Cars!

The Nova GTE didn't exactly have much in the way of handling though - I never tried one at any lick at all, but reckon it wouldn't take much persuasion to bite.

I had a friend who bought a Pug 205 GTI 1.9, and he was scared of it. Lovely wee car, brilliant white with red trims - - anyway, he (stupidly) offered me a shot at it. His bottle crashed as we were rounding a long sweeping left hand bend at silly speed plus a bit more; he was in the passenger seat wailing like a wee girl telling me to slow down, which was simply met with "If I lift my right foot now, we are going to die, so hold on tight........" It had grip in spades, and as long as you had the balls to keep the boot in when it counted, it would bring you out the other side.

Sadly, the same couldn't be said for my Volvo 360GLT - tail happy even at low speeds, but once the turbo came on song, it was a proper handful. The worrying thing is that I wrote mine off at no more than 12-mph, with no other car involved. Didn't even think that was possible with a Volvo, but you live and learn.

 

Just for the record (without pics) my car history:

1972 Citroen 2CV Ami-8
1980 VW Golf Mk1
1984 Volvo 340DL
1983 Volvo 360GLT
1984 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6 Saloon (in turd brown )
1986 Rover 216S; simultaneously a 1984 Mazda 323
1994 Kia Pride (what the hell was I thinking!) - - - company car at the same time 1992 VW Passat
1992 Ford Sierra Sapphire GLX (loved that car!) - - - company car still the Passat, then changed to a 1993 Nissan Primera 2.0GSX and a 1992 VW Transporter
1994 Citroen Xantia 1.9TD - - - Primera and Transporter gone, new job and a nice new shiney Mercedes Sprinter 2.2 LWB
1992 Ford Scorpio - - - company cars gone, new job, company transport now a double-decker
1998 Peugeot 406LX
2000 VW Passat 1.8CL (normally aspirated, drunk like a fish!)
2001 Jaguar X-Type 2.5V6
1996 Jaguar XJ 3.2 straight-six
1998 Mercedes C-Class C180
2007 VW Passat 2.0TDI (BKP engine with liability stamped from one end to the other
2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDI

The above list is not exhaustive, and does not include those passed through my hands for selling on or to test/run/break for other people, and does not include interim company vehicles.

Best bit is - currently 22 years no claims, never had a parking ticket, never had a speeding ticket (admittedly, I have deserved a few!)

 

Volvo 144! Memory lane!!! I travelled in an orange estate one of those as a kid; my mum was housekeeper/nanny for a local GP and the Volvo was their car that we were all taken out in. It was an auto (Borg-Warner?? or was it a CVT?) - - lovely car though.

Funny thing was, I was terrible for car sickness as a kid - - especially in my mum's Chevette, yet in the Volvo I was right as rain.

 

Please be clear! Was it orange or mint (we get a choice of which chocolate we have in our Indian restaurant).

 

Have done now thanks @Sheal