The one that got away, RS escort 4x4

[omegod]

A few years back I worked with a guy who had a MINT 4x4 RS2000 Escort as per pic and he knew I had the hot's for it hugely, the previous owner was a fanatic and had gone through it forensically restoring it to the point of perfection. I got an email last July to say he had the the horn for an old landy that was a steal and the escort had sat in his garage for a year or so as the lacquer had gone on a couple on a couple of front panels but he remembered my admiration and needed the space like yesterday so I had first refusal at £700 ..I was getting married in August and my pleading with fiance fell on deaf ears...I've just looked at the prices they are fetching £5k plus ...I was a knobhead not to sod her and rip his hand off 

 

Anyone else fucked up similarly ?

 

[Timewaster]

In 1998 I was offered a freshly restored Escort Harrier for £1600 which I turned down.

 

 

D'oh!

[omegod]

In 1998 I was offered a freshly restored Escort Harrier for £1600 which I turned down.

 

 

D'oh!

 

I suddenly feel so much better !

[doobietoo]

Got offered a one owner Daimler double six coupe in red with 50,000 miles for £500 many years ago.... Didn't have the cash at the time...

[andrew e]

Just under 200 of those pre-facelift 4x4s were built - wonder how many survived? 248 according to how many left, but that's facelift too.

 

Intresting* fact: I used to wash the Autocar road test car when it was a used sale back in 1995 - Ford approved!

[spike60]

Turd brown Lanca Stratos for £3200 anyone? I didn't have the £'s, end of a story that would have ended badly if I had.

I was asked in the spring if I wanted an Escort 4x4 with a blown engine, spare engine supplied. I asked on here about them but the seller didn't get back to me after making the initial running. I gather it's still sat there. An MOT'd Escort 4x4 sold in the same part of the world this year for about £1500 IIRC, it wasn't megabucks.

[Bren]

In terms of fucking up, does buying a diesel vectra count?

[TataBobu]

My biggest fuckup was in 2000: I was offered a BMW with name tag matching the year, in running order and with the odd scraps and rusty bits, at 500 US dollars. I had to pass, I didn't had what it took to make it mine. I'm still thinking about that white beaty with 4 round headlights, though.

[mossymossy]

In 1984 I weighed the white rust free mk1 escrot 2 door in for a fiver. It was a non runner, and I had just joined the airforce and was struggling with available time to work on it. My mum reckoned the neighbors were complaining it was an eyesore. The Mk1 1600 GT capri was with me until 1991. I sold it for £175. Many happy memories in that car. Mostly going sideways then backwards round roundabouts.

[trigger]

In 2000 I got offered a immaculate A reg Fiesta XR2 Mk1 in black with 40000 miles, 1 owner and even still on its Trimco of Chelmsford dealer plate for £500, I had to turn it down as I couldn't insurance it.

 

The very same car was recently for sale on eBay for £8000...

[philibusmo]

A Lancia Fulvia about 2 years ago. Was for sale around Christmas and went for about £3,000 if I remember rightly. Seemed to be in good order and I have always really wanted one but I couldn't quite afford it.

 

I have never seen another anywhere near that price and in decent nick since. I really wish I had got out a small loan to buy it and paid it off over a month or so.

[Largactil]

1998 - Started my first well paid job after getting out of uni.

 

Single, living with my parents, zero outgoings. Willing to devote 2/3rd's of my salary to motoring.

 

Decide I want a sporty car, so make a shortlist - Kick the tyres of a local E30 M3 for £8k; feel it's too much (they started at £5k then). Looked at an E30 M3 Evo 2 at £12k - Can't see the value in it.

 

Move on to Porsche - Make arrangements to view a 964 RS; bit too hardcore (a roll cage?! In a road car?! WTF!), and pushing the budget at £18k

 

Settle for an eight year old Elan SE turbo at £13500 - Fun, but a little fragile. Sold in 2001 for £8k, to buy an Impreza STi Type R.

 

Value of an E30 M3 Evo 2 in 2015? North of £80k...

 

Value of a 964 RS in 2015? North of £200k...

 

Value of an Elan SE in 2015? About £5-8k...

 

C'est la vie!

[dugong]

A running, converted, MoT'd Lotus Elite with a 3.5-litre Rover V8. For £500.

[John F]

I was offered a choice of two Jensen Interceptors in 1987 for £500 each.

[mossymossy]

An Aston martin DBS6. Mint. In January 1987. £5700. There was a massive maggie thatcher inspired classic car and house boom over the following 18 months. The DBS6 was the least loved, but I seem to remember them reaching 30 grand. Brand new wife said "where are you going to store It?" So I didn't. I wonder what they go for now?

[omegod]

An Aston martin DBS6. Mint. In January 1987. £5700. There was a massive maggie thatcher inspired classic car and house boom over the following 18 months. The DBS6 was the least loved, but I seem to remember them reaching 30 grand. Brand new wife said "where are you going to store It?" So I didn't. I wonder what they go for now?

 

£70k + I believe for a goodun

[Adrian_pt]

Pre-Internet Romania had some terrific bargains. Tatra T87 for 2000 Euro - they fetch up to 150k restored. Fiat 2800 at the same price - one of only 400 odd built and - it turns out - a very rare stretched ministerial version. Again, a six-figure car. Fiat 1500 Coupe Lombardi for 400 USD - this was a hyper-rare custom body. Not to mention two Dacia factory prototypes, admittedly terminally rusty but unique, at under 200 a pop. At least one of them never sold, even at that price, and was simply scrapped. Lots of early Mercs and Mk 1 Escorts and the like were going for peanuts too.

 

The flipside is that at the time, a lot of chancers were asking for ludicrous prices the other way. I've seen 150k asked for a bog standard late 20s Oldsmobile, 30k for a Skoda 1000MB and - the best - 38k for a knackered brown Mk III Cortina 1.3.

 

Sadly too young at the time for vehicular purchasing. Big shame.

[Tartan58]

About 12 years ago I sold my 1962 Mini Superdeluxe for £3k - was a reasonable price at the time but now it would be worth many times that.

 

Was all original and un-restored with history going back to the original bill of sale and was in rare Fiesta Yellow with sky blue interior. Only thing wrong with it was it had been plate-raped in the past and was on an A suffix (previously 4 numbers 2 letters jobbie)

 

Deeply regret selling that car - DVLA shows no MOT and sorn expired in 2013 but it must be still tucked away somewhere surely.

[Skizzer]

 

An Aston martin DBS6. Mint. In January 1987. £5700. There was a massive maggie thatcher inspired classic car and house boom over the following 18 months. The DBS6 was the least loved, but I seem to remember them reaching 30 grand. Brand new wife said "where are you going to store It?" So I didn't. I wonder what they go for now?

 

£70k + I believe for a goodun

 

I nearly bought an excellent DBS 6 for £14k in 2006, but bottled it.  I am a shithead.

[Junkman]

1966 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 in 1984 for new Golf money.

Bought a 1970 Olds 442 W30 convertible instead.

 

Value of the Olds today about 25k. The 'rari would be worth about ten times that.

[Clanger]

Jensen Interceptor - California car, one owner.  The fella had started to work* on it and then got deaded so it sat on the drive for a few years.  His missus had my friend do some work at her house and the topic of the car came up - he thought of me and I went round to have a butchers - much wantage occured.  She had already had offers of $1,500 plus on the car, but she knew that I would keep it and restore* it so she said I could have it for $900, plus I could have the bonus* XJ40 for free.

 

It was then that I discovered the existence of a made up previously unknown rule that limited the amount of cars I was allowed* to own at any one point in time. 

 

[Lord Sterling]

A mint D-reg Rover Sterling a couple of years ago

[Guest Lord Sward]

Not quite as bad as the terrible fuck-up that has started this joyous thread (or indeed, some others), but turned down a very tidy Aston Virage for £17k in 2008.  

[New POD]

In 2000 my parents bought a semi derelict house in Anglesea, and took me to see it, before they paid cash for it (it was unmortgageable).In the garage was a rust free Renault 5 from the 1970's with no rear window. Proper barn find. I pleaded with them NOT to buy the house and move near to me, so they could see their grand children more often.  I was no insensed that they refused to listen to me, that I would not visit them for 18 months. in that time They PAID a Builder (who was fixing the house) to get rid of everything in the garage. DOH