As the title suggests... I was at the pub on Saturday with some mates and we were discussing the cars and bikes we've had over the years and recounting stories of those we missed, those we were glad to get rid of, and those we would have again. It brought up some fun reminiscing! Be good to hear what vehicle journey others have been on. To start I will share my eclectic mix of vehicles, some are embarrassing! Cars (in order) - mk4 Ford Escort 1.3 Popular (first car I owned and I modded it to look like an RS Turbo... I loved it with all my heart! I even had a massive Kenwood sticker on the rear window which added a few bhp) 2 x Renault 5 GT Turbo's (barely left my driveway as they were always broken) Golf 1.3 mk3 (first car after getting my license back - I was a silly kid in those days) Peugeot 306 Pininfarina convertible - hairdressers car, my mates used to ruin me for having it. I still think they were all wrong and I did in fact look pretty fucking cool with the hood down on a gray and cold summers day Convertible Mk1 Karmann Golf (loved it, was super cool except it was an automatic and the accelerator pedal would get stuck from time to time which was scary) mk2 Golf GTI 16v big bumper in midnight blue and rainbow interior (the thing never broke and had over 240,000 miles on the clock - it did need a lot of oil and water though but it was a Trojan of a car. Epic epic build quality) Peugeot 306 Gti-6 with a shed lots of work done to the engine by Pug Performance - was like driving on rails that thing, completely loved it. However it had a strange stutter on acceleration that no one including Peugeot could fix. Honda Accord Type R - bloody brilliant thing. BMW E21 3 series - by far and away the coolest car I have ever owned. Recently sold it as it was sat in my garage for 3 years doing nothing, wouldn't start and was taking up space - I advertised it on eBay for a classified price of £550 thinking someone would be interested, in the end I had 124 messages about it and 45 offers within 2 days and ended up selling for £1200. Barmy. Alfa Romeo 156 V6 24V - the Bussa engine is still one of my all time favourites and I will get another 156 - the GTA. They are soon to be an appreciating modern classic I feel. BMW X5 E53 - its what the wife wanted and we share it, or will do until the we have our first baby in March, when I will of course need to get another car... a fun car Bikes - Suzuki SV650 - first bike, loved it. Who doesn't love an SV!? What you see is what you get with an SV. Cracking first bike, cracking bike full stop. Ducati 749S - I miss tremendously. Loved it with all my heart. Not the best bike in the world by a long shot, but she had soul. Triumph Tiger 1050 - still own and enjoy, but will sell soon as I barely use it. Honda HRC Fireblade - current bike.
Cars: Dross, Dross, dross, dross, dross, dross... loads of £500 runabouts, until... BMW E39 5-Series, 528i M-Sport: fabulous car. Amazing to drive, perfectly balanced, and quick enough. Still think the E39 is the best saloon car ever made! BMW E60 5-Series 525d M-Sport: meh... nice enough, fast enough, drove well enough... only stand-out thing was the BMW Comfort Seats, which are amazing. Current = BMW E60 LCI 5-Series 525i M-Sport: Nice... could do with a smidge more power, but nice. Bikes: Yamaha XT125 1980: First bike, immaculately restored, museum piece really... sold to an 8 year old kid to hoon around his dad's farm! Honda CBR400F Aero: Immaculate... had been in a garage for 10 years, restored by the local bike shop, then sold to me... then nicked 6 weeks later!!! Honda CBR900RR-T (918) FireBlade: MINT: Black, with yellow "wings"... very nice... sold for £1200, probably worth a lot more now! Honda CBR900RR-Y (929) FireBlade: Loved it, wish I hadn't sold it... bonded with that bike like no other. Current = Honda CBR1000RR-7 Fireblade: HRC colours, damn-near mint... slowly bonding with it, really didn't get on with it for the first year or 2 of ownership.
Learned to drive in Jeanette's Morris 1100. Went all over the country on L plates in that one. First car I owned, Mk1 Escort 1100L after a year or two, put the suspension, brakes engine and transmission from a Cortina 1600E in it but left the 1100L badges on. Oh how we laughed at the lights.. Next was a Sunbeam 1.3GL. Same story, found an Avenger Tiger donor and made it as close to a Sunbeam Ti as I could. Third car (and now married) Toyota Celica 2.0GT Liftback. The first time I truly fell in love. 205GTi 1.6. Massive, massive respect for this little thing. Only thing wrong with it was it hated to tickover before the oil came up to temp. Although we worked out why, we could never quite cure it. 206GTi from new and still current (Jeanette has inherited it) I know Peugeot has a rep for fragility but (touch wood) I owned the 205 for 10 years and this one for 13 so far and all I had to do with the 205 was a new clutch and the 206 has had a replacement battery at 10 years and new front discs and it's first set of new pads at the last MOT. MX5 Sportech Roadster 2.0. The only car I have ever owned that I would do a straight replacement with another one when the time comes. Bikes: Suzuki K10 80cc. When all my mates were looning around on AP50s, I was tearing past them on this. Fragile electrics in the wet. CB200. Cool, 4 stroke. Passed my test on this bike. Got nicked from outside my front door when I was laid up with the Flu. Gutted... Still am... CB550f1. Prapper bike boy bike. It was crap in so many ways. I loved it. Still do. Still own it. Retirement project... Loooooooooooooonnnnnnnnngggg break... Ducati 750ss. Glorious, infuriating, a mistress rather than a companion. Had enough of it in the end I murdered it. It was probably for the best. CBR900RR2. Say no more. I keep my kit for a long time. I try to get the research right to start with and get the best bang for my limitations, fiscally and talent wise. Never regretted owning a single one and never properly craved something I couldn't have. Except... I remember when the Z650 first came out...
Cars - not including company cars Opel Rekord 2.0l - Severely damaged it doing hand brake turns on wet cobbles. Ford Capri 2.0l v4 - Did the front end in when caught in a blizzard on the autobahn. Back end broke away and pirouted me into the central reservation. Managed to fix it myself with lots and lots of filler. Ford Capri 2.0l Laser - See a pattern here. Pretty gutless by today's standard but was great frun to drive. USed to love getting the back end out Vauxhall Astra GTE 16V 2.0l - My only ever new car. Had it in Germany for about 10 months and thrashed the arse of it down the bahn. Came back to UK with it at the height of the joyrider outbreak. Got stolen and recovered but never seemed the same so sold it. Vauxhall Cavalier GSI 16V 2.0l - Motorway mile muncher. Decided to take 6 months off work so sold it. Vauxhall Tigra 1.6l - Actually fun to drive but only bought it as was quite cheap and low mileage. Ford Focus ST170 - Fast enough for it's time, but never really floated my boat. Vauxhall Vectra 2.0l Diesel Turbo - Needed something for the commute from Lincoln to Bristol after I wrote my bike off. Not quite as bad as Clarkson said but hardly exciting. Vauxhall Astra 1.6l - Small thing as I got a job with a 120 mile a day commute. Still got it 18 months and 30,000+ miles later. Gutless and no toys, but keeps going. Bit shocked to see how many Vauxhalls I have owned. Bikes Piaggio Typhoon - 50cc of pure gutlessness, but got me a year's experience on the road and a year's NCD. Honda CBR600F - First proper bike. Killed it by going head first into a car at a combined speed probably well into 3 figures. Honda CBR600F - Liked the first so got a second. Never really gelled with it though. 07 Blade - Love it and definitely the best bike so far. Well it may not be that difficult to be the best out of the previous ones, but still an awesome bike.
My M3 Evo2 BMW E30 M3 Evo2 by (MrB), on Flickr BMW E30 M3 Evo2 by (MrB), on Flickr S14 Evo by (MrB), on Flickr BMW E30 M3 Evo2 by (MrB), on Flickr
cars mk i escort - wish i still had it e30 320i saloon e30 325i coupe e30 325i sport e30325i touring mtec kit alloys exhaust wishi still had that too c230 never got on with it e39 525i lovely car e46 325i touring e46 330i coupe individual which i cant see me letting go bikes nsr 125 tzr 125 cbr600 cbr fireblade 918 gsxr600 k7 gsxr 750 k5 cbr1000rr5 zx6r current
Agreed! Matt that beemer is awesome mate!! Just waiting for Jamie to jump into this cos his list is super long and impressive!! My cars in order- H reg Peugeot 205 1.9gti with mongoose rally system and tweaks also from Pug performance. She was a red beast that cos as much to keep on the road as modding 1997 e36 BMW 325i with M3 GT full bodykit and M3 deep dish wheels. Scorpion twin DTM, alpina manifold, BBTB, Bilstein/eibach susp and a ridiculous sound system 2002 Audi S3 with full Milltek system, rebuilt to 1.95l, shrick cam, JE race pistons, cosworth reworked head, Bilstein PSSS9 susp, RS magnezium 18" wheels Bikes- HRC RR7 stolen after 4months ownership from Whites Row car park at Bishopsgate Black and gold RR9 my current love
Cars (excluding the wifes cars..) : Peugeot 205 1.1 Junior Corsa 1.4 SRI Corsa 1.6 GSI - wish i still had this, a great little car that handled like it was on rails! Calibra 16V - Didn't quite live up to expectations! Rover 45 1.6 - errr... Astra 1.8 SRI Toyota Celica GT Hyundai S-Coupe Turbo Fiat Bravo 1.8 HLX Renault Clio 1.4 Sport Astra 2.2 SRI Subaru Impreza WRX - ended up with 350bhp/350lbft Astra 1.9 CDTI XP - great looking car! Peugeot 4007 2.2HDI - current fam wagon! Bikes : Suzuki TS50ER - 1981 and still going 16 years later when i got it! Suzuki SV650S - First proper bike Suzuki GSXR600 SRAD Honda CBR600rr - Had for a week before trading in as the wife couldn't hack it as a pillion! Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa - Ugly but an amazin bike to ride! Suzuki GSXR600 SRAD Aprilia RSV-R Mille - last of the Gen 1's with the full Ohlins, brembos etc Honda CBR1000rr - My current RR7 HRC and the best i've had! Oh, and i'm 31 yo!
Cars mk1 Golf blue and pearlescent white with a red go faster stripe - basic but loved that car, developed a terminal illness sold for £50 :-( Maestro 1.3... err caught fire Sierra 1.6 - mould and moss growing in the passenger footwell gave to a mate for banger racing VW Transporter - met a Tractor on a muddy, wet, winter backroad sold for parts VW Caravelle - rusty old Jalopy, bought by a French guy relocating back home sold for £400 more than I paid for it Vauxhall astra van 1.7td 80bhp- no power steering, slow Vauxhall astra van 1.9cdti sportive 150bhp - current car/van Bikes Yamaha fsie - red, micron exhaust, would do 60mph ...honest Yamaha dt 125 - black,red ,white DEP exhaust Suzuki Gamma 125 - blue and white, Diesel spill, bike went down the road, felt like crying Yamaha RD 350YPVS - all balls no brains scared myself Couple of mates died on RD 500 YPVS'S..long break from bikes Suzuki DRZ 400SM - blue and white, yoshimura exhaust px'd for Honda CBR 600F - black lovely bike would recommend to anyone, px'd for Honda CBR 1000RR - current bike, black KTM 625SM - current bike, black
Bikes Honda XL125 Varadero 08 Silver Honda CB600F-A Hornet 58 Black Honda CBR600RR 08 Black Honda CBR1000RR 2010 Black & White Honda CBR1000RR 2013 Black - Current Cars Astra SR D reg Gun Metal (later souped up with twin webber carbs, race cylinder head etc) Mini Metro can't remember year, dark blue with a hole in the floor Volvo 244 X Reg White Volvo 240 C Reg metallic Blue Astra Van F reg, blue Orion N Reg I think, red Rover 216 red Rover 220 Metallic green with cream interior Astra 2.0 SXi 02 Reg, black Audi A3 Sportback 55, black BMW 320 SE Saloon, 58 black Kuga 2.0 tdi Titanium, 60 black BMW 320 M Sport Touring, 63 black - Current
Christ cars cutting out anything i had less than a month or company car first car Nova GTE Clio Williams Pug 306 GTI6 Fiat Coupe 20V turbo----- really tricked out shame about torque steer 4 x scooby imprezza... RB,and STI's EVO 4 back to scooby BMW 330 Back to Evo 6 with FQ 380 engine... / BMW 325 TDS Grew up a bit BMW 330d / Golf GTTDI 150( must say the golf had 13k on it when i bought it used it a work bus..... 273k just usual maintain... amazing car) Mondeo ST TDCi--- regrettable Audi A6 Leman 3.0TDI / Audi S6 Bike Yam FZS6 GSXR600 Kwak zx6--- loved her CBR1000rr
