Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) The one car that influenced me more than another

As a bit of a Mini Marcos (and Mini Jem) geek, the MMs have always been Glass Fibre Monocogues.

The "big" Marcoses had wooden chassis from its initial introduction with the Volvo engine in 1964 Until 1969 when it was replaced with a steel one,

Thank you for that as I remembered when I was a lad going to a meeting at Snetterton and the commentator saying post shunt it will take while to clear the wood away. All news to me and before Clarkson was even born let alone dropping clangers..

Ginetta G4, My second car and the one that made the best impression, My proposal to the wife included a condition that could keep it, that was ok until she burnt her leg on the side exhaust. Used to carry a spare half shaft in the boot. was told a few years ago it still exists in Japan.

Influence is a broad concept. Maybe a car I drove. Maybe one I saw. Maybe one I read about in Motor/Autocar or Autosport.

I consumed Motor Mag every week and really did hang on every word. Now I look at motoring hacks without the rose tinted glasses.

I really couldn't put my finger on one car. The XJ6 4.2 from 1978 was remarkable. I would never have bought one but it was an astonishing drive.
A brand new TVR 3000M as passenger was hugely impressive. That I could have bought but way outside my budget at the time.

As a youing child, riding in a Lagonda Rapide and having crowds surround us when we stopped in Sheffield city centre was quite something.

The young man at the local pub with a new yellow TR6 with hardtop looked amazing.

Back in the seventies there was too much choice, and most of it too expensive. My main influences were what ticked my boxes and was affordable.

I once chauffeured a Jag XJ6 best car I ever drove, I went to work one day and found the boss had PX'd it for a RR Silver Shadow never forgave him for that.

In my childhood, I had two impressive experiences with cars. They were guests in the only small country inn of our small village, business people who had work in the area. One of the cars was a TR6. I had never seen a car like that before and I was not aware of her, I was so impressed by the seemingly large wheels on the dainty but very powerful looking car, normal cars had much smaller wheels than today, except for the Beetle and big Mecedes perhaps. I was supposed to buy bread there because it was also the village bakery, and I sneaked around the car for a very long time and came back much too late with the shopping. The second car parked in front of the same inn was an AMG. It must have been one of the very first AMGs. The company was still largely unknown and had nothing to do with Mercedes. It was a 1971 saloon, a W114 six-cylinder first series, lowered, wide tires, different sports seats, different exhaust system etc in light blue metalic. It was an absolute eye-catcher, at a time when Mercedes saloons were very bourgeois and dignified, this AMG came from another planet..... for me as a “little connoisseur” of some car magazines.
Two other cars that warmed my heart in my childhood were the SL Pagoda and the Mini Cooper. I had read that the Cooper had won the Montecarlo Rally. That was the greatest thing.

I remember walking to school when a bright yellow TR6 flashed past, and pulled up at the school to pick up one of the 6th form girls. I can always recall that car, but never the girl.

That same year I went on a school trip to Switzerland. A group of us school boys were walking through Interlaken when we heard the sound of a racing car approaching. It too was bright yellow, low and sporty. When it had stopped we took a look at it. Above the rear wheels were a number of badges; F1 Constructors Champion 1963; F1 Constructors Champion 1965; F1 Constructors Champion 1968. It was of course a Lotus Europa.

I have been thinking about this one I don't think there has really been ONE that made a massive difference as I gained experience. I have memories of learning in a VW 1303S Beetle but mostly thinking "When will this thing actually respond to the helm?".

A Dolomite Sprint was the first car that was really mine and I remember thinking, it can't possibly go wrong again, a lot. But not really memorable.

I did get to use the bosses BMW 320/6 E21 first generation and learning what snap oversteer was, funny considering I was driving a Dorofright Sprint at the time. That made more of an impression due to the quality, matching weights of all the controls and comfort. And snap oversteer.

Golf 2 16v, nice but
Golf 4 VR6, the first gen. I remember driving half way up the M40 then realising there was a 6th gear as the engine was so smooth but still a bit blah.

Phaeton V10TDi, wow so this is what luxury feels like, it was amazing but as James May would say, it did not make my fuzzy bits fizz.

Pork 968CS (twice) This was a subtle one but it really did get you engaged. Once you had got over the seat bolster and into it. Close to lighting the candle. Yet it still had that Porsche a-bit-too-subtle thing.

Probably the most mind blowing one was the Skyline GTR33v. That really was intense and made me pay attention on every drive. You had to pay attention any time you came into contact with the accelerator. That left a big dent.

The good lady TOLD me to slow down (not often she was wrong) and I was no longer doing the mileage so the Aero S2 came along for us to have fun in and I remember the test drive vividly. I was laughing at how quick it was but how much fun it was even at lower speeds. I still have it now. I was meant to sell it when we bought the Aero Coupe but Maria seemingly never pushed me to get on with it.

The Coupe - thats the clear winner. As well as being a blast to drive it is also the way people treat you. You can have any spot you like sir, park anywhere. Miles and miles of smiles. Transformational. People like the Series 2 but people just love the Coupe.

The daily then became a CL600 Coupe with the big turbo V12. That did make an impression. A massively under-rated vehicle in the UK I think. I went AMG after that and they are pretty memorable for dailies as long as you don't have an issue with the gross consumption of petrol. Oh, and tyres.

I would add, which were the worst? A good few of them.
The Unipart Express (Horomite Sprint) as it became known. Introduced me to buying Unipart offcuts as if it were an Olympic sport.
RS6 C7. The good lady bought me a number plate to go with it BIT EVIL (B17EVL) as she said it matched the car. Massive warranty problems and 15mpg even when I was not trying. Sold it in a year and wondered why people went mad for Audi RS cars.

There's a 5sp MTW out there somewhere with EVII MOG (the second I has been tweaked to look like a stumpy L)

Many moments to cite with wonderful cars and memories.

Two of them were kind of life changing.

At the age of about 12 a friend of my father took me in his +8 - wow - that was a thing and brought to Morgan - story told before...

A couple of years later I have seen the Peraves Ecomobile on a car show. No price tag; only abpout 10 built in one year; not really a car nor a motorbike.
2010 after spendig money mainly in family things it was the time for the eco. On a road trip we visited Peraves in Winterthur and had a wonderful time with Arnold Wagner who told us more about the ECO history than we already knew from books and press. Still it was too far away up to the moment I found a used one or like the Morgan - it found me....

Now - what was the life changing thing?

It is not a car nor a motor bike - so I had to learn it from scratch. (there is a nice old vid with Jeremy Clarkson )
For me as a neuro scientist it was amazing to feel programs slowly going to cerebellum. It is like learning to walk... The first 1000km in open traffic are pure stress. 1000 to 5000 are better but still not good. 5000 to 10.000 are very dangerous because I felt secure but was not. So unknown panic situations occur. After about 10k km it starts to be good. That´s just how they said ;-).