The Shite you most regret Weighing in....

[AlabamaShrimp]

Tbh for me the Capri has always been a funny car. As a kid they were on the Professionals and they looked good.

 

That one above was a trade in in the late 90s to our garage and I got given it for free. Drove it only a few times as I didn't have a license and it was a conspicuous car! Very low, slow and I didn't like that long bonnet, so I parked it up.

 

Moved house and parked it up again in the garage. Dragged it out determined to fix it but I didn't and for an easy life I let it go. It was no loss really. I know people find it strange but I'd rather have a Fiesta, so I got 3 instead.

 

Edit: here it it's on my drive in 2006

 

[Datsuncog]

I sold a £175 Focus some time ago, I was inundated with requests for holding it until the giro came in, did it have service history? Would I swap it for an Xbox?

It's a shiter paradox that the cheaper and more bollocksed the car you're selling is, the more a potential buyer will fuck you around.

 

The biggest ball-ache I ever had selling a car - and therefore the shite I most regret NOT weighing in - was a 1986 Fiesta 1.1 that spectacularly failed its MOT on massive corrosion. The engine was perfect through with only 40k genuine miles and it had a mint Ghia interior, so I thought it may be some useful to someone. I bucked it in the Friday Ad for fifty quid with an honest appraisal as a spares car only, just needing it gone.

 

Took about thirty calls in two hours - "Can you deliver it to Southampton?" Erm, no. "Is it taxed and MOTd?" No it isn't, as stated quite clearly in the ad. "Can you keep it for me until I get back to Brighton in February?" Since this is early December, no. "Would you take the £50 in Shop4All vouchers?" Fuck. Right. Off.

 

The only person to actually bother their arse calling over (two hours after he said he'd show, and with two friends in a Transit) spent an hour closely examining it, prodding it, test driving it up and down the street several times (even though I'd demonstrated how totally rotten the shell was by poking my finger right through the crusty wing), stroking his chin and making phone calls to persons unknown, before making a "firm offer" of £40. Eager to get my life back, I accepted.

 

On the way up the stairs to the flat to fill in the V5, he asked whether the rear seat belts were ok, as he'd just remembered he had to look after the kiddies at the weekend. Slightly agog at his presumption he'd be driving it anywhere anytime soon, I told him there were no rear seatbelts fitted (ex-Guernsey car, so seemingly not quite UK spec). He immediately threw a paddy, finger-pointing, accusing me of wasting his time and endangering his children etc etc.

 

I let him have it for £30. I've never been so tired in my life. I should have just taken it to the metal recyclers at Shoreham docks and let them feed it into their giant cheesegrater.

 

On the plus side, I recently found all the handbooks for the car as I clearly forgot to pass them over in all the confusion... I'd forgotten that the car had worn three different registration numbers over its lifetime.

 

   

 

 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Just thinking about the feckless scum I've tried to sell old shit cars to winds me up.

 

AHM OOOT.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Tbh for me the Capri has always been a funny car. As a kid they were on the Professionals and they looked good.

 

That one above was a trade in in the late 90s to our garage and I got given it for free. Drove it only a few times as I didn't have a license and it was a conspicuous car! Very low, slow and I didn't like that long bonnet, so I parked it up.

 

Moved house and parked it up again in the garage. Dragged it out determined to fix it but I didn't and for an easy life I let it go. It was no loss really. I know people find it strange but I'd rather have a Fiesta, so I got 3 instead.

 

Edit: here it it's on my drive in 2006

 

DSCF0754.JPG

 

 

Mine was like that. Caspian blue Y reg 2000GL with the nasty side change gearbox. SMG813Y, now in Oirland so it is. I bought it from Aylesbury car auctions in 1997 for £350, a Perrys Ford trade in. It was absolutely and utterly mint  - not a mark or bubble on it.  Absolutely hateful to drive compared to a Sierra or an E30 so I sold it for about 1200 quid at the same venue, in there car park, just after a classic car sale. The guy looked at it for 15 mins, went back to my place to get the docs, peeled off the cash in twenties and fucked off. 

[23rdian]

I've only sent two cars directly to the scrappers.

 

Early Vauxhall Nova - Was a bit rotten to be fair but I do regret not pulling some of the early parts off it first.

 

Bmw e39 528i - a bit of a shame but the head/cooling system was a mess and it resisted any attempts from me to save it.

[overrun]

As previously mentioned, Mk1 XR2 x2 (around ten years ago)
P10 Primera eZX (can't be many of those left now)

P10 Primera eGT x3

P11 Primera GT x2

P11 Primera JDM import

AW11 MR2

SW20 MR2 GT-S

 

There's been loads, but as you can see, I have thinned the sporty Primera numbers a wee bit.

 

A mates mate used to break GTi-6's and reckons he has seen off about 80. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

I've only scrapped one car, an Audi 200T C2.

Astonishingly of the apparent 500 that were imported into the UK, I had three of these things, the first was dreadful and set itself on fire, The second was superb and I really wish I'd kept it, but back in the day it was thirsty, surplus and just in the way.

The third was bought for the gearbox which was put into the second, then stripped and sent to a specialist breaker.

The 200 5T is probably down to single figures in Britain. I remember it being launched here, with on the road price of £13,000.

 

I've never scrapped a car. All of mine went to new owners (who probably regretted it later).

[D Spares & Tyres]

Weighed in so many cars... But regret my mums old allegro. 1978 2 door in Sandglow. Was a solid old car with low miles and a mint interior. I kept it after she finished driving it and planned to restore it. Nothing much wrong with it but in 2004 they were worthless and eBay wasn't really a thing so stuff was hard to sell.

Lost my licence so cleared the barn out in rather too much haste, with hindsight. Moved abroad for a bit but before I did I weighed in the Allegro. Along with a solid mk5 Cortina.

 

Poor Allegro, it did not deserve that. Still feel bad about that one.

[dozeydustman]

I miss my little Skoda Felicia. Nothing special but great little workhorse and there was a certain charm to the little car I liked. It was going to cost about £700 to get through the next MoT as it needed brakes, exhaust, EGR, glow plugs, tyres, electrical work. I bought a £150 L reg golf Turbo Diesel with 201,000 on the clock instead....

 

I also wish I was able to mothball the Ford Cougar V6 I had as well because it was only one of a handful with an ST24 spec engine fitted. A lack of storage space and continual let-downs when coming to sell it meant I had to dispose. I wish I had joined Autoshite back in 2015 as I know someone on here would have had it.

[dozeydustman]

It's a shiter paradox that the cheaper and more bollocksed the car you're selling is, the more a potential buyer will fuck you around.

 

The biggest ball-ache I ever had selling a car - and therefore the shite I most regret NOT weighing in - was a 1986 Fiesta 1.1 that spectacularly failed its MOT on massive corrosion. The engine was perfect through with only 40k genuine miles and it had a mint Ghia interior, so I thought it may be some useful to someone. I bucked it in the Friday Ad for fifty quid with an honest appraisal as a spares car only, just needing it gone.

 

 

Had this when trying to sell my XY8 engined 205XS. Another car I regret getting rid of and not restoring/mothballing. Sold it for £100 as spares/repair, and the bloke who bought it took me to small claims court for selling an unroadworthy car (advertised as no tax, no MoT, spares/repair only). At least he got bollocked by the judge for wasting the court's time!

 

I fucking hate tyre kickers.

[Datsuncog]

Reading over the rest of this thread, it does seem that XMs feature heavily... so here's one more.

 

 

I didn't actually bridge it myself, but this manual box 2.5 TD was utterly rotten underneath, with all manner of bodged sills (creatively fabricated using polythene bags, sections of electrical conduit and lashings and lashing of Isopon) and failing suspension coming to light during a spectacular MOT fail.

 

It was a beautiful car to drive, but every panel was scraped and dinged and various electrical things didn't work. I knew that even with loads of welding it still would never be right. Discovering that the non-working heater was due to the block being tapped to bypass the matrix entirely, using domestic plumbing items, was the last straw. I sold it through the XM Club forum to a specialist whose hands it had previously passed through as a borderline car, and now agreed that it was most likely a parts donor. At least if it was broken, it helped others live on.

 

 

^^ This is what the sills were made of. It had ten months' MOT when I bought it too...

 

 

 

Urgh.

[Capri 3.0s]

Tbh for me the Capri has always been a funny car. As a kid they were on the Professionals and they looked good.

 

That one above was a trade in in the late 90s to our garage and I got given it for free. Drove it only a few times as I didn't have a license and it was a conspicuous car! Very low, slow and I didn't like that long bonnet, so I parked it up.

 

Moved house and parked it up again in the garage. Dragged it out determined to fix it but I didn't and for an easy life I let it go. It was no loss really. I know people find it strange but I'd rather have a Fiesta, so I got 3 instead.

 

Edit: here it it's on my drive in 2006

 

DSCF0754.JPG

Someone has spent a lot of money on it over the years, new steel wings, new engine, new interior, respray (I think its the same colour as it matches all the hidden bits)  plus loads of other bits, its almost complete now, just needs a wash and polish !

I'd not had one for about 20 years, looked at a few and this one seemed to be the one for me.

Agreed value now 8k (I paid a lot less than that for it)

[AlabamaShrimp]

So it's yours now then?

[flat4alfa]

Mk1 Fiat Mirafiori 2-door with its factory sills

 

[Parky]

1978 Mini in Java Green. Owned by a friend from school who crashed it and I bought it for £60 in 1990.

 

Damage seemed superficial but the more I removed, the worse it got. The big crack running from the top to the bottom of the inner wing where it met the bulkhead was a slight concern but I stripped it back anyway.

 

Problem was with limited tools, time, and a complete lack of ability, all I managed to go was remove things which then wouldn't go back together. Pissed off with it I scrapped it for a tenner.

 

Today I see far worse cars going for a grand or more. If I chucked a tarp over it and went back to it now I fancy I would have a fighting chance of making something decent with it now

[Datsuncog]

Problem was with limited tools, time, and a complete lack of ability, all I managed to go was remove things which then wouldn't go back together. Pissed off with it I scrapped it for a tenner.

 

Today I see far worse cars going for a grand or more. If I chucked a tarp over it and went back to it now I fancy I would have a fighting chance of making something decent with it now

 

Sounds like the Cortina I bought when I was 16. Bought for £80, then attacked with my new wire brush attachment to reveal considerably less metal than hoped... though other than needing a patch over the small hole in the driver's footwell and repair sections for the rear arches, it was reasonably sound. Sold to a banger boy for £90 when my head was turned by a Viva HC... spent the night before trying to put all the panels and engine ancillaries back on with my rubbish pound shop tools.

 

 

Thinking about it, I've never actually scrapped a car - but have been the penultimate owner of nearly all of mine.

[beko1987]

I don't regret any car I've scrapped, I've only done 2!

 

Puma - was rusty as fuck, pulled the carpet back when stripping it out and there were rust blobs everywhere, engine needed work etc. Got £500 for parts plus the shell

 

Blue laguna - we all know the story!

[Bren]

Reading over the rest of this thread, it does seem that XMs feature heavily... so here's one more.

 

1996 Citroen XM 2.5 VSX.jpg

 

I didn't actually bridge it myself, but this manual box 2.5 TD was utterly rotten underneath, with all manner of bodged sills (creatively fabricated using polythene bags, sections of electrical conduit and lashings and lashing of Isopon) and failing suspension coming to light during a spectacular MOT fail.

 

It was a beautiful car to drive, but every panel was scraped and dinged and various electrical things didn't work. I knew that even with loads of welding it still would never be right. Discovering that the non-working heater was due to the block being tapped to bypass the matrix entirely, using domestic plumbing items, was the last straw. I sold it through the XM Club forum to a specialist whose hands it had previously passed through as a borderline car, and now agreed that it was most likely a parts donor. At least if it was broken, it helped others live on.

 

XM Innards.jpg

 

^^ This is what the sills were made of. It had ten months' MOT when I bought it too...

Is that toast?

[Datsuncog]

Is that toast?

Nope, that's a piece of "sill"... rust, Fastglas and conduit. I'd imagine the car itself is now toast also, I'm afraid... sold for spares in May 2011, to a previous owner who had already been half-planning on breaking it when he'd last owned it in 2009. Total rotbox, sadly - it had led a hard life as a hotel hack from new, later a rally towcar, and the atrocious winter of 2010 in my hands pretty much finished it off. Pulled a lot of Focuses out of snowdrifts, mind...

 

The top pic was taken from the original ad on Car&Classic and was mucho flattering... had I known the true state of it I wouldn't have made the 220 mile round trip!

[bramz7]

I've only ever scrapped one car and it was an early Xantia NA Diesel.

 

Don't regret it as it was fucked. Nice(ish) to drive but everything that can go wrong with them had gone wrong with it.

[richardthestag]

i have only ever been involved in scrapping my brothers cars.

 

in most other cases like Datsuncog I have been the penultimate owner.

 

Even avoided having to weigh this in when the engine died spectacularly on the M40, I looked at its sad multicoloured and rusting 180k hulk and decided that to get it fixed would cost more than a better example.

 

back when I stripped this out scrap was at an all time low, was looking at paying £40 to get it hiab'd. lobbed it on the bay at 99p and a chap came from Wales for it.

 

 

nowadays I would have fixed the old beast up, still I got nearly £1500 from breaking it and it's replacement set me back 3 bags

[eddyramrod]

I daren't contribute.  I've been the last owner of so many cars - cars that are worth good money now even as rusty hulks - that just trying to list them would depress me badly.  In fact even seeing that the thread exists has opened up a slippery slope.  I'm off to find something cheerful.

[twosmoke300]

Scrapped loads - regret none . They all deserved it !

[Capri 3.0s]

So it's yours now then?

Yep  

[wuvvum]

The one I probably most regret scrapping was a rare Series 1 Rover 825D.  I'd "sold" it on eBay for £150, the "buyer" (an American living in Peterborough) wanted me to basically rearrange my whole life to facilitate him picking it up as it was winter and he didn't want to drive home in the dark.  After lots of toing and froing with me trying to be as accommodating as possible and him always managing to find a reason why my suggestion wouldn't work, I sacked him off and weighed it in - this was when scrap prices were through the roof so I got over £300 for it.

 

I also weighed in a Mk1 Renault 5, but that was an automatic with a borked gearbox and a knackered steering rack (auto steering racks are different from manuals and are (or were at the time) 24-carat unobtainium), so no regrets there really.  I do occasionally think that I should have tried to do more with the Volvo 460 Turbo that I weighed in, but again I tried to sell that (in the local paper and on Retro Rides) and nobody was interested, so Chinawards it went.

[Durham850]

Mine is one that I regret not scrapping in, vauxhall vectra KB04PBZ spent a bloody fortune getting it welded, then sorting out the ECU and the fucking thing repaid me by shitting out its turbo which exploded spectacularly, literally had flames coming out of the exhaust, looked like the batmobile!

[chaseracer]

Mk1 Fiat Mirafiori 2-door with its factory sills

 

 

[Vince70]

For me it must of been my first car which was a lovely 1967/68 MK1 Escort 1300gt which was bought for £50 in ermine white with a lotus cortina green stripe.

 

It was a lovely original example with a bus type steering wheel a weird sticky out filler cap and ford anglia door handles and it had a beautiful 6 dial silver dash which was bought from my Dads mates father when he packed up driving and being young and stupid I let a mate have a go at painting it and managed to destroy the engine before being bridged.

 

I guess I should of just locked it up in a garage for 30 odd years as even back then I never saw another example of a GT that early or in as good condition.

 

I did replace it with another later one that was nowhere as good and although shiny was full of filler but it went ok once I bolted a 1600GT Capri engine in it.

[uk_senator]

The Tempra 2.0 SW SX I got my parents in 1993, a victim of lending to a friend who treated it like shit & turned it from mint to scrap in the year he had it (but he then died of cancer, so I have to put things into perspective, & he did enjoy going to the south of France 3 times in it during that year).

Still gutted about it, as is my Dad.
 

RIP Tempra 28-5-1993 - 18-11-2011.

[Pete-M]

VHK473S.