An old bloke's motoring history

[Dippydog]

In our house-although mum and dad never wanted us to have two wheel transport-you had a motorbike you absolutely didn't have a scooter!!My second car was a MkIII Zephyr 4 like the one pictured above[mine was dark green] bought second hand and on finance the finance lasted longer than the car did! It remains the only car I've ever bought on finance.

[HankScorpio]

My folks would have laughed me out the house if I'd bought a scooter. Last bikes they had were both Kwak Zephyr 550s that they went all over a Europe in.

My first bike was an Aprilia RS125 Harada replica. I remember my dad taking it for a spin and coming back with eyes like saucers.

Of course being an Italian 2-stroke, it spectacularly exploded. Cost me £1200 to fix and managed to get me 12 miles before spectacularly exploding again. Bloody enjoyable inbetween explosions though.

[V90Towman]

All beautiful cars and the B&W photos are so nostalgic fantastic images.

[Wagon Sailor]

Originally Posted by V90Towman

All beautiful cars and the B&W photos are so nostalgic fantastic images.

Thank you.
Many of the pictures I’m putting up aren’t of the actual vehicles. It proved to be a pain to dig out old photos which I’m not sure I even have any more. Some source pictures were better than others, which is why I've levelled them out a bit by posting them as monochrome. Well, it is how it was in the old days ..



Back in the home counties, I found the next car I wanted. The dealer lent this to me for many, many weeks while my next purchase was being prepared:







… and this was what I'd been waiting for. The Weller-designed engine had a production run from 1919 to 1963. About a third are thought to still be running. I loved it. I loved the car. Even after the ‘SU Auxiliary Starting Carburettor’ set light to the engine compartment, it would still start on the handle. An AC 2-litre provided motoring as she is writ!








These days, cheap and cheerful is a (** insert boring box of your choice). Back then, it was a Moggy. They were what you bought when you needed a reliable and cheap stop-gap. And you could hang the tail out at 20mph if you wanted.
There were three Minor saloons over the years, 2 of them shared with a girlfriend. One of them had cut-up and epoxied credit cars hiding holes in the transmission tunnel (not my doing). On another, I fitted a load of hose clips to the prop shaft to balance out a vibration. It was supposed to have been a temporary measure, but it worked so well that I never got round to sorting it properly.







We lived in Kensington. We used to drive everywhere back in the day. Even so, there was a case for a perfect town bike. With a Velocette LE, you could go round corners at walking pace without touching the handlebars. Water-cooled, shaft-driven. Weird, but wonderful.

[Wagon Sailor]

The marvellous AC had to go eventually: I wasn’t up to maintaining the ash frame, let alone the ally skin.

My head overruled my heart at first, but my heart wasn’t to be denied when replacing the old beast. I couldn’t afford it. I can afford a 190SL even less now. My bank manager said Car #22 was too old to fit the rules, so would I sign the loan as a ‘home improvement’? Yes! Yes! Yes!
No matter that it was the car you’d give to your mistress if you had a 300SL of your own, if this isn’t in the top 10 prettiest cars ever made, I want to know what’s ousted it from the list.

Would you drive your Volvo at its top speed for an hour? This car had an indicated max of just over 110, yet I once ran from Kensington to the Severn Bridge in an hour and a quarter. And I had no doubt it would have done the return trip without a pause. If I still had the car, I’d either be sitting on £120,000 or I’d be trying to do it again …






Friends of ours were doing well in Milan. We were doing well in London. We’d visit as often as we could. This little darling was garaged over there for when we needed it.
Crash gearbox. Rev the nuts off it. Great fun. Pretending to be a local when driving past Il Duomo? Paarp! Paarp!






As well as the Minor saloons, there were also a couple of Travellers.





She looked at the battered driver’s door and said she still wanted to buy it. I said I’d fix it. I never got round to it. Well, you couldn’t see the dent from the inside and the stately Rover 80 was a nice place to be in. We shared it willingly.

[S60D5-185]

It was 1974, I was single and 21 years old.

I had both the TR6 and CB750 at the same time and was a happy lad.

The TR6 and CB750 pictured are the correct colours but not the actual vehicles

My TR6 TKW662K is now green and still in existence. Lovely car, 150 bhp and overdrive on 2nd 3rd and 4th

18 months later I had met my now wife and by 1977 I had a House and a 1200 Beetle. Got that one right eh?

Another one I loved but sold about 8 years ago was this actual Guzzi. My aching bones couldn't handle the riding position.

[ITSv40]

At sixteen I needed to upgrade my pushbike to enable a more comfortable commute to work so I bought a little secondhand Honda P50 moped. It had a four stoke engine arranged in the back wheel that was quite unusual. The engine sat horizontally with the spark plug set on the top of the cylinder head, this was all fine until heavy rain and the spark plug recess filled with water and shorted out. I then had to turn the bike upside down to drain the water out, wait a while for it to dry and then hopefully continue on my way. I soon got fed up with this and thought I could cure the issue by placing a small piece of aluminium foil over the spark plug to protect the recess, maybe not the best idea as it then promptly overheated and the valves would seize. More waiting at the side of the road for the engine to cool down, start up and again on my way home. I then realised I only needed the aluminium foil if it was raining and put it over plug as and when needed - that seemed to work. The P50 was soon upgraded to a new Honda C90 step through. As you have probably guessed by now I didn't do cool.

At seventeen passed my car driving test and dragged out an old Austin A35 van from one of the farm barns. Father said if I repaired it and mot'd it I could have it for £50. A new battery, four new tyres and strip down and rebuild of the brakes and it had an MOT. The sale of the C90 funded the repairs.

The A35 was fine until I gently rear ended the car in front due to me not paying attention and dodgy brakes that were not very good at the best of times. I remember giving the other driver £20 for the damage to his rear bumper, shaking hands and us both going our separate ways - this was in 1972.

After the accident, Father decided I needed a better, safer and generally more reliable car and offered to buy me something decent for my 18 birthday. Now before anyone gets ideas of 'a spoilt little rich kid' that could not be further from the truth. Apart from my peddle car, a half complete Meccano set when I was about seven, I had not had any presents other than an orange and a bar of dairy milk chocolate at Christmas - no pocket money either.

Back to cars, the Vet who came to castrate the calves drove a powder blue Volvo 122 saloon that I had fallen in love with. He spoke very highly of the Volvo and I dreamed of owning one one day.

Taking up father's offer was not a difficult decision as it had to be a Volvo - the only decision was do I look for a 122 or a more modern 145. Eventually a nice royal blue '98 145S was found in the Exchange and Mart down in Guildford. An early drive down in the A35 and we were soon coming back home with the 145. I then sold the A35 to a chap in the village for £100 so didn't do too badly out of the deal.

The Volvo was truly in a different world from the A35 and just superb - this was the start of a life long love and ownership of Volvo's. Another 145S followed then 164E. 360GLT, followed by another 360GLT, then '97 V40 and then the current V40. The C70 is the latest purchase. I have generally tried to buy good secondhand and then run them until mot failures or uneconomical to repair.

In addition to the above I inherited a 145S and a superb 1800ES when father died. The 1800 was low mileage and cherished and although I wanted to keep it I had too many cars around and sold it after 12 months or so.

I had bought a scrap 1949 Bentley MK VI that I spent six years completing a 'last nut and bolt' diy restoration, so having inherited the 1800 I sold both the 1800 and the Bentley and bought a '65 R-R Silver Cloud III. I had always wanted a Rolls and kept it for 33 years - it was gorgeous and have many happy memories both of working on it and driving. Recently sold as due to health issues decided I needed to reduce the number of cars to look after. So now just have the two Volvo's and 'er indoors Mini Cooper.

[biggbn]

I have now owned over 200 cars so won't bore you with all the details. Volvos started with several auction bought 245s, then a 960 saloon, a 343, an 850 t5, a 164, amazon estate, a 940 saloon and a lovely s80 d5. Saabs started with a 95 v4 estate, a brace of 96 v4 saloons, a 99 then almost every version of the c900 tin top you could have from 8v two door to 16v Aero 'coupe', several gm900, a 9000 and a 9-3 v6 turbo convertible. I must have owned 15 Saab or maybe more, I have a list somewhere.

Highlights? Porsche 928 s4, BMW e36 evo, a brace of series 3 xj6 jags, a brace of lovely air cooled beetles and campers, loads of baby fiats (which I love), a coupe fiat 20vt a Nissan 300zx twin turbo, several other jags, mercy and big BMW's, but my favourites have been my current mini, an as new streetka, a tdi beetle convertible, a heap of mk2 golf gtis, two with vr6 conversions and lastly a Lexus ls400, THE finest car I have owned. I have rarely spent more than 2k on a car, more often less than a grand...and I have had fun.

[Wagon Sailor]

Originally Posted by biggbn

... I have rarely spent more than 2k on a car, more often less than a grand...and I have had fun.

Two good policies!


I probably shouldn’t include the Corolla as I didn’t take responsibility for it as much as some of the other loan cars, but I did use it quite a bit. It’s in this list primarily because it’s the first Japanese car …
Dad decided to move on from the 1300 to a Renault 5. (Bless!) The dealer messed him about, so he pulled out of the deal. Some notes in his pockets, some notes in mine. A Toyota dealer with plenty of ready cars. “I’ll have that one and I'll take it now.” A hefty discount later, we drove it away. It was a great little car.






The Rover was replaced by an E-Type. No, not that one - a Vauxhall Velox. Strong engine; gearbox needed work. I had to turn down a socket to get at one of the bolts when replacing a selector fork.




My boss thought he was doing me a favour. “You’re doing a lot of company miles,” he said, “so I’ve got you a car.” (Newer than the one in the pic.)







“I’ve spoken to my solicitor,” I told the boss. “He says having to drive an Allegro gives me grounds for constructive dismissal.”
“What! My wife thinks it’s a really nice car.”
So we swapped it for her 3 year old Citroen GS.





The GS was nice, but it wasn’t as much fun as this.

[biggbn]

Originally Posted by Wagon Sailor

Two good policies!


I probably shouldn’t include the Corolla as I didn’t take responsibility for it as much as some of the other loan cars, but I did use it quite a bit. It’s in this list primarily because it’s the first Japanese car …
Dad decided to move on from the 1300 to a Renault 5. (Bless!) The dealer messed him about, so he pulled out of the deal. Some notes in his pockets, some notes in mine. A Toyota dealer with plenty of ready cars. “I’ll have that one and I'll take it now.” A hefty discount later, we drove it away. It was a great little car.






The Rover was replaced by an E-Type. No, not that one - a Vauxhall Velox. Strong engine; gearbox needed work. I had to turn down a socket to get at one of the bolts when replacing a selector fork.




My boss thought he was doing me a favour. “You’re doing a lot of company miles,” he said, “so I’ve got you a car.” (Newer than the one in the pic.)







“I’ve spoken to my solicitor,” I told the boss. “He says having to drive an Allegro gives me grounds for constructive dismissal.”
“What! My wife thinks it’s a really nice car.”
So we swapped it for her 3 year old Citroen GS.





The GS was nice, but it wasn’t as much fun as this.

Love Citroens, family owned 2cvs when I was young, we toured Scandinavia in one, tsr 904s with a boot extension and trailer, two adults and two young kids. My third car was a cx2400 gti series 1, and I had an xm2500 tdi estate, highest documented mileage car I have ever owned

Preferred my Renault 4 to the 2cv being honest, and loved my mk1 Renault 5 850