My wheels

As one so often does, after seeing an old Morris Minor pootling past the other day, I began thinking about the cars and bikes I’ve owned over the years and wondering if any are of them are still surviving, now.  

I started making a mental list but it wasn’t long before I thought I’d better write these down. Now I’m no car collector, although funding and space allowing I’d probably have dozens, so the motors listed here are, or were, almost entirely my daily drives. This is also probably not the complete list as I suddenly find myself remembering another obscure auto I once had, but that’s just an age thing…….

Sadly, I’ve only a few pics of the actual vehicles so I’ve raided the internet for most of the images and in no particular order, here they all are:

Ford____Maverick_1997_Black metallic
The Maverick, a great car – engine fell out at 86000 mile though

MY WHEELS15

MY WHEELS14
My transition vehicle from 2 wheels to 4. That’s me in the bond Mkc above
MY WHEELS19
Fiat 127 – nuff said
morris minor 1000
Our moggie was just lovely until the front wheel fell  off going up the old Shoreham Road near Seven Dials
MY WHEELS 3jpg
The 2CV was bought new for a snip over £4 grand. It helped me through the great storm of 1987 and  also took us to the Isle of wight
MY WHEELS 1
My Spitfire was the same colour and had the same attitude – it also matched my Aubergine shoes
MY WHEELS25
The D3 Bantam 150, my second bike
punto
Fiat Punto – Bought when the new registration numbers first started
Old-Mini-Big (1)
Bought as a second car in the 80s
gold mini
Everyone has to have a mini – mine was gold with wide wheel and a straight through exhaust, of course.
MY WHEELS 2jpg
My first proper car, although mine was an Austin A30 and in black, not an A35 as shown here
MY WHEELS 6jpg
The car I ever drove an Austin Big 7 – more a family vehicle than just mine but loads of fun. We had a Kestrel living in it after it died
MY WHEELS10
The Mk1 Cortina. Mine had a a purple and grey  GT paint job…. but still the rubbish 3 bearing crank, 1200 engine
MY WHEELS16
Me in my Bond MkG Estate- Oh so cool
MY WHEELS18
The BSA CllG my first 250 after passing my test. A collectors item these days
MY WHEELS21
Fiat 600D got us to the south of France with our camping gear and most of the way back as well…
MY WHEELS 20jpg
My first lease car, that came with the job, an Orion – not at all sorry when it went back.
Ford KA
Our smashing little Ka. Passed it on to Hannie. it was great until rust ate the filler cap, then consumed the rest of the car
Hillman Avenger
The first Avenger
avenger_11
Avenger two, bought when the family started to grow

 

MY WHEELS23
The Sierra. A Ford direct purchase- wish I’d still got it now
MY WHEELS26
The Isuzu Trooper – Tow the caravan to any place. Got wrecked by some sad, loser car thieves.

 

MY WHEELS34
Good old black bus, the Dodge Caliber. Our current camping wagon and general do everything car
MY WHEELS28
My first brand new car, a Talbot Horizon. I recall the boot flying open as I was driving down the M4 at 70mph – says it all really
MY WHEELS38
Triumph Speed Twin 5Ta. I took the paneling off and added ape hanger bars and a high level exhaust……. still ask myself why??
MY WHEELS33
Our Suzuki GV one of the best cars in the snow  I’ve ever had. Only got rid of her when the hood finally decomposed
MY WHEELS32
I love a big old 4×4 auto and the Pajero did the trick ,or should it be truck
MY WHEELS30
My first wheels. Big bro standing behind
MY WHEELS37
Really Chezs car but I get to drive it if I’m good
MY WHEELS41jg
A D1 BSA Bantam -my brillant first motor bike
MY WHEELS35
Mondeo man – my first rep mobile

 

 

MY WHEELS29
The Talbot Solara. Bought from new, a good family car that rotted from the inside out – those were the days
MY WHEELS36
A Renault 5. Actually on long term loan from my Dad who had to give up driving. Thrashed it to death but it still had a long life even after it left us.
MY WHEELS42jg
My Lambretta LI 125. Bought from a work mate. I stripped all the paneling off and painted it mat black.
MY WHEELS43jg
The trusty 1965 Ford Anglia. Pale blue and bought for £100.00, it happily took us down to Devon for a holiday but not a lot furthe,r. Sold it after 9 months to a friend of a friend for £75.00, just before the engine fell out…………… sorry, Harry who had one??

 

MY WHEELS44g
The Ariel Arrow one of the best 250s of its time. Mine was white and gold, as well.
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2 Comments Add yours

  1. Raymond Robert pickett says:

    Hi John, good god what a selection!! I don’t know where to start.without going through all of them which I know well. My daughter has a ZX 3 which she loves and calls it Bluebell!!! I will study the rest at my leisure.

    Like

    1. Hi Ray glad you enjoyed the images and sorry I’ve not responded to your comments before now but I’ve got so engrossed with Brighton Past I’ve rather let the blogging stuff slip

      Like

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