Hey, I recognise that car...

[Carrie]

Okay, we have a topic about everyone's first car and I'm sure many people have said goodbye to a number of cars over the years. So, did you ever see your car after you sold it? Maybe you even sold it to someone you knew.
My first Nova will now be 14 years old. I sold it to a garage near to where I work. Just two weeks later I saw the car again parked up in my home town (25 miles away from where I sold the car). It was absolutely covered in Stockport County scarves, stickers etc. I guess whoever bought it must have lived in the Stockport area and worked in Bolton because I used to regularly see the car making the opposite journey to me on the M60. I then went a while without seeing it until one day I was driving home from Oulton Park and as I went through Leigh the car that joined the roundabout before me was the Nova. It was being driven by an elderly man and all signs of it ever having been owned by a football fan had vanished.
Never seen my second Nova - hopefully the little bugger has been scrapped. I know I couldn't get rid of it quick enough after I discovered its fascination with going left at all times.
My Corsa was traded in in April this year to a garage in Bolton and I spotted it last night being driven by a woman in her fifties.

[Truckosaurus]

I heard that my first car ('84 Pug 205) got parked by its next owner on Weymouth quayside overnight during a spring tide and had to be scrapped.

[Airhead]

First a bit of editorialising...

Great idea for a thread Carrie!

I have two stories. When I first met my wife as a young 22 year old - she had a Corolla Van, the 1166cc motor with windows, mags and stripes. This was a very uninspiring vehicle that had done 200,000 klms when she sold it. It never broke down and for a perverse reason was fun to drive. We kept it to the first child was more than a gleam in our collective eyes. Two years later we saw it at the local shops near where we lived. The guy who owned it used it to cart oysters around from Wisemans Ferry in Sydney to the markets. This is a long way. Say 85 klms.

It had now done 350,000 klms, had started to rust but he hadn't spent a cent on it.

I then had a XF Fairmont for 6 years. We raised three kids in the back seat and the car was very much worse for wear when we sold it after 250,000 klms. I saw it three years later and it was just held together with tape, rust and dirt. In the mean time someone had replaced the auto with a four speed.

[garcon]

Had far too many cars to mention. And funnily enough not seen many of them since we parted company...

Cavalier - sold to breakers;
Maestro - sold to some poor sod from Salford - never heard from him but doubt he made it home;
Senator - written off;
Impreza - written off;
Escort van - Humanely put to sleep in an MoT bay;
Nissan Maxima - sold back to dealer minus gearbox...

Ah well...

[StuiE]

My dads mint '82 Mazda 626 got bashed up by the Woman Driver P Plater that bought it, its in appalling condition, when it was in perfect condition - is it cos the driver is young or cos its a woman kiddin

I was going to get it, but he said it would be too old for me.......Which is weird, cos I hardly would have been to afford it!

[SolemHill]

had a red primera 1.6lx for about 3 months........PX'd for the 2.0SRi much better

Saw the red one coming at me every slowly through the high St. looking very gleaming and shinny....then I looked at my manky SRi....and felt suitably ashamed......

[Sharky]

Well, I've only had one car so....But I do remember once seeing my mom's first car (A blue Renault 4) again but now with a lot of stickers and bigger wheels.

That also reminds me. My dad had another Renault 4 about 20 years ago. he sold it and some months later we heard that the guy that bought it got killed in it while driving drunk or something.

[Maisie]

Sharky, you'll like my friend's web page... http://www.renault4.plus.com/

[Sharky]

Thanks Masie!! Thing is that the Renault 4 was here more or less what the Mini was to the UK. It was also known as the "Amigo fiel" (Loyal friend). What family here didn't have a R4? My mom had 2, my mom had 1, an aunt had 2, an uncle had 1 another uncle had another and my grandpa still has an 82 green R4 and he wouldn't change it for a brand new Merc S500 if he had the chance....he still believes that it's the best car in the face of the planet!

[Maisie]

If you have any pictures, I'm sure Peter would appreciate them to add to the site, and I'm sure he'd like to hear R4 stories from your part of the world

[Sharky]

Well I don't have a digital cammera nor a scanner so I don't know about the pics....but perhaps I can mail him some stories about that car over here.

BTW, I don't have two moms....I meant, my mom had 2 and my dad had 1. 14 years and I still haven't learned to type!!

[Maisie]

[Bluebottle]

A few years ago we had a Bedford ambulance which we used for the band. We sold it to a couple of Aussie lads who were going to drive it around Europe. A year later, we saw it on the M1.
My parents had a Mk4 Cortina in the early 80's which was sold as an MOT failure ( lots of holes in the floor) we assumed it was going to be broken for parts, A few months later, the cleaner at my dads place of work turned up in it with added sunroof ang a red 'go faster' stripe (looked silly on a sandy coloured car!!)

[Sharky]

In fact, now that we're talking about the R4 that car left a rather "lasting impression" on me.

I don't know if you remember (or if you even saw it) but the rear door locks on that car were these little thin, flat metal sticks that sat perpendicular to the door.

Well, when my dad had his R4 I was 2 or 3 years old and I'm not sure if it was that I fell or someone shut the door while I was getting out or what but that pointy lock "stabbed" me in the forehead. Of course there was blood and the usual unrest of the parents but I didn't pass out or anything....I just wept like a baby (because I was one ). Thing is, I still have a little scar on my forehead because of that. So a lasting impression indeed

[Carrie]

Sorry Guy, but I had to laugh at your spring tide story
When I sold the Nova it had 145,000 on the clock. Last time I saw it, it still looked in great condition
My dad had an R-reg Cortina in the eighties which he then sold onto one of our neighbour's friends, so we used to see that car quite regularly until the guy died and then his wife sold the car about 12 months after that. It was a silver car and always in good condition when we had it, no rust on it when sold. I'd forgotten all about that car until about 1995 when it stopped at traffic lights as I was out walking the dog. Whoever owned it must have restored it because the only way to describe it was showroom condition, it looked absolutely immaculate.
Anytime we go to a Classic Car Show, I think my dad is secretly on the lookout for the Morris Minor he once owned.

[whitlock]

Our family Nova GSI was sold 4 years ago as it was too small for me to fit in. I recently found it again outside a garage & looking in a state (covered in rust & dinted). Pity as it was one of the best cars we've ever had.

[Craig]

I still own my first car!

The first vehicle I drove regularly was a works pickup. I didn't see it for quite some time after I, along with several others, got royally shafted by the then employers and got the boot. I then saw it six months later at a liquidation sale which brought great amusement... served them right!

[touringlegend]

well off topic slightly but i have two first cars!


and can drive them (legally) from Sunday.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Great topic Carrie.

My first car was an '82 Corolla. I saw it once, on the way to the airport, years after I had sold it. It was in reasonable nick, except for the very large ding in the right rear guard, which was a mirror image of the ding that had been in the left rear guard until just before I sold it.

I then went through 6 Valiants, 5 of which were wrecked. The last one was an E48 Replica, which I sold to a 17 year old Learner driver, I presume he was killed shortly after. Very fast car, with no brakes.

I saw my VN Commodore a year after I sold it, the paint, which was very thin had faded to white chalk.

I never saw my Laser TX-3 again.

I've had company cars since. I once saw my first company car, a TR Magna wagon at a used car yard, they were asking too much.

I see my last company car regularly. It was a VT Commodre. My old boss took it over when I left the company. It was immaculate and his VT was slightly newer, but a wreck. My old car is now just as trashed.