Talking in the House today on the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill, a Bill which is so important that it needed to be considered during Urgency, I found myself musing on my first car.
His name was Maurice - pronounced Maureeece (Fr) . He was a 1948 Morris 10, with running boards and those little indicator thingies that flip in and out. He was blue and cost me $125. As you can guess, I loved him. When he eventually died, I sold him again for $125. Not bad I thought. Left him in a paddock.
Interestingly, Mr Speaker, though a bit disapproving about my lapse in concentration of the matter at hand, allowed my musings with a bit of a wry smile.
The following Labour speaker David Shearer was then moved to provide us with details on his first car, which was a 1958 Morris Minor. Called Molly. She was yellow.
And then we had David Clendon from the Greens. His was a 1948 Vauxhall 12. Not sure what gender, as it had no name. But it was green and had a spare tyre mould on the back.
You could see the Government members really wanted to share their stories too. But they held back, fearful of disapproval I guess. Pity.
I reckon we’ve all got great first car stories. Why don’t you share. Keep it clean though. We don’t want to know what you did in your first car!
“Keep it clean though. We don’t want to know what you did in your first car!” LOL
I’ve yet to own one, too poor.
1961 VW beetle with 19 previous owners. Beige. No name – that is what girls do.
(Motorbike was a 125 cc Yamaha in 1982)
First car was a 1986 Mazda 626. I once replaced the speedo panel all by myself, after the original one frazzled.
“His name was Maurice. He was a 1948 Morris 10, with running boards and those little indicator thingies that flip in and out. He was blue and cost me $125. As you can guess, I loved him. When he eventually died, I sold him again for $125. Not bad I thought. Left him in a paddock.”
Was his last name Williamson..? He’s about a 1948 model, very blue and worth about $125 (maybe less) and plenty of people would like him left in a Papakura paddock for a while…
LOL
1992 Toyota Corolla. I got it in 2003 and paid $5500 for it then. After a couple of years it started giving me heaps of trouble, something would have to be fixed every time I went for a WOF.
A few days before the Labour annual conference in 2009 I got my second car, a two door BMW (2002), so the trip to Rotorua from Palmerston North was my first long distance trip in it.
I still miss my Toyota.
my first car was a 1956 morris minor, she was grey and called Molly, I now drive a people mover … it has no name only old classic cars suit names
A three door very basic 1.1 Escort Estate (3 door)that I bought off my parents. Loved it and refused to part with it for years. It never had a name though.
A school friend had an HA Viva called Daisybell. During his first term at university his parents had the car crushed.
Mine was a yellow Ford Escort – Mk1 I think and about 1300cc. It was called the Yellow Submarine. In a tail wind it could go 100k on the downhill…..sold it for about $1000 in my second year of uni as couldn’t afford it run it.
My second car was a bright red Honda Shuttle called Rhona – bought for a song at $300….sold it for the same after I realised it needed $2000 worth of rust repairs on it!
Colin Jackson – that is harsh!
First was a 1965 Holden HD (company car) called Hermione. It did all the things that company cars can do, that ordinary private cars find too hard. Wife’s first car was a 1954 Morris Minor, called Eudora, which is Greek for ‘wonderful gift’. She now has a Ford Falcon which the kids call the Blue Pig. I have a BMW called the BMW.
A 78 white viva with an orange bonnet; so it was “the duck”.
Stolen circa 91; last seen driving south through Tokoroa by our neighbor. Information on further sightings welcome, reward offered.
Austin big Ten.1938 model. She did get to languish in a farm shed for 12 months. After that time I brushed of the straw, wiped the four sparkplugs, cranked her with her starting handle twice, and away she thundered. Sold it for parts so I have no doubt parts of her has been appearing as transplants in other Austins.
Mid fifties no name A30. Distingushed by lack of back to drivers seat for the last six months of its life.
$3000 in 1985 – Mini, maroon, black roof, 1966. Jemima. Sold in 1990 for $750 the cost of my annual premiun for my second car.
Minis are awesome! Just like Herbie
Fantastic. We’ve got a government that wants to abuse parliamentary time and an opposition that wants to waste it. What a lucky bunch we are.
I had a wonderful woody. Dark green morris station wagon with golden wood – very English. Wobbly gearstick and needed double de-clutching. Travelled all over NZ in it, and could even sleep in the back. Very reliable although the wood leaked and grew moss. Left it to my flatmate when I went overseas and he lost it. Left it unregistered at the side of the road and one day it disappeared. Probably went to the tip. I was quite sad about that.
My first car was a white 1967 Mini 850. Cost me $900. I discovered WD40 from owning that car because whenever it rains, the carburetor (by the front grill) would get wet and the car wouldn’t start. But a spray with WD40 always did the trick. Had the car for quite a while until I got my first job.
A metallic grey Ford Escort 1300cc. Not long after obtaining my license to drive it, I visited St. Lukes in Auckland. In those days (1970) it was an open-air car-park with small traffic islands dotted around. I managed to back over the top of one with the back wheels hanging mid-air one side and the front wheels mid-air the other. It looked absurd. While waiting for the towie to come and lift it off, I hid round a corner watching people’s faces as they strolled past it. They ranged from open-mouthed amazement that anyone could possibly get their car in such a position, to loud explosions of laughter. I never went back for several years.
I have never named a car. Or a bike.
My first was a VW Beetle, not sure of the year but it was the eighties so probably early 70’s? Poltergeist-infested electrics… took a lot of magic to get started most of the time.
1990 Corolla called Dusty, assembled in Thames. Still own it.
1980 Ford Laser – it had two faults. One was it would misfire when cold, the other was it was flourescent orange. At least before I had to keep replace the panels with second hand parts from bashing it up and rust.
1962 Morris J4 van, 1622 cc motor, top speed 52 mph, cruised at 45 mph. 10,000 miles travelled in her overall. Strong in the lower gears, no radio or heater, we sang and slept our way in that van all round the South Island. Known as “The Van”, she cost $300 in 1972. Rough but she carried the load- music gear, motor bikes, firewood, hitchhikers. Rust in Peace.
“Rust in Peace.” LOL
1951 Morris 850, black with a gold bull sprayed on the bonnett. All class!
Maurice was the only car I ever named. he had beautiful original leather upholstery and funny little windscreen wipers that were all wonky.
I also had a 1959 VW for about 5 years. Put a reconditioned engine in it and moved from Nelson to Thames in it. Then drove it all the way to Dunedin and back up to Thames (with big blond dog called Nico).
Apart from a 1954 5 ton Bedford truck (housetruck) those were my coolest vehicles. Sigh. Am all conservative now. Mitsubishi Colt+ (red of course).
I like all your cars. Like all the detail.
My first was a 1938 Hillman Minx. Its body seams had burst, so it was held together with clothes-line wire. There was no floor in the boot, so the spare wheel had to be carried on the back seat. And it had one of those bonnets with a hinge down the middle. If I turned left in a mild wind the right side of the bonnet would flap like a wing …
I draw a veil over the rest of this sorry specimen.
Cool
@ Stacktwo Crikey. Where did you get it from? 1938? Beats mine. Sorry specimen? Sounds like you didn’t love it enough.
1948 Austin10
Owned for centuries by a series of Matrons at Rotorua Hospital.
Hmm a number of errrr “firsts” happened on those fake leather ( leatherette) seats hehe
Now have a Mercedes SLK Kompressor….no where near as much fun…sigh
Grrrrrooooooowl!
Ford Prefect 1959, for $400. By my father’s use of the tradesman network, it got a warrant while up on blocks, and a Lemon coloured paint job (because Lemon paint was cheap) once Dad bogged the dents flat.
Through never named, it aquired the nickname ‘the Lemon’, based on performance, and colour.
A couple of year ago I fully restored a Vauxhall 12 1947 Vintage…Great little car, very advanced for it’s day, Independant front suspension, Syncromesh gearbox , Hydraulic Brakes..and an Overhead valve engine, not some ghastly old side valve unit…
I too had a morrie grinder (morris minor)
He was a ‘52 model named Boston, and sometimes i’d use the crank handle to wind him up and get him started just cos i could. I eventually gave him to my sister who sold him but he’s still in my thoughts. I have plans to one day write a kids book about our trip round the Sth island.
My first car though was a Vauxhall Vanguard i bought off a mate at school. It was old and rusted and been sitting in his front yard for ages. We took it for a drive once and i had plans on restoring it. First week i got it, it blew a frost plug so i replaced it and on its test drive while mointoring the temp gauge, I didn’t see the sign saying i had to give way on a one lane bridge and smacked head first into a car blocking the entrance on the other side…bummer
Lost interest after that and towed it to the wreckers…
Vauxhall Vanguard??? Now there’s a new one. Polly it was either a Vauxhall or a Standard Vanguard, or else your schoolmate had been very active in the rebuilding of cars class, and created a hybrid. Or did it become a Vauxhall Vanguard after the head-on?
Our’s was a Morrie 8. Called Mate. 0 for originality but we thought it clever. Cost us $50. Got first speeding ticket in him – in a 50kay area of course. Very proud of Mate that day; the speedo didn’t work so we didn’t know he was capable of actual speed. Ply floor, with many large holes in it. This was in the late 60’s so Balls were the feature of the Wgtn winter Scene. We had to be both agile and sober on wet nights, dressed in tux and ballgown, pedal flat to the floor approaching the puddles then hauling legs up onto the seats to get through unscathed. Mate was the first car to break down on the new Wgtn Motorway when he blew his big end. Those were the days, my friends.
1962 Ford Anglia, I paid under $1000 but remember I was only earning $28 a week.
The good old days under National
Apparently now considered a classic!
Non functioning heater and no radio but it was lowered and went like a cut cat after I gave it a valve grind
Pollywog:”First week i got it, it blew a frost plug so i replaced it ” Yeah. I did that with my 1938 Austin. But if you took a penny and hammered it gently in its middle to make it slightly concave, this makes an excellent frost plug. And it wouldn’t rust!
1987 Ford Laser Ghia 1500cc for $1200 at the start of this year. It was a great car until it got stolen five months later. On my birthday! I liked it so much I bought another one pretty much exactly the same, which has been a total lemon since.
Honda CRX – red – nicknamed the ‘pocket rocket’ – speedy, fun and totally impractical. Only had a tiny bucke backseat in it and yet 4 of us managed a trip from invers to dunedin and back to go clubbing for the night, on one tank of gas – just. (strolls fondly down memory lane…)
@Nat Ext – we also owned one of those 1980s Fords – worst car ever – first and second were back to front and it did not have enough omph to get up our drive – no offical ‘pet names’ but plenty of rude names inappropriate for posting here. (oh and the clutch was practically useless and no heater to speak of – great during a cold wet, snowy DN winter – NOT – bought for 2200 and sold for 1000)
oops…You got me there Richard.
On a quick google i see it was indeed a Standard Vanguard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Vanguard
A phase 3 by the looks of it ?
No probs Polly. I’m probably a bit of a pedant at heart!