What was the first vehicle you ever drove?

[John Steed]

What was the first vehicle you ever drove? For me it was my Dad's Mk1 Ford Transit van and was on a private road, I was 15 years old. After stalling it a couple of times and a couple of "Kangaroo" starts I was ok. I wish he still owned that van; it was an S registration so one of the last Mk1's and was a long wheelbase, twin wheel model in White.

Steed

[Cartman]

Dad's J regd Austin 1100, one night in the Summer of 76, when I was 16, on the deserted car park of the paper mill he worked in, he let me have a go ahead of me starting to learn properly, to get the feel of moving off. Didn't stall either!

[Sparky]

Feb 15, 2021 21:26:58 GMT John Steed said:

What was the first vehicle you ever drove? For me it was my Dad's Mk1 Ford Transit van and was on a private road, I was 15 years old. After stalling it a couple of times and a couple of "Kangaroo" starts I was ok. I wish he still owned that van; it was an S registration so one of the last Mk1's and was a long wheelbase, twin wheel model in White.

Steed

Love this thread...

First Car I drove - for driving lessons, was a Ford Fiesta something or other; I called it the Ford Fiesta "Boy Racer".

After passing my test - I drove a newish M reg (1994) Vauxhall Astra Estate diesel - it sounded like a tank when fired up, but compared to that Fiesta, it felt like driving a sports car.

First "big" vehicle - was a 7.5ton Generator Truck  - with Central TV vinyls on, which "accidentally" fell off, revealing the previous ATV branding which had been painted on.

Think that was old "T" Reg (1978/79).

I took the passenger side mirror off it - hitting a lamp post while driving to close to the curb. (forgot I wasn't in the Fiesta!)

It was a great vehicle esp on crap terrain.

[Cartman]

Great thread, agree! I got my provisional licence on my 17th birthday in January 77 and had my first driving lesson the following Saturday morning in a yellow N regd Mark 1 Escort, followed by more practice in the 1100. Another bloke I knew let me have a go in his mark 1 Cortina a week or two later too.

After I passed my test in November of that year I got a go in a Lada 1200 then an Austin A60. No boy racer stuff im afraid!

[Three Litre]

Vauxhall Victor FE in Feb 77, passed in June.

Got a great summer job that year driving a Bedford CF for fruit and veg wholesaler. 

Great summer that, sun, music, girls.

Not necessarily in that order.

[Sparky]

Feb 15, 2021 22:12:30 GMT Three Litre said:

Vauxhall Victor FE in Feb 77, passed in June.

Got a great summer job that year driving a Bedford CF for fruit and veg wholesaler. 

Great summer that, sun, music, girls.

Not necessarily in that order.

Would that be Sun, Music, Girls and Fruit then?

The latter two I wouldn't even dare googling in the same search....

Didn't they do a Vauxhall Victor Estate 1800?

I remember a neighbour having a Beige or Brown one - it reminded me of an old Chevette but much fatter & longer.

[Three Litre]

Feb 16, 2021 8:43:38 GMT Sparky said:

Would that be Sun, Music, Girls and Fruit then?

The latter two I wouldn't even dare googling in the same search....

Didn't they do a Vauxhall Victor Estate 1800?

I remember a neighbour having a Beige or Brown one - it reminded me of an old Chevette but much fatter & longer.

I Google that later!

Yes, there was an estate, bit ugly I think.

My dad's previous car was a Cortina Mk3 2000 GXL in metallic brown, I just missed out! 

[Gene Hunt]

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[Sam Tyler]

The first vehicle for me was my father's Honda C70 that he bought in January 1975. I would have been thirteen at the time but he let us take it in turns riding up and down the garden. That was easy to ride because it had a centrifugal clutch. The following year my parents bought my brother his Suzuki AP50 which I then rode up and down the cul-de-sac to get used to using the clutch. That was followed a year later by my father getting a Honda 175 and my brother getting an XS250 Yamaha which we then took to a local industrial estate and I got to ride around. It was all good practise ahead of getting my own bike at sixteen.

The first car I drove was a knackered old Renault 4 that was used by a local farmer as a runabout on his land. Having helped out on the farm with a couple of mates I was allowed to have a go in it across the field with my mates. I would have been fourteen at the time but it was certainly an experience with the gearlever in the middle of the dash and trying to suss out the gears when there was no gear knob or gear pattern to be found.

Sam.

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

First car I managed to have a first go at moving off in first gear after starting was a L reg Simca 1100 when I was 13, at my mates dad's house which had/has a fair bit of private off road hard standing and fields. The Simca was an ex runabout car his dad used and laterly used as a field car after MOT failure like a number of other cars they bought and used off road, which I drove too whilst still school age!

The Simca 1100 was a front wheel drive early French built hatchback with a characteristic tappety engine sound, a bigger version of the engine was still used in Talbot Solaras and Alpine and Horizons till about 1986.

First car I drove on the road on my first driving lesson was an E reg Austin Metro City X 5 door, which was for that day only as the instructor traded it in for another F reg one which I drove for many of my early lessons. Passed my test with a different driving school on a H reg diesel Peugeot 205.