My first car way back in 1965, what was yours?

Mine was a Talbot Sunbeam. It died a death when the engine went on fire outside B and Q on a bank holiday Monday.
1947_Sunbeam_Talbot_10.jpg
f you mean the 1947 Sunbeam Talbot then even now I still regret letting that lovely car slip through my fingers as my first car. It was gorgeous, with leather seats, a sun roof and a push button wireless. I dithered, and it was sold.

If you mean the later 1980ish Chrysler Talbot Sunbeam........then sorry, wrong car. ☹️
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f you mean the 1947 Sunbeam Talbot then even now I still regret letting that lovely car slip through my fingers as my first car. It was gorgeous, with leather seats, a sun roof and a push button wireless. I dithered, and it was sold.

If you mean the later 1980ish Chrysler Talbot Sunbeam........then sorry, wrong car. ☹
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I suspect it may have been the later one where the factory is now my local Asda.

72C0B481-BD50-4BBD-8B38-A7B2F5CC3079.jpeg
 
1928 Morris 8, starting handle inside the front bumper, thermostat on top of the radiator to tell you when it was boiling going up hill, no starter the electrics were for lights only.
I was 18 and it cost me £5-00, as a young apprentice agricultural engineer I thought I was the bees knees, we could get 6 in it to go to the local village dance, happy days.
 
View attachment 52461
f you mean the 1947 Sunbeam Talbot then even now I still regret letting that lovely car slip through my fingers as my first car. It was gorgeous, with leather seats, a sun roof and a push button wireless. I dithered, and it was sold.

If you mean the later 1980ish Chrysler Talbot Sunbeam........then sorry, wrong car. ☹
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yes unfortunately it was the later Chrysler model in orange 😂
 
Mine was an hilman imp was going down an hill when the rear right wheel came off with the brake hub still attached managed to stop and retrieved the wheel with the shaft nut still inside the hub cap could only get it back on by removing the brake shoes it still drove for 2 weeks but failed when I was reversing at full speed pressed the brake sand the pedal went to the floor and I crashed through the side of a garage happy days
 
Jeez, you lot ARE old lol

Then again may partly be I never bothered with a car til 78/79, was always bikes before that. Oh yes, first car for me was a 1200 Honda Civic
 
Well first vehicle I drove 1966. 4 ton Bedford. Then Saladin then Saracen then ferret. Then centurion tank. Then first car I purchased . Mini then jag240. Then jag 4.2 then merc 280. Then granadas cortinas Then Range Rover then merc. 320. Too now Land Rover freelander brian
 
Jeez, you lot ARE old lol
Then again may partly be I never bothered with a car til 78/79, was always bikes before that. Oh yes, first car for me was a 1200 Honda Civic

Idon't know if you have ever had this observation made about you "nabism", but I have always thought that your avatar had more than a passing resemblance to the late and vert great motoring writer L. J. K. Setright who also had held an absolute passionate love for all Honda automotive products and here is you writing about a 1200 Honda Civic!
 
Idon't know if you have ever had this observation made about you "nabism", but I have always thought that your avatar had more than a passing resemblance to the late and vert great motoring writer L. J. K. Setright who also had held an absolute passionate love for all Honda automotive products and here is you writing about a 1200 Honda Civic!
Must say that’s a new one on me, that’s a lot nicer than many comparisons:) 👍
 
Sorry Jim, but how on the eart did you ever fit 2 twin choke webbers onto a 5 port head? For that reason the works cars were sometimes fitted with a single 45 dcoe webber and the highest ever power that anyone ever achieved out of an 'A' series engine was at best 150 bhp.

I do of course realise that some of the works cars were later fitted with 8 port heads, but very few of these were ever put onto the open road because they cost a fortune as indeed they do these days if you buy one from the likes of MED Engineering, but the head alone before you even start thinking of the exhaust or carbs costs an eye watering £2,500. So by the time you have tuned an 'A' series engine with one of these when fitted to a Mini, then along with a Jack Knight gearbox, the exhaust the con rods, the crank and everything else the engine and transmission build alone would come to well north of £7k.
I had a mini fitted with a cross flow head and 4 Amal carbs out front, Alexander engineering if I’m right. About 1970 ish
 
I loved those, so charismatic, I once knew someone who had a highly tuned Messerschmitt Tiger 500 which he used to compete on hill climbs and he even did the Land End Trial in it on a few occasions..... now look at the prices of any of them in good condition being asked these days!!
Here are some Bonhams images of the Tiger 500 https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22792/lot/106/
Before going to four wheels I had two KR200s not the same time but... I rolled the first on a wet roundabout at the 'monument' in Dover just sitting upside down and still putting away, a bloke turned us back up and went off, on the way uptown was passed by two fire engine a police car and an ambulance going to the car wreck on the seafront. It would go flatout BACKWARDS but didn't steer at all well, doing that.
It is a wonder I got to my age looking back. The second one I put my feet through the floor. I wish I could get it back now, worth a bomb, and I COULD repair it all now.
 
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It is a wonder I got to my age looking back. ................................
You and me both. :oops: Don't know about you, but my driving licence looked like a comic book 50 years ago. :mad:

Strangely, marriage and a good woman changed all that and I've not picked up an endorsement since those happy days.
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First car in 1972 was a 1961 Mini 850. I bought it from a Canadian chap who worked with my Dad, for £60. It was originally exported to India then brought back to the UK.
Didn’t seem to have any rust on the body, but the subframe broke driving into the local pub car park
What a place to get stranded!
Second car was also a Mini, (£110) but had been fitted with an 1100 cc engine and a proper gearstick that came up between the front seats.
It accelerated like mad with a top speed of about 50mph till I put 12” wheels on it.
I kept that for about 6 months then part exchanged it for a brilliant 6 year old 2 litre Triumph Vitesse convertible. It was actually owned by a little old lady from new and had covered just 10,000 miles.
Within a month I had to change every UJ in the drive train.
 
Just a thought with all us older drivers, does anyone still have their old red book style driving licence?
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Before going to four wheels I had two KR200s not the same time but... I rolled the first on a wet roundabout at the 'monument' in Dover just sitting upside down and still putting away, a bloke turned us back up and went off, on the way uptown was passed by two fire engine a police car and an ambulance going to the car wreck on the seafront. It would go flatout BACKWARDS but didn't steer at all well, doing that.
It is a wonder I got to my age looking back. The second one I put my feet through the floor. I wish I could get it back now, worth a bomb, and I COULD repair it all now.
Do you remember the KH 2 strokes? In an attempt to get back on a bike after an accident brother in law gave me his KH400 he had stripped to clean and couldn’t get back together :)

I rebuilt the engine just having to clean and reassemble the rebuilt the bike. At the same time with a fitter mate from work we built a lightweight (ish) trials type sidecar and when bike was ready we set about getting it all aligned. What fun that was, if you know the bikes you will know the power and was like turning a switch on and off. Still wonder how I managed to learn the art of sidecar riding on that beast lol
 
I had a kwaka triple for a short while ( used to change bikes regularly back then) green and went like a snot off a stick. Think that was a 400? Got no photos of that one though.
Swapped it for a kettle which the lad couldnt get running right. Now i never did find the hinge in the middle of the frame but Im sure there was one🤔
K ;)
 
I had a kwaka triple for a short while ( used to change bikes regularly back then) green and went like a snot off a stick. Think that was a 400? Got no photos of that one though.
K ;)
The triples back then were the KH models, renowned for the way they took off and also for having super bendy frames lol. The KH500 H1 became known as the widow maker
 

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