Cars Your Parents Drove

jimgoose

Hmmm...

Ford 100E "Popular":




Ford Zephyr 6:




Audi 100LS (x2):




Ford Granada Mk.I (x2):



Ford Granada Mk.II:

Going Strong

First car, before I was born was a 1959 Ford Popular, in black, that was a near-wreck and riddled with rust. My mother was scared to get in it.

When I was born, my father had a Hillman Minx in two tone grey. I don't remember it but have seen photos of it.

Then there was a grey Hillman Super Minx which I do remember which had a red interior.

Followed by a sky blue Avenger saloon and then a dark blue Avenger estate - both with black vinyl interior that burned our legs in the summer.

A series of horrible Fiat Mirafioris followed. Crap build quality in every one. One in a bile green and another two in dark red and all with tan interior.

A red VW Jetta. Well, two really. The first one caught fire from a faulty wiring loom and burned out at the top of our road within only weeks of him owning it. Diesel engine that sounded like a tractor and could be heard from miles away.

Toyota Carina II in silver. Bland and dull but built like a tank.

Currently, a Nissan Almera in charcoal grey. Same as the Carina really.

Kaiser D

Dad, just what I know of:

1980 Opel Rekord (Photos I have show OZIxxx, I can't make it out)
1985 Ford Granada Mark 2
1989 Ford Granada Scorpio
1993 Merc E200 W124
1998 Merc E240 W210
2014 Merc E200 W212

Mam, all automatics

1986 Austin Mini
1993 Honda Civic EG Saloon
2004 Toyota Corolla E12
2013 Mazda 3

Going Strong

Actually, I was always more interested in other families on our road as they had way cooler cars to my eyes. One of the houses just up from us had a series of those huge Opel saloons from the late '60's to early '70's that seemed like the American cars you'd see on the telly. A boy in primary school with me came from a rallying family so race-prepped Escorts and Minis were a common sight in his driveway. My uncle was a Mercedes man all his life so a massive German barge featured in a lot of our family outings.

dr.fuzzenstein

The first one I remember was a Simca 1100:



Not actually the car, just some pic of the internet. But ours was exactly the same. I still remember the strip speedo. And the dodgy brakes and broken axle. In hindsight, that car was a complete death trap, but completely acceptable in the 70's.
This car stands out for me as it is the first I remember.
Before that a few Beetles and after that a 1976 MKI Golf in Kermit green, a 1979 MKI Golf GLS with Auto box in metallic green, it had all the extras, such as cigarette lighter, radio, clock, tinted windows, foglights and brake servo.
After that 1986 BMW 318i, 1989 Daihatsu Applause (4 wheel drive and 16 valve 1.6 liter engine, this was serious sh*t back then), after that it went downhill and the less said about the Daihtsu Gran Move and the Daewoo Matiz, the better.
Currently my mother's car: Renault Twingo. Fun little thing.

Stallingrad

Dad had one of these:


Mom had one of these:


Hardly fair.

Damien360

7 ? Mini with no rear seatbelts reg KDI 92
79 Silver Toyota Starlet - rust bucket
86 Red Toyota Starlet - rust again
92 Silver Toyota Starlet
00 Silver Toyota Starlet
06 Red Toyota Starlet
10 Silver Toyota Auris
131 Silver Toyota Auris 1.33 engine

There is a bit of a pattern. Think he likes Toyota

thrashmetalfan

Red Kev wrote: »

Hydraulic suspension . Gorgeous, classy, but prone to breakdowns.

My oul fella had the following in the 70's;
Cortina
Vauxhall Viva (utter crap, never started)
Renault 4
Fiat 128
Ford Escort
Datsun 120Y (brilliant car)

80's

Datsun 100A
Datsun 110
Carina I
Fiat Uno (excellent, seriously economical)
Fiat Regatta
Ford Fiesta
Mazda 323
Nissan Sunny
Ford Escort (crap)
Golf II (around 1989)

After the first Golf, it was 5 Polo's on the trot then two Golf Plus' until he had to give up driving.

totally agree about the Vauxhall Viva. my dad had one. the worst car ever, never started, broke down all the time, could never depend on it. I cannot imagine it would be the kind of car to take up pride of place in a vintage car rally. too many bad memories for too many people, me included!!

Sobanek

1. 1990 Wartburg 1.3 in RED (write off) (1990 only)
2. 1991 Wartburg 1.3 in WHITE (1991-1998)
3. 1998 Daewoo Tico SX (1998-2006)
4. 2001 Volkswagen Golf 1.6 16V (2006-2008)
5. 2006 Volvo V50 2.0D (2008-now)

So not a massive collection, considering my ma has had her licence for... 27 years now!

Henry Ford III

My late father worked for Ford in Dagenham. We therefore had a very regular turnover of new cars.

I remember Zephyr 4's and 6's, Zodiacs, an Anglia, and Escort and various Cortinas.

He actually won 2 new cars in Employee suggestion schemes.

A MkII Cortina 1600E



and a lovely Capri 3000 GXL

randy hickey

The oul fella, God rest his soul, started out with one of these:















Then,he had a couple of these:



And his last car ever, as I remember it:



How he drove it:



And how it probably looked in reality:



You may have given me lungrot from all the passive smoking, but by Christ you could drive!

pcardin

Citroen Xantia Activa


Mercedes E190



Renault Safrane Baccara

JohnBoy26

Damien360 wrote: »

7 ? Mini with no rear seatbelts reg KDI 92
79 Silver Toyota Starlet - rust bucket
86 Red Toyota Starlet - rust again
92 Silver Toyota Starlet
00 Silver Toyota Starlet
06 Red Toyota Starlet
10 Silver Toyota Auris
131 Silver Toyota Auris 1.33 engine

There is a bit of a pattern. Think he likes Toyota

So much so that he purchased a model that never existed in that year :pac:

H3llR4iser

Starting with my dad's (pictures are of the same model & colour):

Fiat 128 Coupe' - which also was the very fist car he bought himself around 1973, kept it 10 years


Then, the early 80s version of "I have two kids, need something bigger" - a Fiat 128 3P:


Alfa Romeo Nuova Giulietta 1.6


Then...Alfa Romeo Giulietta 2.0TD


The pictures are slightly different, but the second Giulietta was aesthetically identical to the first one, same colour et all; These were years you kinda preferred NOT to show off you had a new car;

The the Alfa 75 2.0 TD arrived


To this day, I still don't know why he had a "diesel spell"; We're talking 1986-1990ish, at the time diesel engines were extremely low on specs and performance, not that efficient and, most importantly, there was an hefty "super tax" imposed on diesel cars in Italy;

Finally, he went back to petrol with another Alfa 75:


This car was an oddball: it had a 1.8 carburetor engine, but it looked exactly like a 2.0 Twin Spark, bodykits et all; He got it second hand from a guy who bought it new and only kept it a few months - most importantly, turned out this fella was in the process of making it track-ready, so it had lowered suspensions, uprated brakes and quite a bit of engine work that made it actually faster than the 2.0 TS. Needless to say, my dad liked it a lot and kept it for many years - from 1990ish to 2000ish; Still is his favourite cars of all he had...and having driven it quite a bit myself, I'd agree

Natural replacement was a 155 2.0 TS Super:


Which he only kept for a couple of years, before falling in love with a 156 1.8 TS:


Needless to say, I duly proceeded to take the 155 off his hands

He kept the 156 until last October, when it was replaced by this lady:


In the 2.0 JTDm variant; This time, the "diesel spell" makes more sense technically - although he hardly ever drives it (waiting for him to go "my DPF is fupped up!" route);


Now, this is for the "official" family car; my mom has been, how to say, less "stylish" in her choices:

A bright yellow Fiat 127;
A white, rusty Renault 5 TL;
A reddish (it got seriously discoloured over the years) Renault 5 GTL that she actually kept for a decade;
A 1.25 Ford Fiesta who used more oil than petrol;
The current 1.4 Skoda Fabia TDi, which sounds exactly like a Ducato van;

Not only - for a few years my dad used to have a "runaround" for day-to-day driving:
A pigeon-dropping coloured Citroen Visa;

An originally blue Renault 5 TL, with the original 0.9 engine replaced with a 1.3 cannibalized from another R5; It progressively received body panels from other scrapped R5s, up to the point it was really difficult to figure out which one, of the 5 or 6 on display, was the original colour. This "car" finally gave up the ghost when my dad had the brilliant idea to transport what might have been 700 kg of steel (don't ask) on the roof, breaking the CHASSIS in the process;

Foxhole Norman

I see his 156 is now the photo for the 156 on Wikipedia :pac:

H3llR4iser

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

I see his 156 is now the photo for the 156 on Wikipedia :pac:

Lol, quite the opposite...the pictures come from all around the 'net, that 156 on Wikipedia is just similar

impr0v

Judging by some of the posts there was a lot of brand loyalty in ye olden days that I don't think exists so much any more - maybe it was just loyalty to a particular local garage/salesman.

Expanding on the commercial jeeps, my dad bought a string of these boxy yokes in various colours:



Then two of of these:



I much preferred the Fourtrak to the Trooper. I almost crashed the second one a few days after he bought it, joyriding around the farmyard.

He then moved on to a few of these beauties:



The Musso came with a Merc engine and seems to have been the last vehicle that Ssangyong allowed a sighted person to design.

kerry4sam

I am seriously just loving this thread! Thanks for starting it and for everyone who is posting in here.

randy hickey wrote: »

The oul fella, God rest his soul, started out with one of these:


...

I used enjoy passing auld vehicles when in the car with my Late Loving Dad as he would have stories aplenty to tell afterward. The image I have above is a story I'd hear time and time again for the reaction he would get from me when he spoke of his childhood

Thanking You All,
kerry4sam

Mc Love

From what I can remember (and even those before I was born)

Mother:
Citroen Dyane
Nissan Micra
Peugeot 206 x2(shared)

Father:
Ford Capri
Lancia (cant recall exact model) except it was a saloon
Nissan Bluebird
Mitsubishi Carisma
Mazda 6 (current)

shamwari

My old man had one of these


1.8 Twin Carb. Very quick for its time but to be honest, and utter pile of dog poo even by 1970's standards

Article about it here