My Dad (or Mum) had one of those…

[First_Lexus]

As the title suggests, just a thread to remember favourite (or not!) cars owned by your parents.

I was lucky growing up, as we had a family owned company so my Father always had company cars, as did other members of the family who worked there. Looking back I can see that the car choices often depended on the relative health of the firm, and sometimes cars were swapped around depending on who needed what and when. They also depended on the position you were in, obviously. Once they’d lived their company lives, cars also often ‘retired’ into ownership of various siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins, albeit by the time I was old enough to drive the company had been sold so I was never lucky enough to benefit. My brother ended up with a BMW323i at about aged 19, Sister got a Toyota Cressida, other sister a Golf…but nothing for me 😪. There were also ‘pool cars’ knocking around and those driven by other employees which would often turn up for one reason or another either just for a day or a couple of weeks when people went away on holiday. A Mini Traveller estate automatic from about 1970, a Fiat Strada (yikes!) and various Fords and BMC/BL models of different types and sizes were usually knocking about.

Anyway…to the best of my memory;

1966 Cortina 1600 Deluxe Automatic

1971 Cortina 1600XL Automatic (in Daytona Yellow, the first one I really remember)

1973 Granada Ghia 3.0 

1976 Toyota Corona, this one I remember vividly and absolutely loved. It found its way to a family friend after it was ‘sold’ and I’d see it around the town for years afterwards which always made me slightly sad. Last time I saw it, it was for sale on a garage forecourt in about 1982, looking rather…well, knackered!

1978 Toyota Cressida Estate, also a brilliant car which lived on with my Sister for a few years after she got married, but essentially rusted away to nothing. I always remember the Toyotas had three horn buttons on the steering wheel, which was something very different for the time!

1980 Rover SD1 3500. Beige velour, metallic bottle green paintwork. I seem to remember it was rubbish, but I rather liked it.

1980 Maxi 1750HL. Not sure where this fitted in as it was around at the same time as the Rover but I have vivid memories of it in Russet Brown with beige velour. It was also the only manual transmission I ever remember my Father having. I assume the Rover was being used by somebody else for some reason, but for a couple of years they seemed interchangeable!

1983 Vauxhall Cavalier CD 1800i. This one had detachable ‘handbags’ on both front doors. And headlight wipers, which were very cool at the time. What ever happened to those?

1985 Renault 25GTX. This was awesome, with the digital talking dashboard. My memory says it went wrong - a lot - but my elder Sister also ended up with it for a while. I remember loving the extreme comfort, it was like being driven on a motorised sofa.

Company then sold, Father retired. Nothing especially exciting followed, Peugeot 205 Automatic, Maestro Automatic, Montego Automatic, then a couple of small Hyundai and finally a Daihatsu before he finally gave up driving.

Over the years my Mother didn’t drive much, but had a couple of Mini Automatics (which I ended up with!) and a Nissan Micra automatic.

When I look at cars today, how reliable they are, the tech they have, their rust resistance - we really have come a long way. Thing is, I don’t remember my previous cars with the fondness of those when I was growing up, for all their faults. 

[Malc1]

Trips back in time eh 🫢

Malc 

[Spacewagon52]

Any photos Ed?

[Jgtcracer]

Cream Talbot Solara for me, I remember my brother and I sitting in it as small kids without any form of booster seat or safety devices….

 After that a series of Peugeot 405s and 406s.  Consequently, I’ve always been a Japanese fan!!

[First_Lexus]

2 hours ago, Spacewagon52 said:

Any photos Ed?

I don’t think any exist! Photographs of family members at various events and holidays were taken, but my Father wasn’t a really a ‘car man’ so I don’t believe the cars are in any photos…☹️

[First_Lexus]

10 minutes ago, Jgtcracer said:

Cream Talbot Solara for me, I remember my brother and I sitting in it as small kids without any form of booster seat or safety devices….

 After that a series of Peugeot 405s and 406s.  Consequently, I’ve always been a Japanese fan!!

I remember attending a Motor Show (Birmingham) or Motor Fair (Earls Court) and being shown around the new Talbot Tagora. Dad wasn’t impressed! A neighbour had an orange Alpine (hatch version of the later Solara) and my brother had a Sunbeam for a while. Both essentially French Simcas with weird tappety sounding engines.

The later Chrysler/Talbot were nothing compared to the original Rootes cars, especially the Hillman Avenger with those ‘hockey stick’ rear lights.

[LenT]

My Father was a London taxi driver.  So growing up this was the only family transport I knew.

I recall the outside bulb horn, the open area for passengers’ luggage - which meant that in winter he drove with a blanket around his knees (no heater!) - and the convertible back - which I don’t recall ever being opened up!

Holidays generally involved chugging down from Tottenham to Southend at about 40mph.  In winter, when the windscreen was iced over in the mornings, he would boil up a kettle of water and throw it over the screen!  Why it never shattered into pieces, I have never worked out.

Sadly, he died a taxi driver and my Mother had to wait until I was eighteen and got a car of my own before she could again enjoy the luxury of being driven around!

The actual taxi was a 1940s model, pretty much like this one:

https://images.app.goo.gl/LCv98PN8i8K2G1XY8

 

[Spottedlaurel]

I'm lucky in that photos of a fair few family cars have survived. Mostly everyday stuff, although one of my grandfathers had a tatty E-Type for many years which I recall being used to take hay down to the horses. Sadly no photos have turned up of that one, but for some of that time my grandmother had this MkII:

I believe this is the car that my dad had when I was brought home from hospital, with perhaps a little less opposite lock:

After an Escort Mk1 he had this Avenger 1500:

Which is the first car I can remember. I have particularly strong memories of it because it was sold to someone in the village who kept it until the early '80s, then a young lad got hold of it and after being used and abused for a while it sat festering away in a ar park that I walked past every day on my paper round.

Next came this '70s classic:

With one of my first cars in the background! Mum had learned to drive when we still had it (the Allegro that is!), and she rolled it on a snowy day. It must have been repaired reasonably well as it survived until 1984. A Mk3 Cortina followed it, then this Capri 1600:

My dad then got a job with a company car, and he went through a couple more Cortinas (I remember thinking a yellow 2000E seemed rather posh) before having two of the wedgy Alfa Romeo Giuliettas in succession.

He never had anything Japanese. I recall a trip to the local Datsun dealership in the '70s, possibly because the farmer he worked for had bought a 1500 pickup, but nothing came of it.

By this time my parents had split up, so I start picking up on my stepdad's cars as well as what mum had. After a couple of Minis, she had this:

Followed by this Cherry, which became my first car and the beginning of 30+ years of Japanese car ownership

After the Cherry she got another Mini, which my aunt had won in a Daily Mail competition:

And a couple of stepdad's, which followed on from a series of Datsuns:

 

As he ran a series of vans and trucks for his work as a builder they eventually they had just one car between them, which for some years was this XR4x4:

I had the odd drive and remember it fondly, with a gruff, heavy feel to it. They bought it back some years after letting it go so they could have that registration plate, which they still have to this day. It's now on a new Corolla, his first non-Ford for many years.

[Spacewagon52]

Nigel, what a lovely family story! 

 

A888MHJ is that an Opel Manta?

 

Porche 924? Before the Manta?

 

I could not help looking at the Flickr posts - some very interesting vehicles!

[J Henderson]

Cars that I remember my Dad owning during my childhood;

1967 or 68 (was an "F" reg) Vauxhall Viva HB

Not too many memories of this other than it was light blue. 

1970 Ford Escort 1.1 Estate

Was dark blue, not red. Most significant thing I recall is that it eventually gained a 1.3 engine, but mated to the original 1100cc gearbox & diff, which made it quite nippy.

1973 Vauxhall Victor FE

Was exactly like this. Yellow with black vinyl roof (remember those). Most memorable journey was travelling from Devon back to Scotland with a heavy foot, in time to watch the 1982 World Cup final on telly.

1978 Ford Escort Estate 1.3

Another one. Same colour as this and with the square headlights. I think it must've been a proper base model as it only had 12" wheels. Had additional Yale locks in the doors as the previous keeper owned a VHS rental store.

1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.6L

Was a burgundy colour, and a "D" registration. I pretty-much learned to drive in this car as my Dad would regularly take me out in it at night with L-plates. I'd probably racked up a couple of thousand miles in it by the time I sat my test.

Had a pretty nice sounding stereo, with little joystick to alter the fade & balance. Sunroof too.

Of course there's been others after these, but I started buying my own cars at this point. 🙂

[First_Lexus]

@Spottedlaurel

Some lovely cars there, where have they all gone? One moment Datsun Cherry were on every high street…it must be years since I saw one like that.

I also couldn’t help noticing the Allegro registration was ‘RCF’ 😁

[Spottedlaurel]

17 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

@Spottedlaurel

Some lovely cars there, where have they all gone? One moment Datsun Cherry we’re on every high street…it must be years since I saw one like that.

I also couldn’t help noticing the Allegro registration was ‘RCF’ 😁

Some years before we knew what car that would be, or evenwhat a Lexus was 🙂

A couple of those cars do still exist I believe, but not as you see above. The Mini E450DWC is now orange and modified with the usual recipe of wide arches and fat alloys.

The 924 has undergone a rather dramatic transformation. I saw it on eBay or somewhere a few years ago, when it was painted black. DVLA now lists it as white, I did a search and it now appears to have been the donor for a Lamborghini Countach replica!

[First_Lexus]

28 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

A couple of those cars do still exist I believe, but not as you see above. The Mini E450DWC is now orange and modified with the usual recipe of wide arches and fat alloys.

I guess most of us have played the game, using the DVLA web site, looking for childhood cars. Sadly all bar one of mine seem to have long gone to the great scrapyard in the sky. Both the 1983 Cavalier and 1971 Cortina made twenty years or so (until they weren’t taxed, anyway). Some seemed to die quite early, the Renault 25 only made six years but could have been written off I suppose. That Russet Brown Maxi didn’t live long either, registered in 1980 and not taxed since 1987…

Only one seems to survive, albeit on SORN. My 1989 Mini Mayfair Automatic, previously owned by my Mother. That was my first University car, taking me the 200 miles from home to my place of study full of stuff! Different times…anyway, it must exist somewhere as it is listed as SORN, but I guess like yours it has been butchered and modified. To be fair, that’s why original spec and condition classics are worth so much now, especially Minis.

[Mr Vlad]

As a family we didn't get a car until a sister passed her driving test and my dad bought an Austin 1100. I'd have been about 6 or 7 years old. That car was kept for over 25 years. I learnt to drive in it as did my two brothers. 

I'll never forget. My eldest brother had friends (hells angels) who were mechanics. Huge guys. The guy selling the car drove it to our house (no one drove in out household as we didn't have a car) and when my brother and his friends went out to inspect the car the owner looked like he poo'd himself lol.

[Malc1]

we as a family were a little blessed seemingly having the use of a benevolent employer I guess ...... .... my dad drove many wonderful expensive cars as a chauffeur to a south London brewery .....  directors ......  who lived all over the south of England ....... big, it seemed,  Rover P5s, P6s Wolseley 6/110 ( which i learnt to drive on a little .  couldn't do that these days i know ! ) ........ Austin 3 litre ( problem cars i think ) and earlier a big Vauxhall Wyvern or Cresta was it   ......  then my dad retired early 1970's and bought himself a beautiful blue and cream Wolseley 16/60  .. which matched mine but that was  rose taupe and sandy beige ..  lovely cars for the time  .  would be even now if many/any existed   Rust always takes it's toll  

Maybe that's why I'm personally in a bit of a timewarp for these past 25 years with my amazing V8 4ltr Ls400s 😅

Malc

[Boomer54]

We had....

[GMB]

The cars that I remember being owned by my Dad were:

Vauxhall Wyvern 1950 something - an american copy with a weedy engine.

Ford Cortina1200  A car with a 3 bearing crank that needed new main bearings every 12000 miles.

Ford Anglia 1200 - same crappy engine

Austin Mini 850 - gutless rotbox 

Vauxhall Victor FBW estate held together by filler compound - rotbox

 

Mine were ( in chronological order )  :

Inherited the Vauxhall Victor - sold for £12

Austin Healey sprite 1100 1966

Vauxhall astra estate Year?

Thames trader van 1700

VW I ton Van

Transit 2000 V4

Fiat ES 2000 Twin cam - great engine rotten bodywork

Peugeot 504 estate - very reliable.

Rover P6 V8 with denovo run flat tyres police spec.

Audi 200T 5 cyl - scary fast.

Toyota GT  RWD twin cam AE86 - worth a fortune now

Sierra XR4i  no comment

Renault twingo, Megan and Qashqai ( with a nice Renault 1.6 Dci engine ) - in France.

Kia ceed3 1.6 dci - still going with no problems after 140,000 miles passed to family.

Volvo T5 - lovely

Lexus 200t - very comfy and Quirky and 100% reliable

Lexus ISF -  what a great car!.

PLUS - bikes

Bantam 175

Kawasaki 750 twin

Kawa 900 - Worth a bomb now.

Kawa Vulcan 1500

BMW K 100   1000cc 4 cyl -  worst bike ever

Yamaha FJR 1000

Yamaha FZR exup tuned - 177mph honestly!!

Kawa Vulcan 1700

HD 114.

That's it for now.

 

 

[Mr Vlad]

Nice bikes Gray. Not bad top speed from the FZR Exup. Me and a friend tweaked my FJ1200. Ported, bigger cam, bigger jets. Definitely got 180 out of it. Oh what happy days the 80's were.

[Malc1]

21 hours ago, Malc1 said:

big, it seemed,  Rover P5s, P6s Wolseley 6/110

then I've just remembered my dad also had prior, the Rover 100, 105 too  .  like Siegfried Farnon  All Creatures Great and Small character 😃

Malc

[GMB]

16 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Nice bikes Gray. Not bad top speed from the FZR Exup. Me and a friend tweaked my FJ1200. Ported, bigger cam, bigger jets. Definitely got 180 out of it. Oh what happy days the 80's were.

Hi Vlad, the fzr was de-restricted and tuned by V&M racing who did the TT bikes. Removed the rubber restrictor between the carbs and the cylinder head, new Cobra 4-1 ( empty ) slip on exhaust and re-jetted. It was amazing. It was still picking up speed at 177 until I chickened out. Could not keep the front wheel down up to 100 mph. Yes those were the days and amazingly I survived.  The bike shop gave me a great number plate which would never be detected - WVM *** It just looked like a squiggle to the plod and their cameras.

BTW I forgot in the list Honda dominator 650 and Bultaco 250 trials.

BBTW  I am no longer a hooligan☺️

[First_Lexus]

Expanding the topic slightly, but cars back in the 60s and 70s just seemed ‘cooler’ than now, perhaps because they were more fragile but likely because they were more different to one another and there were more distinct marques. Nostalgia plays its part as well, obviously.

A school friend’s parents owned a Capri 3.0S in bright metallic green and a metallic purple Mini 1275GT (with white door stripes). Another friend’s Mother had a Lancia Fulvia. They seemed impossibly glamorous at the time. One of our teachers had a Peugeot 104 in flat brown, while another had a 504 Estate, both of which I remember well as they parked in front of the classrooms!

Another teacher had a pre-war Riley of some sort, complete with running boards. I seem to remember he often used to work on it during lunchtimes! 

[GMB]

5 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

while another had a 504 Estate, both of which I remember well as they parked in front of the classrooms!

Ed, I agree, and there was more variety and "shades" of coolness to be had. I always wanted an Alfa 3.0 V6 but could not afford to buy one and certainly not afford the repairs

My old 504 estate was a solid, reliable and fairly quick car. I still like the looks and style. They were favourites in African rallies because of their toughness. The only weakness was overheating the spark plugs buried deep in the valve cover.

I forgot that we had a 104ZS for 6 months until it exploded and was traded back in. On the other hand our 106Xsi was a great fun car.

[First_Lexus]

13 minutes ago, GMB said:

Ed, I agree, and there was more variety and "shades" of coolness to be had

I do remember the annual school fete (which back then was held in the middle of the Summer holidays, outside of term-time) was a veritable smorgasbord of cars, all parked on the lower playing field. Much fun was to be had running around at our own motor show looking at all the cars and ignoring the fete totally 😂😇.

Speaking of school, our minibus changed from a very decrepit Comma to a shiny new Sherpa while I was there. Many trips to various locations in those, always driven by one teacher or another, no seatbelts and often children sitting on the floor depending on numbers. I seem to recall the Comma had a front bench seat with the engine under the floor and plenty of fumes in the cabin. Despite that, sitting next to the driver in the front was the prime spot, and being allowed to change gear was a positive privilege! Children today have no idea…🤣

[GMB]

I had a decrepit Comma van. The body was parting company from the chassis. It was a thrilling drive all over the place.

My 1 ton Thames trader was fun too. There was a bus stop underneath a motorway bridge and I could turn off the ignition while in gear and turn it back on under the bridge. This resulted in a VERY loud bang and a 4 foot flame from the exhaust.

What a horrid thing to do  scaring all those people, I am so sorry!🙄

[Malc1]

Nostalgia trip then ……. Buddy at work just before we had our first company cars as impoverished junior bank managers …….. bought a brand new Lancia ( Fulvia was it ? ) which FAILED its very first MOT on rust ……. those halcyon days of some Italian cars 

Malc