Got me thinking on the journey to work tonight - I saw three Ford Scorpio's on one journey. Hadn't seen one of those for a long time, then 3 within an hour or so.

There are a lot of cars that were very common not that long ago, and now seem to be few about. I saw a Citroen BX the other day too. Can't remember the last time I saw a Mk1 Astra. I've not seen an XR3i for years (used to own one - great car!) There are still a few ropey XR3 Cabriolet's about though (never did like them).

I still see a few 9000's about, but there are definately less about now than there used to be - especially the early flat front jobbies.

Renault 4, Peugeot 3/405, Toyota Carina, Opel Ascona, Nissan Bluebird,..........Anything with an '09 reg Not too many of those around
Brother has a Scorpio he uses for donkey work but it is starting to suffer the fate of all Scorpios..........droopy boot syndrome
Everybody around here bought Fords because parts were cheap. I used to say "Buy a different make and you won't need parts"; now I have a SAAB

Saw a Scorpio being driven badly on the North Circular this morning.

A lot of the car you never see would be very old or ones that didn't sell well.

Cars I've owned that you don't see are mostly BMC/BL - Maxi - Ambassador - Princess - Allegro. But there are very few of the newer ones around - Maestro - Montego - even Metro.

You never see Volvo 480's about anymore..

I saw a BX today and was wondering when I last saw one of those.

Loved the Citreon BX.. Diesels went on forever and ever.. The only issue was if the lost hydralics they lost Power steering, Suspension and assisted breaks..

And the GTI was a Pug MI16 engine in a plastic shell what fun

A friend of mine had a BX years ago (I'd guess at mid / late 80's). For some unknown reason, this one had a P.A. system on it. So, when we were in the centre of Leicester with people crossing at the Zebra crossing, he say "Hey you, what are you doing?", and you'd get all these people looking around to see where the voice came from. Oh, the hilarity I'll get me coat!...

I had an early BX diesel, did 110k miles, then got BX turbo diesel for another 80k miles, then got a company car. BX was great in almost every respect and the first one had the brilliant lego switchgear. Saw one just the other day - a very rare absolute base model 1.4 petrol in plain cream sort of colour.

Considering there were 17 zillion Sierras sold, you don't see many about. I bet as a % of new cars sold the SAAB range does pretty well for survival, I see 900s of various types and 9000s often enough for it to be unremarkable.

A few skeletons in your cupboard there, sgould! Mind you, the Ambassador/Princess had the potential to be a design classic, huge inside, superb suspension. Motorsport magazine did a comparative test against the Citroen CX, and couldn't really split them, if I remember correctly - it was over 30 years ago.

Four of us went to Brittany in a Metro HLE, 250 mile drive down to Newhaven first. Stopped at Leatherhead for petrol, and found a front suspension vertical strut had come adrift . Retaining nut sheered off. Found a garage to fix it, but we'd missed the ferry to Dieppe and had to go to Dover/Calais. Eventually arrived at hotel near St Malo 8 hours late. We would have gone in my Citroen Visa GTI, but my pal's Metro had more boot space for beer & wine . I still belong to the Citroen Car Club, loved Cits ever since I saw a DS in the early 60's. My 9-5 is great, but you never forget your first love.

I'm still in the Morris Minor Owners Club, but I haven't owned one since 1982! But the monthly meetings are in a nice pub!

Good point about the Sierras. Don't know when I saw one last either.

I'd been think that Sierras were obsolete too, but I saw two yesterday!

Rover 600s seem thin on the ground too... and Calibras.

Saw a very original Sierra 4x4 Cossie this morning, without huge exhaust and 20 inch wheels, actually looked weird without the usual mods! Drien by a youngish fella as well.

What about Mark 1 Vivas? Gulp, step dad had one years ago, ended up on ramps in the front garden due to constant brake failure. I prayed he would buy a Mark 2 because it had a speedo that went horizontally up the dial! It was the future back then. And when the neighbour bought a Maestro that talked to him, I practically passed out!! Tomorrows World had actually arrived! So I went inside and put a tape in my Commodore Vic20 and tried to play Space Invaders. I tell my boys these things and they laugh, ah the youth of today.....

Serendipity or what? I learned to drive in a Morris Minor 1000, (1098cc engine) on Southport beach. Passed test in Morris 1100. First car was a Mk 1 Viva. Originally a sort of brown-grey colour, resprayed blue, door bottoms all filler, clocked by about 100k, and ran on three cylinders. When it seized, two exhaust valves 50% burnt away, my dad took the warped head into work and had it skimmed. Still so warped I had to put two head gaskets on it.

Indeed - never mind the '80s tin, it's the '90s stuff that's starting to disappear rapidly.

Never mind the Sierras, BXs, Cavaliers - where've all the Mk1 Mondeos, Xantias, Mk1 Vectras gone? It's not a great loss to mankind, true, but...

Scirocos are pretty rare now.

Neighbour has a red late model Sierra he uses as a daily hack car, still looks in good nick.

Haven't seen any MK1 or II Escorts for a while either. Still see a few capris, including about 4 years ago one that my mum used to own. Having said that it didn't have quite as many fog lights as when she used to have it. The old astras have all but disapeared, and if you think abou thow many of those there were on the road that's a bit surprsing.

Had a Xantia too, 2 litre VSX auto, bought with 50k up at 2 years old (good company car choice by someone), sold it 4 years later with another 50k on. Local Cit service manager was sorry to see me go. Then four years in a Galant before finally (!) getting a Saab 9-3SS, then a 9-5, which is probably less tiring on a long drive than even the Xantia was. Can't really see me changing that for a long time.
Anyone else driven something non-mainstream and non-Saab?

ITYM "Extinct". When'd you last see a Corrado?

A good friend had a vr6 corrado for years, part ex'd it for a 911, regreted it ever since. Amazing car, quality engine.

My only non main stream was my first car, 1967 Triumph Herald, 948cc, turning circle of a childs tricycle. Unfortunatley it met a tree and twisted the chassis, doh.
Then a succession of dull cars: fiestas, a rover 100 (a sad time indeed) an escort, a rover 420 (shocking car, excellent engine) two minis, a peugot 306 and then I saw the light and bought a shed of a 1986 900. Quality.

Strange, person I used to work with had a red VR6 that he swapped for a white 911 and also really regretted it. The again, he was at one poitn trying to buy the capri he'd had before back as well. He didn't take well to change

Hi Heatmyshorts, a cousin had a Herald once. He welded some bedframe angle iron onto a rear outrigger to replace rusted chassis length. Passed MOT week later. Also passed with broken reverse gear, tester said it doesn't need reverse for MOT.

Worryingly mine did a very good impression of a crab after the "incident".
I still say the tree whacked the sid on purpose, I was just driving sideways round a corner minding my own business when whack! It all went blurry....
Surley not my fault.

Hi HMshorts, just nosed at your profile, that Herald must have been well past its best by the time you were old enough to reach the pedals. surprised it didn't just crumble into a pile of rust around the tree!

I think back then "corrosion preventative treatment" involved just not going out in the rain.

Yup, it was deemed as a "classic" by those who were advising me as to car purchase, the bodywork was fantastic, had a great racing wheel and no seat belts, by the time I ended its reign it was 23 years old and fading rapidly. Shame, I loved it briefly.

It did teach me the joy of coss-ply tyres, rear wheel drive and wet roads though, a lesson not forgotten yet!

As did my Mk 1 Viva. 1057cc of raw power through a leaf-sprung live axle.

One of my mates has a 1994 mondeo. Terrible excuse for a car. Doesn't start half the time, and when it does it can't climb hills or stop in a straight line . Everything inside is broken; window winders, heaters, locks, etc. Only thing that works is the radio but then that's not standard.

Daftest thing I've had was a Citroen Dyane. That covers me for most makes of car..........The indicators were off a Morris Minor, exhaust off a Ford, radio from a Rover, spots from a Nissan, drivers footwell from McVities, passenger floor was two 3x2s and when the brakes got stuck there was a specially bent screwdriver for levering them open again. Passed "fit for use" (before the NCT) and drove it for 2 years. Great for going fishing, could go anywheere in the days before everyone had a 4x4.
Heree's a motoring fact for you; you could park a 2CV/Dyane anywhere you wanted because the cops couldn't clamp them or lift them onto trucks for towing because of the wheel design and spring travel. Heard that from a policeman years later.

My first car was an S-reg Opel Kadett (same as the Vauxhall Chevette). Black with blue go-faster stripes down the side (not done by me). Haven't seen one in years.

Paddysaab - a Dyane!! A 2CV in a pretty dress. Girl I worked with had a pale blue Dyane. She let me drive it once, she'd never seen a car lean over so far. And SS66 - was that Kadett the saloon or hatch? (Kadett hatches were very rare). I had a Chevette hatch, no parcelshelf either standard or accessory, so all your boot contents & luggage was on show.

There's a Chevette not too far from me - though it's been overtaken by moss for years. Probably way beyond repair now.

My first boss had an Opel Manta. Think it was brand new at the time (mid 80's). I've not seen one of those for ages.

Here's another - Renault Feugo. Not seen one for a good 10 years. Loads of old Renauls you don't see now - my mate used to drive his dads Renault 12 TS Estate. That thing was a laugh

I saw a 3dr Sierra Cosworth tonight on the back of a trailer on the M1. Looked very nice. My friends Sapphire Cosworth was the first fast car I drove. (Only other one I'd say was fast was my old 2.3 Carlsson)

I used to see some NSU R080 (is that the right name?) around Leicester in the 80's. Not see one since as far as I can recall. They were never common though I suppose.

'twas the hatch indeed. Much better looking than the saloon. Got it for £500 and sold it for £400 a few years later. Bought a Chevette being scrapped and grabbed plenty of parts from it for the Kadett. Many were surprisingly new as the owner had spent a fair bit of money on it (why?) before realising it had loads of rust. The Opel version didn't have a parcelshelf either as far as I can remember.

I saw one of those Wankel-powered cars a good few years ago. Might have been in connection with the Bromley Pageant of Motoring (although it wasn't in the showground). Great place to see all these old classics (!).

Had it out in a force 9 once. Now that is when you see a car lean. Every time the cloth roof let a slap out of it my mate thought it was the end for sure.
That car actually ruined my driving for years. You had to thrash it to make it move not. And because it was so bad I didn't care what happened to it and abused it horribly. A mate once brought it home and told his wife that he had swopped his Fiesta Ghia for it. She made him swop back before he had his dinner

You make it sound like that's a bad thing? That's the fun with 2cvs - you're right up against the limits, all the time, at speeds that won't result in an instant ban or a very messy landing.



<g> SWMBO would be the exact opposite - if I came home and told her I'd swapped one of the 2cvs for a Fester, she'd go ape. She was well happy when I swapped the Alfa 75 v6 for a red'n'white Dolly...

When I was at uni one of the other motorclub members had a 2cv he used for the rallise and won a few. I remember the day he was calling around to get racing brake disks and pads and the guffaws of laughter in the office. Oh, him and his girlfriend did beat the chairman and secretary in their race prepped Golf GTI with full roll cage and other rally suspension and engine mods. Just shows that quality map reading and consistent pace were what was needed, not just a heavy application of the loud pedal. I also remember one day when he'd stripped the engine down and was filing the carb valve screws down to make the flow smoother and he hoped to get and extra 1hp from that. Basically this was his approach, and they all added up I suppose.

Mini Countryman with the wood stripped off, and a Clubman engine and gearbox inserted - tunnel pop-rivetted into place because the gear-change was different.
Maxi - brilliant concept, [expletive deleted] gearbox, handled like bus
Ambassador - like driving a lounge. The only car I ever sold for what I bought it for, and only changed a head gasket and a pair of wheel bearings.
Maestro 1.6 - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Astra Mk1 - two-tone metallic brown "EXP" model. Rust bucket, that's why there are none around any more
BX 19TRS - quick, smooth, bit thirsty - sold it to a neighbour to drive to Germany in
BMW 520i - 99% boring, but surprisingly exciting on wet roundabouts.
BX GTi-16V - most fun I've had clothed. Good for embarrassing Golf GTi drivers and giving the odd Cossie a WTF moment
BX GTi-8V - oh the disappointment - would have been fine if it hadn't followed the 16V!
BX TZD turbo - 3 different ones, all relentlessly good value
XM TurboD Estate - Like a 9-5 with garlic and a bad attitude - brilliant long-distance cruiser. Loved it but it was killed by an incompetent main-dealer

Gone, all gone, sniff, sob

Then we're into the "modern" stuff - Picasso, Renault Neveragane Scenic, Picasso again, Pug306, 9-5

Mind you, this doesn't include the bikes.......

Forgot a couple of Citroen AX diesels - how could I?? 1.3 diesel, never serviced, mileometer stuck on 83,596 for five years - cutest thing on wheels, and wouldn't pull the skin off a creme caramel

Here's a good one following the original topic.

How many here have seen a Saab 600? I have, but that was a long time ago. (OK, so I cheated by living in Sweden at the time, but still...)

So you're older than 24 then?

OK, here goes.
Cars owned:
Viva HA (Mk 1). Engine seized when out with girlfriend. Had to get my father to tow it home next day.
Mini 850 (with stage 1 head & mainifold) Fond memories, but drove one recently and can't believe how uncomfortable it was. Got so used to changing the rubber UJs I could do it in 15 minutes.
Viva HC (Mk 3) colour - beige. Not Saab's Smoke Beige, just plain old beige. Quite fashionable in 1974.
Chevette. "Champagne Starfire Metallic". Vinyl seats.
Suzuki SC100 Whizzkid. Now, who remembers those? Tiny 2+2, rear 1000cc engine. Had a bet with a Lotus Europa driver that the Suzzy was faster. And it was!
Suzuki Alto. Grim. The Kia Pride of its day.
Citroen Visa GT. 1360cc, 80 bhp, twin carbs. Great fun.
Cit Visa GTi. 1600cc, 105 bhp, very disappointing after the GT.
Vaux Nova SR. Replaced the Visa, SWMBO was learning to drive in a Nova and couldn't cope with the Visa when I took her for practice.
Nova GTE. For something a bit faster than the SR.
Peugeot 309 GTI. 1.9 engine from the 205, and a better car. But it was ruining me. The cat died, lambda sensor, and all the associated bits. Cost £1100 to fix. In 1993! 5 sets of front tyres in 3 years. Paid £13k new in 1990, got £3.5k after 4 years px against the next motor.
Peugeot 306 1.4. Totally inoffensive, but superb ride. The mileometer jumped extra 10 miles every hundred. Took ages to work out why the trip reading was always out of synch.
Citroen Xantia 2.0. Bought with 50k up, sold with over 100k up. Lots of visits to dealer, but lovely car.
Mitubishi Galant V6 2.5-24, beautiful but flawed. Prev. owner did 5k in 3 years, car immaculate. Gearbox failed 20k later. Dealer quote - "same box in the Shogun 4x4, replaced dozens of them. "
And then I saw the light. Almost.
Saab 9-3SS 175bhp Arc. Kept refusing to start. Went into limp home mode 3 times. swopped after 7 months for:-
9-5 2.3 lpt Vector Auto, going fine, 62k since Nov 05, and with the help of all you experts out there, can't see me changing it for anything. (Also SWMBO says the next car must be something smaller so she can drive it .
Plus driven dozens more, from pre-war Armstrong Siddley in 60s on airfield in Norfolk aged 15. Aunt was learning to drive in it. Most frightening drive? At night, Chrysler 300C. Great in daylight, but headlamps are purely decorative. Didn't seem to be connected to the electrical system at all. (Superb engine, better than when it's fitted in Merc's S Class.)
That's all folks!

errrr.........a bit...........

And I forgot the Citroen Xantias - because they were boring - and the Wolseley Hornet Mk2 with the 1100 engine and stage1 head that I co-owned with a student friend. Now that DEFINITELY qualifies for the "Cars you don't see anymore" tag

So that's how old I am. Old enough for the memory to be going.

Where am I? Who are these people? Is it time for the nurse to bring the tea around yet?

Anyone seen a TVR recently?

Sorry Mike my son has a Volvo 480 and it's brill. You can actually make the headlights wink!

Car I had in 70's which you don't see as they corroded into a pile of dust - the original Honda Civic.....................small boxy thing.

I had a year of madness after my last Audi coupe and went into a 1994 Mondeo ST.....hateful car......passengers in the back were deafened, NONE of the electrics worked, including a bemusing 'sports supension' setting switch (made a light flash on the dashboard and that was it)- locks jammed, doors randomly refused to open and to cap it all off the handily lowered front splitter had an 'entertaining' habit of coming off and flying away at anything above 60. Finally called time on it when I bought my first Viggen, sold the Mondeo to the local 'chop shop garage'-and alarmingly I STILL see the flaming thing on the road all the time- made all the more worrying by the fact that the steering rack had a 2 foot crack in it, and that was in 1999....

I suppose that any car more than 12/14 years old is going to be 'rare'. How often do you see a c900 these days. (Not counting the one out front or at meetings.)




Not withstanding what I said above..... Today I saw 3 TVR's.

Quite a few actually, including the odd 'flat fronted' ones (which will be at least 23 years old).

saw a mint 99turbo wednesday the guy said he`s had it 24 yrs and its done 134k and only let him down once!!! they certainly dont make them like they used too....lol
wish i could say the same for my 150 tid

I see one parked up in Sheffield, though it doesn't seem to move. That's a Chimera (sp) too, so not that old.

Yesterday, I saw a Talbot Solara and a Rover SD1 in the same journey! Mind you, Sunday is the day people seem to take out their "classics".

Here's an oldball....anyone remember Wartburgs??

God awful car. Our local garage has got one on its forecourt for sale, green and it's an estate. That's one car you very rarely see.

I think we may have a winner here : !

I've only ever seen one - someone round the corner from where I used to live had one. This was around the time of the Queens Silver Jubilee so you're talking 1977!

There'a lime green Wartburg saloon frequently seen around town centre here (Ellesmere Port, near Chester - "Home of the Astra" !!!), the colour seems original. Must be local, don't think the driver wants to risk going far.