My Best Free Car

[Six-cylinder]

I love getting “new cars†and over my 38 years driving I have been lucky enough to have been given 6 for free.

 

• 1972 Peugeot 504 Cabriolet – sold on as a non runner for a good profit.
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• 1985 Audi Coupe GT 2.0i Auto – It needed recommissioning which I did and sold it for about what it owed me.
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• 1995 Citroen ZX 1.9D – Used it for a year then gave it away to my neighbour.
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• 1976 Triumph 2500TC manual o/d  saloon – I still have it in good running order but have now spent far more than it is worth
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• 1974 Peugeot 504 Cabriolet – still under going restoration but should see the road in 2014 but I will have spent everything it is worth.
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• 1986 Citroen Visa 17RD – My best ever FREE car, given to me with a weeks MOT and Tax before it was scrapped by its second owner who contacted the Citroen Car Club to give it away. It was just the model I wanted although badly dented it ran well. I have maintained it and just had a clutch fitted. Along with a bit of body work with a rattle can. I have now had it 5 years and driven it 20,000 miles and feel a bit attached to it, so I am thinking about having some professional bodywork done to it.
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So my best Free car is my Citroen Visa and the picture is the previous owner who was a stranger, giving it to me.

 

Have you ever been given a FREE car you got to drive on the road?

 

[Partridge]

I was once given a free toy Mini if that counts?

[eddyramrod]

Free cars?

1978: a 1960 Austin A40 Farina which was stored in a closed-down garage that was about to be demolished.  It had to be towed home, where I gave it some very basic recommissioning and managed to force it through an MoT.  I drove it for some weeks, until I killed it.  You don't have much mechanical sympathy at that age... at least I didn't!

2010: 1971 Vauxhall Viva in Cyprus.  I had it recovered to my friend's garage, whereupon I sold it to a young Brit wanting a project car.  As far as I know he still has it, and it's still a project.

2011: 1991 Mazda 323F in Cyprus.  I drove this to Andreas's garage for him to do some pre-MoT recommissioning work, but it had only been there a few days when the alloy wheels were stolen overnight.  Last time I visited it was still sitting on its belly in exactly the same place.

[wuvvum]

I've had a few freebies.  Best from my point of view was an AX 10E with three months' rent still on it - used it as a runaround until the tax ran out, then flogged it for 50 quid. 

 

Also good was a Nissan Sunny ZX Coupe - solid as a rock, and tidy apart from an odd-coloured front wing, I used it through the OMGSNOKAOS one year and then flogged it in the spring for a small sum of money.

 

Other freebies I've had include a 1.3-litre Maestro with shagged engine mounts, a Bedford HA van which had stood in a shed on an allotment for 10 years and which I never did get running, a Rover 216 VDP EFi auto - metallic gold with full leather - which was in the throes of OMGHGF and died three days later, and a sweet little 954cc Samba LE which was towed away by the council while I was on holiday .

[M'coli]

Free-ish: Vauxhall Cavalier given to me by a Kuwaiti guy in return for a lift to Heathrow airport, from Huntingdon.

Free-ish: the wife's Puglet 106 in return for putting it back onto the road.

Free-ish: the Hillman Avenger, but it took a lot of money to get it roadworthy.

[fordperv]

a free 1997 mk6 escort ghia in 2005 because i fixed a car for a lady we knew, i also bought a xr2i rep from her for £20 the same week (she named the price) it was her sons who didnt have a licence and she wanted it gone lol

[Junkman]

I was given three cars for free in my life. Each one served me faithfully for several years.

 

- 1971 BMW 3.0 Si

- 1978 Audi 100 5E

- 1974 Opel Admiral

[dollywobbler]

My first free car was a 1986 2CV Charleston. It was immaculate, on a galvanised chassis and owned by a proper old boy who religiously documented the mileage and wanted it to go to a good home. I'd put a leaflet on his car advertising our local 2CV group. He invited me over for a chat and I became the new owner. I felt a bit bad for doing stuff like taking it greenlaning in Lincolnshire, but I did look after it.

 

Here I am with it in 1998.

 

Drove all over the place in it, including around mid-Wales. Sadly, it was on a very early aftermarket chassis, and it was rubbish. The panel fit was dreadful, and it skipped all over the road if you hit a cat's eye. That and the dismal colour scheme (2CVs should be bright and cheery!) meant I sold it in 1999 for £1100. One of very few occasions when I made a profit on the car. Sadly, I don't think it ended up in good hands and it was unlicenced a few years later. I still feel a bit guilty about it to be honest, though the old chap wouldn't have been pleased if I'd carried out a colourful paint job on it.

 

A few years ago, I got given a free Dyane. It was rotten, crap and not very 'free' by the time I'd collected it.

[sutty2006]

I was given this in early 2013

 

 

Smoked abit. Suspected seals or rings...... or HG, but used it for a bit, tarted it up and swapped it for this

 

 

Used it for a bit, cleaned it up, but couldnt stomach putting fuel in it anymore so I swapped it for a 1997 TDi Passat, which was epicly mint on fuel..... but surplus to requirements and sold it for £700.

 

 

I Was given a Renault Clio once. Taxed and MOT'd with new alloys and a full tank of gas. The lad that owned it couldnt get it running (id offered to have a look at it but he bought a car on finance and wanted this clio gone). So I towed it away, refusing to take his money for getting rid of it. Later the same day, a new set of spark plugs and leads, a fresh oil change it was a runner. Sold it the same day for £350. Bonus.

[dugong]

I've never been given a free car. No-one round here would give you a free anything, let alone a car. 

I've had some very good 'mates rates' discounts on cars, and friends have worked on my stuff for nothing \ next to nothing \ microwave meals, but never have I had a free car. 

[Largactil]

In 2004 I gave away a Mk2 Golf GTi for nowt with 4 months MOT & tax left on it 

 

 

I had 3 cars at the time, and nowhere to put it.

 

Got sick of the VW mouth breathers trying to chip me down from the £400 I'd advertised it for. It was around December 2003 / Jan 2004, and over a pint with my school teacher mate, he was moaning about having to walk / cycle 3-4 miles each way to work in the shitty weather. I dropped it off the next day, and said keep it.

 

Dunno what happened to it since, but it's not on the DOOOVLA database...

[Doctormop]

I was given a 1979 Fiat 127 (HRN 279V) with a weeks MOT and 3 weeks tax by a friend of my Mum's, said friend had just bought a W reg Chevette 2 door saloon from my best mate for £150 and gave me the Fiat as a 'thank you' (He gave me ten quid as well so I felt proper chuffed with my little self)

 Loved driving the 127, it was a 1050cc but went like an absolute rocket and would happily rev to the red line all day and still be asking for more, I tried to  MOT it with a view to keeping it but it was just too far gone, sold it when the T & T ran out to a bloke I vaguely knew who drove it illegally with a tax disc from his Honda 50 on the windscreen for a few months then it just seemed to vanish.

[londonm]

1985, given a 1968 Vauxhall Victor by my driving instructor to practice in. I really abused it, then scrapped it shortly after. Shame really as It'd be quite a cool car to have now. It was in white with big black vinyl seats.

[DVee8]

^^ DW were you old enough to drive it?

[Stanky]

I was given an F reg Rover 216, or rather the keys to it were wrestled from my late grandfathers hands (he died some time after, it wasn't like we prised them from his cold, dead hands) after a speight of driving the wrong way around roundabout escapades. I drove it for about 2 months until its MOT was due when I was told that it was basically about to snap in half due to rust and scrapped it to pay for the test.

 

Shame really, it went pretty well but was probably due OMGHGF fairly soon afterwards so there.

 

It even SMELLED of giffer.

[Dave_Q]

Few freebies for me.

 

Firstly a Polo, E plate 2 door saloon in red. Given to me by a mate who I asked to help me fix my other polo. Drove it for a few months wondering what that red light was on the dashboard and why it kept cutting out at lights. Was 18/19 with zero mechanical knowledge. Eventually abandoned at a services near Cambridge on the M1 when it finally broke down once and for all.

 

Later, there was a Nova saloon. A matey we worked with mentioned it was going to be scrapped, still had a few months ticket but no tax and a blowing exhaust. Me and my housemate rode from Nottingham to Bedford on his motorbike to pick it up. Used as a daily till the ticket ran out then ebayed for about £130.

 

There was also a Montego diesel estate, technically not free as we gave the chap a piece of chewing gum so that some sort of transaction had taken place. Had a months ticket and written off by my mate before the month was out.

 

I also got an E30 for free from a nice chap on a forum. Black 2-door 320i with no tax, test, or carpets. Drove back from south Wales to Nottingham back when I had a more lax attitude to complying with traffic regulations. Had too many projects on the go so it sat on a mate's drive for a few months until it had to go. 

Sold for £80 to a lad who weighed it in the next day.

 

Oh and also a Piaggio Zip once, but surely nobody cares about that.

[Lord Sterling]

I have been given 2 free cars so far.

 

As is well documented here, I was given a free Rover Sterling this time last year. It had a few months MOT left and I had to buy tax and get it down here but worth every penny if not more. It's been the best, most comfortable car I've ever owned. It was my daily driver until Wednesday last week when I packed it with some stuff and drove it into storage with my other cars in Worcester where it will remain until I can farm in some money to lavish on it.

 

Before that, the first free car given to me was an F-reg Black Ford Sierra Sapphire Ghia. I smoked about in it for a few months until the engine had other ideas at about the same time the MOT, Tax and Insurance were all due. It was overheating badly in traffic and knowing nothing nowt about cars then, not even the most simplest of maintance procedures, I thought the car had it. Not being able to afford to do anything with it or store it, I drove it down to the local scrappy and sold it for £20 but kept the 5 Pepperpot alloys which I still have. I was stupid to scrap the car and regret it, I miss it terribly

 

Around about the time I had my 827Si, I was due to be given a free Mk6 Escort. It was in Ok condition with a few rust blisters around the arches and looking a bit sorry for itself, but the fella was still using it. My plan was to tart it up and sell it on but I never followed up the car and had lost touch the fella who was giving it away.

[Mog]

This is the only free car i've had, an early N reg mk6 in 1800 Si flavour.

 

Swapped a few of the more luxurious bits onto my LX then sold it on for £150.

 

 

[stuboy]

back in 2002 i was given by a student a 2.0 dohc 1990 xr4x4, few bits needed doing which i did, went to insure it and even though i was 27 couldnt get it below 900 quid, sold it on for 450... still gutted to this day

[HMC]

Ive never had a Free car either. I did give a friend a pug 405 estate in about 2005. He proceeded to ring and complain about it every few months when there were faults with it which made me wish id not bothered!

[gary_davidson]

I've been given two cars

First one was given to me by my dad, a Nissan cherry that I was given when I was 17 to learn to drive in, mega rusty - inner rear wheel arches, sills, boot opening, drivers door completely shot and probably some more that I didn't know about. Gearbox shat itself and it failed it's first MOT on emissions, I went to university before passing my test and it was cubed while I was away. I liked the car, easy to drive and such, I think I just got a bad one, I'd have another.

 

second one was a Kia Mentor 2, my mum is a taxi driver so I got this when it failed it's council test at just over 3 years old. At 113k it snapped the timing belt sending some of the engine internals external when I was on the motorway down in Oxfordshire, since I live in Lancashire this was a little bit inconvenient, quick call to green flag and they scooped me up. The engine was beyond repair and it was more than the car was worth for a replacement, so another one cubed. I think there is still (there was a year ago when I was last down there) a mark on the hard shoulder where the engine dumped all of its oil, southbound not far after the 'welcome to oxfordshire' sign. Again, I wouldn't say anything against the Mentor but this one did have a hard but short life.

[burraston2006]

Never been given a free car (a part from my first couple that my parents gave me). Do they count? However I have given a few away: a hand painted monetgo shed ( painted by a previous owner), Nissan sunny and a xantia.

[Louise2cv]

 Got a 2cv which was mega rotten but it did keep another 3 or 4 going. I remember my dad was given a fiesta cube type van by a friend of a friend (who lived up in Scotland) when he heard dad's Cabstar had been nicked. People can be very kind sometimes.

[DVee8]

A Mazda 929 estate by a spanner monkey that worked with FIL as he was returning to Canada.I got 5 black bin bags of crap out of it,including new and used nappies Lots of tools 2 soldering irons and around 40 cd's .Total dog running on2 rear space saver's.Straight to the bridge Should have keep it.You live and learn.

[oldford]

Back in 1987 we had a poor impoverished student friend who shortly before Christmas rolled his MK 2 Cortina (it ended up in the entrance to a breakers yard, so no recovery charges were incurred).  Eight of us contributed £10 each and we got him a MK3 2 Litre XL Cortina Estate for Christmas.  We drove it up to his Mums house on Christmas day and gave him an envelope with the log book, MOT and keys in it, his Mum thought that we were taking the piss and thought it was one of our 'cruel jokes'.

 

After that one expired I gave him a MK3 Cortina 1.6L that I had surplus to requirements, he managed to reverse that into my other MK3, breaking both front indicators.

[mercrocker]

Two freebies - a 1958 Austin A35 when I was 18 which cost about £20 to get MOT'd and served me well for a year or so before being sold (with a borked engine) for the same as the MOT had  cost.    Ten years later I was given a Mk1 Mini.   As can be imagined it was mostly cornflakes.   It was free, I reasoned, so worth spending a bit of money on....I got to about a grand and it still had the structural integrity of a wet  MFI wardrobe.   Shovelled the lot in a bin and flogged all the bits I bought for it.....

[Tetleysmooth]

I've just remembered I've had three free cars.

First one, a silver 3.0 litre auto 12 valve Senator, which I had to go to Preston to collect.

As already said in another thread on here, it had a strange electrical glitch which meant I could only start it in gear. Interesting in an auto!!! Fine car once fixed though.

 

 

Second was a 2.0 litre Carlton GL manual. Not much to say about it really. It was a manual and I didn't like it. It only lasted about a week. Didn't even take a pic of it.

 

Third was another 3.0 litre Senny auto 12 valve with a leaky gearbox. It actually left a trail of atf up my road as I drove it home. Me and some mates wazzed a 24 valve 'box in it and it was a brilliant car after that.

 

 

As collected. It ended up with a set of BBS crosspokes on it.

[Tetleysmooth]

P.S. Anyone got a free Senator for me?

[Ratdat]

I was given a free Datsun 620 pickup once. I drove down to Daarset to fetch it, undseen. It was in some undergrowth down the bottom of a very long, very steep garden. By the time I arrived on scene, they'd managed to drag it out of the shrubbery and all the way up the garden, unfortunately leaving a trail consisting of rather large bits of it. By the time we'd got it out onto the road there was no longer a requirement for any ramps or a winch to get it onto the trailer.

 

[Tetleysmooth]

Oo-er, nearly forgot.

I've had two free Volvo's too.

A 740 GLE which I had to go to Bristol to collect. It never did run right, so I sold it to a geezer down the road. Turns out the valve timing was a tooth or two out. He fixed it, then proceeded to smash it to bits in an accident.

 

A 760 GLE with the horrible V6 engine. That never did run right either. So many vacuum pipes on it.

Sold that to another bloke in my road who kept it for a fair-ish while.

 

Anyone got a free Volvo for me? T5? Lol.