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Irish motoring in the 1980’s

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Comments

  • #452
    Kaybaykwah
    Registered Users Posts: 3,083 ✭✭✭Kaybaykwah


    RandomViewer wrote: »
    Only fool's and horses and Mr Bean were the only place you'd see them,


    My first trip to Ireland was in 81, then I lived in 87-88 in Dublin, and there were quite a number of them, not tons, but you would see them about. I didn't dream this up, and Mr Bean drove a Mini.


  • #453
    Kaybaykwah
    Registered Users Posts: 3,083 ✭✭✭Kaybaykwah


    Arthur Daley wrote: »
    3 wheelers and Invacars were a thing youd only see in Britain, or up the north. Or at the side of the pitch on the Big match.

    Nope.


  • #454
    RandomViewer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    Kaybaykwah wrote: »
    My first trip to Ireland was in 81, then I lived in 87-88 in Dublin, and there were quite a number of them, not tons, but you would see them about. I didn't dream this up, and Mr Bean drove a Mini.

    But always one in every episode

    https://youtu.be/VDX_pW8C5Y0


  • #455
    extra-ordinary_
    Registered Users Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭extra-ordinary_


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8


  • #456
    zilog_jones
    Registered Users Posts: 6,641 ✭✭✭zilog_jones


    The Robin in Top Gear was modified to roll over easily. Don't believe everything you see on TV :)


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  • #457
    extra-ordinary_
    Registered Users Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭extra-ordinary_


    zilog_jones wrote: »
    The Robin in Top Gear was modified to roll over easily. Don't believe everything you see on TV :)

    Ah yeh...was funny all the same.


  • #458
    stoneill
    Registered Users Posts: 3,610 ✭✭✭stoneill


    Did anyone mention the "I shot JR" sun visors yet?


  • #459
    colm_mcm
    Registered Users Posts: 73,379 ✭✭✭✭colm_mcm


    stoneill wrote: »
    Did anyone mention the "I shot JR" sun visors yet?

    Rally sun strips were very popular too.

    Rothmans Rally ones in particular.


  • #460
    extra-ordinary_
    Registered Users Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭extra-ordinary_


    stoneill wrote: »
    Did anyone mention the "I shot JR" sun visors yet?



    Or 'Mafia Staff Car' ?


  • #461
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    Red number plates and spotting English cars on the bog roads at night, they were the only ones that didn't have headlights that bounced all over the place as their suspension wasn't knackered.
    Irish car headlights spent as much time stargazing as they did pointing at the road.


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  • #462
    Mango Joe
    Registered Users Posts: 1,179 ✭✭✭Mango Joe


    No NCT is one I often think of - The right front wheel came off our car in the late 80's car turned left and the wheel trundled on right on its own course.

    The thing is that without a regular NCT check and the preventative maintenance it kicks off this crap must have been common!`

    Also there used to be lethal potholes back then - Every couple of months you'd hit a crater on the road with a bang that jarred through the car and as you drove away you legitimately wondered if your steering/suspension and whatever else was going to be ok!


  • #463
    I Was VB
    Registered Users Posts: 1,912 ✭✭✭I Was VB


    Mango Joe wrote: »
    No NCT is one I often think of - The right front wheel came off our car in the late 80's car turned left and the wheel trundled on right on its own course.

    The thing is that without a regular NCT check and the preventative maintenance it kicks off this crap must have been common!`

    Also there used to be lethal potholes back then - Every couple of months you'd hit a crater on the road with a bang that jarred through the car and as you drove away you legitimately wondered if your steering/suspension and whatever else was going to be ok!


    As much as the nct is a profiteering organization, they have managed to bring the standards of cars up to a level that John and Mary wouldn’t if they’d been left to their own devices.


  • #464
    RandomViewer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    I Was VB wrote: »
    As much as the nct is a profiteering organization, they have managed to bring the standards of cars up to a level that John and Mary wouldn’t if they’d been left to their own devices.

    Yes and no, while they ensured everyone had brakes (optional in the 80s) they pissed people off being pedantic about number plates and indicators not being orange enough


  • #465
    salonfire
    Registered Users Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭salonfire


    RandomViewer wrote: »
    Yes and no, while they ensured everyone had brakes (optional in the 80s) they pissed people off being pedantic about number plates and indicators not being orange enough

    But they have to follow a standard. Much fairer than using the tester's opinion as that would just open another can of worms.


  • #466
    Lockheed
    Registered Users Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Lockheed


    I wasn't around but my mam and her family all drove minis (except my aunt who had a VW beetle). Many stories about driving into town to fill the boot with stale bread for the sheep and with the weight of them all and the bread the back end was scraping. Sheep hitched a lift in the back a few times too, surprisingly practical for such a small car. There were holes in the floor, and it was common on the back roads that when hitting a puddle the floor (and their feet) would be soaked. My nanny once floored the accelerator in the driveway mistaking it for the break and nearly hitting a wall! Never drove since. One of the minis a Rover one lasted the longest. Brown colour, I have the plate on my wall - '6076 AI'. My mam's boyfreind at the time apparently had a novelty horn, General Lee style dixie horn. Doesn't remember what car he drove, but i'd put money on it being a fiesta van !! Would the novelty horns have been popular back then?


  • #467
    CoBo55
    Registered Users Posts: 8,660 ✭✭✭CoBo55


    Lockheed wrote: »
    I wasn't around but my mam and her family all drove minis (except my aunt who had a VW beetle). Many stories about driving into town to fill the boot with stale bread for the sheep and with the weight of them all and the bread the back end was scraping. Sheep hitched a lift in the back a few times too, surprisingly practical for such a small car. There were holes in the floor, and it was common on the back roads that when hitting a puddle the floor (and their feet) would be soaked. My nanny once floored the accelerator in the driveway mistaking it for the break and nearly hitting a wall! Never drove since. One of the minis a Rover one lasted the longest. Brown colour, I have the plate on my wall - '6076 AI'. My mam's boyfreind at the time apparently had a novelty horn, General Lee style dixie horn. Doesn't remember what car he drove, but i'd put money on it being a fiesta van !! Would the novelty horns have been popular back then?

    Nah, trumpet horns were 70’s and strictly for bog hoppers...


  • #468
    Lockheed
    Registered Users Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Lockheed


    CoBo55 wrote: »
    Nah, trumpet horns were 70’s and strictly for bog hoppers...

    Well they grew up in Longwood which is pretty close to bog land so it makes sense.


  • #469
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,947 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    Lockheed wrote: »
    ... Would the novelty horns have been popular back then?
    Bloody pain in the arse in residential areas. Idiots would be dropping someone off late at night and then sound their stupid novelty horn and wake up everyone else.


  • #470
    Panrich
    Registered Users Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭Panrich


    stoneill wrote: »
    Did anyone mention the "I shot JR" sun visors yet?

    Down my neck of the woods it was almost obligatory to have a bumper sticker with ‘Dance your ass off to Tweed’.


  • #471
    cml387
    Registered Users Posts: 8,356 ✭✭✭cml387


    Panrich wrote: »
    Down my neck of the woods it was almost obligatory to have a bumper sticker with ‘Dance your ass off to Tweed’.

    "Travellin' with Flavin"


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  • #472
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 28,277 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Bit of an 80s flashback yesterday - not often you see someone tinkering round under the bonnet. This older gent with his older VW looked like he knew what he was doing.

    522963.jpg

    522964.jpg


  • #473
    odyssey06
    Registered Users Posts: 27,741 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    The parking seems a bit 1980s too...

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • #474
    Allinall
    Registered Users Posts: 6,521 ✭✭✭Allinall


    odyssey06 wrote: »
    The parking seems a bit 1980s too...

    He had just one bad leg, by the looks of it.


  • #475
    Ash.J.Williams
    Registered Users Posts: 20,929 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    freshpopcorn wrote: »
    When ever I see a Pajero I think of armed robberies in the 90's for some reason!

    the monks big robbery used a pajero and nobody noticed the reg was older than the model itself! It was parked up for days beforehand!


  • #476
    Con man
    Registered Users Posts: 3 ✭Con man


    colm_mcm wrote: »
    Might be a Sunny or Stanza you’re thinking of

    Hi I was looking for help in locating a car I used to own it was a grey Toyota carina 2 with the reg 91d9494. My dad bought it in 1995/6 from Murphy and Gunn and I bought it off him in 1999. If anyone knows its whereabouts It would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Con man


  • #477
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,947 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    Con man wrote: »
    Hi I was looking for help in locating a car I used to own it was a grey Toyota carina 2 with the reg 91d9494. My dad bought it in 1995/6 from Murphy and Gunn and I bought it off him in 1999. If anyone knows its whereabouts It would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Con man
    It's appearing on Cartell so presumably it's still on the road - Toyota Carina 1.6GL 1587cc

    https://www.cartell.ie/ssl/servlet/beginStarLookup?registration=91D9494


  • #478
    Odyssey 2005
    Registered Users Posts: 21,065 ✭✭✭✭Odyssey 2005


    For-Reg


  • #479
    swarlb
    Registered Users Posts: 1,244 ✭✭✭swarlb


    Con man wrote: »
    Hi I was looking for help in locating a car I used to own it was a grey Toyota carina 2 with the reg 91d9494. My dad bought it in 1995/6 from Murphy and Gunn and I bought it off him in 1999. If anyone knows its whereabouts It would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Con man

    Did he buy it in the 80's ??


  • #480
    BrianD3
    Registered Users Posts: 8,265 ✭✭✭BrianD3


    Wishbone Ash wrote: »
    It's appearing on Cartell so presumably it's still on the road - Toyota Carina 1.6GL 1587cc

    https://www.cartell.ie/ssl/servlet/beginStarLookup?registration=91D9494
    Appearing on the cartell free check just means that it has been taxed at some point since 1993 - not really of any help in this case.

    More useful is to enter the reg on www.ncts.ie/1263 which shows it hasn't been NCT'd since March 2008 so highly unlikely that it is still on the road. Most likely scrapped but might be sitting in a field or shed somewhere.


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  • #481
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    BrianD3 wrote: »
    Appearing on the cartell free check just means that it has been taxed at some point since 1993 - not really of any help in this case.

    More useful is to enter the reg on www.ncts.ie/1263 which shows it hasn't been NCT'd since March 2008 so highly unlikely that it is still on the road. Most likely scrapped but might be sitting in a field or shed somewhere.
    More likely recycled and metallic parts from it are scattered around the world as nuts & bolts or part of a Chinese railway track!


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