John's Peregrinatiuons

Cars

In 1967, John purchased a 1959 convertible Reliant Regal. This used an Austin 7 design, 750cc side-valve motor. John travelled all over England and Wales in this vehicle.

Later in 1967, John built a much more trendy beach buggy from a bog-standard 1200cc VW Beetle. Didn't need any performance tuning for it was so light. However, the engine went into valve bounce at 70mph!!!

1968, and time to buy a Ford Cortina MkI 2 door, 1200cc, chrome widies, racing shift (you know the type of thing!).

This lasted a very long time (for John!) until he moved to Sydney, Australia in 1971 and purchased a Holden HR Station Wagon. With it's 2 speed auto' it didn't "go" and without a heater was very cold through that winter.

Then, later in 1971 came John's first new car - a Valiant VG wagon (245 Hemi).

This is 1972; Carol with our second car (a 750cc Mini) purchased for $250 from a Wrecker!

Somehow John traded in a perfectly acceptable 4 litre Valiant on a Toyota Corolla fitted with 2 speed Toyoglide transmission later in 1972.

An Isuzu Bellet was purchased in 1973 as a "get to work" car - boy were those swing axles interesting when taking corners quickly!

Somewhere in here fitted a metallic gold coloured VH Valiant Regal .....

..... closely followed by a Cortina TD 2 litre Station Wagon which got written off far too quickly in a (not John's fault!) accident.

In 1976 John purchased a Mazda Capella RX2 - he just loved that rotary, but not much fun with the kids strapped in the back and having to wait for the motor to warm up before driving off - "she who must be obeyed" didn't like this one .....

...... so along came an ex-government, white, Valiant VJ Station Wagon in 1978. Just in time for Lisa to come home from hospital!

And, at around this time a Morris 1100 became the cheap, get to work, car.

In 1981 it was time for something completely different.....
A "Daihatsu Wide 55" (as in inches!) fitted with seating for 6 (including two Recarro seats - from the Valiant) and a 550cc engine! Very strange, but it seemed to cope with the load of two adults and three kids (around town!) no trouble at all.

When John was back on his feet after his 1982 motorbike accident (albeit pinned together in several places) an Austin Kimberly became his work vehicle. Didn't last long (surprise), but it was cheap!

John is obviously a slow learner re pommy rubbish and then bought a "nice" pink Marina 6 cylinder coupe. Very fast away from the lights, but ...

When Toyota released the Tarago in late 1982 John set his sights on one, and purchased one towards the end of 1983.

This was an ideal vehicle for a family needing to transport the sports team around!

Work cars around this time were a Suzuki Mighty Boy (1986) ..... and another Mini in 1988.

A move to Perth in 1989 and a new Holden Astra lease vehicle entered the garage.

The Astra was replaced with a new Suzuki Swift in 1991.

1992 brought along a (1987) Mitsubishi Colt for Carol.

In 1993 another Suzuki Mighty Boy was purchased to get to work. This went extremely well until the rubber-band snapped on the Freeway, dropping the valves into the top of the pistons!

These small cars were just fine around the south-west of WA, but John fancied something bigger for the large road distances in WA. A leased Ford Futura came on the scene in 1994.

In 1997 John purchased a Barina Joy for Carol.

Also in 1997, John believed the yarn that it would be great to do up an earlier classic. However, he rapidly discovered he could not afford to keep a Triumph 2500 S Mk2 in the style to which it would like to become accustomed!

1998 and John (and his thinner wallet) gave up on the Triumph and he purchased an old Mitsubishi Magna SE

Along came 1999 and John was able to get into another work lease vehicle - a new, just released, Ford Laser.

In March 2002 it was time for "John's new toy" ....... a beautiful Peugeot 206 GTi was the new work/lease vehicle. It stuck to the road like you know what, and went ridiculously quickly.

2004 and a Peugeot 307 was purchased as the new family car. Did everything required (and Carol loved it) but not as exciting.

2006 and a new Ford Escape was purchased - another part of retirement (to Broome!) planning. John took this vehicle on a full day off road course when it was just 3 days old. Whilst this was a great course (and no damage done!) John's wife was not very impressed that he might have scratched it :-) 

In 2011 the accountant said we should trade-in the Escape whilst it retained good value - but it only had 32,000k on the clock!
This model still fitted the bill, so along came ..... a new Escape!

In late 2015 ongoing medical treatment in Perth meant that Carol and John were spending an awful lot of time in Perth, staying with family. Whilst this was fine, most people prefer their own space. Consequently, a caravan (a 2007 Baily Senator Louisiana Serie 5) was purchased to use as "home". Of course, this also needed a more powerful car to tow it so the Escape was traded in on a 2011 Ford Territory AWD Turbo Diesel.

Come 2019, the caravan had been long gone and no longer needed a vehicle the size of the lovely Ford Territory. Time for a "toy" John thought, and set is heart on a convertible. Along came a rather spiffing, low mileage, 2007 Ford Focus Convertibe Coupe (CC).

Sadly, in 2020 came the dreadful Covid-19 pandemic, with zero international travel, and only limited domestic. Trying to make the best of this situation, the Focuss CC was sold to make way for ........ a MOTORHOME! This was a low mileage 2006 Fiat Ducato Jayco Conquest Euro Edition - what a mouthful, and "Jay" for short.