conaero
Forum Owner
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Ok, so I am being abused by PM for my latest Signature update so I thought I would explain:
Being 17 and a newly qualified driver, you look for your first car, or more so, you borrow your dads 3rd car.
For me this was a 1979 (T) Renualt 14 TL metallic green with tan velour interior:
Incidentally, the 14 was based on the 205 with the same 1360cc engine, if you look you can see the family lines.
For the purists, this was the early model with the bumper mounted front indicators and mine was of course, UK spec right hand drive. SWEET!
In those days, it was more about the fact I had transport than what the car was, and to be fair it was a very comfortable car. So When that one got written off when it got hit by a milk float an we noticed the bonnet was raised in the middle, only to open it and the front turrets to pop through the inner wings (the bonnet was the only thing holding the front strut in place), I decided to buy another, a gold and tan 14TS with central locking and electric window:
It fell to bits and I was forever fixing it as I just did not have the money in those days. This is were I learned my skills to tackle any job, and having taken the engine out on many occasion for head gaskets, clutches etc.
So after that one made its final trip the the scrap yard in the sky, in 1990 I went for the Renualt 11TXE Elecronique, 1985 black with grey velour. It was a great car, it had electronic dash (that broke) and speech warning system (that broke), electric window (that broke), infa-red remote central locking (that broke) and a top notch hifi with separate amp with bass and treble (you guessed it, it broke) It had the zesty 1.7 8v engine that was fabulous but a suspension that was for ever failing and it ate drive shafts and roll bar bushes at an alarming rate, but all in all, it was a great car. Me and Mrs Conearo had much fun in it (ill leave that there). I then sold this (nice to have a Renault to sell rather than scrap)
I then went for another, this time a Boston:
Again loads of aggro, but they were cheap and cheerful.
All the time I was in Renaults I was always eyeing up Alfa 33's, and the P4 I seriously considered, so the indicators were there.
Then I started to make some money so the logical thing was to dispense with these cheap used cars and buy something brand new, surely they would be more reliable as we are talking a lot of money here....wrong!
I bought a burgundy Megane with the cool rear lights (I have a thing for cool rear lights) and it was awful. It came with faults, the clutch clicked every time you pressed it, door handle came away in my hand and some nice sole kicked the side of the car in at 2 weeks old, so I offed it within the year, put this down to a lemon and upgraded to the Cab:
Coupe:
Cab:
The engine blew up in the cab, the door handle came off in my hand again, same clutch problem, and it leaked so enough was enough, and the rest as they say is history!
Would love to hear others car history (with pics)
Being 17 and a newly qualified driver, you look for your first car, or more so, you borrow your dads 3rd car.
For me this was a 1979 (T) Renualt 14 TL metallic green with tan velour interior:
Incidentally, the 14 was based on the 205 with the same 1360cc engine, if you look you can see the family lines.
For the purists, this was the early model with the bumper mounted front indicators and mine was of course, UK spec right hand drive. SWEET!
In those days, it was more about the fact I had transport than what the car was, and to be fair it was a very comfortable car. So When that one got written off when it got hit by a milk float an we noticed the bonnet was raised in the middle, only to open it and the front turrets to pop through the inner wings (the bonnet was the only thing holding the front strut in place), I decided to buy another, a gold and tan 14TS with central locking and electric window:
It fell to bits and I was forever fixing it as I just did not have the money in those days. This is were I learned my skills to tackle any job, and having taken the engine out on many occasion for head gaskets, clutches etc.
So after that one made its final trip the the scrap yard in the sky, in 1990 I went for the Renualt 11TXE Elecronique, 1985 black with grey velour. It was a great car, it had electronic dash (that broke) and speech warning system (that broke), electric window (that broke), infa-red remote central locking (that broke) and a top notch hifi with separate amp with bass and treble (you guessed it, it broke) It had the zesty 1.7 8v engine that was fabulous but a suspension that was for ever failing and it ate drive shafts and roll bar bushes at an alarming rate, but all in all, it was a great car. Me and Mrs Conearo had much fun in it (ill leave that there). I then sold this (nice to have a Renault to sell rather than scrap)
I then went for another, this time a Boston:
Again loads of aggro, but they were cheap and cheerful.
All the time I was in Renaults I was always eyeing up Alfa 33's, and the P4 I seriously considered, so the indicators were there.
Then I started to make some money so the logical thing was to dispense with these cheap used cars and buy something brand new, surely they would be more reliable as we are talking a lot of money here....wrong!
I bought a burgundy Megane with the cool rear lights (I have a thing for cool rear lights) and it was awful. It came with faults, the clutch clicked every time you pressed it, door handle came away in my hand and some nice sole kicked the side of the car in at 2 weeks old, so I offed it within the year, put this down to a lemon and upgraded to the Cab:
Coupe:
Cab:
The engine blew up in the cab, the door handle came off in my hand again, same clutch problem, and it leaked so enough was enough, and the rest as they say is history!
Would love to hear others car history (with pics)
....
