Where Did It All Begin?

[Larry]

Okay what im wondering is, seeing as how this is a renault enthusiast site what started you all on the path to renault perfection? My story was the fact that I was going out with a fairly hot bird but driving a 92 K10 Nissan Micra (she wasnt impressed but she was driving a 95 polo so what would she know), working for a toyota garage at the time some goon traded in a 19 Chammy 1.4 so i bought it from the garage for 200 euro, perfect condition, never looked back, however it didnt impress the bird at all, i think she was jealous... I still have that car outside

 

[The T.I.B.]

1998, learnt to drive in a r21 savanna, beast but no power steering!

 

[Larry]

no way, first car i ever drove was an 1988 r21 NEVADA td, with power steering, left hand drive, had the yellow lights and all, my da bought it in france

 

[Huw]

2003 - Learnt to drive in a 1995 Renault 19 td.

 

[Wicked Neo]

Bought the missus a 1.4 RT Clio, it was at the time time 2 years old L Plater (shows how long ago this was) I had a Series 2 RST.
We had a garage and of course the RST was always parked up at a night in the garage
Anyway because of this fact, if i ever had to pop out, milk run, fag run, take away run, whatever, i took her clio more than i took the RST.
It was a good little car, quite nippy for what it was and when i got bored of the RST, i took a ph1 19 16V out for a test drive, loved it, bought it and sold the RST, i've only had R19 16Vs since (apart from a company volvo, merc sprinter, astravan and a renault laguna 1.6 16V RT for 2 years but hardly drove it)

 

[Larry]

hey neo whats an L reg mean over there and for once and for all can someone explain to me how the UK plate system works

 

[Wicked Neo]

Well my current 19 16v is a K Plate which = 1st Aug 1992 to 31st July 1993 which means the L plate Clio was registered between 1st Aug 1993 and July 31st 1994 (this is the 2nd incarnation of the registration system)

we are now on the 3rd incarnation of the registration system and i have a 56 plate Astra van which means it was registered between 1st september 2006 and feb 28th 2007, from 1st March 2007 they go to an 07 plate and then on the 1st september 2007 it changed to a 57 plate so instead of a yearly plate change ( A B C D E F etc) its now a 6 monthly plate change (51 02 52 03 53 04 54 05 55 06 56 etc the 0 prefix indicates the car was registered in the first part of the year and the 5 prefix indicates the car was registered during the 2nd part of that year, the plate year begining in March and ending end of Febuary)

 

[The T.I.B.]

L = 1994, it's one letter per year although all that changed in 2001.

my car is J124 DGP which means it was first registered in 1991.

(Although the years didn't go Jan - Jan but Aug-Aug)
See: British car number plates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Larry]

holy crap thats a lot to take in, i may re register my L plate over here and just get a 94 one

 

[Pete]

All started many years ago, my old nieghbour had a chap come round every week and do garden work for him. He just happened to have a PH1 16v Hatch and I fell in love with the looks. Now fast forward many years, im on my first car (shitty 1.1 fiesta popular, it was utter bollocks) and im fancying a change of car with no idea what to buy. Few days into my decisions and this chap and his 19 which has now seen better days rolls up as usual and I cant help but want a 19. So off onto ebay I go and theres nothing local, but after afew days one pops up @ RAF Colitshall. Off I go to have a look and after a test drive and an MOT later its mine, felt like a rocket ship compared to the fessie and actually having a 5th gear was fantastic! The rest is history, coming upto 3 years of ownership this x-mas and ive no intention to part company with her yet.

 

[Larry]

best story so far pete, i wonder what that gardener is driving these days

 

[bbracer16valver]

hahahaha i have been around renaults before i knew what a car was

my dad bought a r18 new at 21 and had me at 24 and still had it for a while as i remember it well then he got a few 25's a 5gtx um a 21 then a 19 16v its all his fault!

 

[Doc]

I had hust joined the army and was based in the salisbury area. I needed a cheap car to move me and my kit arround the country and the only one in the car lot that looked nice and was in my budget was a white 1.4 tse 19.

To date it is still the best and most reliable 19 I've ever owned. Shame it was so damn slow! lol

 

[gamefreaks]

My dad had an 11, and then a Ph2 19 RTi.

He bought the 19 at 60k and had it for about 4 years, reckoned it was the best car he's ever had. Then he needed something bigger, but thought the car was too nice to scrap. About the same time, I started taking driving lessons and passed my test 2 months later. I didn’t bother telling anyone I was taking lessons, just came home one day and told them I passed.

Anyways, my dad said that if I could get the 19 through an MOT, then I could have it. So I did.

Since then, I’ve racked up 30k miles in it in a year, it's been reliable, cheap to run, and very comfy for long journeys.

Needs a head rebuild on it now though. So have taken it off the road for a month or so while I do the work on it, in the meantime, I have bought a J plate Ph1 valver, which I am really enjoying driving.

 

[bbracer16valver]

P I C S

 

[MicKPM]

For me it was the first time I actually drove a Renault 19 16v (Leannes actually)... I couldn't believe a car was that fast and handled so well out from factory. I'd always wanted one ever since I became "Aware" of them but I could never afford to buy, run or insure one and as the old man worked for Rover I was kinda herded towards that brand (and so I was stuck with my 1.0 A-Series Metro). I got on with life and forgot about them...

...I slowly progressed up the Rover ranks and kept everything standard till I got my hands on a 420GSi that soon got me in to tinkering so I hacked it from the 134bhp 2.0 NA T16 to a fairly modified 1.8VVC K16 pushing out around 160-170bhp. That got stolen and used in an armed robbery in Stafford and was never to be seen again until months down the line when it turned up stripped in a garage in Birmingham. A bit dissillusioned with modifying cars I decided standard was the best way and went thru a Couple of shitty Astra G's and eventually on to the Laguna II. By this time i'd met Leanne and she had a 19 16v so I managed to convince her to let me get my grubby mits on playing with it... we only retired it recently when the Tourer came along.

To this day I still miss the older Rovers and would love to return to them only with building a Rover Metro GTi but the Silver Diamond is my preference over everything else these days.

 

[Pete]

best story so far pete, i wonder what that gardener is driving these days

He still has it, going strong on (last time I saw it) 180,000 miles. Looks abit tatty, been reversed into by a lorry so the drivers rear quater has a gouge in it and the spoiler is broken. He joked that the tyres were worth more than the rest of the car.

 

[mals]

Well, way way back in 1992 i left school and was going out with this slutty little thing, I was asked to go to Chessington with her and her parents and they so that picked me up in a R19 Cabby, blue, leathers, I was in love (with the car), so that's when the passion began. My first 9 or ten cars were stop gaps and I only happened upon the cabby by chance, I bought ist blind for a very reasonable price with a blown head gasket. I went to pick it up and was extremely happy with the purchase, .........................

It ewas'nt a head gasket but the metal water pipe that runs slong the head had split. so an easy fixer upper and drove it many a happy mile.........




Will be getting another eventually hopefully

 

[Larry]

that storys got it all, a slut, a convertible, what else do you need

 

[...Gav]

was working for a brick company and my mate Karl had a 1.2 mk2, and he pulled up at my house in it and i loved it [dont know why]

So the moment i had the money i went out and brought a clio 1.4 standard

I loved it but due to no lisence, i had to get rid

So then i did get my lisence and got my 1st baby cakes!!



Then i started getting into the 16v's and loved them...and saw them as a dream car [lmao]


so with only 3 months driving experience, i brought my 1st one



Then after 4 months of owning that, it failed on pretty much everything...so it was rebuild time

[shit, no pics for that]

Then i started the club

Then i needed something a tad quicker and more reliable so it was time for 172:



I still have the valver, but now looking to get rid of the 172 and get a mk3 cup - woooot