your car when you were 20

board member Mark is a tender baby of 20 years, and is well into his classic Henna Red E23 735i - its 3 years older than Mark.

what cars did members have at that tender age?

I think I had a 1972 Dolomite 1850 in Sienna Brown - lovely car but what a rustbucket - all of 8 years old then.

later that year I bought a 1976 Cortina 2000 GT in orange with black vinyl roof with matching webasto. hi-back seats in black cloth. what a fantastic car, unless roads were icy in which case it was undriveable. zero traction on icy roads.

It would have been 1984 (yes I was 40 last year) and I was driving a 1977 3.0 Ghia Mk1 Granada. In Diamond white with a tan vinyl roof and rear panel it was absolutly mint. Full tan interior including the dash, steering wheel. I even remember the Hi Fi in it. I fitted a  Pioneer KE6300 (one of the first din size units) with a 7 frequency Pioneer BP520 Graphic all through a pair of TS108's in the front and a pair of TS168's in the rear which some scum nicked while it was parked at the Hampton Court fair. They were replaced with a set of TS1615's. Sold it in 85 with 56k on it for about £1500 I think . I'd love it back now. When was the last time you saw one???? Progressed on to a 79 Mk2 2.8 Ghia, then an 83 2.8i Ghia x. Even though I'm a BMW freak now I still scour eBay for a nice one.

Regards

Trevor

Mk11 escort

Sunburst red

JSO 966V

Toyota Corolla GTi-16 Twin Cam (hatch, not coupe)

A stunning car.  Head to head with the Renault 5 GT Turbo at the time for the King of the Hot Hatch crown war that was brewing.

It was the original squared version, not the softer roundie that followed it.

In brilliant white I can remember it's plate - B808 CUS.  It was one of the first fully colour-coded cars.

It was a fabulous car that I did 20,000m in within 7 months and it didn't miss a single beat.

It was virtually identical to the one below (I'm devastated I don't seem to have any pics of it) albeit the wheels were slightly different and mine shone a lot more than this one!  It also had a Janspeed back box that sounded glorious.

Ah, fond memories.  I spent a fortune on a Trio head unit, amp and graphic equaliser (now Kenwood of course) with Trio speakers.  Well, it was a fortune then, about £600.

Oh the days of my youth...and to think, that was 16 years ago..

I consider myself a lucky boy in so much that I was a "business manager" AKA finance salesman for Evans Halshaw..and the big Manager was a bit of a booze bag so not there very often!! Which left me to register a few demos ..and naturally I got to go home in pretty much whatever I liked. It was a Peugeot dealership and the 205 GTIs were the car to have so I had one of them quite a bit. And of course we had some tasty P/Xs in too so they were good (didnt have to look after them so well!) Bit of a change as my first car at 17 was a Vauxhall Viva..good laugh in the wet with specifically chosen bald back tyres.

Oh to be 20 again ! I bought my first BMW a 1988 e30 316 auto in diamond black with an interesting spec,it had four electric windows electric sunroof  recaro sport seats 15"bbs wheels electric rear sunblind i reckon the chap who bought it new must of had money to burn on the options list. I loved that car wished i'd not sold it .Was a treat to drive after the cars i had before Ford's! I was smitten and have always had BMW's since.Anyone know if its still around?sold it to a man in billericay essex E415 LLO be nice to know it was still around! A testament to BMW it had 180.000 on the clock when i sold it and still drove lovely.

Woohooo!  A Ford Mexico!

Now you see if I was to have gone 3 years further back I could have listed an RS 1600 (not the 2000 which I desperately wanted!).

True classics indeed.  Isn't it a shame I can't remember seeing an RS2000 on the roads for years and years.

We shouldn't have threads like this - because they result in rash and romantically rose-tinted unwise purchases!

Why?  Because I am now inclined to search Auto Trader for the above!

As loads of previous posts have said " Oh! to be 20 again "

mine was a Ford Escort 1600 E . with uprated suspension ( woooopee !! ) & "Carlos Fandango " wheels ( older forum members will remember the ad for a brand of cigar with the guy with the Ford Anglia with the wide wheels & the farm gate ????? )

I thought i was Roger Clark in my "wee " 16E & like "Coasting" i too aspired to an RS 2000.

I have a story about a friend of mine who was into his cars , like us , who was suppose to be saving up to get married & was told in no un-certain terms by his intended " It's the car or me !!! "

got a phone call from him two weeks later " Hi wee man , fancy a run in my new RS 2000 ? " true love indeed !!!! 

whitey wrote: It would have been 1984 (yes I was 40 last year) and I was driving a 1977 3.0 Ghia Mk1 Granada. In Diamond white with a tan vinyl roof and rear panel it was absolutly mint. Full tan interior including the dash, steering wheel. I even remember the Hi Fi in it. I fitted a  Pioneer KE6300 (one of the first din size units) with a 7 frequency Pioneer BP520 Graphic all through a pair of TS108's in the front and a pair of TS168's in the rear which some scum nicked while it was parked at the Hampton Court fair. They were replaced with a set of TS1615's. Sold it in 85 with 56k on it for about £1500 I think . I'd love it back now. When was the last time you saw one???? Progressed on to a 79 Mk2 2.8 Ghia, then an 83 2.8i Ghia x. Even though I'm a BMW freak now I still scour eBay for a nice one. Regards Trevor

I just love Sweeney Granadas. The BEST big Ford ever?

How many of us progressed from Fords to Beemers? whats the link?

you guys have owned some GREAT cars.

My next car after the Tina 2000GT was a 1973 3.0CSa BMW. 9 years old and more rust than the Titanic. I paid £1500, kept it for 2 years and got my money back. Woo Hoo! it had an 8 track cartridge player & blue velvet upholstery. PPF 22L. I saw it again a few years back at a car show. £5500 was the asking price. Hmmmmmmm.