I used to have a Morris 1300.
It was quite good. I lived in a colder climate then and this would heat up quickly, so the heater worked within about 4 kms. That was good.

The dizzy was right at the front of the engine bay facing forward. Any rain coming in the front of the car would get in there and stop the car.
I screwed an ice cream container on the inside of the grill to protect the dizzy. Was ok after that.

Cheap to run, sort of like a chatty amiable friend, reliable, good heater in a cold wet climate.
Good memories.

Ford Escort panel van, although mine was a canary yellow

Fun times were had. My record was 13 girls in the back ... good night that was .
Great little run around. Easy to work on. Blew the automatic box within 3 months so converted it to a manual and taught myself to drive manual.

First off, my father’s cars that I drove:

The first car I ever drove was a 1949 Jowett Javelin.  I wasn’t old enough to drive on a public road then, so it was in a shopping centre car park (St Ives Village) on a Sunday, in the days when all the shops were closed (no Sunday opening then for all but a few such as small corner shops and newsagents).

Learnt to drive and subsequently drove a Mark I Austin 1800, then:

Holden Premier (HT).

Audi Fox.

Ford Escort Ghia



And my own cars:

1975 Holden Gemini (TX)

1990 Mitsubishi Magna (TP) and, currently:

2014 Skoda Octavia and 1962 Wolseley 15/60.

(and, on a 5 month trip to the UK in 1975, a 1962 Ford Consul Cortina - the one with a 1200cc engine)

Bobby. wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 9:36am:


Not exactly surprising.  Its maximum speed when new was 69 m.p.h.

I learned to drive in one of these.

Here is the Car that I officially learnt to drive in (did a few unofficial miles in a Vauxhaul Viva, VW beetle and the odd paddock basher). Not that exact car, but right make and model and base paint colour. Ours had the black vinyl roof as well. My older brother still owns it today - Dad bought it brand new in '69. Fond memories of that old beastie.

Aussie wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 3:19pm:


Distributer Cap Aussie, the thing that the leads plug into the top of. Basically, electrics, so as you can imagine, water and electrics do not good bed fellows make.

I thought the ice cream container idea was a pretty good innovation.

My favourite car, a Saab 95.

Redmond Neck wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 3:56pm:


I'll see if my mechanics know of it.

Aussie wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 4:00pm:


If they don't, I'd be looking for new mechanics.

Wolseley wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 4:23pm:


The term 'dizzy'.....not the item.

Aussie wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 4:38pm:


If they don't know what it's called, I would seriously doubt their ability to fix one.

unless you've got an original picture of a car that you used to have as far as im concerned you're full of crap....

oh.. I've got one of these.. but this picture is from google... 

bugger off loser...

you are most likely catching the bus because you're an unemployed wannabe tossa... 

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 4:56pm:


Spoil Sport!

You aren't allowed to post PERSONAL stuff on here. 

Neferti wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 5:05pm:


see my post in the food forum... 

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1428134917

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 4:56pm:


Do you seriously expect everyone to have a digital photo, ready to post, of every car they have driven?  I’ve had my licence for 45 years, so that’s not really possible, plus I don’t think everyone would have taken a photograph of every single car they have had.

OK then.  Here’s a photo of the Skoda at Bilpin a few weeks ago:



The Mitsubishi at Bathurst about 10 years ago:



And the Wolseley on Macquarie Road, Greystanes (probably taken around 2005):



The photo I have of the Jowett is an old black and white one buried in a box in the garage, I don’t have photos of the Austin, Holden Premier or Audi Fox.  The photo I have of the Ford Consul Cortina is a colour slide, so I can hardly post that.  I must have a photo of the Escort somewhere, but I don’t know where.  The photos I have of the Gemini are prints in an album, which I have no intention of dismantling.

best car I ever had was a Ford ZC Muscle Car...

while the poofs ran their souped up buzz boxes.. I ran Cubic Inches... 351c Power House...

think Vin Diesel's fast and furious 1970 Dodge Charger....

Wolseley wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 5:20pm:


being an old fart I wouldn't expect you to have digital tech.. obviously... 

but hey... Welcome to the 21st century 

take a digital picture of your Black and Whites etc..

if you can...

durr..   

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 5:40pm:

Thank you for the description of yourself.

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 5:40pm:

If there was any real need for me to do so, I would, although scanning them would make more sense that photographing them.  In fact, I have been doing so with a number of my photographs over the last year or so.  The only thing is that I would have well in excess of a thousand photos, so I am only scanning the ones I particularly want to do at this stage.  The photographs that these cars appear in are pretty low on my priority when it comes to the scanning of all my photos.

cars I wish I could have kept..

HX Monaro and my LX hatch back Torana (with hatch hutch)

other cars of mention... ZC Fairlane in blue to the right

1989 Camry and 1971 XY

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 6:21pm:


the power would come on and didn't stop except for the slight change in revs when it hit the next gear...

it was unbelievable.. it was just a motor that clicked and everything balanced out right...

that HX Monaro up above had a 350 Chev... but it wasn't a shadow on the Fairlane and the Ford 351c...

but I didn't build the 350.... whoever did, didn't get it right..

have a listen to this charger and you'll get an idea of what this Cleveland sounded and ran like..

mind you.. my clevelend wouldn't match the chargers power..

Ive owned a few cars, never thought to take a photo of any one of them. Had a HK holden, one of those old Valiants with the wheel hump in the boot, a HQ Holden, Old 250 Ford sedan, Chrysler Sigma, quite a few utes.

best car I ever owned that HK Holden. Red 161 motor.

rhino wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 6:57pm:


an army mate of mine had a HK... we'd ride in it every third week to work when it was his turn to drive out to Puckapunyal...

a dark brown with a white roof... always admired that car but never owned one... rode real nice (soft), and enough power to keep it rolling with an ever reliable Red Six... 

I learned to drive by renting one of these in Rome using my US motorcycle license. Getting out of the city was like flying among Kamikaze planes.

Marla wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 1:38am:



the  Pre 2006 Pontiac GTO is a re-badged Holden, same with the Chevrolet SS (2012)

GM has been selling Holdens in the US for eons

Learnt in a 4 door Datsun 120Y.

First car a beaten up '69 MGB that I slowly did up and then wrote off in a big  way.

Smashed a borrowed 3 day old Suzuki 800 Hatch a month later - straight through a stop sign and into the side of a hotted up 70's Falcon - both were written off.

Had a bright yellow '73? HQ Monaro while I owned the MGB but didn't like it and traded it after 6 weeks for a '69 Ford Capri V6.
Smashed the Capri a couple of months after smashing the Suzuki.

Less than one year after getting off my Ps and a rather angry magistrate took my license off me.

I've mainly had motorcycles as my main form of transport since.

Aussie wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 12:50pm:


1991 to 2001

I spent the first year living in Seymour... Martindale Crs and then shifted out to Puckapunyal where we lived in Peronne St ...

Life_goes_on wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 12:28pm:


after crashing all those cars you swapped to bikes? have you a death wish?

John Smith wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:05am:


Have they? I've never see one on the road.

Marla wrote on Apr 20^th, 2015 at 1:48am:



they re badge them

John Smith wrote on Apr 20^th, 2015 at 8:08am:


Pontiac GTO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_GTO#2006

I had a Capri similar to the one above. It had a turbo, handled well. Kick arse car.

UnSubRocky wrote on Apr 20^th, 2015 at 10:18pm:


The word is 'had', not 'have'. It's the 'lucky' ones who still possess them.

These were vehicles one could (almost) afford on a single wage - and almost all of them were second-hand.

It's 40 years since I bought my first new car. I haven't bought one since.

"Money to burn"?

I think a lot of us look back on cars we owned years ago with very rose tinted glasses.

Life_goes_on wrote on Apr 20^th, 2015 at 11:19pm:


I certainly do

That MGB I had felt like a proper sports car back then.

I suspect that a 5 year old Nissan Micra would both outperform and out handle it - even if the MGB was in as new condition.

Leaving style aside, the cars we can buy now are the best we've ever been offered.

Yes, heard the term "genny" and "Maggie".

My first car was an old Sunbeam Alpine.......more rust on it than paint but it was my pride and joy. And flat out approx 103 mph, the petrol gauge moved quicker than the speedo.....lol

gone wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2015 at 4:10pm:


What a cute little clown car.