Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Hi all,

Did you run your own car straight away after passing your driving test? Did you start out driving for business as opposed to pleasure? Would you ever go back to owning the first car(s) you ever had your name on the logbook of?

All memories of first car/vehicle ownership & use, welcomed

RJ
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[Penman]

Hi
Learnt, in '59, in a wide body '34 Austin TenFour which was my fathers first car bought in order for me to learn as well as be family transport, we next had a '36 updated Vauxhall DX 6cyl.
I had a Bown 98cc Autocycle then at 21 i got an Ariel Leader to take my bike test on.
After getting married I had all sorts of cars came along at V low prices from cheap car ads in the paper.
Possibly not in order:-
Austin 8, Rover 16 with 6 cyl, Morris E. a quite square looking Fiat from sometime in the '50s.
In '65 a company car a hydrolastic Mini.
Then, again not necessarily in order a Husky, Audax Minx estate, Austin Cambridge mk I A55 with O/drive, another Leader.
Then started instructing:-
HB Viva, HC Viva, Mk 1 Escort, VP 1100, a number of Minis, Mk 2 Escort, a couple of 2nd generation Starlets, Metro, Nova saloon, Renault 9 and 11, Volvo 340, a couple of 440s and then a 2000 Y reg V40 which is still with me as my daily driver..

I may have missed something.
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Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[Ray White]

At the tender age of 16 I bought a BMW.

O.K. I admit it was only an Isetta 300 bubble car but I loved it to bits. Armed with a motorcycle license I was able to get behind a steering wheel a full year ahead of my contemporaries but the adventure was not without it's difficulties. I did in fact buy two Isettas in quick succession because the first one was a four wheeler and to my chagrin was taxed as a car. The two rear wheels were close coupled and this meant a full car road tax of £25 which was more than I had paid for the car!

The second bubble car was a three wheeler which attracted a lower road tax. I happily parted with £25 for it as I had made a profit on the first one and the bodywork was unmarked although the blue paint was very dull. A weekend spent cleaning and polishing with 'T cut' had the little bubble car shining like new!

Stupidly, it never occurred to me to take any photos or keep any records of my first love - which is something I have grown to regret.

I doubt I would have the nerves to drive an Isetta these days but the biggest deterrent to ownership would probably be the inflated prices that these little cars sell for. They were intended as a cheap form of transport and I am afraid that is still the way I see them.

[Keith D]

I learned to drive in 1960 in my father's mk2 Ford Consul. When I passed my test my uncle gave me his immaculate 1946 Austin 10. Unfortunately the engine was really worn out and the car used as much oil as it did petrol! I was a very lowly paid apprentice and could never possibly afford thirty quid needed for a recon motor!
In those far off days I got through cars pretty quickly. That Austin was followed by a 1936 Opel Cadet, an Austin Big Seven (1938) 1957 Bond Minicar (I still shudder about that one!) 1953 Hillman Stinx and finally a 1959 Commer panel van, converted to a Hillman Stinx wagon by adding rear windows and a rear seat. There were far too many motorcycles mixed in with this lot to remember!
Then it was 1967 and I left for Australia.
Then it started all over again! Far to many to bore you with here.
I have never driven professionally; all my driving has been for pleasure.
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1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[badhuis]

[badhuis]

[kevin2306]

i passed my test 10 weeks after my 17th Birthday and already had my p reg 850 mini on the road.
I remember the day well as it was friday and had the day off.
on the monday, going back to work as an apprentice joiner, I was goven the keys of the company bedford cf pick-up and told to go out for materials, and as such, a new stage of my career started getting out and about.
soon after that, my boss bought a mini pick-up complete with canvass top!, great little motor.

good days

[Ellis]

I passed my driving test on Friday, August 13th 1971 in Llandudno when it was pouring with rain and the resort full of ambling tourists. The examiner even complimented me on the careful and positive manner in which I drove on a difficult day. The car was my mother's "J" registered Mini Clubman Estate.

I had visions of being let loose on my father's Wolseley 18/85 but it didn't quite work out that way. He told me that to learn to drive properly I needed experience in vehicles which were not easy to drive.
Over the next years I drove many vans - Bedford HA, Ford 100 and 105E, Morris Minor, Commer Imp, Ford Transit, Bedford CA and others but the biggest challenge was an old diesel Austin J4 to Cardiff and back in one day.
Other joys included a 10 mile journey driving a Nuffield Tractor in pouring rain and a 40 mile journey in a clapped out Series 2 Land Rover to collect a stock trailer. Yes a 1959 Series 2, not a 2a and it was as rough as a badger's backside.

I looked wistfully at the 18th birthday present of the son of one the wealthy families here - a brand new Ford Escort Twin Cam. Another was given a Triumph TR6 and one of the first year students at my University had a new Jaguar E Type V12 Roadster!

Ah Well! I've made up for it since and I think the experiences have made me a better driver.
I had to wait until I was 22 before I had my first car.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Rusty]

Well !
I learned to drive at the age of 9 on the family farm where I was brought up and the first "car" I ever drove was a 1924 Dodge tourer cut down into a ute with the addition of a tray to the rear section. Its starter had packed up so when you stopped it you had to park it on a hill so you could roll start it or if it stalled I couldn't start it so dad had to get it going with the crank handle. Soon moved up to the "new" 1957 AS international ute that actually had a working starter, this is the vehicle I really became a competent driver in.
My first road car I owned myself was a 1967 HR Holden premier sedan that I wish I still had. Beautiful car that went well was nice to drive, reliable and everything a car should be.

[peter scott]

Like Ray I guess my first car was my Isetta 300 which I drove on my motorcycle licence aged 16. My motoring starting point being a Puch Alpine scooter that I received as payment for building a record player for a friend of my sister.

After passing my car test at 17 I sold the Isetta and bought a Series II Minor.

I certainly would not want ownership of the Minor again.

Peter
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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[lowdrag]

I passed my test in a BSM Austin A40 in 1963 and drove the family Moggie from time but preferred my bikes. I'd started riding at 14 on a Sun 98cc 2-speed and had progressed at 17 to the heady heights of a Fanny Barnett 250cc Villiers twin. But I had owned my first car at 14 when my uncle's Morris 8 failed the Ten Year Test, as it then was, in 1960 due to a rotten chassis and had great fun learning to drive it in the fields. My first car was a 1962 Mini, starter on the floor and magic wand gear change.

[Rootes75]

My brother has always been into Land Rovers, once I passed my test we used to drive his old Series 2A's around the fields and lanes at my Grandparents place. Being keen youths at the time we even went as far as digging out some pits etc and made a small off road course in one of the paddocks.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[roverdriver]

Started driving a grey Fergusson tractor when about 13 or 14. Bought a Model T Ford in about 1960 but never got it going, but did teach a couple of much older owners how to drive their T's. Moved to New Zealand for a while, passed my driving test after only one and a half lessons, and the same day walked from the bank where my limited funds were withdrawn, four miles to where I had seen a car that took my fancy. It was a 1930 O.H.C. Morris Minor. It served me well for nearly two years when I sold it to return to Australia.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[alastairq]

My first 2 cars, as a driver, were Morris Minors. I was 'at sea' for a lot of the time around that era, so driving time was somewhat limited.

Things that came & went [mainly over leave periods] were a Renault DAuphine, a Ford Escort 100E [liked it]..etc.

Then, I abandoned a career at sea, instead..[for want of anything better to do..or, for that matter, any ideas about which direct ion to go]....signed up with london Transport as a bus driver.....I mean, 40 quid a week, all the overtime I wanted...and it was driving!

By then, I had my first decent [ie, non-cheapo] car, an Austin Healey Sprite IV.

[Rick]

Me in the A40, nearly 30 years ago ...



This was the first car I ever ran on the road, and I still own it (needs restoring now though). Technically, a red Mk3 Spitfire was the first car owned in my name, but the A40 was the first car that I used once I'd passed my test (in it) as the Spitty was still some way from being roadworthy at the time.

22nd December 1987 was the day I passed.

RJ
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Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
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