Cars with 'character'

[Shoppinit]

My Rangey was a pretty hair raising drive before I replaced the shocks. If you happened to hit a small bump while cornering some weird resonance would set in and amplify causing the steering wheel to violently vibrate left and right. The front wheels would also start alernately lifting off the ground shortly after that.. There wasn't much you could do but grit your teeth. Slowing down didn't seem to help.

A lot better since it has new shocks and steering dampener but still does it slightly. Just to remind you that it's waiting for an opportunity to pitch you into a ditch, like.

[MikeFish]

Lol at the bungy cords to stop the doors opening.

[RIV]

My first car was a fiesta super sport, had one when I was 17
Managed to clock up 27k in one year, driving round smoking weed and going to many out door raves and chasing the women
Oh I miss those days
Edited to say all the things I wouldn't want my kids to now

[Surrey Sam]

Vinyl go faster stripes FTW Looked tidy.

[RIV]

Vinyl go faster stripes FTW Looked tidy.

Can't find a photo of my old car, it was black with polished alloys, but with red and silver in the side stripes
£800 insurance in 1988

[FaisalJ]

I'm liking this thread!

Volvo 740 GLE Saloon, 2.3 - The car I learned to drive in, looked like this one:



Many a terrified motorist moved the f**k out of the way when they saw it coming towards them with the L plates on.

Rear wheel drive meant I managed to actually get it sideways a few times, but you felt like you were going to fall over as the suspension was so soft. It was also a fair bit quicker than the 1.0 hatchbacks my mates were in. And it had heated leather. Oh yeah.

My Mum had an accident in it with a mini - There was a scuff on the bumper of the volvo and a broken light. The mini? Broken grill, bonnet crumpled, and bumper totalled!

It had a variety of problems, mostly electrical, but the biggest was a dodgy starter that would stick. From memory, to get around it, the sequence was; put it in gear, get out, rock the car a bit, then try again. Repeat 2 to 3 times. Most memorable time it happened was after a post-exams night out at a north london club, leaving with Mrs J as I was giving her a lift home (had only just met her a couple of weeks earlier at this point), and all my mates deserted me! They found it piss funny that I was in the car park rocking the car and the fine lady I would go on to marry was sat inside looking embarrassed!

Its ok though - My Dad upgraded me to a blue P reg 1.0L polo. Except when he got home with it, it was very obvious it was in fact purple. Thanks Dad.

[bam_bam]

I have a routine, after selling a "nice" car (R34, 740i, RS6 etc) I always replace it with a variety of crappy French diesels which have to last until I decide to buy a nice car again. The following is a true list (not exaggerated for comedy effect) of the faults of just one these, a L-Reg 5 door Citreon ZX 1.9D aka L344KKY (or L334KKY) aka The Mighty Leaky which I owned for 9 months in 2004 -

• No air filter or air filter housing fitted. It sounded better but would also suck leafs/twigs/hedgehogs etc into the engine.
  
  A 2ft long 10-5mm wide crack across the rear passenger floor from left to right.
  
  A holed exhaust directly below the crack, so the car would fill with exhaust fumes as you drove (nearly gassed my friends wife to death).
  
  A flammable picnic throw jammed into the crack and used to block the exhaust gas which "melted" into a plasticy plug which filled the worst of the crack unless you opened a front window, which dragged the fumes back into the car.
  
  Front CV joints that sounded like I had door gunners fitted whenever I turned the wheel, sounded awesome.
  
  Front door locks which froze in the Open position during winter when the door was opened so they wouldn't shut. I had to bungy cord the internal door handles together to stop the door opening when cornering.
  
  A boot with no lock held shut with ty-wraps and a Kellogg's Cornflakes box rear window. I broke the boot lid and replaced it with a lockless one from a scrappy and then days later broke the glass in the new boot because I accidentally smashed the window with a screwdriver in a rage because a braided hose I was making had just slipped a single sliver under my thumbnail.
  
  The engine wouldn't turn off so you had to drive it forward into a kerb, put it in 5th and stall it to stop the engine. It would still drive without the key fitted.
  
  No bonnet release cable so a hole cut into the grill and some paracord run through to the drivers seat.
  
  No stereo so I could only listen to the random rattles/squeaks/groans of the car.
  
  French electrics which meant that when it rained the headlights would randomly flash in time with the wipers.
  
  Heading to Silverstone to watch a Drift day I sold the spare wheel at a services on the M1 to a drift competitor with a flat. About 5hrs later I realised my front tyre had delaminated and I was now stuck.

I eventually killed it in a retarded way! I drove to a supermarket in winter at 8.55pm and it had just started to snow. At 9.30pm I came out and a thick layer of snow covered everything. As I drove out (following the same route I drove in by) I was concentrating heavily on the ground as the 4-6in snow covered the markings. It was at this point, travelling at 20mph that I caught a quick flash of red right infront of me, however I wasn't able to stop before smashing into the snow covered carpark pole-style barrier which was dropped at 9pm to split the car-park in two. I stopped with the barrier bent over the roof of my car destroying the barrier, a smashed windscreen, bent A-Pillars and a Trolley boy who ran over to say "Why'd you do that?" like it was deliberate! My issue now was how was going to drive back the 5 miles to my home? Simples, I "Ace Ventura'd" it back, in a blizzard, in the freezing cold with ice forming on my face, genius! I scrapped it the next day and that was the end of Leaky, gone but not forgotten!

THIS. This is why I made this thread.

[bam_bam]

My Rangey was a pretty hair raising drive before I replaced the shocks. If you happened to hit a small bump while cornering some weird resonance would set in and amplify causing the steering wheel to violently vibrate left and right. The front wheels would also start alernately lifting off the ground shortly after that.. There wasn't much you could do but grit your teeth. Slowing down didn't seem to help.

A lot better since it has new shocks and steering dampener but still does it slightly. Just to remind you that it's waiting for an opportunity to pitch you into a ditch, like.

Hateful things, what is good about these? The guy across the road has reshelled his, twice!

[HYFR]

I have a routine, after selling a "nice" car (R34, 740i, RS6 etc) I always replace it with a variety of crappy French diesels which have to last until I decide to buy a nice car again. The following is a true list (not exaggerated for comedy effect) of the faults of just one these, a L-Reg 5 door Citreon ZX 1.9D aka L344KKY (or L334KKY) aka The Mighty Leaky which I owned for 9 months in 2004 -

• No air filter or air filter housing fitted. It sounded better but would also suck leafs/twigs/hedgehogs etc into the engine.
  
  A 2ft long 10-5mm wide crack across the rear passenger floor from left to right.
  
  A holed exhaust directly below the crack, so the car would fill with exhaust fumes as you drove (nearly gassed my friends wife to death).
  
  A flammable picnic throw jammed into the crack and used to block the exhaust gas which "melted" into a plasticy plug which filled the worst of the crack unless you opened a front window, which dragged the fumes back into the car.
  
  Front CV joints that sounded like I had door gunners fitted whenever I turned the wheel, sounded awesome.
  
  Front door locks which froze in the Open position during winter when the door was opened so they wouldn't shut. I had to bungy cord the internal door handles together to stop the door opening when cornering.
  
  A boot with no lock held shut with ty-wraps and a Kellogg's Cornflakes box rear window. I broke the boot lid and replaced it with a lockless one from a scrappy and then days later broke the glass in the new boot because I accidentally smashed the window with a screwdriver in a rage because a braided hose I was making had just slipped a single sliver under my thumbnail.
  
  The engine wouldn't turn off so you had to drive it forward into a kerb, put it in 5th and stall it to stop the engine. It would still drive without the key fitted.
  
  No bonnet release cable so a hole cut into the grill and some paracord run through to the drivers seat.
  
  No stereo so I could only listen to the random rattles/squeaks/groans of the car.
  
  French electrics which meant that when it rained the headlights would randomly flash in time with the wipers.
  
  Heading to Silverstone to watch a Drift day I sold the spare wheel at a services on the M1 to a drift competitor with a flat. About 5hrs later I realised my front tyre had delaminated and I was now stuck.

I eventually killed it in a retarded way! I drove to a supermarket in winter at 8.55pm and it had just started to snow. At 9.30pm I came out and a thick layer of snow covered everything. As I drove out (following the same route I drove in by) I was concentrating heavily on the ground as the 4-6in snow covered the markings. It was at this point, travelling at 20mph that I caught a quick flash of red right infront of me, however I wasn't able to stop before smashing into the snow covered carpark pole-style barrier which was dropped at 9pm to split the car-park in two. I stopped with the barrier bent over the roof of my car destroying the barrier, a smashed windscreen, bent A-Pillars and a Trolley boy who ran over to say "Why'd you do that?" like it was deliberate! My issue now was how was going to drive back the 5 miles to my home? Simples, I "Ace Ventura'd" it back, in a blizzard, in the freezing cold with ice forming on my face, genius! I scrapped it the next day and that was the end of Leaky, gone but not forgotten!

THIS. This is why I made this thread.

classic

[IanH755]

The thing is, despite everything on that list, the car was fun, and all those eccentricities just made it better.

[Nobby]

A few years ago I worked with a lad who had a near identical Renault Clio 16v Phase 2 to me, save for the fact that his was actually an 8v and a complete shed. He'd 'done' his up to it look kinda ish like a Williams model but it was bloody awful. I had a few minor problems with mine, but his was constantly breaking down.

On the day of his wedding he drove to his one night only honeymoon somewhere in Wales. Around 60 miles from his destination his alternator decided to pack in, and he continued with just his sidelights on. Then it rained but he couldn't use the wipers, and even worse it started snowing. He then drove the next 50 or so miles with his head out of the window, covered in snow in the dark. They arrived at the honeymoon destination nearly frozen to death, had a night of passion and drove back the next day to find that his CO had given him the day off.

[Harris.]

My first car was a fiesta super sport, had one when I was 17
Managed to clock up 27k in one year, driving round smoking weed and going to many out door raves and chasing the women
Oh I miss those days
Edited to say all the things I wouldn't want my kids to now

I had mine for 10 years



I rebuilt this top to bottom over 2 years !

[Shoppinit]

Should have kept it. Rare as anything now.

[Harris.]

Should have kept it. Rare as anything now.

2 Cosworth's + a bmw and xr2 . something had to go im afraid

[chunky79]

Should have kept it. Rare as the search function on RS246

FIXED