You go to a show with classic cars and one of them is a 1990 XR3i cabriolet!
Of more interest was a 1965 Anglia. The car had been owned by the same couple for almost 40 years, then the owner died and his wife became too ill to drive and it was sold to the present owner.
Mileage was 46,500 and they had every piece of paper ever issued for the car, including the sales order which makes interesting reading in comparison to car costs now - I have recalculated costs to today's prices.
The car was a basic spec, not a 'deluxe'. On the road price was £547 (£7,311), but this included some interesting options. Cabin heater £14 (£187) and two wing mirrors supplied and fitted £12 (£160!). Reg plates were £2 (£26) and a years road tax £15 (£200), purchase tax was £3 (£39).
The car had had just one major piece of work which was the replacement of the front wings. Unfortunately the paint colour couldn't be matched accurately due to colour fade of the original car, but the owner is intending on getting the car resprayed at some point in the original grey paint.
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Ah I do feel old now... back in 1986 when I was a callow schoolboy, the school goddess's (the lovely Claudia) mum used to pick her up every day in a brand new XR3i cabriolet, all in white... wheels, bumpers.... looking back it was the epitome of 80s awfulness, but when your dad has a 1979 Princess (1.7L, the lowest of the low) you feel like the lowest of the low!
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"but when your dad has a 1979 Princess (1.7L, the lowest of the low)"
My dad had the 2200 HLS and we were proud as punch. Bronze with a vinyl roof. Front arm rests. And automatic too. I'd love to take one for a spin now.
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Nothing wrong with the old Princess. Amazingly, nearly 40MPG with the old 1.8 B series engine, loads of space for the kids, enormous boot and it would pull a fourteen foot caravan (I was young, poor and it gave us cheap holidays).
What a mistake to change it for a 1.7 Ambassador. I thought the hatchback would save me crawling into the boot to reach the stuff right at the back. Overweight, gutless and drank petrol.
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"Overweight, gutless and drank petrol".. sounds like one of my exes...
Was the old 1.8 litre one you mention one of the original 18-22 series then?
I am sure they were OK cars in 1975, but in 1986 it was very uncool, especially the base version. My best mate's dad had a Sierra 2.0iS (remember those) and before that a Cavalier SRi.... my dad had pov spec cars, bless him. Shallow, moi? Aged 14, yes absolutely! Before that he had a Mk 3 Cortina 1.3 with single round headlamps and no chrome at all, no Sweeney GXLs for us.... before that a Simca 1501 which was at least different. Although, sounded like a Massey-Ferguson when the tappets went noisy as they did within minutes of being adjusted.
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"Nothing wrong with the old Princess"2
I remember seeing hundreds at Longbridge after launch with b####### driveshafts as iirc the 2200 manual gearbox version has a designed in misaligned drivershafts...
poc if you ask me... as much alure as a 20 day old fish on a fishmonger's stall..
madf
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You know you are verging on middle age when British prime ministers and US presidents look and sound like whippersnappers.
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My dad had the 2200 HLS
my parents had a 1978 2.2 hls auto. in biscuit with a brown vynnl roof.
ive been looking for one for a few yrs but cant find any
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what a blast from the past. the 2200 was a superb in those days, very free revving engine. then at the Bevan we had 13 Princesses delivered, with the same engine, but what a loud of carp, you could not see the front, you could not see the back, and within weeks 12 were off the road due to the driveshft problem, we ended up going out in land rovers, oh to be a traffic cop in the 70s. Also what about the Triumph motor bike we trialled in 76, blew light bulbs every shift, sent back, returned with thicker rubber grips to soften the the vibration. the Norton Commando, lovely bike, but that disc brake on the front was great, in the wet, nothing until the disc was dry then whoa, nearly over the handlbars. I then change force and BMW 528is, made the BMC cars seem like they really were, rubbish. But having said that I bought a Marina TC. We are very lucky now with our cars.
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My Dad had a succession of poverty-spec cars - a Hillman Imp, with nominal compression, an Austin 7 Ruby (actually quite cool in the early 70s), a A40 Farina (which I learned to drive in) and then a mustard coloured Maxi, but luckily I'd left home by then.
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you were lucky :-)
My dad had a motorbike and (double adult) sidecar. At least he could forget about the kids fighting in the sidecar ! Then we went 'upmarket' with a Ford Prefect and then Renault 4s - one only had a 3 speed box. I remember some kid at school boasting that his dad had a BMC 1100.
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You were lucky too.
My mum had a FIAT 500 closely followed by a FIAT 126 and my data had a Skoda something or other. Didn't earn me any cred at school.
"It's OK dad you can drop me off here thanks - no really here will be fine -NO DAD I don't want you to drop me off outside the school where people will see me!"
After the Skoda my dad got an F reg Metro and then a G or H reg Montego - strewth he never did learn - apart from the time we had an Afla Sud (but even that was wrong as it was a left hand drive import from Italy that literally rusted away on the drive).
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what a blast from the past.
Hands up all who knew what the Bevan was.
Shift change at the Bevan was time to move all the dodgy motors with zero tax and mots from one iffy garage to another in Brierley Hill and Stourbridge.:-))
Happy long gone days Phil I
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When I was a lad in the 1950s my grandfather had a 1929 BSA motor cycle and sidecar combination (MT 2124 was the reg.) with a hand gear-change on the side of the tank. We went everywhere in that for years, me on the pillion and Granny in the sidecar. Every year on holiday to Mersea Island, those were the days. I went back there last year for another look. The place hasn?t changed that much, except the caravan sites appear to have taken over from the farms.
My first car, at the age of 23 was a Ford Anglia 105E with the backwards rake rear window £369 second hand. Had that for about three years until I hit a very large fat pig on a dark rainy night on the road into Datchet (parallel to the M4 if you know that area). The farmer was prosecuted and fined 7 shillings, under an 1836 law about not allowing animals to stray on the highway. My car was a write off, good job I had fitted seat belts before they were compulsory. I feel quite nostalgic now.
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Your youngest (age 10) yells "MINI" whenever he sees an original. He refers to it as "cool" and thinks the BMW version is a tacky fake. You remember Mum having one of the first Minis in Harrogate (in 1959 I think) and cursing the floor-mounted starter button because it broke her nails. You remember your foot slipping off the tiny brake pedal and the chrome bumper nudging the corner of the house. Later, you are reminded that your best mate's Mini set the carpets alight after some careless welder fried the boot-to-engine battery lead, first gear whined like a siren and the hinged rear number plate rusted off. You towed it for some reason or another nearly every week. You did all the driving because it was dreadfully uncomfortable. From the superiority of your Triumph 2000 Mk1 automatic (with Webasto sunroof and towbar), you thought the Mini a seriously flawed vehicle. You know you are old when you realise Issigonis was gifted but delusional.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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You know you are old when..... you go to a motor museum and find your first car as an exhibit!
As happened to me when I came eye to headlamp with an F reg MG Midget (mine was a 1968 G) at the Haynes Motor Museum. Theirs was in better nick than mine when I saw it last. It had just been written off after a disagreement with a Ford Escort.
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Very interesting Davey. How did you work out the equivalent todays price by the way.
I bought a new VW 1200 beetle in 1964 to replace my Morris Minor Series 11.
World apart in quality to the British cars of the day. So well built VW advertised that it would actually float in water as the seals were so good. And you actually had to wind down the window to pull the door closed as the inside air pressure prevented it.
Cost £624.00. Competitions used to be held as to who could remove and replace the engine in the fastest time. I believe 20 minutes was only regarded as being good and some could do it even faster.
wemyss.
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You know you are old when the car you lusted after at school, then obtained at 19, is now lusted after 34 years later by over 50's and modern youth as a classic.
Capri Mk 1 (pre facelift)
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< Ex RF, Ex TVM >
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You know you are old when
>>>>>>>>>you would rather climb into your transit rather than some low delectable fast little smoothy to go get your dailly mirror
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Perhaps it's a sign of getting old when cars that seemed huge when you were in your teens seem dwarfed by modern models. What brought this to mind was following an E type Jag. at the weekend, narrow tyres etc.
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....the vehicles you used in the TA are now turning up at re-enactors' rallies - we had the Ferret in my first TA regiment.
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Historical value of money calculator.
measuringworth.com/calculators/ppoweruk/
I've just been downloading photos of the day and forgot about another 'classic' on display. A mid 80s Volvo 240. There were also a few Capris and Granadas - I'm sure the owners were proud of them, but they all looked like sheds to me.
Best in show for me was a mid 80s Alpina BMW 2.3 which had been tuned to produce 230hp and was immaculate. The winner on the day was a 1969 Corvette Stingray.
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You know you`re old when...........you have to use the grab handle to get out of the car.
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you know your old when.... recently saw some castrol gtx in metal 5 gallon tins ( must of been a one off) on sale at the local discount store (the shop is in a dodgy part of the city but the owner thinks hes the bees knees cause he has his roller in the customer car park) and thought blimey i used to buy the stuff in metal tins!!!
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You cringe when people use 'of' instead of 'have'.
"(must of been a one off)"
Sorry MJ!!!!
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I remember being in the car with my sister at the grand old age of 37, when this topic came up..
my response was, "When you've been driving for longer, than you weren't allowed to." at that time it was 17/20, now it's 17/25 oh my word.
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