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1986-1990 Since I passed my test in 1986 I have, with the exception of 3 years university, always had a car. My first car was a Russian Lada 1200. It was not my first choice of motor but I got it after being heavily 'influenced' by my parents. I got a great deal of stick (nothing new there then) for owning this car off all and sundry. My ownership also coincided with a craze for Lada and Skoda jokes which I became an expert on. Despite this I grew quite attached to my little Lada and spent many a Sunday afternoon touching up rust, cleaning it, servicing it and generally looking after it. |
| As a result of all my care and attention I had a reliable car which got me everywhere I wanted to go. This included many speedway meetings which meant (at least) a 200 mile round trip. It was probably one of the best looked after Lada's on the road. Sadly, because of their poor image, most Lada's were used by people as cheap runabouts and were run into the ground. I had my Lada for 5 years in which I did ~40,000 miles. Only once did it stop me from going somewhere (Bradford Speedway) and that was because my dad drove too fast and it overheated. Lada cars are no longer imported into the UK. In the early-mid 1990's sales dropped and the new emission regulations |
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meant that all cars had to be fitted with catalytic converters. I believe that Lada could not afford to import the cats (from the USA as Russia did not then have a catalytic converter factory) so imports were stopped. Most Lada's have now dissapeared off British roads now. A lot have been re-exported back to Russia for spare parts. Indeed, I would not be surprised if that is where mine ended up after I sold it. |
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1990-1996 My second long term car was a Ford Sierra 1.6L. This was my best car to date. It only had a 1600cc engine so it wasn't very fast but it was very good for motorway trips. Only had a 4 speed box and I got less than 30 mpg but spare parts were very cheap and easy to get. Lots of room inside the passenger compartment and plenty of bootspace. I travelled all around the North of England following Barrow AFC in this car. Sadly this car was wrote off in an accident coming back from watching Barrow play at Spennymoor. Still, I was going to sell it anyway before I went to Uni. |
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1999-Present I got my 205 inbetween finishing university and starting work. Its the smallest car I have had but is the most economical and its handling is very good. When I bought it it only had 34,000 miles on the clock so it was a bit of a find. The milage has sinced moved up by approx 10,000 as a result of commuting to work, travelling home (600 mile round trip) and going to lots of Speedway meetings but the car should be good for another 50,000. |
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Other Motors In addition to the cars mentioned above I have had 3 other cars. 1) Chrysler Avenger - Banger bought for ~£140. Traded in within a couple of days for my Lada. The dealer had an offer where he offered 500 quid trade in on any car. 2) Lada 1500 - Bought from a neighbour for spares. Dismantled a bit of it but I can't actually remember using any of the spares. Sold the tow bar though. 3) Triumph 1500TC - Disaster ! I bought this as a 'Practical Classic' but it turned into a practical nightmare. It was a rust bucket and needed too much doing. Sold it for a massive loss after a couple of months. |
Last Updated: 23rd July 2000