Congratulations to Tony C for winning the Shannon’s Club First Car Competition.
The winning entries in Shannons First Car competition revealed some fascinating insights and very detailed recollections of the owner’s first car and or bike, together with the vehicle’s history the stories behind its acquisition and in some cases life after.
Shannons Insurance
The category winners are:
‘American’ – a 1956 Packard Patrician by mrnoodles
‘Asian’ a 1985 Nissan Pulser ET Turbo by tonycoz
‘Australian’ a 1975 Ford Cortina by jfloyd
‘Bike’ a 1972 Honda CB 450 by GarrySyl
‘European’ a 1956 Morris by attic
Here’s what Tony wrote about his ET:
The first car I purchased was a Nissan Pulsar Et Turbo. One of the original pocket Rockets for 1985. I remember driving a standard Pulsar and then going for a drive in the ET. There was no comparison in terms of power and excitement factor. I remember clearly the salesman trying to talk me into buying the Burgundy with Gold base he had on the sales lot but it had to be the Red for me. So I waited and waited and finally after a couple of months I took delivery for the grand price of $12,500 drive-away. Well by today's standards the car was fairly basic in terms of technology but for 1985 it was a bit of a head turner. The design of the open rims certainly set it apart and showed off the 4 wheel disc brakes. And the touches on the outside like the rear spoiler, front spoiler, and external decals set it sufficiently apart from the standard Pulsar to give it a bit of a wow factor. Given it only weighed around 850kg its power to weight ration wasn't bad. Something I exploited at times but on the whole I drove it rather sedately. I spent many a long weekend polishing and cleaning the car particularly the rims which I would get at with a toothbrush to get rid of all the road and brake pad grime. During my ownership is was a very reliable car also. The turbo did need replacement but being oil cooled this was to be expected. Well I loved driving this car. I had it for 17 years and some 300,000 klm traveled in it. It was in stock condition. I ended up selling it for $4,500 in 2003. Not a bad resale value for a car given its age and kilometers traveled. At the time I needed a bigger car to fit the increasing family in but I should have held onto it. I regret selling it now. Would have been a nice weekend cruiser on club plates. The photos I have posted were taken when I sold it so as you can see even after 17 years it was in mint condition. These cars are getting rarer and rarer now and at times I have a bit of a romantic notion to own one again but searching through the sales sites brings no results and the odd one that does come up has been highly modified.
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