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General Car Related Discussion.To discuss anything that is related to cars and automotive technology that doesnt naturally fit into another forum catagory.
I'm just wondering, I remember someone put a thread up a month or two ago that said the car that started it all for me is up for sale. I was trying to think of what car ( car's) started it for me.
Then I remembered a couple of cars from old mags that got me into retro cars then retro fords.
So what got you into the type of cars you now love? And yo you have any pics of them?
It started for me in the early 1960's. I owned a 1960 850 Mini. A friend had a similar car that he had modified. 1098cc engine, modified head/cams, Twin Carbs, lowered, wide wheels modified dash etc. He asked if I wanted a ride & I was totally blown away it felt as fast as any car ive been in since ( It wasn't of course). I had to have one & the modified car Lark had started.
When i was younger u was more into American cars,custom cars and hot rods. I really liked the Ford coupes with flames down the side.
Ive always liked my Fords from there then about 12 years ago i bought my first Performance Ford and Fast Ford mags and it went from there for mw
My old man has always had fords and in particular a mk3 tina in daytona yellow it was a preface lift and the old man turned it into a gxl. All my mates where mechanics and i was a engineer. I thought if they could do it so can i, and thats when the mods started.
Wasn't a car for me it was more rallying, growing up in west Wales which has a strong rallying community I used to stay up late to watch them pass by my house, there was something about the sound of mk2 escorts with tuned engines and straight cut gearboxes that stuck with me. Wanted one ever since. And I have been buying car mags since I could read, still have over 1500 of them after cutting down a little.
I was never a ford fan growing up until I was in my early twenties and a friend had got a stage 3 3dr cossie. I started liking them after that first trip out in it so its all his fault I now own a 3dr and i,m a massive cossie fan. Love em.
Anglia 105e 1200 Super. Put in a 1500 Cortina GT engine and gearbox and Lotus Cortina steel wheels. Used to race my mates in their Mini Coopers, Hillman Imps,Corsair Gts, Cortina Gts, MGBs, Triumph Spitfires etc on the Isle of Wight back in the late 60s.
Been a Ford fan ever since.
It was a Citroen ax GT for me loved they little cars and still do was a proper little hot hatch back in the day. Lightweight 1.4 twin choke carb I had two of them and body kitted up my last one and a high lift cam.
My family had always owned Ford's, plus my aunt worked for a small Ford main dealer for many years when I was a nipper.
She would give me the latest Ford brochures when they came out, plus she always had a different brand new Ford company car to drive around in.
When I was old enough to drive, my first car was a more door mk3 1.6 Escort Ghia with XR3 cloverleafs and a XR3 exhaust! I loved ANF 171Y. I wonder if it is still around now??!!
There was a Pop on the front cover of the 1st edition of Street Machine back in '78.
I'd always had a hankering to build one and that mag was what gave me the push to go out and buy one. I was 19 at the time and had done my apprenticeship on MkII Cortinas.
That one on the cover was owned by Geoff Caves who co-founded the Essex Popular Front which I soon joined and my proudest moment was when my car won Best Pop at the Knebworth Street Rod Nationals in 1982.
Sadly, down hill after that as I sold the car to buy a house in 1983, married in '84 and, once kids arrived the spanners stayed in the box.
mine was a simple white sapphire cossie. the first meet i went to locally, i saw it going up the road sideways and thought 'i want one of those'. been there, had one, but want the power again ever since i sold it
Mk4 Escort was the first car i played around with at first(G71 WFC). stereo speakers nothing stupid. But really I wanted a MK5 Escort with a stupid spoiler.... In that case It was the Escort RS Cosworth as I didn't know what it was called when I was a young'un.
First Ford for me was a mk1 Fiesta 1.1 S back in 1987 but the car i always wanted when i was 17 was a mk2 Granada 2.8 injection in Red, in March 2009 i finally got one for Ł1200, probably worth a fair bit more now
When I was a kid it was the XR3i. I loved them, and when I grew up it was the car I wanted! Never did get one, the insurance was always stupid money. I did have a Mk3 1.3L (my first car), though and made it look like an XR3i.
My brother got himself a white A reg XR3i when I was a kid, and I thought it was the nuts! Just a shame he wrote it off a few weeks after buying it!
Always loved watching the RS500's in the British Touring Cars as well, and the RS200's in their short rally career and then rally cross.
All this along with the fact that my parents had a Mk1 Fiesta that I learnt to drive in when I was about 8 years old!
First Ford for me was a mk1 Fiesta 1.1 S back in 1987 but the car i always wanted when i was 17 was a mk2 Granada 2.8 injection in Red, in March 2009 i finally got one for Ł1200, probably worth a fair bit more now
There was a Pop on the front cover of the 1st edition of Street Machine back in '78.
I'd always had a hankering to build one and that mag was what gave me the push to go out and buy one. I was 19 at the time and had done my apprenticeship on MkII Cortinas.
That one on the cover was owned by Geoff Caves who co-founded the Essex Popular Front which I soon joined and my proudest moment was when my car won Best Pop at the Knebworth Street Rod Nationals in 1982.
Sadly, down hill after that as I sold the car to buy a house in 1983, married in '84 and, once kids arrived the spanners stayed in the box.
Cool story that. Shame family life took over. But i bet you wouldn't swap the family life though?
When I was growing up my dad was big into cars and modifying, from knee height I was his assistant building cortina's granada's and capri's, that's where my interest comes from, my love of cossies came from seeing a 3 door cosworth around 1990, this black, loud, big winged monster of a car was boosting along past us on the A34 in Newcastle under Lyme near to where castle performance and turbo systems used to be and pulled up further along, we passed it and it looked just as fast parked up, that was it i was in love, then I'll always remember a couple of years later always seeing an imperial blue escort cosworth parked up outside a fishing tackle shop, the number plate was K1 TUP spaced so it said KITUP again it's outrageous looks drew me to it. I carried on learning about cars and honing my skills
When I was 16 I started going to stokes legendary festival Park and My dad bought me a 3 door sierra base on father's day 2001 to modify, i still have it today
Cool story that. Shame family life took over. But i bet you wouldn't swap the family life though?
Of course not...kids grow up and move on and hopefully I'll now have plenty more years to paly with cars. Don't think I'll be so keen to be underneath them for hours at a time though in the cold and dark.
Of course not...kids grow up and move on and hopefully I'll now have plenty more years to paly with cars. Don't think I'll be so keen to be underneath them for hours at a time though in the cold and dark.
It takes me ages to get my ass of the couch and play with cars. But once im doing it i enjoy it.
Even from a very young age I was always in to most cars, purchased my first car as soon as I was 17 even before I'd past my test. It was a 1.4S but I was buggered if I wasn't going to make it look like an XR2! Was a bit of a shitter but I loved it and it got me in to cars in a big way...
The Sweeney mk1 Granada for me. Owned dozens of them from early 2.0l v4 to 3.0l v6 coupes and 2.0l pinto's too. Used to do spares for the mk1 club. Then moved onto the mk2 Granada. Mainly face-lift cars post 1982. Either Base model 2.0l pinto or top spec 2.8i ghia X's.
I stuck a cossie in one of my ghia X's just to see if I could do it. My ex used it as her road car for about a year. Then in 2002 I bought a 2.3L from Skegness and used this as the Base for my track car - Cosnada.