Resurrect your favourite old motor

slocumjoseph

The Ancient Mariner
VIP Member
T6 Guru
There must be loads of us who are nostalgic for one of their previously owned vehicles they’d like to own again. The car I once owned that was the most exciting to drive was a Skoda Octavia MK1 VRS. It was as ordinary looking as a Vauxhall Vectra but a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Audi TT engine gave it a ridiculous top speed of 145mph. I once checked that out and found it still accelerating at 147. The suspension was beautifully sorted so it was as well balanced as a supercar….and I ended up using it as a taxi. o_O However the car I once owned and would really like to see resurrected is a MK1 all metal mini estate I had. I had skimmed the head and fitted it with twin SU carbs. So by 60s standards it had a bit of wellie but I also enjoyed owning it for practical reasons. I was a commercial photographer in those days and it could instantly convert from a cute car, which the girls liked :whistle:, into a little van when I needed to carry all my equipment.

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Best car i ever owned was a Nissan Skyline R33 VSPEC. That was a fast car as standard (held the lap record at Nurburgring). Plus mine was mildly tuned to around 450bhp. 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steer, was amazing to drive.
Its still around but has been used on track so not sure i want it back.

I still have real fond memories of my Golf GTi mark 2. My second car.
 
To me is my Opel speedster 2.0 turbo.
Never driven anything like that again…20 years ago that car was crazy fast, handling like a supercar.
 
Best car i ever owned was a Nissan Skyline R33 VSPEC. That was a fast car as standard (held the lap record at Nurburgring). Plus mine was mildly tuned to around 450bhp. 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steer, was amazing to drive.
Its still around but has been used on track so not sure i want it back.

I still have real fond memories of my Golf GTi mark 2. My second car.

So, that's where your handle comes from. That's an awesome car, and very collectable nowadays. :cool:
 
My favourite car was my Peugeot 1.9 205 Gti.

It was lowered and had a Turbo Technics turbo on it. Boy was it quick, in the dry, in a straight line….

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I agree. I converted a 1.6 Gti version for my son to do stock hatch racing back in the 90s. Unfortunately the regs didn’t allow us to use the bigger engine but even the 1.6 after preparation could take the same sized Golfs, Suzukis and Fiestas to the cleaners. However, as you implied, they did have a tendency to swap ends.
 
There must be loads of us who are nostalgic for one of their previously owned vehicles they’d like to own again. The car I once owned that was the most exciting to drive was a Skoda Octavia MK1 VRS. It was as ordinary looking as a Vauxhall Vectra but a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Audi TT engine gave it a ridiculous top speed of 145mph. I once checked that out and found it still accelerating at 147. The suspension was beautifully sorted so it was as well balanced as a supercar….and I ended up using it as a taxi. o_O However the car I once owned and would really like to see resurrected is a MK1 all metal mini estate I had. I had skimmed the head and fitted it with twin SU carbs. So by 60s standards it had a bit of wellie but I also enjoyed owning it for practical reasons. I was a commercial photographer in those days and it could instantly convert from a cute car, which the girls liked :whistle:, into a little van when I needed to carry all my equipment.

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Mine would be the Volvo 850 T5. One dark night Mrs A managed to out sprint the equivalent umnarked Merseyside Police traffic car. They caught up with her on our driveway. She wasn't prosecuted probably because they were impressed with her driving and also that we live in Lancashire. All we have left are the number plates on the garage wall.
 
Mine was a Renault 5 GT Turbo I owned around 1990. I loved that car but when insurance companies started penalising "hot hatch's" I got rid.

They were known for their clutch cable snapping owing to it being rerouted to accommodate RHD vehicles. I drove it around France in 1991 and luckily took a spare cable with me as it snapped as I reached the top of the Puy de Dome (which you can no longer drive up). Fixed it in the car park at the top. God knows what would have happened if it had snapped en route up the mountain!
 
Mine is comparatively mundane - a 2002 3 series BMW saloon (E46 facelift) in 320D SE guise. It was the first company car I'd spec'd and ordered from new after being fobbed-off with various cast-offs up 'til then.

At the time I was commuting to/ from Glasgow, doing just under 40k miles a year, and this car just munched the miles. According to Google Maps, it was a 239 mile journey door-to-door, with a predicted time of 3 hrs 40, but the quickest I managed was 2 hrs 15 whilst still averaging low 40s mpg!! For me, it was the perfect machine for the job and it never missed a beat - in fact, I'd swear the engine had only just properly run-in when I changed it at 110k miles.
 
Nothing mundane about those figures @Bav :thumbsup:
Ironically, I replace it with a 2005 E90 320D SE, which was larger, more powerful, torquier, faster, more economical and more free-revving... and I absolutely hated it. The run-flat tyres ruined the ride and BWM ruined the interior by binning-off the "driver cockpit" design of previous 3 series.
 
For me it would be my Mk2 Cavalier SRI 130. I'm no doubt seeing it through rose tinted glasses, but I had just turned 20, it was 3 years old and I really did think I was the kiddy.
 
Ironically, I replace it with a 2005 E90 320D SE, which was larger, more powerful, torquier, faster, more economical and more free-revving... and I absolutely hated it. The run-flat tyres ruined the ride and BWM ruined the interior by binning-off the "driver cockpit" design of previous 3 series.
I think my most hated vehicle was a yellow Ford Corsair with black vinyl roof that I bought on impulse at a car auction after I missed the car I was after. Fords unsuccessful follow up to the Zephyr Zodiac series. It had a gutless engine, column change and a bench seat that I used to slide left and right on. Too big for a little guy like me and embarrassing to own.
 
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I think my most hated vehicle was a yellow Ford Corsair with black vinyl roof that I bought on impulse at a car auction after I missed the car I was after. Fords unsuccessful follow up to the Zephyr Zodiac series. It had a gutless engine, column change and a bench seat that I used to slide left and right on. Too big for a little guy like me and embarrassing to own.
Rebound purchases rarely go well :(
 
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