I like these threads. It's fascinating to see how people moved from car to car. Unfortunately I've been driving since before digital cameras were around so I've had to use a few library pics to give you a flavour.
On my 17th birthday my father kindly bought me my first car, a 1979 VW Polo in exactly the same shed of red as the image below.
I loved that car. It ran an 895cc engine as I recall and was very frugal. I drove it every day for six weeks and then passed my test and was free to do what I wanted with it. A few months later that involved braking into a rather sharp corner in the wet and rolling the thing into a ditch. Since it was only £500 to start with, a write off was inevitable.
Having decided that despite driving like a moron I could handle more, I then searched high and low for an Opel Manta. I couldn't find one I could afford so instead found a 2 litre White Capri with tacky bodykit. It looked very similar to the one below, except mine had pepperpot alloys taken off an XR2i and painted in white and a slightly smaller rear wing. Add in a tinted window or two and some lowered suspension and I was the main man in 6th form. Oh the joy I had from the engine mis-firing as I exited the school gates and almost set fire to the headmaster asflames shot out of the exhaust.
The Capri had one or two problems. The lack of power steering, ridiculously small steering wheel and ill fitting alloys meant low speed manouverability was non existent. But on the plus side it did have insta-reclining seats. I wired up a stereo incorrectly on it once and set fire to the dash. The Capri came to its demise when a woman pulled out in front of me and wrote it off. I drove it around for a bit with a blue bonnet on held down by rally pins and then flogged it for £50
Car-less for a few months at 18, I needed something else. By chance a mate of my father was selling a Mk2 Escort for £50 and I took it. Much like the one below but dark blue (and I never got it off the ground)
I was working in a pub beforeI went to uni and the head barman at the pub was a mechanic and capable driver. With the Escort he taught me a bit about how to have some fun in a RWD drive car. I went to Uni and left the Escort at home. I came back at the Christmas holidays to find my dad had sold it to the same guy who bought the Capri. He took the white pepperpots off the capri (which was now not working) and put them on the navy blue escort. It looked odd to say the least. I was a bit miffed at my dad selling it, but I didn'tneed a car and he did get £200 for it.
I then went a few years without a car until a year in industry at Uni meant I could once again afford to drive. Unlike Fox, my finances stretched to a C-Reg Mk 3 Escort much like this one.
It was rubbish in every way. So much so I left it on the drive of the house I was renting when I went back to Uni.
In my year out, I met my now wife and so in my final year, her car was my car. It was a 1989 black fiat Uno like this:
It too was rubbish. We kept it for a couple of years after I left Uni as a car to get us to the station. "Harry", as she called it, died one day on a particulalry sharp bend where his engine fell out at 35mph, with the rusted engine mounts finally giving way. Upon coming off the recovery van, the mechanic dropped it a bit hard and the front axle snapped in half. It was dead.
When I left Uni, having secured a decent job, I realised I needed a decent car.The Uno, while lovely, wasn't going to cut it at client meetings. So what did I buy? A Mk 4 Escort.
It was an alright car. Universally derided by most of the motoring press, I didn't find it that bad but I had no real reference points. It had an electric sunroof, front electric windows and a five speed gearbox. All new to me and I enjoyed driving it for nearly five years before some twit in an Audi didn't realise his braking distances might be longer in the snow and he ploughed into me, writing it off.
When the Uno died we bought a Rover Metro as a "station" car because it was cheap.
It did the job until my wife went into the back of someone at a roundabout and wrote it off despite there being minimal damage. I reckon someone somewhere is still driving it around as it was in good nick and was ripe for being fixed on the cheap.
In 2003 I changed job and for the first time in my working life needed to commute by car, having always been in central London before. With a lovely car allowance burning a hole in my pocket, I forked out £18K for a 3 year old 330Ci.
It was a terrific car and the best driver's car I've ever owned by a country mile. Apart from normal wear and tear, the only thing that ever went wrong in my two years of ownership was a faulty ECU chip.
In 2005 I'd found a seller on eBay based locally who was knocking out some cheap cars, all with no reserve and all in the prestige market. I did some research over a number of months and checked them out and decided if If ound the right car I could make a killing. So towards the end of the year I found this:
It was on their pages and was looking to finish somewhere near £15K at the auction. Book price at the time for a 4 year old CL500 was about £24K for one in poor condition. I figured this was my chance to make a few quid. Everything checked out except it had no service history. No problem I thought, I'd get it from MBUK. I looked it over and got it in the end for £16.5K. What I didn't know when I got it was that:
1) MBUK don't have a central database of service history like BMW.
2) I'm not a motor trader so moving a car on so quickly with no history looked very dodgy
With finances stretched there was no way I could keep both the Mercedes and the BMW. Having had the Merc checked over by a professional friend of mine, I knew it was a sound car and while no one else would see it as a bargain, for me personally I could get a lot of pleasure out of it. After all this was a car that went for £90K new with its options. So with a heavy heart I flogged the BMW and have enjoyed the delights of the CL for the last two years.
It costs a hell of a lot more to run than the BMW, and indeed probably most cars. 20mpg is the norm, services can be £600 a time from an independent and I had the catalytic converters go which were a four figure sum to replace. Having said that, in my old age, it is the perfect car for me. Effortless cruising, all the toys, supreme comfort and a turn of speed when needed make it perfect for a lazy driver like me.
Next up will probably be an estate of some sort in a few years as we'll need the practicality. S4 and E55 will be on the shopping list although if things go well and we can afford to run two high maintenance cars then I'll be looking either for a newer CL55, SL500, 645Ci, S5 or even a Maserati 4200.
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Especially a few years ago when I bent it (long story, no badgers involved):
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
