My first car. Summer of '98 I got it. It was red but badly sun damaged took me weeks of t-cutting it to get any sort of colour back into the panels that had turned pink.
Learned and passed my test in my dad's car, a Fiat 124 like this:- My first car was a Mk 3 Ford Cortina 1.6 in this colour:- complete with black vinyl roof and red pinstripe. I later had it sprayed black.
My first bike on which I passed my test a long long time ago........ A Yamaha 125 twin AND, co-incidentally i've picked up a Yamaha twin today practically the same colour. A 700cc Tracer with 20 miles on the clock.
I would never buy a red car for that reason alone. Back in the day Fords were also terrible for it, Cortina's, Sierras you name it.
Yeah whatever.... For the others who genuinely don't know; It was one of Fords finest especially tailored (should that be trailer-ed?) for the sales rep or family man. It came with a totally gutless 1.3 if you weren't in a rush, up to the heady heights of a 2.0 pinto or even a V6 .... woooow
Passed my test in one of these bad boys - 1st time pass, you should have seen the look on the instructors face when I got back !!! He used to refer to me as Stirling. It was a 1.6i, iirc, so used to boot it everywhere
I had a mk4 2.0 GL in blue. It was quite a nice car in its own way but remember once losing the back end in the wet leaving a roundabout and entering a motorway slip road. A nice big WAGGLE but stayed on the tarmac ...... just
I have never taken a car driving test, got my car & MC license at 14 after driving farm trucks for 7 years back in 73, have never taken a motorcycle test until last month because the idiots at the licenses office failed to transfer the MC license upon renewal. took that test on the street triple in a parking lot. Will have to take a class b vehicle test for my motorhome because it weighs over 26,000 lbs and I live in one of the few states where motorhomes are not exempt.
Just been asked to renew my driver license ??? Going to charge me for the privilege too !!! Feckin Robin Bstrds Anybody else had this ?
Vauxhall Cresta PB same colour scheme as the image below. 2.6 litre straight six that was as smooth as silk and married to the unusual (at the time) option of the Hydramatic gearbox. Lovely car to drive, if rather clumsy in cornering, quiet, comfortable and fairly quick - for the time. It had an unusual speedometer, a ribbon type, that wound out 'lengthways' ... IIRC it showed green to 30mph; orange to 50(?) then red to the limit which easily stretched into 3 figures. Took the test in 1967 and passed first time having done most of my learning on the roads of a local hospital - fittingly a lunatic asylum of the old fashioned type - before a couple of weeks of public road familiarisation and my formal test. My father was something of a Vauxhall fan having had a Cresta in these colours before the PB ...... It's probably a formative thing but I still LOVE the lines of that PA Cresta, especially in the @Havana Brown and Regency Cream' colour scheme. I'd passed my bike test a year before but had to borrow a scooter (a Lambretta) to take a scheduled test when my 250 AJS 'expired' a week before the test. A first time pass enabled me to go out and immediately buy a 1958 T110 (with the Slickshift 'box, no less!) and, even though it was something of an 8 year old, hand painted mongrel by the time I got it, it cemented my lifelong love affair for Triumphs. Happy days!
Yeah, know exactly how you feel, Mr.O. But the PA HAS to be in an original, two tone colour scheme and, preferably, run whitewalls ... like this one Oops, sorry, you asked me to stop. I aplogise.
A white Ford Escort MK1, RUY924L. A mate also took his test in it and bought the car when Westmal School of motoring sold it.
I drove a Hillman Minx Series III thru' my Uni days. Powder Blue over Charcoal, loved that car, this really is the car I wish I handn't sold. (Stock Image, and no that's not my mum in the car !!!)
I never had lessons but being brought up on a farm i learnt in an old Ford tractor when i was about 7. When i decided that i had toned my skills driving that i well dad rented a Datsun sunny for the afternoon. I passed the first time. Funnily it was the same tester that i had the week before for my bike test. Passed 1st time as well. I remember it well. It was chucking it down, my 1 piece waterproofs were not waterproof and my socks weighed a ton from the water. Off he sent me around the lanes waiting for the emergency stop. Suddenly he jumped out on me 2 foot away from behind a van, hitting him hard and breaking his arm. He said it was all his fault, gave me the pass certificate before calling the ambulance. 2 days later i was heading for my first continental camping trip. I only had an old AA handbook with maps in it of Europe and £100 in my pockets. Best 2 weeks of my life.
Hmm.... like the Minx - but preferred the successor Mks. III and IV. Guess I'm into "fins"? I suspect this thread might morph into "which car do you most regret selling?" but, at the risk of perpetuating the slight derailment, here's the one I personally most regret letting go .....well, from that era, at least. I had a bright red '65 Corsair GT with 6.5J (silver) steels (wider than the original RoStyles) and on a sunny day after a wax and polish ...... ermmmmm ..... the car, that is - I could sit and stare at that thing for hours! Mind you, sitting in it on said sunny day was a nightmare with all the black 'ambla' vinyl upholstery that would burn bare flesh!
