Mine was an Escort. The car, not a chap from a card in a phone box...
Cost £800 as my 21st birthday present (year left deliberately vague), we spent £900 on repairs in three months then traded it in against my parent's new car. I got their old Montego. Result.
It does seem that my Montego was the only one ever made that had proper door seals and didn't leak like a sieve!
Mine was an Escort. The car, not a chap from a card in a phone box...
Glad you clarified that Steve
pansyface - my first flat had a bigger mortgage than the subsequent house I bought with ex husband. The interest rates were horrific at that time. It was around 15% at the time.
People have short memories - they moan about it going up to 3% or 4%!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
As above, my first house cost £1,795.....financed with a 25 year mortgage = repayments of £2 .10s per month. This was an 80% mortgage (had to sell me motorbike to raise deposit) and as FG says, interest rates were around 15%.
Not sure how much I was earning at the time, but I do recall I was giving my OH £5 per week housekeeping money.
David - that's astonishing when you consider your housekeeping expenditure was 8 times the mortgage payment!
My flat cost about £15,000. Tiny - on the south side of Glasgow. Monthly repayments (interest only - damn endowments) were about £350. Had to run a car because of the times I worked. After all the other outgoings, I had to budget carefully to see if I could eat! Didn't have a phone - couldn't have justified the expense, and a little black and white telly- colour licence would have been out of the question. Changed days eh?
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
David - thanks for he Utube link - fascinating! Needless to say, I knew nothing of all those problems - and I sounds like it would have been a perfect case study for my Business Studies Degree LOL. But I guess I was lucky - the car OH had and then the one I bought were both pretty good, and I just loved mine. The opening rear window was, as the Utube clip indicated, a fore-runner to the hatch back, and when we married in 1977 (first house: 1930's semi £17,500) I was able to transport a lot of stuff from the house I shared with brother - several journeys! - saving a fortune on removal firm fees!
Pleased you found the link of interest, SV......certainly the Imp has a chequered passed, along with the rest of the dying British car industry at the time. Being slightly mechanically minded, I did manage to keep mine running....just as well as with a young family to support, I was broke most of the time.
For me, the Imp's major failing was its aluminium engine, which was prone to overheating and being of aluminium construction. The cylinder-head was prone to distortion....which involved having it skimmed.
Experiencing these Imp problems in the late sixties and the fiasco of a Morris Marina in the late seventies, disillusioned, I bought my first French car (a Renault 15, I think) and to cut a long story short, I have never bought a British car since the Marina, in fact all my cars since have been French.
I've recently bought a new Peugeot 2008 SUV crossover.
David - after the Vauxhall rustbuckets, the Leyland rubbish and the other problems, I have to confess (and it goes against the grain!) that with French cars you get a lot of car for your money, and a lot of reliability, too. (I hesitate to say that, of course - our Megane has been pretty good thus far . . . ).
I agree, SV....the Megane is a great car. I would just add that I wasn't wildly keen on the design of the rear ends of a few year's ago, not sure if they're still the same.
When I'm driving I don't look at the rear which is pretty ugly imo. What possessed the designers to make the rear window so - - - square and out of keeping with the rest of it, I have no idea. Not as bad now as the original, thank goodness! (It was OH's choice, btw)
Posts
Mine was an Escort. The car, not a chap from a card in a phone box...
Cost £800 as my 21st birthday present (year left deliberately vague), we spent £900 on repairs in three months then traded it in against my parent's new car. I got their old Montego. Result.
It does seem that my Montego was the only one ever made that had proper door seals and didn't leak like a sieve!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
As above, my first house cost £1,795.....financed with a 25 year mortgage = repayments of £2 .10s per month. This was an 80% mortgage (had to sell me motorbike to raise deposit) and as FG says, interest rates were around 15%.
Not sure how much I was earning at the time, but I do recall I was giving my OH £5 per week housekeeping money.
David - that's astonishing when you consider your housekeeping expenditure was 8 times the mortgage payment!
My flat cost about £15,000. Tiny - on the south side of Glasgow. Monthly repayments (interest only - damn endowments) were about £350. Had to run a car because of the times I worked. After all the other outgoings, I had to budget carefully to see if I could eat! Didn't have a phone - couldn't have justified the expense, and a little black and white telly- colour licence would have been out of the question. Changed days eh?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
David - thanks for he Utube link - fascinating! Needless to say, I knew nothing of all those problems - and I sounds like it would have been a perfect case study for my Business Studies Degree LOL. But I guess I was lucky - the car OH had and then the one I bought were both pretty good, and I just loved mine. The opening rear window was, as the Utube clip indicated, a fore-runner to the hatch back, and when we married in 1977 (first house: 1930's semi £17,500) I was able to transport a lot of stuff from the house I shared with brother - several journeys! - saving a fortune on removal firm fees!
Aaah! It brings it all back! Happy days!
Pleased you found the link of interest, SV......certainly the Imp has a chequered passed, along with the rest of the dying British car industry at the time. Being slightly mechanically minded, I did manage to keep mine running....just as well as with a young family to support, I was broke most of the time.
For me, the Imp's major failing was its aluminium engine, which was prone to overheating and being of aluminium construction. The cylinder-head was prone to distortion....which involved having it skimmed.
Experiencing these Imp problems in the late sixties and the fiasco of a Morris Marina in the late seventies, disillusioned, I bought my first French car (a Renault 15, I think) and to cut a long story short, I have never bought a British car since the Marina, in fact all my cars since have been French.
I've recently bought a new Peugeot 2008 SUV crossover.
David - after the Vauxhall rustbuckets, the Leyland rubbish and the other problems, I have to confess (and it goes against the grain!) that with French cars you get a lot of car for your money, and a lot of reliability, too. (I hesitate to say that, of course - our Megane has been pretty good thus far . . . ).
I agree, SV....the Megane is a great car. I would just add that I wasn't wildly keen on the design of the rear ends of a few year's ago, not sure if they're still the same.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNFTtdPQtic
When I'm driving I don't look at the rear
which is pretty ugly imo. What possessed the designers to make the rear window so - - - square and out of keeping with the rest of it, I have no idea. Not as bad now as the original, thank goodness! (It was OH's choice, btw)