Car nostalgia

Ok Paul,here's my first ever in '80.Not the image of real mine.A Ford Fiesta L....

1984 Pontiac Fiero 2M4 red, sold it in 1997 .

1997 Honda CR-V red, still driving it.

I've owned just two cars since 1984, both bought new.  You can see what a wife and kids does to one's lifestyle.  Can you guess what color my RP6 is?

My RP6 is white...

Fabio,

    i used to own the very same model and same colour. Mine was the Ghia spec, if you remember that?

Joerand,

    That Pontiac looks very nice. It has a look of italian beauty about it, which is unusual for an american beast. what was the engine detail?

Sandy,

   is that a mazda RX8?

apologies if i have got that wrong and offended you?

My second one,a Fiat Uno...

First car was a Moggy Minor.  Sadly now dead.  Second was an early Golf GTI - gosh how I loved that car!  Terrible brakes though.  I followed it with a Peugeot 205 GTi, which was great fun but felt as strong as a packet of crisps by comparison.  A brief fling with a Fiat spider followed and then I was passing a VW dealership near Basingstoke and there in the showroom was a Golf GTI Campaign - the last ever imported and bought by the wife of the garage owner.  It was the same colour as my first Golf - Silver - but had all the Campaign trimmings and the 1800 engine.  It was like new and I knew immediately it was destined to mine.  I drove that car almost to death (the brakes had not improved) and sold it in rather a sad state (London streets had not been kind) before I moved back to work Stateside in NYC.

Many years passed, I was back in the UK and working for Naim and a chance flick through a classic car magazine and there she was again - now fully restored and going for around £9k!  I could have kicked myself for letting her go.

1997 Honda CR-V red, still driving it.

I am about to walk out to leave for work in my 1999 with 172,000 miles and complete with some "custom body work" (rendering the color as silver and primer gray) on the left rear fender.

But I started back in the day with one of these (1975 model):

Had a 302 V8 and dual exhaust - could pass everything but a gas station.

But the favorite vehicle I ever owned was this:

I had the 1986 (last year of this body style) and it was in fact this exact color.

My third,and best ever,IMHO:Lancia Delta Integrale.Bye bye Lancia,Mr.Marchionne doesn't love you any more!Typical Italian behaviour,we can design something good but we are not constant.I remember when Lancia landed in UK:they provided some rusty coachworks...

Inside my fourth,a Golf GTD 1600

The fifth,Audi A3 first serie 1900 TDI 90 hp

My current ride. Not a great photo - but a great car. 

Cheers,

EJ

Correct! Fun car to drive but terrible on gas. Had to sell it when i moved from the city last summer and needed a commuter car. Now drive a boring Mazda 3....Nice RX7 DrMark, always wanted one when i was young.

Hard for me to tell which model that is. ? elise?

Richard,

   The golf Mk1 are true classic cars and very highly sought after.

Not sure about the top gear sign in the background though !

Fabio,

 nice motor. The integrale is a great model, only bettered by the stratos

Fabio,  lovely Delta Integrale!  Sadly only lhd so hugely compromised for the UK but a couple of friends had them and loved them.

Paul, yes the Stratos was in some ways heaven incarnate on wheels - particularly to watch and hear at full cry.  However, for ordinary mortals it was also an instrument of hell, particularly if you're tall with long legs and large feet, like myself. 

Anyway, after to continue my post above, after I returned to the UK came a brief spell with an old 911 - lovely, a bit scary, sounded fab. It had been uprated to an RS and went like a cat with a chainsaw tied to its tail.   My fiancee hated it and so a Golf VR6 quickly followed.  A huge mistake.  A nice engine ruined by the rest.  The slipperiest seats ever and also the most uncomfortable.  Awful, truly awful car which quickly led to the next, which remains one of my all time favourites, a Saab 900 T16S Aero.  Quirky, loveable, comfortable, fast, and surprisingly practical.  I'm sure that car is still giving great service somewhere in the southwest.

Yup - Elise S1

This made me laugh.  My first really nice, brand new car was the V6 version of the 1999 Passat.  It had those same, rock-hard slippery seats!  With better seats, and with fewer electrical problems, it would have been a  fine car...something in between an Audi A4 and A6, but much more affordable. 

I've been with Volvo (whose seats are world-class) ever since.  :-)

It was a 2.5 litre iron 4 cylinder block that generated a whopping 92 hp.  The car had plastic body panels,  weighed only about 2,500 lbs, and with its mid-engine design cornered better than the Corvettes of the day.  I got 47 mpg highway with a 4-speed manual, still impressive today.  It was very quiet and a lot of fun to drive.  Difficult to keep in alignment though, and went through tires quickly. 

Richard - didn't know you were an architect !!

EJS,

   whats you views on the elise compared to the exige?