What was your first car?

LostKiwi

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Your Mercedes
'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
Hydrospastic suspension that you had to periodically take to a garage to have it pumped up!

Mercedes SL500 R231
Corrected to the (non-PC) name we used to use...
It had about as much co-ordination in bumpy bends....
 

mercmancdi

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65
Location
templepatrick - co antrim
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www.schnauzersinireland.com
Your Mercedes
2009 E250 cdi 08 cls320 cdi ,2007 e280 cdi '2005 E 280 CDI ,VW TOUAREG ,JAGUAR S AND xTO NAME A FEW
Ford 1100 cc van then came up in the world to a top of the range Austin allegro van de plas , or something like that.
Long time ago. Since then I think I must have owned about 95% of all the makes out there and some that are no longer available.
 

Rob76

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Coventry, UK
Your Mercedes
S211 E280 CDI Sport
K132 YOC
Ford Sierra 2.0 GT Estate

Worst car i ever had.......
 

daibevan

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Alltwen, Pontardawe
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W203 C200 Kompressor Elegance SE 2006 Tanzanite Blue with cream interior
Just remembered. I had an Austin van my Grampa used to sell fruit and veg from. He left it to me, but I was only 14, so I sold it. He was always coming home and saying "I've found a lovely car for our David" to which the reply was always "But he's only 12, 13, etc) To which he'd reply "So, he can still drive it." He'd had his licence since before you had to pass a test (If he even had one).
 

JohnArnoldBrown

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Location
Stinchcombe, Gloucestershire
Your Mercedes
C220 CDI Estate 2003
I remember having to show my examiner my knowledge of the range of hand signals required if the indicators didn't work or, if they broke down, when I did my driving test. Kids today wouldn't have a clue. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I didn't know hand signals had been dropped from the test, but you're correct, they have been.
Having said that, it's my belief that the driving test is a whole lot harder these days than it was back in the seventies, when I took it. There was no written test back then, just two or three random questions about the highway code. I can remember confidently identifying the uneven road surface sign as "double hump-backed bridge".
 

Conor

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London, UK
Your Mercedes
2010 S212 350 CGI // 2004 R230 500
Mine was a Mk V Golf GTI - I paid too much for it to begin with and sold it for for far too less to finish with.

I absolutely cherished everything in between those two points though..and I pine after it frequently. A really great example that I probably should have kept, oh well.
 

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LostKiwi

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'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
I didn't know hand signals had been dropped from the test, but you're correct, they have been.
Having said that, it's my belief that the driving test is a whole lot harder these days than it was back in the seventies, when I took it. There was no written test back then, just two or three random questions about the highway code. I can remember confidently identifying the uneven road surface sign as "double hump-backed bridge".
In the 70s the NZ test was in three parts, all tested by police officers.
First was a written multi choice paper with 25 questions of which you had to get 23 correct.
Second was an oral test of 5 questions of which 3 had to be answered correctly and only then could you do the practical test which involved driving the police officer around town for an hour whilst he made notes.

The oral test could be quite difficult. My test as one question was "Name 5 things relevant to towing".
 

00slk

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Cambridgeshire UK
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2002 SL55 AMG, 2005 E320 CDi, 2014 SLK250 CDi, 2003 SLK200
In the 70s the NZ test was in three parts, all tested by police officers.
First was a written multi choice paper with 25 questions of which you had to get 23 correct.
Second was an oral test of 5 questions of which 3 had to be answered correctly and only then could you do the practical test which involved driving the police officer around town for an hour whilst he made notes.

The oral test could be quite difficult. My test as one question was "Name 5 things relevant to towing".

Ha ha, remember the tests well LK, failed my first one for driving with my arm resting on the door and hand left on the gear lever. Second fail was the speedo needle wavered too much and the copper couldn't determine my speed! My Dad said, 'next time take Mum's car, the speedo can't be seen from the passenger seat, see what the tos*"er says then.' :D Needless to say I passed third time.
 

keefysher

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Hampshire
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W166 GLE350AMG Line 3.0 2017. BMW Z3 2.8 1998.
Meanwhile, back in Blighty in the 70's...

I had 3 driving lessons, the 1st was from home in a tiny village to the big town of Henley-on-Thames to the test centre to see where it was in readiness not to be late. 2nd was on a foggy night to drive the most likely test route. As we approached a junction where the testers made you reverse around the corner Pulled up at the kerb, got out the car and walked around trying to see the corner, then went home. 3rd was on the way to the test centre. Booked in, came out, did the eyesight test reading number plates of cars on other side of the road. 13 minutes later, returned to the test centre, passed :cool::D

I didn't have much time to fit the test in during the previous year due to my paddling training and competing. So as I actually had a car, that many didn't who had licences, I drove over 40000 miles all over the country to Scotland, Yorkshire, Wales, Cornwall racking up miles with a passenger who had a licence. Car loaded with kayaks. Happy days :D:)
 

DSK

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Your Mercedes
CLS 320 CDI, S350 Bluetec
1985 VW Golf 1.6GL handed down by my mum.

First car I bought with my own money was a 1986 Audi 80 Quattro saloon.
 

keith100

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Toronto
Your Mercedes
w204 c300 2008 (Gone)
Although I 'm currently having a fling with a young Jaguar and no longer a member of the MB “Family”, I occasionally lurk on this forum, which I feel is a most interesting one overall.

Seeing this thread, I decided to contribute – after all you first car is like your first time – you never forget!

So,
1946 Armstrong Siddeley Typhoon, a 2 door hardtop with straight six engine and 4 speed syncromash gearbox ( not a mis-spelling, by the time I owned it double de-clutching was a necessary skill) I bought it in 1960 for 30 quid.

Some unusual features were double gas tanks, an adjustable steering column, push button starting, rad. blind, heater and built-in jacks. A much used accessory was the crank handle. The leisurely acceleration to 60, was complimented by the even more leisurely deceleration to 0.

I bought it with an 11 mon MOT, bought a 1 year insurance before it expired, then liberally interpreted (as you do at 20) the MOT renewal grace period.

Life was much simpler then
 

A.J.

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Norwich. UK
Your Mercedes
UnMerc - 2020 VW Polo 2.0t GTi Plus, DSG. Flash Red, Traditional VW GTi Tartan seat trim.
When in my late teens three of us lads bought an Austin Sheerline between us. We thought that would pull the birds. But of course the only way we could run it was to share between the three of us. The only problem was that because there were three of us we had to argue as who would be driving it at the weekends :rolleyes: Not the car but it was the same colour as below. Turned out to be not such a good plan after all :rolleyes::)


Im120421B-AusSheerPrin.jpg
 

Andedav

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Aberdeen
Your Mercedes
R230 SL 500
Austin Healey Sprite Mk3, Reg ARG 888B. Oh where are you now.
 

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