Do You Remember The First Time?
Words: Gerard Hughes on 20/01/2012 – 2:29 pm18 Comments
Pass me down the tin opener – I need to crack the top off a particularly hefty can of worms. I’d say this started at Christmas on one of those evenings when you’ve had too much too drink and have got too little to do, but the truth is, the conversation I had over the festive period only served to crystalise the thoughts that have been nagging me for a while.
I was chatting with one of my oldest friends, and with it being Christmas and with us being old farts, we were reminiscing (about cars). Without getting the rose-tinted welding goggles on, we came to the conclusion that our fondly remembered first cars were notable for a couple of things – even at the time, they were old, decrepit and most importantly, cheap.
Ten year old cars then were not like ten year old cars now. I would quite happily jump behind the wheel of a 1996 Mondeo tomorrow and drive the length and breadth of the country. In the mid Eighties, you wouldn’t jump into any decade old motor for fear of falling through the rust compromised floor, and any trip was only to be tackled when fully equipped with a tool kit, gallon cans of oil and water, and plenty of second-hand spares chucked in the boot. And on the back seat.
Back in the days of dodgy mullets, snow wash denim and George Michael being straight, we both found ourselves driving cars that are now regarded as proper ‘classics’, but then, they were old bangers that no-one wanted. Both of us had a budget of about £300, and we both ended up getting the cars (I paid about £120 for my 1973 FIAT 850D at auction, his auntie gave him a MkI Escort Estate of similar vintage) and insuring them for the money we’d saved. Sounds incredibly cheap, but we were both broke and canny. But to put it in context, my brother had paid £300 the year before for a very tidy, MoT’d MkI Escort two-door. Read it and weep.
Fast forward to the future. The modern equivalents of our first cars are in a different league – they handle and brake better, rust tends to be cosmetic, and even the most basic will be loaded with driver comforts, security devices and safety aids. Alright, plastic bumpers tend not to wear the years too well and they will no doubt go a lot faster. But Gaffer tape and a little restraint are wonderful things. It’s also interesting to note, that because of the way society has changed and our expectations have altered, the cars now are almost as cheap – pick up the local rag or spend ten minutes on eBay, and I reckon £500 will get you a very usable car.
So we get to the heart of my dilemma. I’m 17. I have £1000. I buy my £500 car (Ka, 106, Cinquecento, Nova/Corsa, Micra…). What are my chances of getting it insured with the remainder of my budget…? Ridiculous? OK, double the budget and try again. We’re not even getting close. And my question – why and when did the world change so much that first time or younger drivers have to find these frankly ridiculous sums to insure their cars?
So, can you help me out? I have a couple of questions to put to you, and with your answers, maybe we can work out where it all went so pear shaped.
When, what and how much was your first car? Why that car? How much did it cost to insure?
And secondly, what do you consider its equivalent today – and do you see that becoming a classic in due course?
This is all in the name of scientific research. Plus, you may just save me from starting to refer to the Eighties as the ‘good old days’…
No, it's not my first car, it's my second. JPS colour scheme and nicely modified, I was outraged when my premium went up by over £20...
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My first car, an ADO16 based Austin Apache my folks bought me for my 21st (although I had been driving my mother’s Chrysler Valiant and later Mitsubishi Gallant0 for 5 years before that.
http://www.austinapache.co.uk
Back then in South Africa, anything British was considered unreliable and as students, the height of chique was a Datsun 1200 pick-up (or bakkie) when it was still legal to drive with passengers in the back. So an Apache was a bit of an insult, but cheap enough, and despite the unreliability of a 12 year old British designed, South African manufactured car, it set me on a road to Octagonomania whihc is currently fed by two 1968 MG1300s…
My wife (back when we were students in Cape Town) had a Datsun 180U SSS (I think the same as 180B here) but she reckons that was the reason I went out with her in the first place. She may have been right…RWD with a reliable, gutsy 1.8 SOHC fed by twin SU-style Hitachi carbs.
Today’s equivalent? Without a doubt theADO16 equivalent has to be the Rover 200 range from the 1990s, both the Honda based and the later 200/25 models. As to the Datsun 180U, sadly they don’t do RWD anymore, and they have become too French and quirky looking.
Being a first-class hoarder of cars, I still have my first car – my 1969 MG Midget. I bought the first one I looked at (this was some time in the early Nineties). It was ‘partially restored’ and I was assured that all the bits were in the box – but they weren’t! (Serves me right for breaking two of the golden rules…)
I paid £1275 for it which worked out at a knicker per cc with two big whopping lies thrown in for free!
I still remember going for sneaky blasts around the block, before the Midget was anywhere near road legal. No seats (just sat on the floor) and with only the handbrake working (tricky, we lived on a hill) it was love from the word go.
When it was eventually finished – after loads more wonga was pumped into it – I was horrified to discover how much it would cost to insure a 20-year-old with bugger-all no-claims bonus – 400 bloody quid!
Mine was an ’81 Fiesta 1300 Ghia in 1991.
Cost £1000 (yes I was ripped off) and about £350 to insure.
Metallic green with chocolate brown velour upholstery… Previous owner had rewired it. I went through it all once in an attempt to discover why cassettes played faster the harder I accelerated. Found there were 65 different pieces of wire that were connected to thin air.
This 10 year old car had already had 31 previous owners!
Sold it for £600 in 1995.
My first car was (and I still have it) an MoT failure 1968 Riley Elf in beige, way back on 1sy August 1992 for a whole £200.
It cost me £483 to insure it the following September as a 19 year old with zero NCB – I even still have the original cover note !
My friends thought I was nuts insuring a car that wasn’t on the road (and didn’t even have the correct number of roadwheels), but I had the last laugh as spiraling prices saw them paying nearly a grand a year or so later when they came off their parents insurance…
The date of the end of sensible insurance cost can be pinpointed exactly – and the introduction of a single piece of legislation did it.
No win, No fee…
My first car was a very unreliable F-reg £200 Austin Metro City X. The cost of insurance was around £800, which back in 2004 seemed like a ridiculous amount of money, though not a scratch on todays first time insurers premiums! My 19-year old cousin recently had to pay over £2k for first-time insurance on a 106…
Quite amazingly my third car – just 18 months after passing – was a Renault 21 Turbo which only cost me £600 to insure. I reckon it must have been a admin mistake because I can’t even get that price now!
Venetian red Mk4 Cortina 2.0S, with a black vinyl roof. The more I think about it the less I remember! Pretty certain it was a 78 on a T plate. I bought it in 1987 after saving all my milk round money and my Grandma giving me a bit when Grandad died. It was an ex taxi bought from Mr Andrews, who now lives in a warden controlled bungelow in Cheshire opposite my Mum. I like to think the £350 I paid for it helped with his lavish retirement home!
It cost me £400 to insure back then. Oddly enough as my cars have improved, the insurance remained at around that price. I switched to ‘classics’ fulltime and had the shock of my life when I was quoted over £500 for insuring an Alfa! I guess I was stuck in the 80′s too along with the memory of Jennifer, Meatloaf and the backseat of a 2.0S. Happy days which I often wonder if Jen remembers with as much fondness as I? Especially the many times we ran out of petrol!
My first was a 1987 Mini City E, it was £850 (I paid an extra £50 for a white roof!) and thought I was the coolest thing on four wheels.
Todays £500 snotters are tomorrows classics, its just a case of us changing our perceptions to see that, I suppose!
Its tough to say what the modern equivalent would be, there’s plenty of Rover R8s about that are cheap to both run and insure (though the modern definition of ‘cheap’ is different to what it was 10 or 15 years ago.) Base Saxos and 106s will always have their appeal, I suppose but motoring on the whole I think, is being moved from the grasp of 17 and 18 years olds, and that’s really sad.
I think it’s time that we saw some of these fine machines. Go on, dig out those old faded snaps, scan ’em and mail them over.
The world needs to see such a fine stable of tin!
No picture was taken of the funky red cortina to my knowlege anyway, more’s the pity. I’ll ask around my mates… I found one of the 2000E that replaced it! As for the question of the 2.0S modern equivilent? I’m not too sure what the sporty Mundano is called? Though with the bloated fashion of modern cars I suspect a Fiesta is the same size these days!
I dread to think how much it’ll cost me to insure my 7 year old in 10 years time…
My first car was a 1965 Vauxhall Viva HA. Bought in June 1974 and cost me £175. A year’s tax was £25 and a year’s third party, fire and theft on a provisional licence was £75. On the other hand, I was only earning £8 a week…
Kevin,
Can you imagine someone trying to insure a car on a provisional licence today? The brokers would die laughing…
Gez
I think they would! My own children paid more than 100% of their car’s value in insurance per year, both had 2nd generation VW Polos (the little estate car version) and both were students at the time. Both had passed their tests. I suppose in the 70′s, insurers would just not quote for certain risks and the brokers knew who to go to for high risks and avoid those who wouldn’t quote. Now the “Go Confuse the Market.com” web sites just come up with a string of quotes.
Agreed, I was 18, had a Renault Gordini Special 1300, 7 years old, insure in 1987 was £700, same as cost of car
as I was a Learner with only motorcycle license.
Renault 5 GT 1780cc Sport ’88, cost me £350, although it’s only one of 3 left taxed on the road.
Spitfire 1300 tuned ’73 1300 / 4 insurance £115
Volvo V70 2.5 is £998, fully comp, but I had two vehicles vandalised last year, so Aviva did me on that. Enough though it’s a no fault claim.
I tries various online search sites, and got quotes of £1050 – £4500. It’s mentally draining, so just pay £12 to my local broker. Brilliant and no overseas helplines.
Face to face over a counter or speak to broker himself.
My first car (my own), a 1966 Reliant Regal 3/25 which was originally mid blue. It was the closest thing to a Bond Bug 700ES, one of my dream cars back then. We bought Regal from a friend of dad, for £50, serviced it, sorted out wear in the front suspension, I think we taxed (m/cycle rates) and taxed for under £100.
This was back in 74. I painted it midnight blue using automotive brush paint and sold it for £165 within the year – it was written off within 12 weeks
. The money went to my next car, a brand new Reliant Kitten Estate, which I ran for 115k miles.
The make-a-claim-cos-its-someone-else’s-responsibility society are the basis for the insurance rates now, unlikely to be back to realistic rates unfortunately.
What’s interesting is that I’ve just paid £297 to insure my Mk1 MR2 on a Admiral multi-car policy… the same company that charged me over £580 last year, and that quoted me £620 to renew this year (with the same details).
And even at £297 I’m sure Admiral are still making a healthy profit. So the extra £320 for the same policy is obviously just mark-up purely because they can get away with it.
What’s even more frustrating is that Admiral were the cheapest company at £620. The cost of insurance might be rising, but so are these companies profit margins!
My first car on the road was a 1978 T plate 3 door 1256 vauxhall chevette in pale green (with hints of ‘autumn gold’) or ‘shoveit’ as it became affectionatly known as to my mates, in 1987 it cost me £252 to insure, fully comp & any driver!! I was 17 & worked as a mechanic then & it was a trade-in & i paid £100 for it, ahh those were the days…
My first car was a rather rusty and bent Mini Mpi for £1800 in 2008. It might have been a structural mess and it certainly used as much oil as petrol but it took me all over the country and through Europe without breaking down for an entire year.
My insurance was £560 fully comp with diamond and having ragged it for a year I sold it on to an unsuspecting lady (who had just finished a 3 year drink driving ban) for a very reasonable £2800.
My advice? Breast implants.
Well done Sophie, the first mention of breast implants on Dep-O. And what kind of percentage can I expect off my insurance if I have a couple fitted…?