The ones that got away?

[Cavcraft]

Anyone still think of the cars you'd been offered and wished you'd bought?Some I should have bought but for various reasons at the time didn't...Lotus Cortina Mk2: £500 in Christopher Neil's yard in Northwich. Engine was in the boot but the car was half tidy. Cannot believe I didn't buy it.Hillman Avenger: would have been my first car, I'd sold my motorbike and got paid by cheque. Dad refused to lend me the money in case the cheque bounced. It was mint and only £180 and they sold it the day before the cheque cleared.Hillman Hunter GT: a mate's who was selling for £80 with a bit of test left. I was on the dole at the time and didn't have two pennies to rub together. It went like stink and was really tidy and original.Hillman Imp: Had a bl00dy big dent in the rear quarter, loads of MOT, drove fine and was £35.00. Again skint and again my dad wouldn't lend me the money.Kawasaki KH400: Really REALLY tidy, just needed an original headlight as the owner had sold the fairing and left twin headlights on it. £80 and once again dole money didn't cover it.They're about the best of the ones I regret not buying and I still kick myself when I think about them.Anyone else want to list the ones that got away?

[retro80sboy]

Great thread.

 

there a a few that spring to mind.

 

in 1995 I saw for sale a tax and tested Mini Van on a V plate. Me and my mate thought about buying it as a bit of a project to learn to drive in and learn a bit about doing a car up. The chap wanted 175, tax and tested but we dithered and missed out on it.

 

in 1998 my Grandad bought a newer car (MG Metro) to replace his old 1980 mk 5 Cortina. It was up for grabs for free to a family menber but at the time I wasnt that bothered about rolling in a Cortina as I thought it had very little street cred for a young kid in trying his best to impress the girls!. It eventually went to a cousin of mine who kept it for a couple of years before he scrapped it.

 

in 2000 my Auntie was getting rid of her scruffy Sierra Saphire for peanuts. Despite its appearance it ran great and had little expense spared. I passed it up and went for a Nova that literally rusted away around me.

 

2001 - I was offered an A reg Vauxhall Nova, totally original owned by an old woman who was a neighbour of a friend. Silver with lovely orange interior!. she wanted £100 and the plan was to get it for my sister to learn to drive in. anyway, my sister didnt seem that bothered so I left it. Sould have bought it for myself in hindsight as it was better than the one I was driving at the time.

 

2004 - my Auntie had had her F reg MK 2 Fiesta Festival from new and wanted a newer car with power stearing as she was cracking on a bit. My uncle (who owns a garage) took it off her and sold it for 200 quid. the car was near perfect and had only covered about 40k. God knows why I didnt take it off her as im sure I could have had it for free. anyway, I used to see it now and again around Wrexham for a few years up until one day earlier this year I visted my local scrappy - and there it was. a sad day.

 

heres a pic of it in its 'resting place' It had come in the week before apparantly. Its still there now but totally wrecked .

 

http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.ph ... =523901845

 

http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.ph ... 8145071845

 

 

2005 - my mate had a rough H reg BMW 316 E30 for a few years and the MOT was up in a month or so so we ended up scrapping it. It needed welding and had been broken into so the door lock was knckered and stearing lock wrecked. looking back though I should given him the 50 quid the scrapman did considering hiw rare they have become now.

 

2006 - my brother in law sold his totally original yet a little dogeared D reg Vauxhall Nova Antibes for £150. I was living back at my parents at the time and had nowhere to keep it as I already had 4 cars on their drive and were doing their nut!

 

2008 - my uncle has small car dealers and has some bangers coming in from time to time. Last year a Vicar brought in a Talbot saloon (I never saw it but thought it was a Tagora at the time but I think its more likely to be a Solara). anyway, I regular ring him up and ask him what he has got in that he wants rid of. He said he did have this Talbot in a couple of days ago but ended up scrapping it as he didnt id be interested in it. To be honest, I probably would have left it anyway at the time but after joining this forum if it was now - id snap it up for one of you lot!

 

 

anyway, theres a few off the top of my head. sure theres more though.

[r.welfare]

92/J VW Jetta GTI 16v. Mk2, big bumpers. Was my garage's courtesy car, back in 2001. Loads of miles but FSH, drove like a dream and the body was faded but nothing a polishing mop couldn't handle.I asked if it was for sale, and was told it could be mine for £500. Bargain. It just had to come back in from the next loan before we could seal the deal. It came back all right, but significantly restyled - having gone through a hedge and rolled end-over-end. Absolutely gutted.

[dollywobbler]

A Citroen Bijou project for £400 about seven or eight years ago. It was already on a Dyane chassis - so could actually go faster than the 40ish mph top speed of the standard ones - and just needed some fettling really. Didn't have a garage at the time so passed it up. Idiot!

[nigel bickle]

1994.DB4. £4k. Knicked the horn pushBought the '63 E type instead. £3kIn hindsight-the wrong move.

[Mr Lobster]

Yes. Early R11 Turbo, pretty clean, one owner. Cheap too. For some reason - probably to do with being skint at the time (about '96 I think) I passed it up. Same story with quite a lot of older Renault stuff - Mk1 R5s, R4s and so on.About the same time, parents neighbours had a Capri 2.0 Laser, in white and lovely. Seem to recall that I should have bought that one.

[Spiny Norman]

I've always had a thing for the slightly unloved end of the executive car market, so one day I found myself looking over a Renault 30TX with auto, air, leather, the full monty, at a big Rover garage who just wanted rid of it. As an added sweetener, it had a good registration number RMS 1W which was going with the car. Stupidly I went home "to think about it", had a cup of tea, thought about it and about an hour later went back to buy it. I arrived just in time to see someone else shake the salesman's hand while standing beside it!

[Rusty Pelican]

1981 , neighbours selling a Cortina MK2 3ltr Savage , mine for a tenner as the diff was shot as was a H/G or two , Had the dosh but my Dad said no way would i get insurance on it ( He had a point really as i was 17 )

[Guest]

I came within a gnat's bits of buying a 2 litre twink Fiat Croma once.Was going to smoke about in it for a bit (it was WHITE and POV), but bottled at the last minute and decided to save my money.Twat.

[nigel bickle]

Wat?

 

Croma. 2 litre twink? Like this?

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb290/nigelbickle/fiat/ourcars012.jpg

 

Bought a few years ago, scrap value, and smoked it last winter.

Laid up now this-but could easily be brought into play.

[ChinaTom]

Back in 1990 looking for my first car. Ended up with a ceramic blue base Escort, but had it not been for the silly insurance quote on a 2.0 engine, I would have had the red 1984 Renault 18 TX for sale at a dealer in Market Deeping. To this day, it is the only TX spec 18 I have ever seen.

[trigger]

About 1999 i was offered a mint A reg Mk 1 XR2 in Black with only 40k, 1 owner and full history, It was my workmates who bought it as a trade in from a garage we did a bit of work for as it was cheap and he just kept it in his lock up for a year or so untouched.He need it gone and offered it to me for £500 with a years ticket, But being only 19 at the time and the insurnace being so high i turned it down.I'm still gutted even now about it.

[retro80sboy]

almost forgot, no long ago I found a chap on a forum who was offering a free early Vauxhall Chevette (sunken headlight model and rostyle wheels) to whoever could come and take it away. It had no MOT but was in generally good condition and was complete.It was his late fathers and he wanted it to go to a good home. I messaged him and he sent me pics then I sent him another email asking him when I could come and pick it up. Didnt get a response for a few days so messaged him again. day later got an email back saying someone had given him £250 for it.gutted.

[reallyloud]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. When I was looking for a car to learn in I had the pick of any car in the Thames Trader for £1000. I picked a beetle 1600. My reasons were logical for a 17 year old - birds loved them, quite a good social scene, cheap insurance, modifications, the unique driving experience and there were quite a few to choose from. What I should have done is bought my dads mates 1973 Toyota Celica for a couple of hundred and spend the rest on insurance and body filler. I still have that copy of the October 1990 Thames trader, with my first car circled in biro. The other cars in there for the same price make very interesting reading....I've been offered lots of cars for free over the years, space being the main issue. I've been offered a Fiat 128, Ford Fiesta, mk1 escort, mini, mk1 polo, Peugeot 104 and 304 cabriolet. All were quite good cars, solid and had MOT's and tax in some cases.I think the one I regret cashwise was my reluctance to wake up early enough on a sunday morning to view a late 70's Corolla liftback for a few hundred quid. Turns out the car was mint and went for £100 to a dealer.I also missed out on a very early Datsun 100A - drove all the way down to Eastbourne to view it. Agreed to buy it for a good price, then halfway through chatting to the owner she decided that she didn't want to sell it and sent me away. I wasn't pleased, but continued to keep in touch with her. I was gutted to hear that the car got nicked a few months later by the local kids who tried to set it alight. The council thoughtfully damaged the car further when picking it up rendering it useless.

[STUNO]

Mid 80's I was offered a choice of two cars, Rover P5B coupe or Humber Snipe series 5?(the very last model) at $3000 each. That's 1300 pounds in todays money. Both were in perfect condition,looking like they had never been sat in. I did what I still do and decided I could not afford one of them, let alone two