Your iconic 'car of my youth' to buy now...

[gremlin]

I had a mate who had one, waaaay back.

His story is that him and his missus discussed buying it, the pros vs. cons, running costs, etc. then took a mutual decision to purchase.

Her story was that he came home with it one day looking very sheepish.

I know which version I believe.

[Skub]

It would have been the late 80's early 90's, so just like this!!!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276008944295

BIL had one of those back in the day. It was like being bounced around inside a plastic wheelie bin with an engine for company. It stuck to the road well,though.

[gremlin]

It would have been the late 80's early 90's, so just like this!!!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276008944295

BIL had one of those back in the day. It was like being bounced around inside a plastic wheelie bin with an engine for company. It stuck to the road well,though.

Similar to another mate's Subaru Impreza Onefastbastard Ltd Edition (or something). Like being put in a oil drum and rolled down a hill. Fun for the first 30 seconds, 'til my fillings fell out.

I'm thinking that there are many pairs of rose-tinted glasses being worn on this thread....

[Mr. Dazzle]

Modern McLarens aren't much better - you sit almost directly in/on the carbon tub which is the main structure of the car, so it's a really good speaker cabinet you're sat in Plus you can hear the stones pinging off the insides of the wheel arches really clearly.

[Noggin]

Did someone say Manta?



https://retroshite.com/2024/07/18/1981-opel-manta-v8/

Mine was that sort of colour - minus the stoopid stripes and the gopping seat covers!! LOL In my head I remember it as a bit darker but I haven't found a pic of one online in the 'right' colour.

I did really like that car, even if I wished I had a Capri, the Manta was pretty good at being hurled around little country lanes - pretty sure it's one of the few cars I didn't damage, even if I did hurl it around a fair bit

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

If you want a Manta shaped car with a V8 buy a Chevy Monza, they're a bit smaller than a Manta, but somehow GM crammed a small block engine in there, the race version got the big block

[Wossname]

2 spring to mind: Forester turbo (SG for those that know). I had 6 of them while I was working. Think Impreza STi on stilts. Well equipped, quick enough, didn’t corner like an Impreza but so what, went anywhere and didn’t get stuck in ridiculous places. Sold my last one when I retired and 25mpg and £735 pa to tax it (yes really) became important. Still miss it.
And Mk1 Golf GTi . Had a silver 1600 with lots of nice extras - twin headlights with h/l washers, roof, BBS wheels, and a very rare and neat little BBS tailgate spoiler. It was also my work car and made middle of the night urgent calls a treat! Also had an 1800 as a second car much later, absolutely standard, really good, which I should have kept but didn’t. Oh well.

[Docca]

Haven’t read the thread- but Austin Maxi and the Renault 5 were cars of my youth. Citroen Saxo, Golf, Ford Fiesta xr2 …Peugeot 205


It probably means I’m a chav, with the exception of the maxi- which means I’m a retard.

Wife says Ford Capri and Ford Sierra Cosworth.

Also a chav.

[KungFooBob]

I had a 2002 Saxo VTR (the 8v not the 16v VTS). 109bhp in a car made of recycled kitkat wrappers. It went quite well.

I had to drive it with both knees level with the top of the steering wheel.

[ZRX61]

When I was still in HS there was a bloke around the corner with an Escort Mexico which he rallied. Then he traded that in for an RS2000. I used to hang out & lend a hand when he was working on it. One memory was blasting along the A27 from Chichester to Portsmouth during a *test drive*. Parts of the road had a wide center shoulder that was grass/gravel/dirt. We came up behind some back-markers rather quickly & he took to the center shoulder to pass them slightly sideways in a shower of the aforementioned grass/gravel/dirt. Only comment was "don't mention that in front of the missus".

I think he may have been instrumental in me being a Ford guy.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I had a 2002 Saxo VTR.....made of recycled kitkat wrappers.

The big holes you cut in the rear structure to fit 6x9 speakers from Halfords wouldn't have helped.

[cheb]

I only had one car as a youth before I bought a van. The car was a Mini Marcos. Dreadful thing, a proper shitter but it was faster than most normal Minis that mates had.

[wull]

I had a 2002 Saxo VTR (the 8v not the 16v VTS). 109bhp in a car made of recycled kitkat wrappers. It went quite well.

I had to drive it with both knees level with the top of the steering wheel.

I had the VTR as well. Here’s a before and after

[Slenver]

[Rockburner]

I only had one car as a youth before I bought a van. The car was a Mini Marcos. Dreadful thing, a proper shitter but it was faster than most normal Minis that mates had.

Either that's bullshit, or you took the front seat out of the thing.

[David]

I had a 2002 Saxo VTR (the 8v not the 16v VTS). 109bhp in a car made of recycled kitkat wrappers. It went quite well.

I had to drive it with both knees level with the top of the steering wheel.

I had the VTR as well. Here’s a before and after

should polish out, but buy a big tub.

[David]

beaten at the interwebz again!

[Bigjawa]

Did someone say Manta?

This show the main problems with finding one... they've either rusted away to nothing or someone has turned one in to an abomination. Fortunately this is just a hatchback which were always horrible.

The sweet spot for me is a relatively unmolested GTE coupe, maybe with quad headlights, possibly with a redtop but definitely not a 400 'tribute'...

The best ones have the 4 cylinder turbo engine from a late-ish poverty spec Camaro, seemingly cheap as chips to buy in the US and ship over compared to tuning a redtop or putting in a V8.

[wull]

I also had the VTS which was an awesome little car for the road, plenty fun to be had on the twisty roads round my way. I never crashed that one and moved it on with no issues. I purchased it as a non runner, rebuilt it and had many years of fun, can’t remember the mods I did but it wasn’t ridiculous.

[Mr. Dazzle]

You forgot to swap the two alloys over to the correct side for that last pic.