Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Please note that it is not permitted to have referral links posted in your signature. Keep these links contained in the appropriate forum. Thank you.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055940817/signature-rules

Irish motoring in the 1980’s

Options
1…457910…18

Comments

  • Options
    #182
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,402 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    cml387 wrote: »
    Seat belts became mandatory in 1979. They were fitted as standard in the early seventies.

    Rear seatbelts I’m talking about


  • Options
    #183
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,651 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    road_high wrote: »
    On a lighter note, horrible cheap ugly seat coverings were de rigeur in the 80s/90s. If you got a “new” car you had to “keep the seats” by covering them in these horrors. No one does that now apart from in working vehicles for farmers vets or builders. And they’re the special work ones

    Seats last a lot better these days. Though kids will still destroy seats.


  • Options
    #184
    Heraldoffreeent
    Registered Users Posts: 1,467 ✭✭✭Heraldoffreeent


    Beaded seat covers, supposedly good for backs.


  • Options
    #185
    gormdubhgorm
    Registered Users Posts: 18,413 ✭✭✭✭gormdubhgorm


    1984 RTE drink drive advert - "If you insist... not more than two"

    Guff about stuff, and stuff about guff.



  • Options
    #186
    Eggs For Dinner
    Registered Users Posts: 2,959 ✭✭✭Eggs For Dinner


    Two will do was the slogan which, being Irish, most fellas translated in to 4 pints and a bag of peanuts and you're grand.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #187
    Ash.J.Williams
    Registered Users Posts: 20,930 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    I Was VB wrote: »
    For those who were of age back then what was it like?

    What was the standard family car? What did the boy racers drive? What did the business people drive?

    I’ve heard stories of motors being bought for £50 and being driven for years, was motor tax optional? How many drinks could ya have before the Barman took the keys off ya? Did Ireland have a motoring culture back then or were cars seen as a glorified horse? Was there a car that represented that you were “doing well”?

    As a boy I recall the young fellas driving Opel kadets , Renault 18 seemed to be the Go to family car, all the respectable gaa lovin 20 something’s drove rover 213, joyriding was big and 3 series were hot.


  • Options
    #188
    Ash.J.Williams
    Registered Users Posts: 20,930 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    BrianD3 wrote: »
    My father bought a new Ford Escort in late 1983 and was doing the usual thing of driving around for a few weeks without registering it. I don't think he even had "For Reg" on it.

    Everything was fine until he drove to Dublin visiting relatives and got stopped by the Gardai for driving an unregistered car. I can't remember if he was prosecuted but I do remember he was worried about it. At the time there was an opinion that Gardai "down the country " would turn a blind eye to this while it was different in urban areas.

    “For reg” ha ha that takes me back


  • Options
    #189
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,402 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Ash.J.Williams wrote: »
    As a boy I recall the young fellas driving Opel kadets , Renault 18 seemed to be the Go to family car, all the respectable gaa lovin 20 something’s drove rover 213, joyriding was big and 3 series were hot.

    Rover 213s? Seriously? I thought they were very much for retired professional types!


  • Options
    #190
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,402 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Ash.J.Williams wrote: »
    “For reg” ha ha that takes me back

    Vaguely remember it been a big thing among our native ethnic minorities- Hiaces etc with no reg plates


  • Options
    #191
    Ash.J.Williams
    Registered Users Posts: 20,930 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    road_high wrote: »
    Rover 213s? Seriously? I thought they were very much for retired professional types!

    Definitely the biggest seller here when they launched they were everywhere


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #192
    Ash.J.Williams
    Registered Users Posts: 20,930 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    What were kadets like? Lot of delinquents driving them at the time


  • Options
    #193
    jamfer
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭jamfer


    I remember tooling around in BXs, Bluebirds, Asconas, an Audi 100, Granada and a Patrol. The rear wheel sheered off the Patrol one night and overtook us one night.


  • Options
    #194
    Speedsie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,310 ✭✭✭Speedsie
    ¡arriba, arriba! ¡andale, andale!


    The father sold his Citroen DS (fabulous car) in 82/3 and bought a brownish Talbot Solara which he drove for the next decade.

    The mother transitioned from a Simca to a Renault of some hue, then onto a Metro.

    The brother & I learnt to drive in the Metro, which turned out to have been a cut & shut type of job, and lethal!

    We all still miss the DS.


  • Options
    #195
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,402 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Ash.J.Williams wrote: »
    Definitely the biggest seller here when they launched they were everywhere

    That the one from 1984 ish? I remember a lady down the road had one but apart from that I can’t remember them much.
    The ones from the mid 90s on yes they sold well here


  • Options
    #196
    ohnonotgmail
    Registered Users Posts: 40,321 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    Speedsie wrote: »
    The father sold his Citroen DS (fabulous car) in 82/3 and bought a brownish Talbot Solara which he drove for the next decade.

    The mother transitioned from a Simca to a Renault of some hue, then onto a Metro.

    The brother & I learnt to drive in the Metro, which turned out to have been a cut & shut type of job, and lethal!

    We all still miss the DS.

    is that still a thing now?


  • Options
    #197
    Speedsie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,310 ✭✭✭Speedsie
    ¡arriba, arriba! ¡andale, andale!


    ohnonotgmail wrote: »
    is that still a thing now?

    God, I hope not.


  • Options
    #198
    Speedsie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,310 ✭✭✭Speedsie
    ¡arriba, arriba! ¡andale, andale!


    ohnonotgmail wrote: »
    is that still a thing now?

    God, I hope not. I haven't heard of it in years.


  • Options
    #199
    Limpy
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 1,105 ✭✭✭Limpy


    Going to soccer games with 7 or 8 other kid's sitting in the boot of a nissan bluebird was mad.


  • Options
    #200
    Ash.J.Williams
    Registered Users Posts: 20,930 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    2 litre petrol cars folks :)


  • Options
    #201
    colm_mcm
    Registered Users Posts: 73,430 ✭✭✭✭colm_mcm


    ohnonotgmail wrote: »
    is that still a thing now?

    Very much still happening, in that sections of cars are bought and sold. It’s not as simple as just sticking 2 cars together though.
    A lot more hardcore cut and shuts are done in Eastern Europe and Russia. Write offs from the USA that can’t be put back on the road there.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #202
    alias no.9
    Registered Users Posts: 6,289 ✭✭✭alias no.9


    road_high wrote: »
    On a lighter note, horrible cheap ugly seat coverings were de rigeur in the 80s/90s. If you got a “new” car you had to “keep the seats” by covering them in these horrors. No one does that now apart from in working vehicles for farmers vets or builders. And they’re the special work ones

    Two cars that I've had in the past had pristine seats and carpets under the cheap seat covers and mats, needless to say, I enjoyed the pristine condition.


  • Options
    #203
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,402 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Ash.J.Williams wrote: »
    What were kadets like? Lot of delinquents driving them at the time

    We had one 1985 year from the late 80s on as a family car. Very basic, rattly and didn’t last all that well considering. It was a banger by the early 90s really. Was A1.2 petrol I think. Easily a contender for the worst car in our family anyhow.


  • Options
    #204
    alias no.9
    Registered Users Posts: 6,289 ✭✭✭alias no.9


    Ash.J.Williams wrote: »
    What were kadets like? Lot of delinquents driving them at the time

    Don't know if it's an urban legend or not but story was that the juvenile detention unit on Spike lsland had a Kadette (maybe more than one) they used for practical car maintenance training, formee inmates were adept at acquiring Kadttes.


  • Options
    #205
    RandomViewer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    ohnonotgmail wrote: »
    is that still a thing now?

    They are trailering hundreds of damaged repairable accross from England every month, the quality of the repairs will show in a few years.


  • Options
    #206
    Mr Meanor
    Registered Users Posts: 197 ✭✭Mr Meanor


    Limpy wrote: »
    Going to soccer games with 7 or 8 other kid's sitting in the boot of a nissan bluebird was mad.

    Luxury!

    Try that number and many more in a Liteace


  • Options
    #207
    watlantic
    Registered Users Posts: 155 ✭✭watlantic


    10-10-20 wrote: »
    Friends of ours had a rust-brown Austin Maxi. They used to bring it to France on holidays in the early 80's.
    The damn thing didn't have a fuel-gauge, just an orange light which told you that you had only a couple of miles to go before it was empty. Yep, great!

    So when we were driving down through France, we would all have to go in convoy in case the Maxi ran out of petrol and we needed to do a station-run.:p
    So every 50 miles of so the driver would pull over near a French petrol-station, open the fuel cap and shake the car to roughly gauge how much fuel was left, before hopefully heading onwards!
    Friend had one, but it had no keys at all and instead all was done with a big old rusty screwdriver :)
    Same brown colour, and often out of fuel 'cause that orange light didn't work anymore.


  • Options
    #208
    Charles Babbage
    Registered Users Posts: 5,574 ✭✭✭Charles Babbage


    Ash.J.Williams wrote: »
    “For reg” ha ha that takes me back

    Am I correct that the for reg was finally killed off when the red plates were discontinued and the 87 plates came in?

    As for the Austin Maxi I learned to drive in one, the earlier models had a less than slick gear change. They did have a fuel gauge but it may have been broken.


  • Options
    #209
    watlantic
    Registered Users Posts: 155 ✭✭watlantic


    Quite common then was door windows wedged shut (or a bit open in fine weather) with half of a wooden clothes peg 'cause the winding mechanism had rusted away.


  • Options
    #210
    The Royal Scam
    Registered Users Posts: 983 ✭✭✭The Royal Scam


    The For Reg reference reminds me of my father. He bought a Bedford Van from the scrap yard took an angle grinder to it just behind the seats and dumped the front and made a trailer out of the rest. Painted ****e brown and a big white "On Tow" on the back.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #211
    colm_mcm
    Registered Users Posts: 73,430 ✭✭✭✭colm_mcm


    Charles Babbage wrote: »
    Am I correct that the for reg was finally killed off when the red plates were discontinued and the 87 plates came in?

    As for the Austin Maxi I learned to drive in one, the earlier models had a less than slick gear change. They did have a fuel gauge but it may have been broken.

    I seem to remember a girl with a K10 Micra that was “FOR REG” when I was in primary school.

    It was the later one with the plastic fake light strip on the bootlid, so I’d put that later than 87?


Advertisement