Have you ever had the pleasure of an old banger?

[XmisterIS]

To me a car is just a machine for getting me from A to B when I need to carry anything that can't be fitted on a motorbike or bicycle, or when it's raining and I don't want to get my delicate little self wet. I therefore buy a car that will last for a few years, and drive it to the point where it is worth less than the cost of repairs, at which point it sell it for scrap and buy a new one. (The one before this one cost me £4000 and lasted 10 years! Not bad methinks).

I'm not that precious about my cars (see above), so they tend to get progressively more and more full of dints, scratches, etc from where I use them to carry building materials, rock-climbing kit, bicycles, etc, including the odd mis-judged parking attempt!

The result is that once I've got a few scratches, I feel I have a definite advantage over those who drive the pristine multi-thousand pound "prestige" cars ... when they try to cut me up they soon back off ... they take one look at my battered old car and realise that I really couldn't give a shoot if I get one more dent

Does anyone else enjoy the pleasure of driving an old banger that scares off the BMW and Merc drivers?

 

[Noodley]

I used to have an automatic Ford Fiesta which was scared of going through puddles.

But loved to scare large flash cars

 

[XmisterIS]

Lol!

I tend to buy cars that are mechanically sound (no fear of puddles, for example!), have plenty of 0-60 capability but which don't look too great!

Best of both worlds - fun to drive, don't care that much if some idiot bumps into me! (obviously not too hard though!).

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Lol!

I tend to buy cars that are mechanically sound (no fear of puddles, for example!), have plenty of 0-60 capability but which don't look too great!

Best of both worlds - fun to drive, don't care that much if some idiot bumps into me! (obviously not too hard though!).

Me too. All my cars are agreeably battered but better than they look. My lates one is a Saab 900 which I bought a year ago for £350 and which I haven't spent a penny on since.

 

[Noodley]

Lol!

I tend to buy cars that are mechanically sound (no fear of puddles, for example!), have plenty of 0-60 capability but which don't look too great!

It was known as 'the puddle jumper'. It could burn along from 0-60 in an hour.

It was a nippy wee car around town, but out in the country it helped if I rocked back and forward a bit

 

[Corvette chic]

I have a vw motorhome which i drive like jeepers creepers (alledgedly... not at cyclists i hasten to add...) scares the shoot out of hgv drivers

 

[swee'pea99]

My first car was a Triumph Herald - two doors, different colours, neither the same as the rest of the car. Loved that car. Mini van - 'the pubmobile' - up to 5 in the back. When the handle came off the back door, I replaced it with a round brass one from an old wardrobe. Loved that car. I did have a car that wasn't a banger once - a black Mk2 Golf GTi convertible. Loved that car.

Never had a car I wouldn't 'push it' in..."you've got a lot more to lose than me, mate (and you know it)" They always back off...

 

[Norm]

We have one 20-year-old banger, one family vehicle and a 6 year old... um... say it quietly now... Merc.

We bought it earlier this year, for about 25% of the new price and it's rather fab. We've had a few nice cars (I think we've had every mainstream German marque) and we've had several which we have run into the breaker's yard, this Merc is about the best vehicle we've owned.

My first car was also a Herald, a Vitesse or whatever they called the topless version. I was 13 and it never turned a wheel on the road, though.

 

[Crackle]

I keep my left hand wing mirror on the back seat. I tape it on occasionally to view the sky but only if it's sunny, otherwise it stays on the back seat.

 

[swee'pea99]

Oh, a Vitesse was not just a Herald, our Norm, a Vitesse was the majorly lust-afterable 2litre version (the Herald was 948cc). Topless too, eh? That's seriously cool.

 

[XmisterIS]

My first non-student car was a Nissan Primera 2.0 Turbo. Was pretty new, but had damage to two body panels, so I got it cheap. It went like the bloody clappers!

Nowadays, I have a Ford Mondeo Turbo Diesel. Not as quick as the Primera, but once I'd got a motorbike licence and realised I could get more acceleration than most cars on the road for a couple of £K, I lost interest in super-fast cars!

I don't care how many dents the mondeo gets, but if someone left even a microscopic scratch on my motorbike ...

 

[Norm]

seriously[/I] cool.

Things went downhill rapidly. The first car I had on the road was a Simca 1100, then I went through a litany of Polski-Fiats, Chrysler Alpines etc.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I learned to drive in a battered and rusty Vauxhall Chevette I bought for £50. Picture the scene: a rust-brown banger with dents in every single panel, and L-plates on it. Driving down the road, it was like the parting of the Red Sea as everyone got out of its way.

 

[Bayerd]

My best banger was a Peugeot 205 diesel. I bought it for £350 with 60,000 on the clock. In 12 months I put 30k on it, and then sold it for £400. I only sold it because of cirmcumstances. The new owner rang me up after to ask about the fan belt. I told her that it was changed just before I bought it (the old one was in the boot). She said that it was still running like a dream. I wish I'd never got rid of it. It was a belting little motor, probably still going strong now, another 2 years down the line....

 

[slowmotion]

I had a battered VW Golf van a few years ago. Coming out of work at five in the morning, after 30 hours in the trenches, and in an advanced state of exhaustion, I managed to wreck three body panels against a concrete loading bay in the car park.

I couple of days later, a German tourist ran into the back of me in a London traffic jam. He expressed all kinds of regret, and was awestruck when I showed him the state of the rest of the vehicle, and told him not to worry. He shook his head in disbelief as I drove off.