2nd gear is overrated 
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My dad had two Marinas as company cars - the first used to fill the boot with water whenever it rained. The second didnāt because Morris had made a high-tech modification to the boot interior to fix the problem. Yep, thatās right - two holes!
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crashed mine into a bollard and wrecked the wing. It developed and interesting hole in the floor - scrapped after MOT failure.
replaced by a red chevette
had a recon engine fitted was quite a good runner for a while. Some arses walked over the top denting the roof. Exhaust fell off on the M1. Then the gearbox decided self destruct. Got a good two years out of it whilst I was a student in Leeds. Then got motor bikes for two yearsā¦
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I know, this is I want not I had 
A friend of mine had one of those as a first car. I think we had the gearbox out about 5 times for one reason or another. Once the gearbox was finally sorted, the propshaft spider broke and - you guessed it! the flailing propshaft took off the back end of the gearbox casting.
Still, we had a collection of gearboxes to provide a replacement parts by then.
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Ahemā¦
shit Iāve messed up the thread by posting my second car story
Cortina MkII 1500 Automatic. Mine had the optional overriders on the bumpers and was in baby/powder blue. Cost me Ā£150 
SWMBO first car from a ReadyMix plant fitter who had loads of industrial tools in the boot.
Having driven across Dartmoor in the dark with the lights illuminating about 10ft. of road in front of it I discovered that he had adjusted the headlights to compensate for all the weight in the back. Remove the weight, front end comes down as does your visibility. Doh!
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Christ! Are you all 90 or something?
I didnāt have my first car til I was 28 or 29, but as first cars go it wasnāt too bad. Iād have another one in a heartbeat (if the weekly need for a spare part didnāt require remortgaging the house)
Fiat Coupe 16v Turbo
Stock photo, but mine was identical IIRC
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First car was an austin 1100 which had a frozen engine if i recall bought off a junior Dr , took a load of friends down to brighton and one got a very wet bottom as the wheel arch was rusted away ā¦ never forgotten that old rustbucket
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Beetle 1500 1967 E reg (E only lasted 6 months due to the switch from jan-dec registration) The 1500 had the flush mounted headlights and was the prettiest Beetle. Wish I still had it.
same as this but dark blue and no Cookie Cutter wheels.
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First motor: 1962 Lambretta Li150 similar to this, but with windscreen and wing mirrors. A bit moddy. Generous 16th birthday gift from my parents, cost Ā£55 in 1967.
First car: 1960 Minor 1000 4 door, like that below, bought in 1970. Met its end inā73 when a Rover 3.5 came round a blind bend on my side of the road. No injuries but car a write-off.
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Seen a couple of those old minors recently , lovely , i like the pop up indicators .
Trafficators - based on semaphore signals
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Mine did have flashing indicators - canāt remember whether they were original or fitted by a previous owner. I certainly had to learn hand signals for the driving test, and needed to use them on a later car when the indicators failed.
Both the scooter and the Minor were great for learning maintenance. Plenty of room in the Minor engine compartment, only the bypass hose (changed a few of those) and brake master cylinder (luckily never needed to do anything with that) being awkward.
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This was the first car I owned, after moving to the UK.
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My first was a Vauxhall Chevette, just like this
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Cortina Ghia MK4 1.6. Proper wood trim. Nice.
Weldy man set it on fire. Bought a Capri, which sort of fell over.
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I had an early 70s Vauxhall Viva. You could floor the thing and nothing would happen which is why I used it to take my test in rather than the Nissan Cherry I was taking lessons in which was the complete opposite making even the slightest movement on the accelerator really noticeable. Seems to have been the correct choice as I passed first time which was handy as I was driving 4 of us down to Reading Festival the same day.
I sold it to someone who had literally lost the will to live as sometime after it was reported that he had driven off a bridge in it and killed himself. It was a shit car but that seems excessive.
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