I've always loved these, but I imagine the build quality to be awful. I bought a brochure type book on them when I was thinking about buying one. I seem to remember they were built in a small factory in Sweden by wimmin.
Passed my driving test in the mid 80's, had a string of cheap Ford capri & cortina, followed by a 2 tone Vauxhall Cavalier SRI hatchback, MG Montego Turbo ..... then got a company car at 25, and this allowed me to get something a bit more fun for sunny days. 1977 400 (6.6ltr) Pontiac Firebird Transam .... wish I had it now. Mates at the time had a thing for Vette's
I was into my M3s a while back but I’m not fussed about cars that much anymore and I’m happy to knock about in my Vivaro while the Mrs has a nice X5 to run around in.
Not a lot of love for Cortinas but I loved Mk1s. This was the best car I've ever had, a '66 Super GT (also known as an Export GT as they weren't available in the UK, combining the Super trim package with the GT performance parts). I would never have sold this, but some scrote nicked it and it was never seen again. The photo was taken before I bought it from a friend, the blue one was mine that ended up with some good "tweaks" and was a lot of fun to an 18 year old - when it was already 26 years old! The other car I loved was this Jag. The XJ40s were unloved but this was great, an XJ40 Gold (X300 interior run out model) with sports pack (LSD, lowered suspension, bigger wheels). Proper "gangsta" and I was still early 30s so drove it like a loon....not an easy car to catch the back when it came round! Written off by an uninsured driver... Then this is the one I've owned the longest, 11 years and counting. Getting there with the mechanics now...so the body will need work soon. Had a lot of good runs in it (e.g. Le Mans Classic 2012...the engine died 2 weeks after we got home!). There's been others but these are the 3 stand out motors. I've only had 2 I hated, a Mk4 Cortina (oops considering how I started this post) and a '91 Rover 216.
Quick story. My uncle who was in the artillery based in Germany in the 70's, was kicked out for stealing the shell cases, polishing them up and then selling them on a German market stall, then went back home to Hull, If you know Hull and in the 70's, he went to live in Bransholme. My grandad had a robin reliant just for the weekly shop and after 2 years from new only had 500 miles on it. My uncle asked if he could borrow it for a few weeks as he was looking for a job and needed transport. 4 months later they asked him where the car was as he still had no job. He returned it with an extra 5,000 miles on it. Turns out he'd been using it as an illegal mini cab. If you know Bransholme, you'd understand.
Oof, you're right there. That flatnose would be worth a few quid today. Ah well, at least you enjoyed it once upon a time.
