[Lily]

Well then, we made it!

January is finally behind us! And I don’t know about you, but it felt incredibly long this year. So February is more than welcome.

Over here, February tends to get a bad reputation: cold, still dark, and a bit dull. But I actually think it has a lot to offer. Pancake Day, for one. And yes… Valentine’s Day.

I can almost picture some of you rolling your eyes at this. 😂 Or maybe I’m wrong and you are romantics are heart! But I digress...

While I’m fully aware that Valentine’s Day owes much of its popularity to some very clever marketing, I still find it rather life-affirming that we set aside a day to celebrate love, especially at a time when the world can feel so uncertain. 🧡


And not just romantic love, but love for our community, for our fellow human beings, for the things we’re passionate about: our hobbies, our pets, the little joys that keep us going.

So, in that spirit, I wanted to ask you:

What was your first car, or the first one you truly loved?

[Rolebama]

My first car was a 1960 Austin 7 Minivan. I drove round for a couple of years before one day, the floorpan fell out due to rust. Luckily it was parked at the time, but we were just getting in to go out. Under it's own steam it could not achieve 70mph, but a good tail wind or a downhill gradient, and it flew. Shame about the brakes though.
My most cherished car was probably the one I use as my avatar. It was fun and challenging on twisty roads. With a few mods it weighed over 100lbs less and the engine tweaks gave it a bit more go as well as over 100mpg.

[Lily]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

My first car was a 1960 Austin 7 Minivan. I drove round for a couple of years before one day, the floorpan fell out due to rust. Luckily it was parked at the time, but we were just getting in to go out. Under it's own steam it could not achieve 70mph, but a good tail wind or a downhill gradient, and it flew. Shame about the brakes though.
My most cherished car was probably the one I use as my avatar. It was fun and challenging on twisty roads. With a few mods it weighed over 100lbs less and the engine tweaks gave it a bit more go as well as over 100mpg.

That Minivan is really cute. I know it's not the adjective you would use to describe it 😂 but I really like the shape.

I didn't know the car in your avatar was yours. I'll take now a closer look!
@Nick, @olduser @TC1474, @Beelzebub, @Santa, @Seal, @NMNeil what about yours? Which car was your first true love? 🧡 Would you buy it again if you had the chance?

[Nick]

My first car was silver Ford Escort 1.6 Cabriolet! She was called J-Woo (from her number plate), and I loved driving with the roof down in summer. Ultimately it was a pretty old car and the roof needed repairs having been used as entry to break in by someone. I then went more serious and got a Focus, the first of three! Loved my little J-Woo though!

[Lily]

@Nick that's a really cool first car, were you the popular kid in your school/town? 😎 Loved you named it, do you know what happened to her?

[Seal]

First true love ! Can I have more than one ? Is that fair ! I’m gonna believe it is and go for the following, in order of the amount of love and money lavished on each.

1. Ford Escort RS 500 ❤️❤️❤️❤️£££
(My wife thought I wanted to marry it)

Subaru WRX ❤️❤️❤️££
(So much fun)

Chrysler 300M 6.3 Ltr Hemi ❤️❤️❤️£££££££
(I knew every nut & bolt intimately)

Dodge Charger 6.3 Ltr Hellcat
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️££££££££££
(All the same faults as the 300M but I don’t care because it makes me smile every time I start it up)

Sometimes it’s not the money that’s important it’s just smiles for miles. And my current car is giving me loads of that but I have a terrible feeling that long term it’s gonna cost me massive amounts of money just because of all the technology fitted 😬

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Lily

@Nick that's a really cool first car, were you the popular kid in your school/town? 😎 Loved you named it, do you know what happened to her?

Not for me to say about whether I was popular @Lily - I certainly thought I was cool though lol!

I have actually tried to track her down since but to no avail! I actually bought her from a friend's parents!

[Nick]

@Seal that Dodge Charger's a serious piece of muscle hey!
Is that your current car?

[Lily]

@Nick that means you were popular hahaha! 😅 It's like when rich people say they are "comfortable".
@Seal snorted my tea when I read your wife thought you wanted to marry your car. 🤣

The Dodge is, indeed, a beautiful car. I would marry THAT car. I'm as curious as Nick, is that your current car?

[Seal]

@Nick It is one of my cars, since the meme sahib died I have been in a position to clutter my driveway up with cars and nobody there to stop me! I have a Kia Sportage because I used to have a dog, a rescue Collie, he was terrified of the 300M at tick over and refused to get in it, so I bought him the Kia🤦🏻‍♂️ Then when he died, shortly after the meme sahib, I thought about selling the 300M but I was emotionally attached to it because my wife loved it, then the Hellcat was launched and I thought ‘why not, treat yourself’ so there were 3 cars on the drive.

Last year I finally parted with the 300M with great sadness and thought I would just keep the two cars. But in a fit of madness and on a total whim I walked into an EV dealership and treated myself to my current daily driver which I’m very very happy with.

I take the Hellcat for sheer pleasure and noise, it’s a visceral experience, at 807bhp it’s also a tad lively.

The Kia, when I go to the cricket, because nobody bangs into that with their doors.

And then the EV, which is as quick as the Hellcat to 62 mph but which makes me look like I care about global warming. Of course the production of the vehicle and its use of raw materials negates any benefits of the lack of emissions, but that’s just my opinion.

My wife would, if she could see me today, have shook her head, perhaps have smiled and said ‘you’ve never grown up have you’. And she would be right 😂

[olduser]

First car Austin 7 but it was a trials car, it had 'fiddle' brakes, bunch of bananas exhaust, and a hand made body. I intended to make it road worthy but never really got there.

Next was a Mini Estate, keeping up with the wood was a problem obviously called Pecker!
I started Mini tuning with that one, once it was sorted I got an offer I couldn't refuse (swapped for a just run in Mini car). Got married! When the car was out of warranty, that was tuned and so on for several Minis (only one wife though) The love affair with Minis ended when the Kids got too big to fit in.

[Seal]

@olduser I’ve had many many cars but never a Mini ! Have no idea why it never came up as a purchase option because there was so much you could do with them, both aesthetically and tuning wise. I wonder if it was simply because living so close to FMC that their vehicles were that much more available? I remember racing at Crystal Palace, yes there used to be a racetrack there, and there were tuned Minis racing against Galaxy 500s, Mk 1 Lotus Cortina’s, Hartwell Imps etc and the Galaxy would roar past on the strait and then all the small Brit cars were like a swarm of bees, all over it on the twisty sections.😂

[NMNeil]

Morris Minor split screen convertible with a sidevalve engine. I was given it but only ever drove it off road around a neighbours field. No idea how old it was but I do remember that the number plate was MOT 10.
My second car that I actually drove on the road was an Austin A40 Farina of about 1959 vintage, supposedly the worlds first hatchback.