What was your first car and first repair you did to it.

[Huskyxantia]

Just having a 5 min break from sorting out the collection of tools I've acquired over the years and this thought just came to me what was my first car and first repair I did to it. Well my first repair was filling a hole in the wing with body filler m5 cortina . My first proper car repair was actually a service to my mk 1 fiesta followed by my dad's mk2 escort once I mastered lining up the timing on tdc then changing the ponts I then played around with advance and retarded timing i found advance drank more fuel retarded less but power was slightly less feeling ,tdc ran fine aslong as the distributor was timed the same it was straight forwards enough , gapping everything was simple with the use of fealer (spelt wrong ? )gauges so all plugs and point gaps were spot on, that was it I was 18. Not long after it was welding 19 yrs old there abouts. I just picked up stuff from mechanics ive met over the years . My biggest thing every 22me and a friend rebuilt a car from 2 done cars it took all summer with the spare time we had and the car was a black mk2 xr2. Was great after it was all done all registered correctly then passing the mot for the first time in my ownership. Would I do it again ? No it's not that easy to do stuff like it now . What was your first car , first repair ? And another thing
Who remembers propshafts? Rear axles ? Windows that had little chrome lock catches ? Washers that were operated by foot ! Timing stribe light?
Post your memories below

[Michel]

A Skoda 120L Estelle which I bought for £100 in 1989 before I was 17. It had rolled off the drive of the old man who owned it, across the road, and down the grass then dropped 5ft into a river and landed on it's tail.

It had pretty severe chassis bending on the leg on the driver's side, no bumper, but the worst was the long gear linkage thing had bent. That was the first repair me and my dad did on it.

Google Maps is so handy. Here's his house, with an arrow drawn on where the car rolled

[Huskyxantia]

Oh dear , I remember them the rear wheels used to come off them .

[PaulC5]

First car was a 1970 HC Viva, 1159 cc engine that could just get to 70 mph. First repair in 1980 I took it to a clutch place thinking it needed a new one but turned out to be a mounting. Also had the sump bolts tightened but the labour was that expensive for a few minutes work I felt ripped off and since then I do my own repairs/servicing where possible. Pity Haynes no longer make the old style repair manuals.

[Gibbo2286]

My first car was 1937 Austin 10 Cambridge, my boss had taken it as part exchange, a non-runner, it had a broken crankshaft, I paid £5 for it, £5 for a second hand engine and £5 to our body shop guys for a respray, so with a few odd screws, gaskets etc. it was on the road for £18.
Kept it for two years then sold it on for £65.
Probably get into bother now with the reg no. BNP14

[mickthemaverick]

My first car was a handmedown from my sister (6 years older than me). A 1959 Morris 1000 Reg VYV 333. It had all the bits Husky mentioned, chrome trimmed quarterlights, chrome handles, floor mounted washer plunger which my sister had never been able to reach when driving, hence my first role was washing the screen when on the move. She gave it to me when she went off to teachers training college at Alnwick.

Bob took me out for my first driving lesson in it and we yumped a humpback bridge in Kings Langley landing 15 yds from the T junction with the dual carriage way. I slammed on the brakes and we just bounced to a halt before crossing the line........just!! Following that incident I sold the car to a chap in the Tudor Arms on the next evening for £10. The following weekend we were in the pub again when he came over and told me that he had taken the car for a test and it failed with chassis rot end to end. I think we had a lucky escape in Kings Langley!!

I then went and spent £14 buying an Austin Seven of the Mk1 Mini variety Reg 659 DON with sliding windows, floor mounted starter and a leaky rocker cover gasket, so my first proper job on a car was replacing that gasket and doing an oil change. Happy days!!

[Rob112]

Mk1 Ford fiesta. OCB 115R.

First repair was spraying the car white as it had a red door!!!!

[Forrester123]

I bought my first car from a neighbour for £85. It was a yellow 1937 Standard 8 tourer, with hood.
Unfortunately after a few hundred miles the big ends were knocking.
I bought some new shells, dropped the sump & replaced them. However they didn't last long as the crankshaft needed regrinding, which was a step too far for me, so it had to go.

[Huskyxantia]

My first car was 1937 Austin 10 Cambridge, my boss had taken it as part exchange, a non-runner, it had a broken crankshaft, I paid £5 for it, £5 for a second hand engine and £5 to our body shop guys for a respray, so with a few odd screws, gaskets etc. it was on the road for £18.
Kept it for two years then sold it on for £65.
Probably get into bother now with the reg no. BNP14

Just imagine paying them prices today !

[Huskyxantia]

Just love reading £14 for a car ...which brings me to this cheap car memory, my dad once got a mk1 escort Mexico for £30 , I was about 14 and was gobsmacked , turns out the lad who sold it just lost his job and his wife had just had there first baby and they were skint, Dad put the money in an envelope I took it up to them, the next day i was washing the car and the lad came down and spoke to me it turns out what I thought was a £30 buy was £100 as my dad wanted to make sure this new family was ok for some cash . It was a werid green colour and dad sprayed it back to the orange , he spent a whole weekend getting the overspray off the decals then masking them over and sanding the car down and priming it ,then the following week he sprayed it. He kept it for 2 yrs it was a real looker when he sold it the former keeper brought it back ! He landed a better job kept seeing the car around and soon as dad put it up for sale he was knocking on the door. Car only needed bulbs and a service in my dad's ownership .

[myglaren]

A Hillman Minx from a garage near where I worked, £200 in 1978. I was 33 and had never needed a car before, always company cars and vans.
Fixed a few minor things, rear brakes most notably as I had never fixed anything on a car prior to that. Distributor flew to bits. The garage towed it in, fixed it then put it in the pub car park across the street, from where it was stolen and had the bottom ripped out of it by being driven around Houghton pit heap. Had to take the garage to court for not looking after it.
Replaced with a Renault 4 (£60)from a girl I worked with, brakes had failed and she crashed it into a drystone wall and was scared to drive it after that. Was great, did thousands of miles in it until the rear suspension 'fell off' and was too expensive to fix.
The two cheapest were a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, £40 from a mate of my FIL, banned for drink driving. My dad had a mechanic look at it who declared it a 'death trap' due to rusty front suspension mountings, sale cancelled.
And an Opel Kadett, should have been £80 but when we went to get it the clutch had failed so he dropped the price to £40. We were going to tow it home but I crawled underneath and saw that the clutch cable had fallen off. Refitted it and drove it away. Again, did thousands of miles before it became uneconomical to repair.

[Sloppysod]

Unlike you lot above, can't remember prices. Just vehicles...... however, ... my early repairs included rebuilding a 50cc moped engine in my mum's kitchen to ride to work the following morning! Same moped, I realised that when flat out, if I opened the choke I would get another couple of mph, downside was, open too long and it would melt the piston crown, so i used to carry a spare piston and replace it on the side of the road!
Early cars, Austin 1300 auto, Vauxhall 101, GS1220 replaced ignition cassette with electronic pointless system, all needed TLC, and work for MOTs.

I can beat the foot operated hi-beam or washers, never had foot operated starter, but did have a car with vacuum driven wipers, very speed sensitive!

[mickthemaverick]

I can beat the foot operated hi-beam or washers, never had foot operated starter, but did have a car with vacuum driven wipers, very speed sensitive!

The Mini starter button wasn't foot operated, it was mounted on the floor behind the handbrake and was left thumb operated!! I also had vacuum wipers on the Mk6 Reliant I had and possibly on the Moggy but not sure about that.

[Sloppysod]

Mickthemaverick wrote: †

The Mini starter button wasn't foot operated, it was mounted on the floor behind the handbrake and was left thumb operated!! I also had vacuum wipers on the Mk6 Reliant I had and possibly on the Moggy but not sure about that.

My sister had that on her mini (car not skirt).
The 101 beat me, when reversing, the passenger had to hold it gear, by hand to start, then using their foot!

[Huskyxantia]

I can beat the foot operated hi-beam or washers, never had foot operated starter, but did have a car with vacuum driven wipers, very speed sensitive!

Yes there was a lorry i recall I used to ride in whe I was 5 that had them type of wipers when you slowed down they hardly worked ? I can recall my dad's mate who the lorry belong to always moaning how stupid they were