diesel

road_high wrote: »

Another rte gem of the Dublin Motor show;
https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0219/1031481-dublin-motor-show-preview/

Gas how they try put the Dublin show almost on a par with Geneva re Renault 25 launch! I loved the format and uniqueness of an event like this, nothing like it now I suppose due to changes in marketing and how money is spend and targeted. 95% of visitors were probably tyre kickers

Simultaneous launch in BOTH Dublin and Geneva was how I understood it.

Thing is it looks like the Renault 25 was getting a Dublin launch ahead of Paris, London etc - pretty significant back in 84.

Arthur Daley

They would have sold a fair few R25s here. For the size of market yeah, but they did ok.

whizbang

Had a red 309 diesel as a company car, gave up a Renault 19 van for it. That 1.9 diesel would kick and bang and shake the car apart before it would stall.
Our family would pile into our neighbour's A40 for a trip to the beach on a daily basis. 11 kids and 4 adults, and beach balls and all.

The J Stands for Jay

JoeA3 wrote: »

My favourite position as a young lad was to stand up on the centre tunnel and hold onto the front headrests :eek: I’d have been a human catapult if the worst had happened!

I remember rear seatbelts in later cars being a real novelty.

Your average family car had stains on the two front seats where the kids would hang on.

I remember my aul fella installing rear seatbelts himself on one of his cars

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Arthur Daley wrote: »

They would have sold a fair few R25s here. For the size of market yeah, but they did ok.

They were quite common, especially the early 90s. I certaibly remember them. White ones for some reason! Wonder were lots of them brought in from England on the cheap.

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Old diesel wrote: »

Simultaneous launch in BOTH Dublin and Geneva was how I understood it.

Thing is it looks like the Renault 25 was getting a Dublin launch ahead of Paris, London etc - pretty significant back in 84.

Say it was more timing of the year vs any importance being put on the Dublin show!
The rules re importing were pretty fascinating, did Renault and Ford still enjoy some tax advantages by assembling cars here still? Assembled R4s were exported back to France and Italy! That car was an institution here! They were the Dacia of that era.
If our ridiculous economy had been more competitive and tuned into global and European trade we could have attracted and retained car assembly here and competed. But we were hopeless- low productivity, high cost and questionable quality all didn’t help.

CorkMan_

Enjoyed reading about the way kids were transported in cars years ago. I grew up in the 80's so have the same experience. For some reason Dad decided it was a good idea to buy a Renault 19 in 1989. Nothing wrong with that only at that stage we were a family of 7! Jaysus the fights we had in the back of the car! We lived in Tipp then and my Father is from Sligo and my Mother is from West Cork so I have plenty of memories standing between the front seats trying to name all the cars as the went by.

One time we went to Wales for the summer hols and were stopped in a town over there by the police who couldn't believe all of us were in one car. So two of us got out, walked to the far end of the street out of view and hopped back in again and off we went!

Old diesel

I remember sitting in the boot of the family Datsun 180 B Estate.

Felt NORMAL

V8 Interceptor

whizbang wrote: »

Our family would pile into our neighbour's A40 for a trip to the beach on a daily basis. 11 kids and 4 adults, and beach balls and all.

An Austin van?

whizbang

Austin A40 Farina Countryman.. (I had to look that up!) sometime early 70's.

I was taller than most of the others, so I got to sit in the back, Most of the others stood up. We would easily fit 4 kids in the boot. Standing room only.

Summer was warm and back dry then.