Dad cars: what's the best car your dad's ever had?

Vauxhall Calibra

Steve Fowler – Editor-in-chief

I never really forgave my Dad for turning down the opportunity to buy a Cortina 1600E with a sunroof (a cracked rear light did it for him). So over the years we made do with a Fiat 850, Fiat 124, a tank-like Vauxhall Victor that pretty much wrote off a Triumph Herald in a low-speed parking incident, a Datsun 160J, a Mazda 323, Datsun Sunny, then a couple of company-provided Vauxhall Carltons – I could go on. He even had a Jag XJ for a while – a dream come true!

But for reasons that I can only put down to a mid-life crisis, a white Vauxhall Calibra turned up on our driveway one evening. Due to my mother’s disability, we had to have an auto and the only model that came with an auto at that time was the entry-level 8-valve model. So it didn’t exactly go as well as it looked – but boy, was it a looker.

Still is in my eyes. Those narrow headlights are very much of today, while the sleek coupé body style was ahead of its time, too. Shame the interior came from the Vauxhall Cavalier, but I’ll never forget our Calibra and neither will my Mum - she still says it’s the best car they ever had. 

Vauxhall Victor

Chris Haining – Content editor

If your motoring career is defined by the first car you travel in, mine was doomed from the start. My post-birth transport was a 1975 Vauxhall Victor, which I vividly remember from my toddlerhood. Many weekend hours were spent watching Dad brazing pieces of old tobacco tin into the front wings – it never truly recovered from sitting axle-deep in a particularly high tide during a day in our Mirror dinghy. Also memorable was the Victor's vinyl upholstery, which would scorch my infantile flesh on a sunny day.

The Victor was later replaced by a hand-me-down Cortina. From there Dad's fleet history took a slightly upwards trajectory, eventually reaching the giddy heights of a Mondeo Ghia X 24v. I'm pleased to say that I heavily influenced his most recent purchase – a 2003 BMW 540i that he bought from me 12 years ago when I sold cars for a living. I'm sorely tempted to persuade him out of it when I can afford to run it myself.

Click onto page seven for more of the best cars our dads have owned...