Cars I Have Loved and Lost: A Quick Journey Through My Life in Vehicles

in Planetauto3 years ago

My first car was a 1971 Valiant. My father wanted to get me a sensible car like a Toyota Corolla, but us surfer hippie girls all wanted old cars this. Big and petrol hungry, she took me everywhere I needed to go, and I'd sleep in the back with my dog. It was big enough to fit a surfboard, and so easy to fix. I remember driving back from a SA surfing roadtrip and with a bushmechanic fix on the leaking radiator where I fitted the hose from the windscreen wiper reservoir to the radiator to squirt water in, keeping us going for an hour before we'd stop and cool her down, add more water and keep going. I loved that car so much. It had a dodgy bonnet latch so sometimes you'd go over a bump and the bonnet'd fly up, meaning you'd have to stop and push it back down again and hope for the best. My pet rat used to run around it and sleep on my shoulder when it got tired, which would freak people out at the lights. I sold it to an ex boyfriend who promptly drove it into ruin. After that, I went travelling, and came back and needed a car, and had very little to spend. My uncle George was a backyard mechanic, so I put him to the task of finding me a car for 'under 500 bucks'. We found a 1976 VW Passat, like the one below. I think I have photos of these buried in a photo album somewhere - but gawd knows where, so t'internet photos will have to do. The Valiant was brown, and my uncle sprayed the Passat sky blue.

At some stage I went with a boyfriend to Western Australia, and for the life of me I can't remember if we flew or drove. Either we we ended up with a great old Holden panelvan. It was a manual, which I hadn't driven before, and my bf said there was no way I could drive it. We were buying it off this couple we'd met, and I worked with her at the horse ranch in Kalbarri, so she'd pick me up every morning, we'd get down the road a ways, and she'd teach me to drive it, so by the time we bought it, I could drive it and suprise the bf. I spent ages trying to find the same model on the internet, and the closest one I could find was this one. We had astro turf in the back and a mattress with spaceships on it, which was apt, as his nickname was Space. Long story short, we had a big argument, sold the car and I flew back to Victoria.


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After that, I drove back to Western Australia with a girlfriend in a '76 Ford Falcon, which she then drove into a tree at 40km an hour, because she dropped a roll up in her lap. I bought a yellow Toyota Corolla, which I drove to Darwin, and sold to an English guy who'd just flown in and ripped me off a few hundred bucks, making me believe the engine was screwed, which it wasn't. I caught a plane to Brisbane, met the father of my child, and bought a Mitsubishi station wagon, model unknown and largely forgettable.

When I met my husband, I sold everything I owned, and flew to the UK with 3000 AUD in my pocket, which we used for a deposit on a rental and bought a Peugot 407 station wagon. At the time the hubs had a little red Escort van, but we sold that because he wanted a beemer, which we bought for 800 quid and it was his pride and joy. Here's the only existing photo of it, with him looking pretty feral with an unruly beard.

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We then moved down to Dorset, lived in another house, decided to move back to Australia, so gave up the rental, sold the Peugot and the beamer, bought a cheap little green escort, and a Bedford TK horse truck which we lived in for a year on a traveller's site whilst we saved up to fly back to Australia. When I met Jamie he was living in a truck - you can read our stories about that [here] and here. When we moved to Oz we bought a bus, which we lived in for a while so we could save up for a house deposit. You can read that journey here. Below, you can see the library lorry on the left, and the bus on the right. Some of my happiness times have been in those vehicles.


We then had a Ford Escort van, which was a heap of shit, but got us around Tassie a few times. After than a Ford Transit van, pictured below, which I drove into the back of a truck at the lights, which was a bit gutting. We also had a little blue Escort, and a crappy little beep beep Barina with peeling paint and ripped seats that we bought for 25 bucks, which the hubs used to drive into Geelong Grammar and park next to the Lambos and Maseratis, which was hilarious. Oh, he taught there, so it wasn't a totally random event.


Somehow we started moving up in the world and bought an executive model Peugot with heated leather seats (second hand) and a T5 VW Transporter, which we have to this day. Finally the hubs talked me into buying Buttercup, which I fell in love with, so that's okay. She's pictured below with Betty, our 2A Landie, which we are going to shortly sell. Then of course there's the 1991 Defender 130, which I've written about before of course. That's an ongoing project.


Two other recent notables are the army ACCO International truck we were going to do up as a motorhome, and only recently sold, and the T4 camper we bought in the UK last year and did up as a camper before having to hightail it back to Australia. It's currently in the loving hands of my sister inlaw, who is very in love with it, so that's okay.

Of course, you might wonder why we've had so many cars. Well, it's partly because we've never had a lot of money, and what we did have, we didn't want to spend on car loans. The hubs is very handy with mechanics and he likes tinkering, so if a cheap car came his way, that was it. IN England at the time, cars were pretty cheap, so that 800 quid beemer was awesome, whereas in Australia we would never have been able to afford one. And then the thing with cheap cars, is sometimes they get to the point they're beyond repair, so off they go to the scrappie and another one takes their place, As we got a bit more settled and had a bit of money, we could afford to buy a couple of decent cars, and Jamie could have his project cars as well.

It's been a fascinating little trip down memory lane for me, thinking about the cars that I've adventured in and that have carried me through my life in various ways. I'm sure I've missed a few here, and I haven't even covered the cars Jamie has owned separately, which is a whole other story.

Oh, and one more - last one - I promise? Our little farm ute, a Suzuki carry 4x4. Aint she cute?

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Can you guess which car has been my favourite?

Have you owned any of these cars?

How many cars have you owned in your life?

With Love,

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How many cars have you owned in your life?

Only two since last 12 years, and they are with me still, running in perfect condition. People are tempting me to sell to them, because they are so well maintained. Moreover, those models ( i10 / swift dezire first model ) are far more stable than current models. Latest models have added more features but reduced size to be competitive in price. So plan to have them, till end of life ( 15 years at least).

Having a car that lasts is excellent criteria. I don't like it when people are constantly upgrading, because it's a waste of resources. I like to think that driving old cars like this keeps them going a while longer at least! Many of them would have gone to scrap yard if we hadn't taken them and fixed them. I'm hoping that IF we are forced to get a new car now, it'll be an electric vehicle.

Love the Suzuki Carry.

It's cute isn't it? Quite rare, that one, I believe. It's a great little farm ute, and as it's so narrow, it gets through the council barriers into the reserve when no others can! Winner!

I love this

Thanks, coolio.

Started counting , stopped at 13 ,... But the best i drove was around 1990 ,... never sold in my country , some old German import Toyo , 2ltr 3 speed auto-clutch with a kick-down throttle . Mine was gold-metallic with a black vinyl roof . It's interior could do things no beemer could ,.. like creating a king-sized bed with a view true it's electric sunroof .

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If that tree only would have moved a bit ,... when the brakes failed ,... it ended up looking like this ...

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Witch learned me with "no doubt" ,... never spend money on a car , always buy cheap , and learn to fix them . ;-)


Posted via proofofbrain.io

EEEEEKKKK.... darn trees, getting in the way of cars! You must have been gutted. What a beast! That's an awesome photo, by the way!

Whooops,.. i better rectify ,.. that my lady , is a classic iconic still i bluntly screen-shot from some epic artist's video on ytube ,... i thought the " No Doubt " reverence was enough ,.. i am so sorry .

But yeah i could have taken such picture , my partner in crime back then looked not far off . We took a long road-trip true Belgium with that beast , threw the tent over the windows at campsites .
Yeah it hurt when it was lost ,.. Police declared , we will not investigate your reckless driving if you leave the car to us ,.. i killed the engine with the key , a reaction out of safety ,.. should have just backed up and got away before the cops showed up ,.... or that screaming Karen ,.. D you know what they fined for decapitating a 16" tree ? Well my insurance made my pay it back double spread over 4 years .
Now 32 years later , if you look good , one tree in the row is younger ,... and i am still glad that i managed to miss that steel street-light pole ,... sorry tree , i never saw you , for comfort i can only say , sometimes i think about this tree ,.. witch is more then one could say about most trees in this world . ;-)


Posted via proofofbrain.io

Those darn trees, getting in the way of cars!! You must have been gutted. You never forget a car like that!!!!

My first car was a 1971 Valiant

This must have been your favorite.
Seems you are really into cars lol.


Posted via proofofbrain.io

Damn right. I still wish I hadn't sold it. They are worth a lot more now. We just treated them like old cars, but they're really classic now.

Yeah, I dont know if I'm into cars or not, but they've sure been an interesting part of my life!

Damn right.

Yeepee! You really need to watch me dance lol. For once I guessed right , I actually had my fingers crossed so I don't fail the answer awfully lol.

Yeah, I dont know if I'm into cars or not, but they've sure been an interesting part of my life!

Cars are beautiful things when owned. It pains a lot when it gets bad especially your favorite one. I have this love for cars too bit have never had the opportunity to drive one. I think I should move my dad's one day! Hehehe.


Posted via proofofbrain.io

Waoj, so different out there from what's seen here...
Awesome post, absolutely keeping the fire burning.

I had a 1972 Valiant Charger, all hotted up.

Oh man I know the one exactly!!! Rad. My cousin had a 71 coupe as well. They were a super cool here for a while, I don't see them so much now. I guess in the 90s they were 20 year old cars, now they are either scrapped or classics on club plates and quite expensive.

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Drool. Where's that at? Red as well. Bet that turned heads!!!

What a lot of cars in no time.....

Well to clarify, this is from 1989 to 2021, over two countries on.other side of world!

Thanks for sharing this, @riverflows - this is a fantastic trip down memory lane, and I would guess your favourite would be the 1971 Valiant? 😇

Annabelle.

I think your first car always holds a firm place in your heart, right? I had fun putting this together. I do think the Valiant was my fave, though I'd love that Holden panelvan back for a laugh too. And that Bedford TK Horse lorry... but that's not a car so doesn't count. What was your first car?

My first car was a '62 Fiat, red. Called it my little red tomato. It went through 7 starters in the 2 years I owned it. Mostly I parked on hills and pushed it to start it. I was working 3 jobs and driving a lot of miles every day in that. No photos of it, so here's the closest I could find.

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Oh my gosh that's the cutest. I can just see you in your bellbottoms and floral top in that thing!!!! Love it!

Buttercup is your favourite, and you better not deny in front of her. If I lived closer to you I'd offer to buy Betty (I like her name and she seems sexy.) Then I'd go roaming Australia.