A Celica to a Scenic - blimey that is a comedown!
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It was a company car - thus literally the only vehicle I could source that day by phoning the pool manager and saying āyou know that company car Iām entitled to but donāt haveā¦ā
I went from the Datsun 260z to a Fiat Panda 
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My list:
Escort Mk2 (1978) - written off
.
Mini Clubman Estate (1976) - whilst a student, moved house with this! sold
.
Vauxhall Nova (1983)- very rusty, sold
.
Ford Escort Mexico 1996 (not a real Mexico!) - company car, given back
.
Rover 414 (1996) - unreliable, sold
.
Toyota Avensis (1999) - boring, sold
.
Honda CRV (2005) - functional, traded in for
.
Volkswagen Passat Estate (2006) boring sold
.
Mazda MX5 (2006) - LOVED IT but bad in cold weather, traded in for (bad move)
.
Audi TT Quattro Convertible (2010) - OK but roof leaked
.
VW Scirocco (2013) - fast - sold to buy holiday home in France.
.
Gap in car ownership (my wife had 2)
.
BMW X3 (2014) - servicing too expensive, sold to move to France with
.
Honda CRV (2006) - huge boot & carrying capacity, this has been so useful with trips to the tip!
Actually I liked the Celicas quite a lot as well. I didnāt intend to keep the current one 14 years but it has been rock solid. I wonder whether the BMW will fare as well (and am still in two minds about keeping it beyond its 3rd or 4th birthday.
This is what happened to the 1st:
Itās the red one that you can just see the back of.
The water does not look deep, but it turned out to be nearly 2ā on the left because the road was washed away - had I kept to the right Iād have made it. The other two vehicles in the shot died the same way that day.
I went from an Audi Quattro (the flame spitting coupe) to a vauxhall astra 
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I think the original (and best looking) was actually the Datsun 240Z (Nissan 240Z in the US). In the summer of 1993 I co-drove one from Boston to Montreal and back. The dashboard was interesting, my friend had fitted Japanese control buttons which were inscribed with the Japanese characters; there was also a Japanese licence plate on the front (MASS plate on the rear).
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Youāre right Mark. I must of had a āsenior momentā 
I first came across the WaBenzi in S Africa in the late 1990s, it was applied to members of the ANC government whoād all been bribed with M-Bs in a ludicrous arms deal whereby South Africa bought amongst other things its first submarine. But canāt be too critical as at the time I was driving a Merc 450SLC (the one with the cute Venetian blinds in the rear quarter lights). A great car for long continental drives on good roads, but it nearly consumed as much oil as it did gas.
Winnie Mandela got a big Me rc in this deal and was stopped for driving without a licence, She argued that during the struggle against Apartheid (which had ended several years before) it had been ātoo dangeousā for her to acquire a driving licence so sheād never had one!
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Unfortunately it happens to the best of us - welcome to the Third Age!
Built (assembled) in the East London factory?
Thatās the one. Not āThird Ageā at all!
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I was only in EL once but in a spare moment I had a look at the old GP circuit. There was no racing that day so it was just a look, but I would like to attend an event there. I went out to Kyalami to watch racing a few times. A fine circuit and only twenty minutes from where I lived.
Today Iāve been writing the conclusion to a book chapter on the visual aesthetic s of Italian hand-built sports cars (as one doesā¦) and so far two points emerge in the conclusion which deals with e-cars and the future. Iād certainly be very interested in anyoneās thoughts on the following;-
i) The styling of luxury sportscars has always been determined to a large extent by the need to accommodate a large engine, whether it be mounted longitudinally front or rear (in modern times, E-Type or Countach) or transversely (Miura).
ii) Once the above need disappears, the carrozerie have far more options, but I think (though would wecome facrual counter arguments) that there will be a continuing preference for large wheels (still necessary) and a low body profile which is traditionally achieved though an undulant or serpentine āwaistlineā (even the Countach has that!). Basically, the low waistline needs to curve via the wheel arches over the large wheels
The point Iām trying to argue for is that the luxury high performance e-car, although radically diffeent from its predecessors, will possibly look very similar, to predecessors in all respects other than the ratio of its proportions.
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I think in SA most racing takes place on public highways (mainly between rival. over-loaded mini-bus taxis).
Sorry, weāre now a long way from discussing Aston Martins and their ilk!
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First cars have been mentioned. Mine was a Mk.1 Standard Vanguard, the beetle backed one, bought for a fiver in about '62 and it had a large rust hole in the top of the wing. A policeman said it was dangerous but didnāt book me, but he did give me a āproducerā and I, mistaking 5 days for a week, took it into the station on the 6th. That did incur a fine which doubled the cost of the car. 
It finished its life as a saloon stock car after, in my first race, I rolled it and it burst into flame.
My second was the same, minus the hole, but also a fiver, and also a budding stock car. I was paid appearance money to drag it up to a new track at Doncaster (normally only raced at Long Eaton, my home track) but it didnāt return. I was crammed into wire hausers tensioned between railway lines set vertically into concrete. These acted like cheese cutters with the engine playing the part of the cheese. 
I decided to move upmarket and signed an HP deal for a Ā£50 Vauxhall Victor but my Dad refused to sign as guarantor. Instead he found me one of those little round bodied A 40s. Very uncool. 
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Wow, those 'beetle bodiedācars (great description) were a sort of scaled down version of many US cars from the immediate post-War era (perhaps the most desirable being the '49 Mercury aka āthe Lead Sledā because it could be chopped -vlowered roofline and suspension. Wouldnāt get far on our Aveyron roads).
I can only remember the Standard Vanguard in beige or black, but I also remember the paintwork always seemed matt - but surely not straight from the factory?
Older, more knowledgeable posters please adviseā¦
Both of mine were a sort of light blue colour, and you are right, they were styled after American cars of the forties I think.
That Mercury you picture would not have gone down well with the Classic American Auto Club that I tried to join after I bought the Packard. I took her down to a big rally at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. The President came to admire my car as she was absolutely immaculate inside and out. In fact I had taken her to the local park where a cricket match was in progress and the photo I took was not directly of the car or the players, but of the door of the car with the players reflected perfectly in it. 
Anyway, the president looked all round and inside the car and eventually I opened the bonnet for him. His face was a picture, his jaw dropped almost to ground level as he beheld the Perkins P6 diesel neatly slotted inside. āOh, of course, you will be looking to source a straight 8 for her wonāt you?ā he said. āNot at allā I replied, āI use this to get me to work and back and there is no way I could afford to run it with a great hungry lump of a petrol engine inside.ā 
I wasnāt handed an application form. 
bloody hell station road,long eaton archers , now a housing estate, pavillion hotel and the half crown pulled down.
I had a top of the range Moscovich estate in the late 70ās. No pics unfortunately. Horrendous thought of all the money I have wasted on cars.
Only regret is selling my BMW 1602 ākā reg