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Everything Else => General Automotive => Topic started by: Wizzo on May 14, 2008, 06:09:41 PM

Title: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Wizzo on May 14, 2008, 06:09:41 PM

I thought it might be fun to see what cars our Dad's either had or still have. I've listed the ones I can remember below together with the pictures I found on the net.

My dear ol' Dad was never much into changing cars, he would prefer to tinker with them and keep them going as long as possible.

Morris Minor Van (Before my time!)

Standard Vanguard 6 (He loved this car, bought it for £100 and kept it for 16 years - the car I grew up with)

Vauxhall Cortina Estate (This turned out to be very unreliable, hence the uncustomary quick change to a..........)

Vauxhall Magnum Estate
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Ian on May 14, 2008, 08:02:27 PM
My Dad's cars were
1937 Rover 12 (Capone type car) 1st one
Vauxhall Victor
Vauxhall Cresta (low line)
Austin A40 Mayflower
Mk1 Cortina
Humber Hawk
61' Ford Zodiak

Not in any order
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Scott on May 14, 2008, 08:24:24 PM
cos and dare will know a few of these...

1967 Ford Station Wagon (ours was blue, like in the pic).  MASSIVE motor in it.  Got wrecked a week after we sold it - Dad was sad.  Fold up seat in the back was good for 3 kids facing backwards.
1972 Ford Galaxy 500 Station Wagon (we didn't have the fancy 'squire' edition, but you get the idea).  Fold up seats in the back faced each other and could jam in another 4 kids.  Electric windows - whoooeee!  This is the car I learned to drive (when I was 11 - my Dad let me take the garbage out our cottage road...about 3 miles of one lane dirt road...all by myself.  I only ditched it once, and then only because it was muddy).
1978 Chrysler Lebaron.  My parents won a small lottery ($10k), so instead of getting a K-Car, we ended up with the oh very luxurious version.  Got this one airborne once when a township nearby in Quebec decided to switch stop signs at an intersection.  The once raised main road was then required to stop, while the sideroad suddenly had a huge bump in it at the intersection.  Took pretty much the entire exhaust system off from the headers on back.  The garage guy never said anything about the damage (whew?).

After that, Dad went Japanese and bought a few boring Toyota sedans - Cressida and Camry
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Ian on May 14, 2008, 09:11:43 PM
That 'Vauxhall' Cortina looks pretty much like a FORD Cortina to me Wiz.  :DD
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Dare on May 14, 2008, 09:25:08 PM
54 Chevy,barely remember it

58 Chevy station wagon  learned to drive in it

65 Rambler  he had a cousin that unfortually sold Ramblers
                 so he bought one off him
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Wizzo on May 14, 2008, 09:46:55 PM
Quote
That 'Vauxhall' Cortina looks pretty much like a FORD Cortina to me Wiz. 

ooops  :-[
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Neil.P on May 14, 2008, 09:57:35 PM
My Dad's always had naff cars, I'll never forget the Austin Maestro, total crap it was >:(
Oh and the Escort work vans that he used to put that grey paint on when they started going rusty :DD

Neil.P
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: John S on May 14, 2008, 10:01:11 PM
Jowett Bradford, Estate/Van.

Morris Minor pick up.

Austin Cambridge. after the pick up all us kids thought it was heaven with its deep leather seats.

Vauxhall 490HL - we all loved this as well as it had column gearchange and a bench seat in the front so 3 of us and him could cram up front.

Morris Marina 1.7 coupe - Bloody horrible thing but went like bat out of hell, difficult to stop though. It's the first one of his I ever drove.

Chrysler Alpine - another horror story the gearbox was like stirring porridge and often got the wrong gear.

Citroen BX - great for dodging wheel clampers with it's pneumatic suspension.

Volvo 340 - sadly that was his last ever car, a car built for especially for pensioners it seems
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Alianora La Canta on May 14, 2008, 10:32:19 PM
Dad used to like Volvos because even the second-hand ones were reliable. When I was younger, it seemed every other car was a Volvo of some sort.

Apart from those, he's had:

Several Ford Mondeos - these have been useful any time there were no Volvos or really cheap second-hand vehicles on the market (I don't think Dad has ever driven a new or nearly-new car). They run fairly well when in my family's hands, except for the one fault that recurs every four months (each Mondeo seems to have a different recurring fault).

A Renault 25 - yuk. Not only was it an unfortunate shade of brown, but it broke down a lot. The exhaust couldn't stand our partially-cobbled driveway and the catalytic converter (or something related to it) wouldn't last 100 miles.

Three Nissan Micras - Dad's first company cars (his original career traditionally expected workers to provide their own wheels). Made an absolute racket on the motorway, but quite practical otherwise. The company stopped using them after someone broke into one and stole the computer tools from it.

A Kango van - Should have been called "Kan go, but not very quickly". Even worse, I couldn't get my feet in the passenger footwell, and I was only 14 at the time and was still growing! Thankfully, we only had it three days before the company realised what a big mistake they were and threw them all back at the vehicle hire firm.

A small Ford Transit van - a much better choice of van, the company actually stuck with it for a year. I could get in, it could get to jobs on the Scottish border in fewer than 152 hours and everyone was happier. Except Mum, who never got used to the idea of using a mode of transport that could only take two people without the excuse being that it stored a horse as well...

A Ford Ka - A Micra look-a-like that was nowhere near as good a runner as its Nissan counterpart. Also an absolute pain to park because the bonnet design was so weird. Plus we never agreed on how to pronounce the name.

A Hyundai Lantra - very boring but very practical. My kind of car - unfortunately we only had it for a few months before the company providing the car collapsed!

A Mercedes - Dad felt really good driving this. Unfortunately the fuel economy wasn't so good - but it was the first car we ever had that could be converted to use a CD changer, which scored brownie points. Engine eventually blew up (around Nurburgring 2004, when the Mercedes in the McLarens were doing the same thing!)

A Renault (unknown model) - the current car in our garage. Fuel consumption is inconsistent and the talking warning system (only car we've had with one) is irritating, but other than that, it works well.
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: CrazyHorse on May 15, 2008, 09:40:44 AM
i remember my dad having a Morris Ital, they was like the scooby's of the day. and loads of cortinas and capri's

Ali, your dad has great taste in cars, i wish i'd bought a volvo s40 T5 rather than the scooby cos of the amount of petrol it eats

 :good:
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: cosworth151 on May 15, 2008, 02:11:15 PM
The ones I remember, in approx. order:

1947 DeSoto Custom Club Coupe, Dark Green, 236 cid flathead straight 6

1949 Ford Custom Club Coupe, Grey, 239 flathead V8, Beautiful, I still love that car

1952 Plymouth Cranbrook 4 door sedan. Black, 217 cid flathead straigh 6. Dependable, but as boring as it looks

1955 Pontiac Chieftan 4 door sedan. two tone blue 287 cid ohv V8

1958 Ford Fairlane 500 two door hardtop. White. 352 Thunderbird Interceptor V8. Great. It would pass anything on the road (except a gas station)

1963 Falcon four door sedan. Glacier blue. 144 cid straight 6 with a 3-on-the-tree. The only NEW car we had while I was growing up.
Title: Re: Cars Your Dad Used to Drive
Post by: Dare on May 15, 2008, 03:44:08 PM
I still like the 49 Ford too.I had a friend
that had a Falcon Sprint convertiable,not
sure of the year.
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