80’s and 90’s stuff that was unsalable

[sierraman]

A lot of dealers used to take base spec Escorts etc and stick a few pinstripes in it, a pop up Britain sunroof and calling a ‘special edition’

[Junkman]

Everything I owned at the time.

What else is new?

[Rovorsche]

Rover SD1 2000, and to a lesser extent, the 2300.

 

I still have my '86 2300, bought from Sharkwells forecourt at sticker price in 1987/88 with just 12,000 miles then and 63,000 now

 

It starts and drives but hasnt left the garage in a long time.

 

A relative had one of those poverty spec Metros, no parcel shelf, one door mirror and being B-reg I think it had no rear seat belts (My SD1 doesnt either).

Having bought the Metro NEW in that spec they decided it would be a nice hobby to buy all the bits deleted by poverty spec, from the dealer at dealer prices.

[Sudsprint]

Lancia Beta Coupe Hi-Fi

[UltraWomble]

Austin/Morris/BLMC 1100's

Wedges

Marina's

Early Datsun stuff that hadnt totally rusted away

Hilman Imps ( they overheat dont yer know)

Skoda's

FSO Polenez'zzz

Lada's over 5 years old.

[Remspoor]

Dolomite 1330 and 1500s. I had a 1500

Base Astra, designated Merit.

[chaseracer]

Any "executive" from a mainstream manufacturer became a hard sale by the 90's didn't they? We might like Carltons Granadas etc but I bet people in sales didn't once company car drivers decided it had to be German

 

The Owd Giffer's Carlton was a bit of an orphan: CDX spec, 2.6 straight-six, but manual box.  Great for what he needed (caravan) but 50% off at six months old!

[anonymous user]

I remember helping a mate try to sell his bog standard Ford Escort, the car was a 1994 coming up to six years old, with no extras apart from metallic paint in a not very nice darkish green. The mileage was a bit high and it failed to sell on autotrader, free ads, local paper, etc. EBay was just about becoming a thing, but neither of us had a computer. I came up with a cunning plan, basically we hawked it around a few second hand car places trying to do a swap for something, anything, more saleable. The Escort was polished, cleaned out, windows and lights polished and a set of (cheap) floor mats put in.

Eventually found a dealer who bit and a straight swap was done for an older XR3i Cabriolet. I think my mate had the better deal as he stuck a stereo in the Cabriolet, ran it for a month or so then sold it on just as the weather perked up. The green Escort sat on the forecourt for quite a few weeks, nothing wrong with it, but people obviously preferred something else.

[Braddon81]

We had a Peugeot 406 Coupe V6 which sat on the forecourt for about 18 months. We fully believe that the only reason for that is that it was a colour which I can only describe as "faded custard yellow."

Aside from the colour it was a lovely thing...

Pulsar Yellow is the colour name. It certainly divides opinion. There are only around 8 yellow V6 coupes left in the UK so it can't have been a popular choice optioned from new. Personally I love mine!

[Dead_E23]

Any maroon coloured car was difficult to sell in the bit of Kent where I grew up, because the council bin lorries used to be that colour.  My car trading chum used to call it 'dustcart red' and hard to sell cars were know as 'landmarks', especially those on other traders lots.

[brownnova]

There’s a garage near me which has had a Peugeot 607 outside for sale for years!!

 

I think there’s a Rover 75 and a Laguna II festering into the forecourt undergrowth at the same place.

 

One day I’ll stop and take a picture, it’s as if they stopped selling cars about five years ago and let it fester...

[I_am_Diesel]

Land Rover Discovery MPi

[mercrocker]

Never been in the trade or had much to do with it but back in the days when I actually took notice of forecourt fodder there were quite a few lurkers locally..... 

 

Lancia Betas 

Any thing BL in Snapdragon 

Fiats of most description, except 127s 

W116 Mercs 

Any remotely sporty Renault - 12TS, 15, 17 etc. 

FE Victors    

 

Be falling over any of the above, nowadays of course.....

[ChinaTom]

Sao Penzas didn't exactly fly out.

Alfettas didn't do very well

XJ40's hung around LONG after the X300 arrived. There are N plates out there.

Applauses and Charmants took some shifting I reckon. Especially the mid range Charmants. Base had a reason, LGX had a reason, but the middle one? Pah.

Maximas had cobwebs in the showrooms

Ballades and Legends 

Tempras and Ullyses

Galant Sapporo

[inconsistant]

 

[Braddon81]

If sneaking in to the early noughties count.. the Ford Focus saloon. Mostly giffer driven Ghia spec -  getting one underwritten at anything near book price was a task and a half, nobody wanted them - tidy hatches they'd be waving large wads of cash in your face for...saloons... they'd barely offer the fluff out of their pockets.

I turned away a punter in a Chrysler Neon S/RT once, nobody in the trade wanted to touch it with a barge pole. Any form of Kia prior to the Sportage were truly unloved too.

[anonymous user]

Land Rover Discovery MPi

Not completely, I bought one (it was really cheap compared to a tdi) and got a decent amount when I traded it in for a 4 litre Jeep Cherokee.

[chaseracer]

Did the Cherokee also use the 2.5 Iron Duke four-pot?  If so, that must have been scintillating* - because the 4.0 I-6 was no ball of fire IIRC.

[lesapandre]

A lot of dealers used to take base spec Escorts etc and stick a few pinstripes in it, a pop up Britain sunroof and calling a ‘special edition’

Yes the dealer special was once a popular thing - colour coded wheel trims, a leather gear knob, some stripes up the side and a radio- cassette were given a silly name.

[SiC]

Didn't the dealer special thing make an old fashioned Top Gear Quentin feature?

[Timewaster]

I remember the local BL dealer having a AS beige Princess sat at the back of their pitch for about 3 years. it was probably only about 5 years old at the start of it tenancy.

[Bren]

SD1. Piss poor residuals - I remember when fatha had his lots of traders would not take them in p/x. Parts prices were horrific when they were in production. I remember seeing a D plate example in 1991 up for £1500 at the local vaux dealer. A 5 year old car for £1500.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

In 1985 I went into the Alfa dealer/importer on Edgware Rd and discovered they were giving away Alfa 6 s for about £8,000. This was cheaper than an XR3i and I had an XR3i company car on order from a leasing company...

 

The bloke I spoke to about changing my order to an Alfa 6 laughed so loudly everyone in the Alfa showroom could hear it, quite embarrassing , in my defence I was only 20 and a bit naive about residuals, whole life costs etc.

[Lanciaman]

I just wish we had the choice of untouchables these days. 

[Tamworthbay]

1.3 Capri, all the show, none of the go. 1.6 autos sat around for ages as well but not many about even then.

[chaseracer]

Was a time, the Capri 1.3 had those brilliant pointy HUBCAPS...

 

[Tamworthbay]

Still would

[Maurice Marina]

Was a time, the Capri 1.3 had those brilliant pointy HUBCAPS...

 

I’d buy that new now...

[mercrocker]

Aye, at the time in life when I could, conceivably, have considered buying a new car for the first time ever......I find that they have all turned into pillars of shit.

[HMC]

Tweed interior xj40 2.9 xj6 manuals, at least according to Quentin Wilson circa 1994