What was your first car?

[gbb]

1960 or 61 Mini 850, MKS 988, brought it 1976, so already 15 years old ?
A few memories.
Floor mounted start button, key on, press the switch with your foot.
The ubiquitous FS880 key, possibly one of the most common keys ever made, I've seen them on other cars, fork trucks, etc etc. You could start it with just about anything pointy, a screwdriver, a completely different key etc.
Dash mounted windscreen wash pump iirc.
Cost me £50, it went ok but I drove it into the ground, total abuse.
If you drove in the rain, the spark plugs and leads got wet, engine died . I brought a purpose made cover, made of some weird fibre board that bolted on the rocker cover bolts and hung over the plugs, perfect solution.

 

[gavroche]

A blue Mini that kept cutting out in the rain and both front wheels collapsed within 3 weeks of each other.

 

[Ian H]

Bond three wheeler Bought from Bob Gerrards garage in Leicester

Mine was a 1953 MkC, bought for £5 in 1968. That's my late mother looking proprietorial (she didn't learn to drive until later).

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Red mini with white roof - LKK 117F.

Starter button on floor, extra long gear lever and sliding windows whose tracks were filled with moss.

Didn't have it long, got stolen whilst I was at college.

Also 36 Durex hidden under the back seat were stolen along with it. Probably worth more than the car!

Purchased (very optimistically) for impending 1 week holiday with girlfriend at the time.

 

[Cambram]

All this modern stuff. My first car was a 1938 Morris 8!!!! I bought it when the Suez Crisis (look it up) started and I was doing National Service in RAF at Marham. The Government allowed learner drivers to drive on their own as long as L plates were shown in an attempt to save petrol. Half an hour's tuition from my father and I was off.

The lovely Hillman Imp reminds me that later on I had a new Sunbeam Stilletto. One of my favourite cars that I have owned - although not without some funny behaviors when going around bends and reversing.

 

[midlife]

Red mini with white roof - LKK 117F.

Starter button on floor, extra long gear lever and sliding windows whose tracks were filled with moss.

Didn't have it long, got stolen whilst I was at college.

Also 36 Durex hidden under the back seat were stolen along with it. Probably worth more than the car!

Purchased (very optimistically) for impending 1 week holiday with girlfriend at the time.

Did the doors open from the inside using some sort of string hanging along the door?

 

[Rusty Nails]

1948 Austin A40 Devon.

It cost me £25 in 1968 and it came with a spare flywheel, which my uncle helped me fit, as the old one had a lot of teeth missing meaning that I had to use the starter handle about a fifth of the starts. Gave me good service commuting for a year before I wrote it off.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Did the doors open from the inside using some sort of string hanging along the door?

They did - well remembered. 👍

 

[marzjennings]

Austin Maestro, absolute POS, though more to do with the condition the seller sold the car and my lack of experience in buying cars. Bought early 90's when my new boss said I needed to pass my test and get a car. Seller switched in a new battery for the test drive so the car seemed fine, but after driving it for a couple of days I find only three pistons are actually firing, it was leaking oil faster than the Valdex, and it would back fire almost every down shift, leaving a massive could in it's wake. Drove it for about 5000 miles before getting a mini.

 

[gbb]

Did the doors open from the inside using some sort of string hanging along the door?

Certainly my 60, 61 mini did, I forgot that...and the sliding windows.

 

[gbb]

Austin Maestro, absolute POS, though more to do with the condition the seller sold the car and my lack of experience in buying cars. Bought early 90's when my new boss said I needed to pass my test and get a car. Seller switched in a new battery for the test drive so the car seemed fine, but after driving it for a couple of days I find only three pistons are actually firing, it was leaking oil faster than the Valdex, and it would back fire almost every down shift, leaving a massive could in it's wake. Drove it for about 5000 miles before getting a mini.

View attachment 589151

I had an 88 Maestro, mechanically it never gave me one problem. The bodywork was another thing....

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

This is mine. Pic taken today by my friend who looks after it for me.

View attachment 589125

I think it was around 1987 when I bought it.

Now that is a cool car

You deserve thanks for keeping a car like that alive

 

[midlife]

Certainly my 60, 61 mini did, I forgot that...and the sliding windows.

Ah, the slidey widows with something glued on the glass as as a finger hold

 

[Hacienda71]

A 1974 Australian Mini Moke.

 

[mistyoptic]

1965 minivan with added side windows. It was a thing back then as you avoided some kind of vehicle tax.

I bought it in 1973 for £25. Insured it for the same amount, TPF&T, fitted new rear subframe (natch), resprayed it and wrote it off about a year later. Sold the front sub-frame with engine for £25.