What Was Your First Car?

[ToraToraTora]

How much was it?
do you have an amusing anecdote?
I had a Ford Anglia 1200 cost £30. The battery was knackered so it often would not start but It would start so easily I could bump start it on my own!

[bhg481]

I remember reading an advert for a second-hand Zodiac -"Drinks and smokes but loves chidren". Sums it up, really.

[Paul22118]

Eighteen years old, my first car, of many, was a Riley one and half litre, RM 1952 vintage. Registration mark NXA 388. Cost £29 - 10shillings.
Wish I had it now I would not be surprised that it is still alive and well.

[ToraToraTora]

paul, checked DVLA, sadly that number is not on there. One of these right?
https://www.classicargarage.com/assets/images/d/riley-rm-saloon-01-a28b093d.jpg
magnificent, none for sale on ebay but there are 2 engines on there!

[KUSTARD]

Andres, you brought back memories I had forgotten about. We had one of those Bonds too. It used to have a speed wobble if we went downhill at more than 30 mph!!!! I was very young and "courting" at the time and was always in trouble for being late in. My parents were never convinced about how about how long it took us to get home. They thought we were "up to something" in the car. We would have to have been contortionists and dwarves (sorry if that is not pc)!!

[ToraToraTora]

andres, my mate had a bond it had a great advantage when parking you could put the front in with the rear sticking out then lift the back into the space!

[Redhelen72]

//Did any of these cars have power steering, electric windows, air conditioning, central locking, air bags, head restraints or rear seat belts?//

Nope infact to start mine you used to have to pull up the choke handle then pull up the starter handle!
I didn't have any heating either, in the winter it was wear extra layers to keep warm and I just loved the little triangle windows it had as well.

[Redhelen72]

Oh and I can still remember the number plate - it was a T reg meaning that when I had it in 1990 it was already 12 years old

[diddlydo]

Ours was a brand new Mini 850 in 1972. Cost £400 plus an extra £14 for the add-on heater. Extra long seat brackets put on driver's seat so 6'6" husband could actually drive it - only room for a legless passenger behind him!

[catswhiskas]

My dad bought me a 1966 mini van it had belonged to an undertakers, this was in 1970, I think the tax was cheaper for a van then, I stuck flowers all over it, great times.

[goodgoalie]

Yes, TTT my Rover 100 was a P4. There was an owners' club which helped with spare parts. There are still a few on the road - used to regularly see a lovely two-tone green one. A bit of a brute to drive - no power steering!

[bhg481]

I don't know if the tax was cheaper but there was no Purchase Tax on vans. You could, however, put rear windows in after about 3 years without having to pay the tax.

[SlackAlice]

Ford Popular de luxe, bought around 1966. Not sure how much I paid but it wouldn't have been much!

Car was reasonably trustworthy although it didn't like going up hills (especially if it was raining when the w/wipers went slower and slower!)

[bhg481]

I think the P4 was the only model made by Rover in 1961 (other than the Land Rover). Two engine sizes though by then; a 6 and a 4-cylinder. As a "did-you-know" the 6 cylinder models had the model on the bonnet, the fours didn't, the only exception being the 75 which was a 6 with a plain bonnet.

[SparklyKid]

1961 £25. Should have kept it.

https://ibb.co/VNC1mZY

[bhg481]

GG - did your P4 still have the free-wheel option or had it disappeared by then?

[Paul22118]

Tora, exactly the model. Mine was all black and although 15 years old when I got it - although it always seemed older, it was mechanically superb and did the Hammersmith to south Wales run many times. I sold it for a decent profit for a Ford 100E popular. Oh I so wish I had it now, your photograph is what it would look like today I'm sure.

[ToraToraTora]

stunning car, I'd love one but then again I'd have a 100 cars if I had a place to put them! In that picture it looks like the roof was detachable, was that the case?

[Paul22118]

TTT. The Riley of that marque was a fabulous vehicle and not cheap by standards of the day. The roof was not detachable although they did produce a drophead coupe. As I recall my vehicle had a factory fitted 'vinyl' roof, probably made of a synthetic fabric of the day.

[goodgoalie]

Hi bhg - no, no freewheel on my River 100, but I think other similar/older models had it.

[bhg481]

GG - yes, I knew they'd dropped it at some point, I just wasn't sure when. The P3 had it and my 1953 P4; it was an interesting way to drive with no engine braking at all but also no need to use the clutch other than start/stopping.