The Darwin Path To Rav4

[Hoovie]

Following on from a comment in another post, thought I would have a montage of my cars (when I say 'my' cars , they are just pics on the web of cars I have had - not the ACTUAL car I had)

1st motor - Viva HB (should really be a pic of an estate - I know it was IN a state!)

2nd motor - Spitfire 4 Mk 2 :D

3rd - Renault 12 - Bought for £50 as MOT failure and then taken to a 'renowned' MOT station, handing over £50 for an MOT and any 'adjustments' that may be needed

4th- Nova :(

Move into Company cars after that

MD of the company used to get a very cheap jag if he bought lots of cheap cars for the plebs to use, so me and my unlucky co-workers had the:

Austin Ambassador 1.7L

and countless Ford Serirras while Ambassador was being repaired - I think I worked out it was off the road for 31 working days in the 13 months I had it for unscheduled work

Austin Montego (2, maybe 3 different ones I think) - not a bad car really, except it had no power and terrible brakes when roads wet

Jumped ship to another company and ended up with a Ford Orion

Went back to original company and had another brace of Montegos

Moved again and went Frenchie again..

Citroen 19TZS for 3 years, then when the Citroen went back, it was return to private cars, and a

Peugeot 405 GXi which I traded in a year later for .....

Celica GT4 - hell of a car :D :D :D

Found the Celica was a bit sedate though after I had also bought a ZZR600 B)

And ended up selling Celica for a Peugeot 306 :o , which then made room for a Mitsubushi Lancer (and not the rally type, more the trilby and travel blanket one for some god awful reason)

That lasted a year until I switched to the Rover 623GSI back in 1998, selling that in 2000 when it hit 60k to get a Nissan 200SX Touring - very nice motor, if a bit anonymous.

the 200SX made way for the Honda HRV less then a year later (Driving License preservation action :P ) and then in 2006, after 5 years in HR-V, the RAV4 arrived

So if I haven't missed one out, tally (excluding short term temporary company cars) is 19 motors in about 25 years of driving

[rob64]

Hoovie,

I'm sure you loved that viva .

I had a hb viva GT 2300 C.C. dark green with slime green racing stripes . NICE . I wish i had all my old cars including 3 x vauxhall firenza's , a droop snoot sporthatch , capri 3l , a celica GT twin cam 8 valve 1982 . opal manta 1.9 s A series . etc . etc .

[Plutus]

Wonder who started with the "oldest" car?

My first was an Austin A40 quickly followed by another. Don't think they had MOT tests in those days. Spent my weekends patching up rust holes with pop rivetter and filler.

The "Good OL Days" eh.

Expect the RAv to last another 7 years before rust appears (if ever).

[Hoovie]

rob - IF it were a GT 2300cc then YES!! It was a rusty wreck, inherited from my mum but actually I did like it, being my very first car

Looks like you were a real Vauxhall fan - I always wanted a Firenza or a Magnum Coupe with the twin round headlamps and then lusted after the last style Manta coupe. I still occasionally look on Autotrader for Mantas and Firenzas

The DroopSnoot sporthatch was the Viva Estate HC body with a 2.3L lump and the droop front wasn't it? Sort of like an XR4i of the era :)

[dave.m]

Definitely going to answer this thread, but its gonna take a while to collate photos ;)

[Robert6920]

Hoovie, I blame you for my trip down memory lane... I was alright until I started this and have been up in the loft for the last half hour, searching out slides, trying to find the projector, then googling "slides to digital pictures" etc etc.

First car, bought for £125 at auction in Leighton Buzzard in 1970 was a 1963 Ford Zephyr, bottle green in colour, reg 770GEW (should have hung onto that, even if I sold the car!) 4 speed column gear change, "umbrella" handbrake in the dash, reclining bench front seat..... Hmmm, they don't make them like that any more

No doubt this will prove to be a popular thread!!

[anchorman]

Well after a bit of a trawl I have some ACTUAL photos of the many anchormobiles. This is a kind of potted history as far as I can remember!

1 Mini 850. One of my brothers ex crash jobs. We intended to put a fibre glass front on but never did.

2. Mini Cooper. Cost £40 but was a nail and had to go.

3. This Mini 850;

I think it cost £80 and in true mini fasion I was under it every weekend.

4. This mini 1000;

I had to have a bank loan for this massive investment of £250 (I was earning £14 a week as an apprentice mechanic - circa 1975). It was a revelation because it had a seperate oil pressure and temperature gauge and wait for it......... square rear light clusters - cool huh!

5. I ran (shared mainly at his expense) my dads mini van for a period of time. You can just see a glimps of it in photo 1.

6. Then I bought an L reg mini van off my father-in-law. That was the first vehicle I had when I got married to anchorwoman back in 'Nam - er sorry 1980!

7. For a short period of time I owned a 2 or 3 year old mini 1000. This was a Britty Leyly and was the biggest nail known to man. Despite every weekend lay under it I could not keep up with the oil leaks and the handbrake siezing.

8. I then bought a Triumph 1500. It was the first of the rear wheel drives and I could remove the gearbox and put new needle rollers in the layshaft and watch The Sweeny at the same time. In our first house I used to take the gearbox inside and watch telly and do the bearings with the gearbox on my knee while the wife was out working. You think I'm kidding don't you?

9. Because I was on call my gaffer gave me my first company car...........

A ten year old Clubman with only 10k on the clock. It had done so little that the engine oil had congealed and I ended up changing the idler gear because it sounded like a Stuka dive bomber.

11. New house, new baby and something more reliable for the wife (no not me);

It was quite nice but I was perfectly familiar with doing contact breakers with a mirror and the tappets every other week. The more eagle eyed will spot anchorwoman in the passenger seat. I kept it for ages and I also had the car a long time.

12. I then went a bit mad and bought this;

It was delightful after the small cars I ran. Within the first week the oldest daughter (about 4) was sick in it and the youngest (about 2) failed her potty training exam. It was nice but I could never get to the bottom of a horrendous flat spot between the first and second choke of the carb. Then I found I couldn't afford it and bought..

13. Austin Maestro. Probably best not to mention too much about that as the mods will kick me out for breaking the bad language filter.

I then had a succession of company cars

Ford Orion

Audi 80

Both of the above used so much oil that I could have entered them in the Red Arrows smoke formation team

My first new company car was this;

Nissan Primera 2.0 SLX and probably the car I was most fond of in my whole life (so far). It was so well polished it could be seen from the moon.

Renault laguna from new. Look nice, used oil and gave me back ache.

Another new Nissan Primera 2.0 SLX MkII but not as nice as the first.

May 2000 - New BMW 3 series (318) Touring. The most comfortable car I have ever driven but it was so unreliable that when I gave it up in 2003 to go onto the railway it had so many new parts it was newer than when it was delivered.

14. Then I bought my first private car for a long time;

It never missed a beat and is now run by my daughter. I would set off to the southern tip of Italy in that without giving it a thought.

15. You know as much about this as I do;

The story continues............

But not for a long time yet!

[rob64]

hoovie .

Best of the bunch was the Manta , purple velore interior , walnut trim . All the vauxhalls were 2.3 slant 4 cyl ,great fun except the sporthatch which was a real pain . If i had kept em all i would be rich i tell ya ! :D

[Hoovie]

hoovie .

Best of the bunch was the Manta , purple velore interior , walnut trim . All the vauxhalls were 2.3 slant 4 cyl ,great fun except the sporthatch which was a real pain . If i had kept em all i would be rich i tell ya ! :D

Just looked on Autotrader - only ONE Manta for sale :o - and two Opel Monzas listed - but they turned out to be caravans 1 Vauxhall Viva - which ended up to be a big van and a Victor (I did like them as well) but that was actually a Vectra.

In short - one classic vauxhall/opel for sale onthe entire autotrader system :(

[dave.m]

This was my first car, around 1979, it was a Hillman Avenger. I had it sprayed same colour as this, and black stripe and Rosstyle wheels added.

[dave.m]

Cars no's 2 & 3 were a couple of Mk3 Ford Cortina's 1.6 XL like this -

[dave.m]

Car no4 was a Ford Cortina Mk3 2000E like this -

[dave.m]

Car no5 was a Mk5 Ford Cortina 2.0GL, this is the actual car -

[aiberdonian]

Wonder who started with the "oldest" car?

My first was an Austin A40 quickly followed by another. Don't think they had MOT tests in those days. Spent my weekends patching up rust holes with pop rivetter and filler.

The "Good OL Days" eh.

Expect the RAv to last another 7 years before rust appears (if ever).

How about a 1935 Austin Seven Saloon converted to pick up - I was only 10 at the time but taught me great clutch control.

First road car was 1953 Austin A30 reg OSM 15 (wish I still had the number now)

[Robert6920]

How about a 1935 Austin Seven Saloon converted to pick up - I was only 10 at the time but taught me great clutch control.

First road car was 1953 Austin A30 reg OSM 15 (wish I still had the number now)

Well, that beats me. However, my first summer job was parking cars for a firm at my local airport - the idea was that the passenger would drop their car at the airport, a proper (ie qualified) driver would ferry it to a storage location (maybe a warehouse or disused factory if it was "undercover", or a field if it was in the "open") and there was I, ready, willing and occasionally able - as a 14 year old - to park these cars in order of their owner's return. The date and time when they landed were chinagraphed on the inside of the windscreen. I also got the cars out ready for their return. If someone came back early, it was a nightmare

The huge upside was I got to drive everything, whatever its state of repair. I learned a huge amount from the mechanics and drivers, like how to park cars so close you could only get a "fag paper" between them, how to start a completely lifeless car after two weeks in the open, how to use a pre-select gearbox, how to drive a crash gearbox (I can still drive without using the clutch at all, although it's probably not good for the starter motor) and all manner of other things, some more appropriate to a 14 year old than others

The mechanic drove an ex Army pick up - a huge thing called (I think) a Humber Pig. I remember him driving it up and down the private road of a large country estate where we parked cars, demonstrating to me that he "didn't need an effin' clutch" (on the crash gearbox) and his gearchages "didn't make any noise" - so why, when he let me actually use the clutch, did my gearchanges "sound like a cement mixer going into effin' reverse"? You learn quick, that way! Eric Yates, where are you now?

[Hoovie]

my oldest is still the Spitfire I had (1966 D plate). Before I could actually drive properly, I took the Viva (my car #1) out while it was still my mums and she was away. Drove it around a bit, touched bumpers with a parked volvo and when I drove it back into our driveway I was going a little too quick and slammed into my brothers MG Midget - I still can't get over how non-mad he was about it!!

[Guest Snowy3]

ooh this is a fun thread!. I'm afraid i'm too lazy to dig out my actual pics of my old cars, although it is tradition that people always have a pic taken with their new car outside my mums house so i do have them somewhere....

I've been driving 11 years.

First car - White Vauxhall Nova Merit - 2 door G reg (SNOWY2)

Second car - White Toyota Corrolla - E reg (SNOWY - inherited from my Grandad)

Third car - Blue Vauxhall Astra - 51 reg (PIX)

Fourth car - Blue Peugeot 206cc - 03 reg (STINKCAR - on account of all the problems i had with it!)

For a time after i shared ex husbands Silver x-type Jaguar - 05 reg (NO NAME)

Fifth car - White Toyota RAV 4.1 - S reg (SNOWY3!!)

[Hoovie]

so how come snowy2 came before snowy - or did you name all the families cars for them :D

[Guest Snowy3]

so how come snowy2 came before snowy - or did you name all the families cars for them :D

hee hee! i should of explained...my Grandad named his car first before i got mine (most of my family do actually name their cars because we are a bit strange like that!)...then grandad died so i inherited Snowy2 and Snowy went to my sister. :D

[Hoovie]

I just remembered the first two cars I ended up driving regularly AND legally on UK public roads was before I passed my Test

My dad lived on Rathlin Island in Northern Island and I went to visit him before I passed my test.

The law there stated that to drive on the road, you did NOT have to have any Insurance, you did NOT have to have a license and the car DID not have to have any certificate of roadworthyness such as an MOT or the like

So the only cars on the island were mainland cars that failed the MOT, and when a car on the island broke down it was taken to the west end of the island and just pushed over the cliff

His fleet of vehicles was a Renault 21 (or maybe 18) with no reverse, 1st or 2rd gear - that was fun working out the best way to stop at an end of a road so as to be able to just roll back;

Plus a Hillman Avenger with no exhaust - so that was a 'stick it in gear and get ready to drive as soon as it started to avoid frightening the livestock' techinique.