Mine was an AP5 Valiant, we once brought home a fully grown Anglo Nubian billy goat in the back seat and I removed the back seat entirely and put a big toolbox in for all my gear. Good car, you could fill the boot with bricks or sand, fix it with a basic tool kit and I think only did an alternator and a gearbox for the whole eight years or so I had it.

http://www.chargerclubofwa.asn.au/production-detail.asp?iProductionID=25

A big thank you to everyone of you, for putting a belated smile on my ugly dial !

There's something about our first car ? The care and love we put in to it, the cleaning, servicing, everything. Has anyone ever had to use the crank handle because of a weak battery ? What I did as the battery aged, I'd always park on a decline, and 'clutch start it' when necessary.

My car was one where you could wind the windscreen out, about six or eight inches, from the bottom. The problem was, as I was to discover to my peril, when closing it, it would not seal correctly, for some reason ? Thus I had leaks oozing through the corners and bottom of the thing ! Urgent discussions with an auto glazier revealed, the only reliable method of fixing it properly, was to seal it shut !

You see, this lovely vehicle's superstructure's framework or substructure was mfg'd entirely with wood, with the sheet metalwork attached thereto. Therefore, as the car aged the entire body twisted and distorted somewhat, thus many of the 'angles' of the body, never actually remained 'true' !

Interestingly, I never received a TIN the entire four years I owned her. Pulled up once or twice, once because the left headlight had worked loose, and was pointing high up to the heavens ? It amazed the coppers who helped me to tighten it up ! Today, I'd probably be shot !

As HASBEEN remarked, it was not great in traffic jams in very hot weather - the electric fuel pump needed to be tapped each time it stalled, or you couldn't hear it 'ticking' through the firewall.

And as CSTEELE mentioned, my right foot and leg grew enormously strong, with all the exercise associated with the constant 'pumping' of the brakes !

And of course, it always leaked in rain, but I loved her nevertheless.

THANK YOU EVERYBODY !

1954 Skoda sedan, 4-cylinder, rolled it within a week. Never got to use the back seat.

Joe

Yeah the goat was the most exciting thing that ever happened in the back seat of my Valiant, I used to borrow my mum's UC Torana for romantic outings.

Dyslexic as usual, that Morris was an 8 40. Yep right at last.

After that there was a gorgeous 34 Pontiac Super Chieftain, soft top 2 seater, with a dickey seat, which despite the name was not suitable as a love machine, A Singer equally unsuitable for such tasks.

I may be a slow learner, but I finally get it right. My first new car was a Simca Around, complete with some of the first lay back front seats, giving a sha, oops, I mean camping body.

Hi LOUDMOUTH; J of MELBOURNE & LEXI...

LOUDMOUTH...When I was much younger, I used to dismiss the Skoda as a heap of communist rubbish. Til later, I met a very well qualified Automotive Engineer, and he said the Skoda was a brilliant car, it was just they weren't particularly worried about quality control. Now that the brand is part of VW, it does prove his summation as being fairly close to the mark ?

J of MELBOURNE...You actually surrendered your valuable back seat to a goat ! Mate I've heard it all ! If anything, a Goat would prove the most novel ?

LEXI...My mental picture of you is a very attractive, feminine lady with a very sharp intellect - Destroyed in a moment by your admission that you drove a giant 'muscle car' in Los Angles ! Venice Beach to be exact, no doubt ? If I was asked to guess, I would've speculated along the lines of something like a battered ol' VW, which would suit your Bohemian, almost avant-gardist image of an intellect on a sabbatical year in the States ? I never was much of a detective.

SNAKE...Your MG VA sounds very exotic. I must admit I can't conjure up an image of what your car looks like, but I can envisage the suspension system, being not unlike that of the early Mini Deluxe (1963-66) with 'Hydro Elastic' suspension, which was simply adjusted (pumped up) every service. A system well before it's time I reckon ?