Irish motoring in the 1980’s

Technique · 13-07-2020 10:20pm

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Fewer second cars. A second car would have been seen as a luxury. Without the motorways we tended to travel less and stay local, meaning 2 cars were not really required even if people could afford to run a second car.

It would be interesting to see how many miles are driven in Ireland in 2020 vs 1980, doubt anyone is measuring it. Would be an interesting take on the environmental arguments around cars.

You can see it in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s housing estates, there was only room for one car at each house. Drive through them now and there are cars parked all over the pavements as each house has two or three cars.

alias no.9 · 13-07-2020 10:39pm

RandomViewer wrote: »

The Aska

A badge engineered Opel Ascona but it had a turbo diesel as its selling point. Very few sold, much less than the Gemini which sold very little.

Markcheese · 13-07-2020 11:11pm

Technique wrote: »

You can see it in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s housing estates, there was only room for one car at each house. Drive through them now and there are cars parked all over the pavements as each house has two or three cars.

Not just the 80s ones ,there are 90's/ 2000s housing estates with cars a abandoned on every foot path ..
My late 70s house had no car parking , just a front garden , a previous owner altered it for one car , and I'm hoping I might be able to squeeze a second in ..

beauf · 14-07-2020 12:08am

Technique wrote: »

You can see it in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s housing estates, there was only room for one car at each house. Drive through them now and there are cars parked all over the pavements as each house has two or three cars.

That's just the design of the estate. Lots of estates in every decade had estates with drives that took two cars. If you build an estate that had poor access to public transport and give it not enough parking it's just bad design. You also need space for visitors and deliveries. You can certainly choose to live somewhere with limited or even no parking if that's what you want.

zilog_jones · 14-07-2020 7:47am

Arthur Daley wrote: »

The piazza coupe was sold in the UK anyway. Limited numbers so probably didn't bother shipping it across. Think it might have been the Hino distributor who handled Isuzu.

What's now Harris Group still are the distributors for Isuzu in Ireland (but no longer Hino, it seems), and they did sell the second generation Gemini and first Aska here. Isuzu pretty much gave up on passenger cars by the mid-90s, and sold some rebadged Subarus and Hondas in Japan for a while.

Neither the Gemini or Aska were sold in the UK, possibly nowhere else in Europe except maybe Malta.

14-07-2020 8:39am

Break80 wrote: »

This was my era of cars. Mate of mine had a fiat 127 special. Fast little car. The 127 sport was even faster.
All the small fiats of that time were quick Greyhound cars they were known as. ALL GO NO BODY...................

A Fiat Uno 45 was about 16 seconds to 60 and 45bhp..........

A 127 special was a 1.3 and hit 60 in 12 seconds which was very decent in the early 80s of course but to say all small fiats of the time were quick is a huge stretch, they were as slow as Fiestas etc for the mostpart.

RINO87 · 14-07-2020 9:29am

Love this thread! A local BMW specialist back home in the Midlands still has the "Axe the Tax" stickers in the window of his garage. Everytime I see it I remember the auld lads Nissan Sentra.

swarlb · 14-07-2020 10:26am

Augeo wrote: »

A Fiat Uno 45 was about 16 seconds to 60 and 45bhp..........

A 127 special was a 1.3 and hit 60 in 12 seconds which was very decent in the early 80s of course but to say all small fiats of the time were quick is a huge stretch, they were as slow as Fiestas etc for the mostpart.

A 127 Special had a 903cc engine. It was a variant of the 1st series 127, having a different grill, body mouldings, tailgate and a few other different bits and bobs.
I think you might be confusing it with a 127 3rd series Sport or 'GT' that had a 1.3 engine.
'Quick' is a misnomer, 127's felt 'quick' as similar as the original Mini felt quick..... maybe 'zippy' might be closer the mark.

14-07-2020 10:39am

swarlb wrote: »

A 127 Special had a 903cc engine. It was a variant of the 1st series 127, having a different grill, body mouldings, tailgate and a few other different bits and bobs.
I think you might be confusing it with a 127 3rd series Sport or 'GT' that had a 1.3 engine.
'Quick' is a misnomer, 127's felt 'quick' as similar as the original Mini felt quick..... maybe 'zippy' might be closer the mark.

Quite likely, the chap said it was a fast little car so I presumed he wasn't on about the small engined ones. ........ which most definitely weren't quick.

swarlb · 14-07-2020 12:00pm

My recollection of motoring in the 80's, is that for the most part, people drove bangers from the 70's or earlier. The first time I owned an 80's car, was in the 1990's...

CoBo55 · 14-07-2020 12:16pm

swarlb wrote: »

My recollection of motoring in the 80's, is that for the most part, people drove bangers from the 70's or earlier. The first time I owned an 80's car, was in the 1990's...

Exactly my recollection too. Max power windscreen visors and whiplash aerials was the full extent of modding cars..

RandomViewer · 14-07-2020 3:49pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

Exactly my recollection too. Max power windscreen visors and whiplash aerials was the full extent of modding cars..

Must have depended on county, Alloys or wide steel wheels were a must and lots of cars would have had engine swaps, boot spoiler and front splitters were on every second Escort and Nova.

RandomViewer · 14-07-2020 3:52pm

Technique wrote: »

You can see it in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s housing estates, there was only room for one car at each house. Drive through them now and there are cars parked all over the pavements as each house has two or three cars.

One income would keep a family in the 80's and many women of a certain age didn't drive, so one car was all they needed

RandomViewer · 14-07-2020 3:55pm

MAX Power didn't exist until 1993

Technique · 14-07-2020 4:24pm

Cibie spots. With the covers still on. Two above and two below, especially on smaller hatches like a Kadett or a Fiesta.

RandomViewer · 14-07-2020 4:44pm

Technique wrote: »

Cibie spots. With the covers still on. Two above and two below, especially on smaller hatches like a Kadett or a Fiesta.

Rallygiants if you couldn't afford Cibies

Technique · 14-07-2020 4:53pm

Getting white paint and filling in the writing on your tyres was a thing for a while. I remember a local guy did this on his Cortina, including the word 'Remould'.

14-07-2020 4:55pm

........ seat covers

CoBo55 · 14-07-2020 4:57pm

RandomViewer wrote: »

Must have depended on county, Alloys or wide steel wheels were a must and lots of cars would have had engine swaps, boot spoiler and front splitters were on every second Escort and Nova.

Yes!! I forgot about engine swaps particularly on Fords I should have remembered having assisted in doing a few myself, sticking twin choke carbs on 1100 escorts and imagining it's a road rocket... Spot lamps, many many spot lamps and those bloody red fog lamps in the back window that would cut the eyes out of you. Not much in the way of alloys in these parts. Stripping a higher spec model in the local breakers to up the spec of your own jalopy was a frequent occurrence too. Myself and the father GTS'd our lowly TL Renault 18 from an English one that bust a con rod hauling a gigantic caravan from rosslare harbour..

mayota · 14-07-2020 5:32pm

Augeo wrote: »

........ seat covers

Hairy ones

Old diesel · 14-07-2020 6:13pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

Yes!! I forgot about engine swaps particularly on Fords I should have remembered having assisted in doing a few myself, sticking twin choke carbs on 1100 escorts and imagining it's a road rocket... Spot lamps, many many spot lamps and those bloody red fog lamps in the back window that would cut the eyes out of you. Not much in the way of alloys in these parts. Stripping a higher spec model in the local breakers to up the spec of your own jalopy was a frequent occurrence too. Myself and the father GTS'd our lowly TL Renault 18 from an English one that bust a con rod hauling a gigantic caravan from rosslare harbour..

Was upgrading the 1100 to a 1300 a regular thing on Mk 1 Escorts. Because someone told me that - 1100 not strong enough for the job of pulling the Mk 1 apparently.

zetecescort · 14-07-2020 6:28pm

mayota wrote: »

Hairy ones

a couple of my uncles at different times had tiger print ones

RandomViewer · 14-07-2020 6:53pm

Old diesel wrote: »

Was upgrading the 1100 to a 1300 a regular thing on Mk 1 Escorts. Because someone told me that - 1100 not strong enough for the job of pulling the Mk 1 apparently.

1.6 crossflow ,could be bored out to 1740, twin Weber carbs . Strong little engine, some dropped in the OHC engine but not as common and if you were stopped the guard's would know the difference, BDA engine would've been the holy grail of Escort engines

swarlb · 14-07-2020 6:59pm

I think this thread is beginning to get a bit weary..... stories of uncles who knew fellas who heard about some guy who reputedly did something to his car 'in the 80's' .....
I suppose a few major things happened, one in Dublin at least was the reversing of traffic flow on the quays, as well as side streets being made one way, Capel Street was one in particular I remember.
Datsun changed it's name to Nissan and sponsored a bicycle race to benefit from the publicity.
Bus conductors disappeared, along with the old 'green' busses where you jumped on and off at your peril.
Works on the M50 began, albeit at the end of the decade.

horseofstone · 14-07-2020 7:10pm

zilog_jones wrote: »

What's now Harris Group still are the distributors for Isuzu in Ireland (but no longer Hino, it seems), and they did sell the second generation Gemini and first Aska here. Isuzu pretty much gave up on passenger cars by the mid-90s, and sold some rebadged Subarus and Hondas in Japan for a while.

Neither the Gemini or Aska were sold in the UK, possibly nowhere else in Europe except maybe Malta.

The Isuzu Aska was actually a pretty cool looking car for its time and would be a nice car to own nowadays as a classic.

RandomViewer · 14-07-2020 7:14pm

swarlb wrote: »

I think this thread is beginning to get a bit weary..... stories of uncles who knew fellas who heard about some guy who reputedly did something to his car 'in the 80's' .....
I suppose a few major things happened, one in Dublin at least was the reversing of traffic flow on the quays, as well as side streets being made one way, Capel Street was one in particular I remember.
Datsun changed it's name to Nissan and sponsored a bicycle race to benefit from the publicity.
Bus conductors disappeared, along with the old 'green' busses where you jumped on and off at your peril.
Works on the M50 began, albeit at the end of the decade.

If we are going that route, 5k of dual carriageway opened in Letterkenny in 1988, was supposed to be extended to Lifford and connect to the A5, still only 5k of dual carriageway 32 years later

zetecescort · 14-07-2020 7:17pm

Grafton street pedestrianised in 82 or 83 I think

swarlb · 14-07-2020 7:33pm

RandomViewer wrote: »

If we are going that route, 5k of dual carriageway opened in Letterkenny in 1988, was supposed to be extended to Lifford and connect to the A5, still only 5k of dual carriageway 32 years later

Now your talking...... after all it was 'motoring in the 80's'

My father used to visit his hometown every so often....
Out from Dublin, through Inchicore, 2 sets of lights before you got to the canal, where another set was waiting, next ones at Fox and Geese, then Newlands Cross, a bit of a run to Rathcoole, then Kill, bit of a concrete 'carraigway' then more lights at Kill, wind your way through Naas, then Newbridge, a bit of a run across the Curragh, more lights in Kildare town, finally past the 'seashell house' (it's still there), then Monasterevin, Ballybrittas, Portlaoise, Mountrath, stop for a break in Borris in Ossary, Roscrea, and a turn off at Dunkerrin.....
then the fun began, driving over single lane 'roads' with a grass covered ridge in the middle.... every now and again slowing to avoid bottoming out...
and all this in a 1970's Triumph Herald.........
I think the entire journey could take 4 to 5 hours at best, more if the car was full.
And to think his previous car was an 850cc Mini, and a Minor before that.... all bangers, bought for a few quid.
I have to laugh when I read of people here worrying would 'a 1.6 TD' be enough... I'll be doing 250 miles a week'......

THAT... was motoring in the 80's....

RandomViewer · 14-07-2020 8:18pm

swarlb wrote: »

Now your talking...... after all it was 'motoring in the 80's'

My father used to visit his hometown every so often....
Out from Dublin, through Inchicore, 2 sets of lights before you got to the canal, where another set was waiting, next ones at Fox and Geese, then Newlands Cross, a bit of a run to Rathcoole, then Kill, bit of a concrete 'carraigway' then more lights at Kill, wind your way through Naas, then Newbridge, a bit of a run across the Curragh, more lights in Kildare town, finally past the 'seashell house' (it's still there), then Monasterevin, Ballybrittas, Portlaoise, Mountrath, stop for a break in Borris in Ossary, Roscrea, and a turn off at Dunkerrin.....
then the fun began, driving over single lane 'roads' with a grass covered ridge in the middle.... every now and again slowing to avoid bottoming out...
and all this in a 1970's Triumph Herald.........
I think the entire journey could take 4 to 5 hours at best, more if the car was full.
And to think his previous car was an 850cc Mini, and a Minor before that.... all bangers, bought for a few quid.
I have to laugh when I read of people here worrying would 'a 1.6 TD' be enough... I'll be doing 250 miles a week'......

THAT... was motoring in the 80's....

Carrying two spare wheels because the roads were so bad

CoBo55 · 14-07-2020 10:21pm

Old diesel wrote: »

Was upgrading the 1100 to a 1300 a regular thing on Mk 1 Escorts. Because someone told me that - 1100 not strong enough for the job of pulling the Mk 1 apparently.

The 1100 wasn't strong enough to do anything it was a dreadful engine, shockingly thirsty too. The clutch release bearing on the 1100 was wider than the one on the 1300, if you didn't change it the clutch remained permanently disengaged, no problem changing gears but no drive either:pac:. Yes it happened to me and to add insult to injury the 1300 went knocka knocka knocka about a month later and died..

landmarkjohn · 16-07-2020 9:13am

Augeo wrote: »

........ seat covers

there was a lot more ess eee ex going on in cars in the eighties and a nice warm set of fluffy seat covers increased your chances and comfort

CoBo55 · 16-07-2020 11:20am

landmarkjohn wrote: »

there was a lot more ess eee ex going on in cars in the eighties and a nice warm set of fluffy seat covers increased your chances and comfort

There was in their fcuk, the terror of the bastard baby hung like a sword over our heads...

colm_mcm · 16-07-2020 12:02pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

There was in their fcuk, the terror of the bastard baby hung like a sword over our heads...

You needed to take suitable precautions, like not giving your real name.

RandomViewer · 16-07-2020 12:06pm

Ringers, multiple cars using the same plates, buying tax books .

swarlb · 16-07-2020 12:11pm

RandomViewer wrote: »

Ringers, multiple cars using the same plates, buying tax books .

Was this something that only happened in 'The 80's' and not any other decade ??

Stallingrad · 16-07-2020 12:12pm

Adding adhesive pinstripes to a Peugeot 205 because they looked great on an BMW Alpina.

Heraldoffreeent · 16-07-2020 12:19pm

Stallingrad wrote: »

Adding adhesive pinstripes to a Peugeot 205 because they looked great on an BMW Alpina.

They also made it go faster.

Arthur Daley · 16-07-2020 12:33pm

RandomViewer wrote: »

Ringers, multiple cars using the same plates, buying tax books .

and cut and shuts. Far tighter controls over VIN numbers these days.

RandomViewer · 16-07-2020 12:37pm

swarlb wrote: »

Was this something that only happened in 'The 80's' and not any other decade ??

More common in the 80's, NCT ended it

NewbridgeIR · 16-07-2020 1:09pm

We had a couple of Fiat 124s in the ‘70s, both blue. By 1980/81 we graduated to the 131 Mirafiori, first was blue then magenta. My uncle also had one, white, possibly the special as the front headlights were circular rather than rectangular

I remember the PIF for seatbelts “Tim has a new car” where Tim lost the rag trying to “work” the seatbelt. Pretty sure that was also a 131.

I remember spinster ladies in the golf club drove Fiat 126s while a neighbour drove a 127 with a different colour passenger door. Didn’t see too many 128s around in the ‘80s but remember a few having them in late 70s

Charles Babbage · 16-07-2020 1:49pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

RandomViewer wrote: »

Carrying two spare wheels because the roads were so bad

and the tyres weren't good either.

Roads were often bumpy, sometimes very bumpy, but usually passable in that there was a surface and potholes were filled. There was probably more difference between counties than now, going from Galway to Mayo was as obvious as going from Monaghan to Armagh. However, the cuts introduced by the 1987 government tipped the balance and the potholes became serious.
I drove a lot of what is now known as the Wild Atlantic Way then, before it had a name. West Clare was the only place where i actually turned around on a road and gave up. Perhaps this year I'll revisit some of those areas!

https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21267864-potholes-in-west-clare/

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

We had a couple of Fiat 124s in the ‘70s, both blue. By 1980/81 we graduated to the 131 Mirafiori, first was blue then magenta. My uncle also had one, white, possibly the special as the front headlights were circular rather than rectangular

Fiats were big in the 1970s, by the 80s people favoured Japanese models.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU8Im-4ACY8

zilog_jones · 16-07-2020 2:12pm

The roads in West Clare are quite good these days, even 20 years ago they were much worse than they are now.

Charles Babbage · 16-07-2020 4:21pm

zilog_jones wrote: »

The roads in West Clare are quite good these days, even 20 years ago they were much worse than they are now.

Does anyone recognise the section in the RTÉ archives clip? Where is it on Google Maps?

freshpopcorn · 16-07-2020 4:26pm

Stallingrad wrote: »

Adding adhesive pinstripes to a Peugeot 205 because they looked great on an BMW Alpina.

We had a diesel 205 all kitted out with GTI trim and alloys!

Wishbone Ash · 16-07-2020 5:14pm

RandomViewer wrote: »

If we are going that route, 5k of dual carriageway opened in Letterkenny in 1988, was supposed to be extended to Lifford and connect to the A5, still only 5k of dual carriageway 32 years later

Is the old road still there? You had to make a right turn for Lifford at a bend with a long wall if memory serves me right.

RandomViewer · 16-07-2020 5:44pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Is the old road still there? You had to make a right turn for Lifford at a bend with a long wall if memory serves me right.

Runs parallel ,haven't been on it in years, comes out the Lifford side of the Manor roundabout

Technique · 16-07-2020 8:40pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Is the old road still there? You had to make a right turn for Lifford at a bend with a long wall if memory serves me right.

Nothing wrong with your memory, it's been 32 years since that was the turn off for Lifford.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/tkrEwFYeQjaPTsv67

Wishbone Ash · 16-07-2020 10:04pm

Technique wrote: »

Nothing wrong with your memory, it's been 32 years since that was the turn off for Lifford.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/tkrEwFYeQjaPTsv67

Jesus that's made my day! I didn't realise that junction was still there albeit looking a little forlorn now. I thought it was swallowed up by the dual carriageway. Thanks for that.

cml387 · 17-07-2020 7:58am

It's hard to believe the main Cork Dublin road came to a full stop here.

A bypass was built in the ighties, and then the M8 came so Cahir is one of those towns that has been bypassed twice.
Well worth a visit though, lovely town.

freshpopcorn · 17-07-2020 8:29pm

cml387 wrote: »

It's hard to believe the main Cork Dublin road came to a full stop here.

A bypass was built in the ighties, and then the M8 came so Cahir is one of those towns that has been bypassed twice.
Well worth a visit though, lovely town.

Cahir was meant to have been brutal for traffic in those days. I often wondered how long would it take to drive from Cork- Dublin with no Motorways with Todays traffic levels.(Well pre Covid19 levels).

Irish motoring in the 1980’s

Comments