MY CAR HISTORY
The Learner Car...
Happy Days 🙂
My first car, bought with cash from being made redundant before starting my sandwich year. Bought from a very dodgy garage in the bad streets of Wigan
~60-85% rust
engine replaced once for about £200
Made full use of the £500 minimum px on offer at the Formby Mitsubishi Dealer to switch from the very broken Metro to the ever reliable Colt.
Bought after spending many hours in Frank Summers' Mitsubishi Lancer as a passenger from Maghull to Yeovil and being impressed by the 'Japanese Future'
First real job; money to burn, ladies to woo. A non hairdresser affordable sports car from Honda in Weston-Super-Mare. The VTEC engine never stopped revving. Loved it..
Until the bizzies decided I should have a break from driving 🙁 , so it went back to Weston..
After my driving hiatus I'm going back to my roots. Bought from, the still amusingly named, Moff Motors.
A great reliable throwabout car with enough poke the increased insurance premiums could cope with
As the Saxo was handed over to Sarah, a 2nd car was needed, enter the Coupe via a private sale from somewhere in Oxfordshire.
Looked cool, bit bland though 🙁
Also not loved by the now wife so it was always destined to have a short life
Buying a V12 jag off ebay for a grand as a 'project', what could possibly go wrong..
Yep, lots..
Got my hands dirty fixing lots and got to drive it (and spin it) a few times. Too much off a car and the cost of a brake and bushes change for the MOT made my eyes water. Back onto ebay for another sucker car lover to enjoy
The Hyundai and Jag went for a sensible family car for a well kitted great car. It had a bloody key 'card' not keys.. Welcome to tomorrow.
Soaked up the miles with ease and Oh and that split opening rear window, genius..
Honda Jazz 1.4 SE Sport
A Sarah Car, really practical and did it's job perfectly with no fuss or issues in the 4 years of ownership. The magic seats really were magic, this small car had so much space in it
The Natural Successor to the Renault as all the 'modern tech' started to naturally fail and random warning lights couldn't be diagnosed in the French car.
A great car, which when it came to selling was proved to be in high demand so held its value really well.
As Child 3 arrived, we needed something with extra seats, cue the worst car I've ever owned.
Horrible to drive, no power, warning lights like Blackpool, it lasted 6 months before I had to get shot of it. The warning lights only came on after about 10 miles of driving so chose garages within a 5 mile radius to take it as p/x. They loved it and gave me more than it was definitely worth for the shit heap. We soon moved from Reading but when I went back I noticed the garage had closed down, hopefully this deal wasn't the final straw
The Jazz was great but a tad small for a mum runabout car so, like us all, it put on a bit of girth and the FRV was born into the stable.
Such a great practical car and the 3 front seats was a great layout which I'm surprised never really caught on. A huge boot capacity but just a tad thirsty for long motorway journeys.
BMW 330D Tourer
From the ridiculous to the sublime, the zafira trade in got me this beauty, perfect for commuting from Somerset to Reading until one snowy evening on the M4 when the stories about RWD in the snow made it very spinny. One bump with a crash barrier later and the insurance write off money was soon to be spent
With the BMW insurance money burning a hole in my pocket enter my first NEW Car, ordered to my spec.. 2 tone Ink Blue and black roof. A great drive, no road tax, 40+mpg and great looks. Would happily jump back into one of these today if needed, just a tad small. A throwback to the Saxo , a wonderful warm hatch.
Alfa Romeo GTV
The need to commute up to Reading was now gone and I hit 40 so there's only one natural choice 🙂 A cheap Italian sports car. Bought from a dodgy Italian who sings in a band and owns a garage to clearly launder some cash.
It was surprisingly reliable ( ignoring not very rain proof seals) and a fun drive with classic looks
The need to commute returned and the gtv wasn't quite up to it so..
okay I was suckered by the 'funky' look.., A perfectly adequate car but it lacked any enthusiasm, it wasn't long before it made it way to Sarah ( who also hated it) to end it's lease life
After the banality of the Cactus I needed something so when I was driving pas the local garage and saw this on the forecourt it took less than 48 hours for it to be on my driveway.
Ever since the CRX I've longed for that VTEC engine again, it didn't fail to put a smile on your face. A modern classic.
I had put a deposit down on a Model 3 but got bored of waiting so dived into a 3 year old Model S. The future was amazing, it was here and it was sooo comfortable and soooo fast.
The the speed of the S2000 was now not needed, this car ticked all the boxes. So it heralded the end of the S2000 a few months later
The one with the doors..
The dream as kid is to own a car with these doors, the best and coincidentally most expensive car I've ever bought ( got a loan for).
Bought 2 years old, previously owned by the ex-chairman of Tesla Owners Club UK, in perfect condition and is still an absolutely fantastic car
Other Vehicles
Cut hours off my commuting life while living in Reading. Only fell off once 🙂
Towing a Caravan was not for me, I was constantly panicking so took a punt into motorhoming. As somewhere to live it was decent, going up hills not so much..
A significant upgrade on the Talbot, soo easy to drive and the perfect layout for roadtrips, festivals and weekends away