Cars of the 70's

[Lobos]

My first bike was a James Captain (197cc)...reg, RNN 220.

 

James colonel was the best one then with the villiers 1H 225cc engine,chin on the clock you could get nearly 80 MPH out of them,if it didnt size up on you and throw you over the handlebars

[IRONMONGER]

I learnt to drive on Dad's Morris Oxford Estate which was huge, and with a steering wheel the size of China. The Driving School had, so I was told, the first Datsun imported into this country, supplied by Portland Autos on West Bar where the Courthouse is.

I passed my test first time on a Thursday morning and in the afternoon went out and ordered a brand new Hillman Imp van from Highfield Motors, after all I had new wealth earning £9 a week.

Swapped that in 1973 for a Sunbeam Imp Sport in metallic Grasshopper Green, what with four headlamps, twin carburettors, alloy wheels and air horns that played 'La Cucaracha' my goodness this really was the bee's knees. Traded it in at Pickford's on Ecclesall Road for a primrose yellow Hillman Avenger G.T. which was fitted with such huge alloys and extra wide Kleber's that I had to take it to Reg Long, at the top of Broomspring Lane, to have the front wheel arches tapped up so that I could turn corners.

Next followed a bright red TR7 coupe from Crabtree and Nichol, which I kept for five years. Just to prove that I can make the same mistake twice I spotted a silver TR7 convertible in Hatfield's on Sidney Street. I went in and asked for that silver car on the top shelf. Hatfield's had a glass fronted showroom on three levels which reminded me of a toy shop. This became a 'collector's car' because I had to keep stopping to collect the bits that used to drop off.

[andrejuan]

That is an impressive list IRONMONGER.

 

I bet you wish you still had the Avenger GT, very rare now and strong money.

I had the GLS, similar engine to the GT. The Tiger was the ultimate though.

[Jim117]

Some good old names on here, slightly later when I started driving. First car was a mark 3 Capri, heaviest steering ever and well tail happy in even a light drizzle. Stuck to Fords for ages, liked the parts interchangeability and ease of access on the rear wheel drive models. At one stage I was running a mark 2 transit fitted with a cortina engine, twin choke weber carb off a capri, mix and match gearbox and 2 different prop shafts cut and welded together. Ran for years like that. Truth be told all those old motors were rotboxes but at least you didn't need a degree in quantum physics to keep em running! Pity we never realised what they'd end up being worth.

[Eater Sundae]

My first "car", in around 76/77 was a 1969 A35 van. (For the younger ones amongst you who don't know what that is, think Wallace and Grommit's van). However, they'd stopped making the A35 van a couple of years before mine was registered.

 

It appeared that the original owner had bought a bodyshell and then sourced a variety of components from the MOWOG parts bin and various scrap yards. As a result it had a non-standard engine size - (I think it was 998 instead of 1098, but it's a few years ago so I'm not sure. I don't know what car it actually came from originally).

 

Also, it appeared to have a very non-standard gearbox and/or back axle ratio. As a result, it was VERY low geared. It had a true top speed of around 45 mph, at which point it was revving its nuts off, and the speedo was reading in the high sixties. Presumably the speedo drive was to suit a different gearbox. I finished up calibrating the gearbox as best I could by taking it on the motorway and timing the run between mile posts.

 

The electrics were very poor, and barely able to keep the battery charged. But that didn't matter as it had a starting handle.

[mossdog]

If ever you took a car in for P/X in those days,the dealer would walk round clocking your car and when you weren't looking he would kick the sills,if your sills didn't end up on the floor in a pile of rubble.................well you were lucky!

[IRONMONGER]

That is an impressive list IRONMONGER.

 

I bet you wish you still had the Avenger GT, very rare now and strong money.

I had the GLS, similar engine to the GT. The Tiger was the ultimate though.

 

I used to drool over the Avenger Tiger - but, the insurance!!!

My GT achieved around 16mpg on a decent run, I once left Crookes at 7.45am and was parked in Olympia car park by 10.15am for the Racing Car Show. Well it was New Years Day 1975, oh and there was a national speed limit of 50mph and we had petrol ration books - never used.

I should add that I drive a little more sedately these days and Hybrid Lexy acheives a much, much higher mpg, and I am proud of my clean licence.

I just remembered that in 1975 I won a trip on a Radio Hallam motoring programme to Ryton where we spent the day on the Avenger production line. This culminated in a visit to the Special Operations Department where we saw a British Racing Green Avenger with a BRM engine!!!

Edited April 4, 2015 by IRONMONGER
I remembered something.

[Jim117]

Like most lads of my age I started on motorbikes first, James, frances barnetts then on to bigger bikes like BSA a10s..my first car was a three wheeled Bond Minicar with the Villiers engine on the front wheel..had some great fun with that little car as it was an open top you got socked when it rained but all in good fun then..my first real car was a 1966 Vauxhall viva Ha the box shape one I gave £50 for it,the thing was right rot box sills and wings full of filler holes in the floors,it still ran well and gave me a lot of pleasure bodging it up and painting it bright orange,that car got me going on Vauxhalls and I was Vauxhall a fan from then on,my favorite car that I had was beautiful Vauxhall victor 101 vx/490...green with the white strip down the side column gear change and big bench seat...twin carbs as well so it went like stink for a big car....

Always fancied vx 490's but sadly they'd all died by the time I was old enough to have one. Was yours the cokebottle one bit like a stretched HB viva or the mark 3 cortina sized one which was begging for the front bumper binning to reveal its big square grille?

[Lobos]

Always fancied vx 490's but sadly they'd all died by the time I was old enough to have one. Was yours the cokebottle one bit like a stretched HB viva or the mark 3 cortina sized one which was begging for the front bumper binning to reveal its big square grille?

Go on line and have look for it, it was the FCH vx/490 101 model...wish I still had it now, a council bin truck run into it when it was parked up and totalled it,got a good pay out for it but it was irreplaceable to me then... I've actually still got a classic car in my garage now. I have 1959 Ford popular..

Edited April 4, 2015 by Lobos

[medusa]

Our family car when I was growing up was an L reg turquoise blue VW Fastback, but then my mum learned to drive and we got a Fiat 126 for her to use as well. Then the VW's engine blew up on the way back from Cornwall with all of us and nan in it (cue several hours of waiting on the side of the M5 for someone to come and rescue us) and then it was replaced first with a white Fiat 131 and then with a V reg red Ford Cortina, which was the bees knees because it didn't have a cold vinyl bench seat in the back that burned patterns into my legs on hot days