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Irish motoring in the 1980’s

1235711

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,336 ✭✭✭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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,336 ✭✭✭alias no.9


    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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    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.


  • 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


  • 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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,890 ✭✭✭Charles Babbage


    “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.


  • 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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 987 ✭✭✭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.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 73,477 ✭✭✭✭colm_mcm


    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?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    colm_mcm wrote: »
    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?

    Think 86 was the last year you could run with no plates, know someone who bought a new Hiace in 86 and ran it until 87 before registering, Think revenue had to be informed of sale and taxes paid in 87


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


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

    C, D or E? , C was back wheel drive, made from 73 to 79, 1.0 or 1.2, very common in the eighties, very easy worked on.
    D or Astra A was front whee drive , solid wee car ,lots of engine choices including 1.8GTE and 1.6 diesel.
    E or the Goose egg Kadett was mechanically same a D with a more aerodynamic body, never liked them


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,336 ✭✭✭alias no.9


    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.

    It became worse when the year plates came in, pretty sure it was a thing up to 1990 which may have been the straw that broke the camels back.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    alias no.9 wrote: »
    It became worse when the year plates came in, pretty sure it was a thing up to 1990 which may have been the straw that broke the camels back.

    I know if you never taxed it you could register it again the next year but the car would have had plates


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Think 86 was the last year you could run with no plates, know someone who bought a new Hiace in 86 and ran it until 87 before registering, Think revenue had to be informed of sale and taxes paid in 87

    I remember it being a thing and wouldn't’ have been old enough to remember pre 1986 so it defo went on into the early 90s. Quite common to see new cars with no plates I seem to remember.
    Gas how we’ve gone from being an extremely lax nation rules to the complete opposite now


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    C, D or E? , C was back wheel drive, made from 73 to 79, 1.0 or 1.2, very common in the eighties, very easy worked on.
    D or Astra A was front whee drive , solid wee car ,lots of engine choices including 1.8GTE and 1.6 diesel.
    E or the Goose egg Kadett was mechanically same a D with a more aerodynamic body, never liked them

    My aunt had a D then. They were better quality I reckon than the E which we had. The Astra that replaced it was a lot better car


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,717 ✭✭✭✭Geuze


    During the 1980s, my friend's parents had a gas-fired (turbine?) in the boot.

    I presume this was a response to the oil crisis of 1979?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,736 ✭✭✭lalababa


    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”?

    I could buy a car today for 50 quid and drive it for years.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Geuze wrote: »
    During the 1980s, my friend's parents had a gas-fired (turbine?) in the boot.

    I presume this was a response to the oil crisis of 1979?

    I’d say it was just the fuel tank!
    Our vet had a big ole Volvo 240 saloon barge that ran on lpg and had one. Something to do with the pressures of the fuel


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


    Reading this thread one thing that sticks out to me is in the 1980s a banger can be a sub 10 year old car, most cars now don’t fall into ‘bangerhood’ until the car is over 20 years old??

    My opinion on it anyway.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,163 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    C, D or E? , C was back wheel drive, made from 73 to 79, 1.0 or 1.2, very common in the eighties, very easy worked on.
    D or Astra A was front whee drive , solid wee car ,lots of engine choices including 1.8GTE and 1.6 diesel.
    E or the Goose egg Kadett was mechanically same a D with a more aerodynamic body, never liked them

    79 would have been available to the working youth early to mid 80s so I’m guessing C, always seemed modded with big wheels if memory serves me right


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,450 ✭✭✭JoeA3


    Think 86 was the last year you could run with no plates, know someone who bought a new Hiace in 86 and ran it until 87 before registering, Think revenue had to be informed of sale and taxes paid in 87

    No, this was still going on up to 1992.


  • Registered Users Posts: 155 ✭✭watlantic


    road_high wrote: »
    I’d say it was just the fuel tank!
    Our vet had a big ole Volvo 240 saloon barge that ran on lpg and had one. Something to do with the pressures of the fuel
    Lots of people converted from petrol to LPG gas in the 80s, especially taxi drivers and professionals who did high mileage in large cars. The LPG fuel tank was huge and was fitted in the boot, leaving little space for anything else. The petrol engine was converted to gas fairly easily (by a mechanic) with a relatively cheap conversion kit. There was no 'turbine'. LPG was cheaper than petrol and considered a 'clean' fuel.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    watlantic wrote: »
    Lots of people converted from petrol to LPG gas in the 80s, especially taxi drivers and professionals who did high mileage in large cars. The LPG fuel tank was huge and was fitted in the boot, leaving little space for anything else. The petrol engine was converted to gas fairly easily (by a mechanic) with a relatively cheap conversion kit. There was no 'turbine'. LPG was cheaper than petrol and considered a 'clean' fuel.

    Anyone run on lpg these days?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    79 would have been available to the working youth early to mid 80s so I’m guessing C, always seemed modded with big wheels if memory serves me right

    Had 2, both estates, 2 big Cibies on the front, Ascona wheels


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,382 ✭✭✭Juan Pablo


    https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21213067-motor-show/

    Always interesting to see the prices back then relative to, say, property. For what that Scorpio cost you could have had a decent 3 bed semi in ‘86


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭Old diesel


    My uncle had the Pug 504 estate with the third row of seats.

    A Granada pretty much filled the space a 5 series does now - yes you could buy a 5 series back then but nothing like as common as now.

    If you wanted to save a few quid to have a brand new vehicle and didn't care about only 2 seats. You bought a car van.

    Toyota Corolla was pretty much the best selling car in Ireland when I first got interested in cars.

    Audi's were actual PROPER cars not just a premium brand or so it seemed.

    The C3 100 was nicely styled but as was the perfect Irish way to buy a German car back then - tended to be sparsely specced.

    Diesel conversions were off the scale and you'd wonder how modern insurance actuaries would deal with 1980s motoring when they get upset with 16 year old normal cars.

    Rear headrests were a strong indicator you were behind a high spec cars.

    I used to think 100 k miles was HUGE - my brother went to school with a fella whose parents bought a Merc with 100 k miles.

    Seemed insane but in 1988 I didn't realise that on a W123 Mercedes 100 k was probably equivalent to 30 k on a normal car.

    :):)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭Old diesel


    My first big motoring revelation was traveling in a Mk 2 petrol Golf. Family car was a Datsun 180b and the Golf was on a different planet for refinement.

    The BEST all rounder car on the market by a country mile and bear in mind I was a Bluebird fanboy at the time.

    Was the Carina II.....

    Purchasable on a normal budget even if 2nd hand - check.

    Comfortable - check.

    Not hard to run - check.

    Generally pleasant - check

    Reliable - YES and to a frankly legendary level of brilliance .

    Whats not to like :):).

    Opel Rekords got mentioned earlier and they were one car I never got the appeal of. The one I was in was epically bland and uninteresting for something that in theory a Granada competitor.

    Yes it was your typical German car spec in the 80s spec but I thought the Ascona was actually nicer. You didn't seem to get the nice feeling of refinement and ultra smoothness a decent big car should give.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    Old diesel wrote: »
    My first big motoring revelation was traveling in a Mk 2 petrol Golf. Family car was a Datsun 180b and the Golf was on a different planet for refinement.

    The BEST all rounder car on the market by a country mile and bear in mind I was a Bluebird fanboy at the time.

    Was the Carina II.....

    Purchasable on a normal budget even if 2nd hand - check.

    Comfortable - check.

    Not hard to run - check.

    Generally pleasant - check

    Reliable - YES and to a frankly legendary level of brilliance .

    Whats not to like :):).

    Opel Rekords got mentioned earlier and they were one car I never got the appeal of. The one I was in was epically bland and uninteresting for something that in theory a Granada competitor.

    Yes it was your typical German car spec in the 80s spec but I thought the Ascona was actually nicer. You didn't seem to get the nice feeling of refinement and ultra smoothness a decent big car should give.
    Farmers didn't really buy jeeps in 80 s ,big Rekord could pull an trailer and take the family to mass as well


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭Old diesel


    Farmers didn't really buy jeeps in 80 s ,big Rekord could pull an trailer and take the family to mass as well

    That makes sense.

    We used a Stanza for the pull a trailer and take family to mass thing. Not the best for it - it could actually pull the trailer quite well for what it was.

    But they just werent built to do it repeatedly over the long term - especially with rough farm roadways.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    Old diesel wrote: »
    That makes sense.

    We used a Stanza for the pull a trailer and take family to mass thing. Not the best for it - it could actually pull the trailer quite well for what it was.

    But they just werent built to do it repeatedly over the long term - especially with rough farm roadways.

    Renault 18 and Toyota Carina would've been the favourites, fairly high ground clearance on the Renault and the Carina just wouldn't give in , pushed a transit five miles with a Carina once, didn't have a tow rope


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,009 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    Think 86 was the last year you could run with no plates, know someone who bought a new Hiace in 86 and ran it until 87 before registering, Think revenue had to be informed of sale and taxes paid in 87
    It went on for a few years after that. A work colleague bought a new car in March 1989 and didn't register it until 1990. It pissed off a lot of people at work.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,551 ✭✭✭John.G


    Old diesel wrote: »
    That makes sense.

    We used a Stanza for the pull a trailer and take family to mass thing. Not the best for it - it could actually pull the trailer quite well for what it was.

    But they just werent built to do it repeatedly over the long term - especially with rough farm roadways.

    I remember a number of Fiat 600D(s) pulling trailers.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,654 ✭✭✭✭For Forks Sake


    Padre Pio or Our lady dash magnets

    Those were sat-nav for drunk drivers


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    John.G wrote: »
    I remember a number of Fiat 600D(s) pulling trailers.

    Was that the Fiorino van? Remember a few of those around early 90s ish.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Old diesel wrote: »

    A Granada pretty much filled the space a 5 series does now - yes you could buy a 5 series back then but nothing like as common as now.

    Looking at price lists from the era the prices were insane. Multiples of other makes. BMW, Mercedes were very much the preserve of the genuinely well off here. Globalistion, free trade, the euro etc have brought prices down substantially in relative terms.
    A family with any half decent incomes can now have a 5 series if they want one.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,244 ✭✭✭swarlb


    road_high wrote: »
    Was that the Fiorino van? Remember a few of those around early 90s ish.

    A Fiat 600D was a rear engine car from the 50/60's.... To be honest, I'd be surprised if there were any of these doing much towing in the 80's, but stranger things have happened.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    swarlb wrote: »
    A Fiat 600D was a rear engine car from the 50/60's.... To be honest, I'd be surprised if there were any of these doing much towing in the 80's, but stranger things have happened.

    More likely 131 Miafiori or Ritmo, Fiorino was 127 based


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Old diesel wrote: »
    My first big motoring revelation was traveling in a Mk 2 petrol Golf. Family car was a Datsun 180b and the Golf was on a different planet for refinement.

    The BEST all rounder car on the market by a country mile and bear in mind I was a Bluebird fanboy at the time.

    Was the Carina II.....

    Purchasable on a normal budget even if 2nd hand - check.

    Comfortable - check.

    Not hard to run - check.

    Generally pleasant - check

    Reliable - YES and to a frankly legendary level of brilliance .

    Whats not to like :):).

    Opel Rekords got mentioned earlier and they were one car I never got the appeal of. The one I was in was epically bland and uninteresting for something that in theory a Granada competitor.

    Yes it was your typical German car spec in the 80s spec but I thought the Ascona was actually nicer. You didn't seem to get the nice feeling of refinement and ultra smoothness a decent big car should give.

    We had a Carina II 1989 used in the mid 90s- absolutely brilliant car for the era. Was the 2.0l diesel and had been a company car that had been well minded. Lovely spec and finish and felt very substantial and safe.
    My grand uncle had a big ole diesel Rekord and while they were built like a tank it felt and sounded fairly agricultural


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 555 ✭✭✭Philb76


    When i was a kid in the 80s didn't know anyone who had a diesel car I remember our school minibus that we used to play other schools in gaa and soccer was petrol


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Philb76 wrote: »
    When i was a kid in the 80s didn't know anyone who had a diesel car I remember our school minibus that we used to play other schools in gaa and soccer was petrol

    My cousins had newish Peugeot’s all the time (305 in the 80s) and had their own little diesel tank for it.
    The VW Jetta in the late 80s into the early 90s also made diesel popular here.
    Petrol was for the vast majority though for sure


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,493 ✭✭✭cml387


    I remember once sitting into someone's diesel Golf (80's), and couldn't believe the racket and the vibration.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    road_high wrote: »
    We had a Carina II 1989 used in the mid 90s- absolutely brilliant car for the era. Was the 2.0l diesel and had been a company car that had been well minded. Lovely spec and finish and felt very substantial and safe.
    My grand uncle had a big ole diesel Rekord and while they were built like a tank it felt and sounded fairly agricultural

    Same engine as a CF Bedford van, was doing the rounds since the 60s,


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Same engine as a CF Bedford van, was doing the rounds since the 60s,

    If it was it was none the worse for it to be honest!
    Think it was non turbo but pulled very pull and by the diesel standard of the tine wasn’t desperately unrefined. Very reliable and economical too.
    Did the mighty Toyota really fit a Bedford Diesel engine then? That’s mad


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,336 ✭✭✭alias no.9


    road_high wrote: »
    If it was it was none the worse for it to be honest!
    Think it was non turbo but pulled very pull and by the diesel standard of the tine wasn’t desperately unrefined. Very reliable and economical too.
    Did the mighty Toyota really fit a Bedford Diesel engine then? That’s mad

    I'm guessing they're talking about the Opel Rekord


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    alias no.9 wrote: »
    I'm guessing they're talking about the Opel Rekord

    Sorry of course picked that up wrong!
    Was like wtf would Toyota be using ex Bedford van diesels for!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,009 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    road_high wrote: »
    Looking at price lists from the era the prices were insane. Multiples of other makes. BMW, Mercedes were very much the preserve of the genuinely well off here. Globalistion, free trade, the euro etc have brought prices down substantially in relative terms.
    A family with any half decent incomes can now have a 5 series if they want one.
    The main reason is that credit/money is much more accessible now. In the 1980's you'd have to crawl on your knees to a bank manager who would take great delight in rejecting your application. Most people who had Mercs in the 1980's bought them outright.
    Philb76 wrote: »
    When i was a kid in the 80s didn't know anyone who had a diesel car I remember our school minibus that we used to play other schools in gaa and soccer was petrol
    I remember exactly when I was when I first encountered a diesel car. I was outside a secondary school with my father and a friend of his pulled up in one. It was a yellow VW Golf (Mk I?). I thought it sounded ridiculous clattering away like a tractor while they talked. I had to ask my father why it sounded so noisy. This was around 1977ish.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 302 ✭✭Muscles Schultz


    The main reason is that credit/money is much more accessible now. In the 1980's you'd have to crawl on your knees to a bank manager who would take great delight in rejecting your application. Most people who had Mercs in the 1980's bought them outright.

    I remember exactly when I was when I first encountered a diesel car. I was outside a secondary school with my father and a friend of his pulled up in one. It was a yellow VW Golf (Mk I?). I thought it sounded ridiculous clattering away like a tractor while they talked. I had to ask my father why it sounded so noisy. This was around 1977ish.

    That was another thing - diesel cars left idling for ages rather than have the ignition switched off


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,472 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    That was another thing - diesel cars left idling for ages rather than have the ignition switched off

    They needed to be "warmed up" lol


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,349 ✭✭✭Jimmy Garlic


    beauf wrote: »
    Vento was a barge. Drove like a boat. But huge boot and bomb proof Non Turbo Diesel. But the quality wasn't the same as previous VWs.

    God awful car. Build quality was shocking bad especially in the interior. It was just a matter of time before the cheap plastic flap for opening the glovebox broke off and everything you had inside it was stuck there forever. A sea of cheap plastic. In terms of interior build quality it was almost as bad as a Renault 19, much much worse in terms of how it handled. Farmers loved it, pulling trailers at 30mph was all it was good for, closer to a tractor than a car.


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