What was your dad's worst car?

[Orange]

We never had any crap cars, my father worked for Fords and we had a new one every two years.

Did they pay well then? Still, working for Ford, I'd have thought he'd have driven them too?

I can vaguely remember an old Messerchmitt 3-wheeler. The story of when I was a toddler going on holiday in it with my mum, dad, aunty, dog and dad's fishing kit seems to get more exaggerated every year.

He also had a lime green Hillman Minx that my brother and I dismantled for spares before he scrapped the body. We unscrewed everything in site! There was a huge Vauxhall Victor that was quite cool actually, an awful Morris Minor and a rust bucket Ford Escort. AN Austin Princess seemed to be the first semi-luxurious car we had - but he kept crashing it. Then he changed career and got company cars - a succession of bland Vauxhall Chevettes and Cavaliers until the accountants at the company did the impossible and went for an even worse choice - a Daewoo Nubira!

It was my grandad that always had the cool cars - a whole series of ever more powerful Triumph Heralds with the bonnet that opened up the whole front of the car to work on the engine.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

a hillman avenger, pretty much like the one in the pic. always breaking down and eventually traded for a renault 4…

 

[Orange]

a hillman avenger, pretty much like the one in the pic. always breaking down and eventually traded for a renault 4…

I learnt to drive in a red one of those. Agree - rubbish.

 

[biggs682]

got to be a mid 1980's Austin Princess , best would have been any of the Saab 96's he had

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

My dad had a succession of bubble cars (Isettas and Heikels, I think). I discovered that you can get 2 people and a double bass into one. I also discovered that when you see your school mates alongside, you can hide under the bass.

The last one he had set fire to itself somewhere between Leeds and London (A1, M1, who knows?). He then went straight onto an enormous Mark 3 Cortina Estate, as you would after driving a bubble car. It really hurt him when he had to give up his licence. But at least it didn't hurt anyone else.

 

[gbb]

I present to you....the Triumph Mayflower .....

He had it in the mid to late 1960's..it was ancient then

 

[tubbystar]

Thankfully, no pictures of my parents cars exist. The first one I remember was a dark blue Morris 1300. When that fell to bits my Dad bought a dark green Austin 1100 from the old dear next door. When that expired it was replaced with a white ('ish) Morris Marina 1300 - Coupe. I remember his efforts on the sills with chicken wire and filler vividly. This lasted long enough to be traded in for the little know Morris Ital 1300 SL. The crankshaft failed and it needed a new engine after 50K.

 

[gbb]

Thankfully, no pictures of my parents cars exist. The first one I remember was a dark blue Morris 1300. When that fell to bits my Dad bought a dark green Austin 1100 from the old dear next door. When that expired it was replaced with a white ('ish) Morris Marina 1300 - Coupe. I remember his efforts on the sills with chicken wire and filler vividly. This lasted long enough to be traded in for the little know Morris Ital 1300 SL. The crankshaft failed and it needed a new engine after 50K.

Your dad sounds like me...doggedly sticking to Austin Morris / British Leylands despite everying they threw at you
Ive had (in my younger years) a succession of Minis, a Morris 1300, Morris Marina, Allegro, Maestro. I always found mine relatively reliable (surprisingly apparently) but like your dads..required superhuman efforts to keep rust at bay

 

[Piemaster]

Looks like mostly 70s cars getting the vote for being crap.
You're all wrong.

Dad has presently got an Astra, but being a drop-top redeems it slightly, so pushing his last car the memorable Proton 'something' into first place for being utterly characterless and bland.

His 70s cars (that I remember) - a mk1 Escort, an A35 van, a Skoda (as in a previous post). wouldn't consider them great cars by any means using some of previous criteria, but took us all on some good family times, even if it was a bit of an adventure at times.

Almost forgot. Allegro Estate - I actually ran it for a year, it was a close run thing between it and the Proton.


And how can anyone consider a Mayflower as a worst car? More character than Pete Postlethwaite.

 

[mickle]

This was the "worst" - it wasn't bad at all apart from the sills rotting away every two winters or so.

I remember this car as I had the job of counting out an enormous bundle of cash to pay for it (£180 IIRC).

(we had 10s and £1 notes in those days!)

Hillman Minx

My dad had the Siger Gazelle in two tone green - identical to that save for a fanny shaped grill.

 

[mickle]

What about this though, my step father had one of these. I learned to pinstripe on it.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Austin 1100 - suffered from rot in the rear sub-frame mountings. In the end, sub-frame and body parted company whenever you went over a bump and would bang back together.

 

[vernon]

This was the "worst" - it wasn't bad at all apart from the sills rotting away every two winters or so.

I remember this car as I had the job of counting out an enormous bundle of cash to pay for it (£180 IIRC).

(we had 10s and £1 notes in those days!)

Hillman Minx

My dad had one of these too. It spent more time being repared than being used as a form of transport.

 

[rikki]

When I was about seven I asked my mum what happens to cars when they are old and worn out and keep breaking down. She replied: 'Someone sells them to your dad...'

That's priceless.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

My folks had matching Renault 4's ,

We had 2 of those (a lovely green and a lovely gray) although not at the same time, if I remember correctly you changed gear using an umbrella handle sticking out of the dashboard.

I really liked the Renault 4