Cars you didn't buy (the ones that got away)

[sierraman]

Vectra B 2.2 diesel SRI. Looked great in the advert, arrived and it was one of these ‘trade car sales’ bollocks places full of dickheads in tracksuits. Looked in the boot and there was about 6 inch of water sat in there, in the well.

Sister in law had me looking for a car a while ago for her, went to view the following...

Focus Mk2, arrived, looked really tidy, opened the bonnet and the it was like the Trevi fountain in there, if the Trevi spewed oil and coolant everywhere. The guy was like ‘Never noticed that!’ 

Focus Mk1 - shitty part of town. Upon arrival it was one of those cars that looked an absolute fucker but drove fine. But it was so impossibly shit looking with Giffer GRP ‘fixes’ that I told her it was a piece of shit just to get out of Dodge. 

Vectra 1.8 Misery - again an even shitter part of town for sale at back of some shops. The guy wouldn’t shut the fuck up while I was looking at it which is a sure sign of some sort of someone with something to hide. Then he had a pre planned test drive he’s giving me directions like I’m some sort of tourist, ‘accidentally’ missed a turn so it took us on the bypass where it started to overheat. It had nearly boiled its bollocks off by the time we got back t’shop. Told him ‘I’ll ring you...’ and left him to top the ‘never before happened overheating’ back up. 

Upped the budget past tuck shop money and scored a tidy ex MD p/x Focus that over the 18 months she had it never put a foot wrong. 

 

[Blake's Den]

Where to start!

Austin Mini City E from 1983 - I was offered this for free 20ish years ago but was 300 miles away so I passed.

When looking for my first car I spotted a Mark 2 Ford Escort 1.3, possibly a Ghia. Passed on that and got a boring euro box instead.

Both worth a blooming fortune now.

 

[Matty]

Got one from today. Drove all the way up to Ripon to look at a mark1 A40 Farina (always wanted to build a standard looking quick one - don't ask). When we got there he had two. Uncle was all over the one we didn't go to look at then came over to the one we came for "no good needs too much. Other one is a canny buy though. Bid him on that and take it home"

I turns to "oh that sold unseen day after it went on". Bollox.

Good thing is I know I'm definatly going to have one. Bad thing is that yet again I've set my cap at something rarer than hens teeth.

[Saabnut]

2 hours ago, Matty said:

Got one from today. Drove all the way up to Ripon to look at a mark1 A40 Farina (always wanted to build a standard looking quick one - don't ask). When we got there he had two. Uncle was all over the one we didn't go to look at then came over to the one we came for "no good needs too much. Other one is a canny buy though. Bid him on that and take it home"

I turns to "oh that sold unseen day after it went on". Bollox.

Good thing is I know I'm definatly going to have one. Bad thing is that yet again I've set my cap at something rarer than hens teeth.

I have one that was a good runner when parked (about 10 years ago!) but still turns. Will need floors/sills. Early saloon. Lot of work but cheap......

[Matty]

47 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

I have one that was a good runner when parked (about 10 years ago!) but still turns. Will need floors/sills. Early saloon. Lot of work but cheap......

A.big bodywork jobs too much for me. I can do the mechanical stuff i want to do at home but bodywork would mean spending a lot of time at uncles garage. Unfortunately 2 young kids and wife's shifts rules that out. Lovely offer though, genuine thanks for that. Give us some pics though when you can. Thanks bud 👍

[scorchio69]

Three instantly spring to mind with an almighty doh moment when looking at prices now

Series 1 jag e-type that had been stripped completely in prep for restoration so was all in boxes and laid out nicely on the eBay add, spoke with the seller first thing before starting work at 7.30am and by the time I had spoken to my boss 10 mins later for approval it was gone , the jag was only 10k 

Porsche 993 manual Vario ram coupe that just needed painting and was only on for 15k, usual for me I docked about for too long thinking about it………..

And this has to be the worse one, nice clean 99 Nissan skyline R34 GTR Vspec in silver but the kicker was the previous owner had went a bit nuts with the nismo parts catalogue so it sported over 10 million yen worth of parts let alone the low mileage nismo S2 engine, this car was 44k and at the time I had only been going offshore for 1 year and thought it’s a lot for a old Nissan …………………. Now looking at the GTR prices that car would be worth we’ll over 100k 😩😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[maxxo]

still think about these two

back in January when i was looking for a C5.......

i found a black 04 plate hatch, 2.0 HDi auto like the one i ended up with for sale locally with high miles but apparently in good condition

what greeted me:

every panel dented, suspension wouldn't level properly, very obviously the front passenger side strut had smashed through the bonnet

gearbox was horrific, didn't run right and stunk of sweat and feet inside

seller was extremely dodgy too

I then found another one locally, a minty green 2.2 HDi estate on an 02 plate

now this was more expensive and apparently a minter!

so i went to view it, and from a distance yes, it was an absolute minter

it had rot on the bottom of all doors which was a shame

test drove it, drove quite well actually right up until the moment i had to move the steering wheel anything beyond a single turn which greeted me with a horrible crunching sensation

also felt like the rear end was very loose and i felt a lot of sideways movement over bumps......

didn't buy either of them

 

ended up buying the one i have now, from a man off the internet at a motorway services

he's become a good friend of mine and sure it's needed work but the car is great, fantastic in fact, fate happens for a reason

[Snake Charmer]

Jensen Interceptor lll in silver with black interior and a Tom Jones tape in the 8 Track for sale at a used car dealer. Two big rust stains on the floor under the sills where it had stood so long. Mid 80's and l had been paid out for a bike accident and looking for my first car, bought a write off Cavalier instead.

Jensen Interceptor SP without the 6 pack. One of the cars l looked at 15 years later instead of a Dodge Challenger. Bought an Interceptor Mklll instead.

The Jensen CV8 Kevin Beatie drove to Turin and Vignale re-bodied into the first Interceptor when it was available for £20k.

There's  couple of Manta and Ascona B's I turned down too.

[Jerzy Woking]

I bought an Aprilia RS250 from a dealer in Kings Lynn, selling it on behalf of one of his long term customers. Great bike, but I digress.

He said the bloke also had a 1996 Nissan R33 Skyline for sale. It was in his yard, so I had a good look at it. Totally original, apart from a set of Japanese aftermarket wheels. Even put it on the ramp for me to have a good look at the underside. Solid as a rock. Only fault was a previous sill repair that needed tidying up and a bit of paint. Test drive showed it drove perfectly, interior excellent and standard too.

Offered it for £4000.

Decided not to buy it, and kicked myself for not doing so, as I had the cash sat around doing nothing.

[DSdriver]

In 1986 I went to look at a Chapron DS decap which was offered at £2,000. It of course needed a lot of work, and I needed a usable car so bought our current DS saloon instead for the same money which lasted 10 years before needing its first rebuild. Had I bought the Chapron I would be the owner of a car worth between 125 and 250 thousand now. Hey Ho.

[Rustybullethole]

27 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

In 1986 I went to look at a Chapron DS decap which was offered at £2,000. It of course needed a lot of work, and I needed a usable car so bought our current DS saloon instead for the same money which lasted 10 years before needing its first rebuild. Had I bought the Chapron I would be the owner of a car worth between 125 and 250 thousand now. Hey Ho.

Them theres the breaks. Helped my mate tow his last mk 1 escort to its new home. Wanted it myself though had only enough for a 16th let alone the 600 quid asking at the time. 

[Marina door handles]

There has been plenty of cars that I have looked at with a view to buying and found good and bad reasons not to buy. But only one that I fully intended to buy and it all went pear shaped.

I was looking at replacing my rusty yellow MGBGT this was back in the summer of 1999 (not to be confused with Space 1999). I found a 2.8 Capri for a grand in the cheap car section of Autotrader.  Phoned the owner, went to view it on a Friday night, failed to get any deposit money together (cause idiot) so agreed with the seller I would return the next day and do the deal.

The next day my appendix decided it wasn't getting enough attention and went a bit Chernobyl on me, predictably I wound up in hospital. By the time I recovered the Capri had been sold to someone else, so I went and bought an Alfa 164 V6 instead.......  Still haven't owned a Capri.