Saving Shite

[CortinaDave]

Have you ever bought a car purely to "save" it? I've rescued a couple of very straight cortinas that otherwise were destined for the track and rehomed them, but almost always find out that within the next couple of owners they got raced/broken anywaySo is saving shite a pointless exercise? are you just delaying the inevitable?

[Mr Lobster]

I suppose it depends on the car really. Something like a Cortina is attractive to banger racers or something tatty is attractive to anyone who wants to break one for parts, so if you save something and pass it on to another owner, unless someone at some point spends money to restore it therefore increasing its value and thus making it less attractive to race / break then yes I suppose it is only delaying the inevitable.

[reallyloud]

Most of the cars I've bought have been to save them, I think the Spottedlaurel/PC/Hirst Galant has been the most obvious car I've saved. I bought a '73 120A Cherry 6 years ago - just to ensure its future. Having the time and storage is a huge factor, and if you don't have them you have to find them somehow, in this deadly serious business of shite saving.

[55bloke]

Depends on the time-scale you're talking about, doesn't it? Ultimately, it's all coming to a sticky end when the sun goes nova!! Sorry, being a little sarcastic there, but to be serious, there's never a long term guarantee, even for something that's been lovingly restored.

[Guest]

I reckon I saved the Charmant in the medium term. The last owner liked it, but wanted something more modern for winter and was conscious of the rusty rear arches, which were very flaky indeed. He couldn't justify spending money on having them repaired properly, which is fair enough. So he Emailed me directly to offer it to me first after I expressed interest when he first posted it on Retro Rides. I reckon if he put it up for sale on eBay it would have found a buyer, most likely a wannabe drifter who would leave/bodge the rear arches and then punt it into a ditch. Not saying all drifters are like that, but cheap old RWD Japanese stuff seems to attract a "sort". Probably the same ones who think that a 4-speed auto Laurel will be GR8 4 DRIFTIN. I think it would have lived to the next MOT at best, then probably end up on the oval in its more knackered state.As for the Galant, the responsibility of saving it definitely went to DC. But after the Nurburgring trip, it needed to be punted on. However, I was fed up of all the excuses people were making for not buying it and felt a bit sorry for it, particularly as I really fancied it last time it was up for sale. I'm sure it would have found a home eventually, probably to break for spares or be run into the ground for a while (as it had a long MOT). It was a sympathy case which has turned out to be an absolutely cracking car!

[r.welfare]

I reckon I've "saved" at least 2 - the green Mk2 Cavalier was being "ummed and ahhed" about by loads of people on R-R and the Mk2 Cav forum for about 3 months and the lady selling it had, I think, resigned herself to getting it scrapped, so I got it for £100. A good car that needed a bit of work, but not a huge amount to get roadworthy again (brakes, a bit of welding, new wing, that sort of thing). And the Rover 420 was going to be cut up for fire practice if it hadn't sold for £50.Not sure what will happen to either short-term - the Cav went to a collector of sorts who sells Yanks down here, but likes old Vauxhall tin, and the Rover went off to the boyfriend of a friend, but they split up...having said that, I've only directly scrapped one car out of the 25 I've owned, but checking on the DVLA website seems to indicate that most of my old cars haven't been taxed in a long time...

[pogweasel]

Yeah, all of the rootes stuff I have had has been "under threat". The sceptre was going to get bangered having unsucessfully found a buyer a couple of times on the bay. I bought it because I thought it deserved better and I really fancied a bit of sixties porridge, the sceptre being left-field and cheap. Last I knew the chap I sold it to had it up for nearly £3k, with fresh custom paint and fully revitalised. Super Minx 1 was facing a similar fate, it's "safe" for now, but I don't have enough funds to get it roadworthy right now. Dry storage for it until then. Super Minx 2 was facing the hiab, but I bought it purely as a "save" as it was local and cheap. Not much on it I could use on the other one, and in the end I got pissed off with it and sold it to a racer.

[Albert Ross]

So............the Azure Blue Super Minx with the white stripe has been totalled???I did sort of express an "ish" interest should the need have arisen.It was a clone of my first ever car, and also the one I popped my cherry in................Ah well..............Ho hum.................there may be another somewhere the same colour............

[Ross_K]

Yeah, a Citroen BX GTi 4x4. What was I thinking?I did break it for parts, cube what was left and double what I paid for it though...

[pogweasel]

So............the Azure Blue Super Minx with the white stripe has been totalled???I did sort of express an "ish" interest should the need have arisen.It was a clone of my first ever car, and also the one I popped my cherry in................Ah well..............Ho hum.................there may be another somewhere the same colour............

Sadly, yes. I thought I offered it far & wide enough for someone to snaffle it, but hey. The "square" type ones do little for me as by the mid 60's rootes were toning down all the faux-yank glitz of the earlier ones. As I have oft stated, anything on eBay [or anywhere] really is fair game, first with the biggest cash wins, can't save them all.... BUT it does make me more determined to get my fins/chrome/reverse rear window Minx sorted... it may actually happen soon as well, though I fear it may be an even more expensive £/mile hobby than my BMW.

[AnthonyG]

Yes - 2 Hillman Avengers, and a Granada. With the Avengers, one I restored , and the other was purchased off me for restoration by someone else - I've forgotten the reg so have no idea whether he did so or not.The one I restored is now apparently sitting on the guy's driveway not being used and on SORN, so I am going to offer to buy it back I think. Ultimately you have to keep ownership yourself to secure the cars' future , particularly if it needs work, or sell/give it to someone you know who's as keen on the car as yourself. This limits the amount you can own at any one time, I kept a Granada to save it from banger racers, it sit in a field for two years gathering water, and I had to give it away in the end - It was most likely scrapped or raced. Now I restrict myself to vehicles that can be taxed/insured/on the road, and that can live over cover in the winter.

[Daniel H]

Saved my Very Posh Allegro from the front garden of a holiday bungalow, was originally for sale at £300 but I left it until a few weeks before the owner was emigrating to Greece, by then he was looking for £100 but let it go for £70, I'm sure he would have got more if he weighed it in!

 

[CortinaDave]

I just find it a bit disheartening thats all... a couple that come to mind... a mk4 'tina 1.6 GL which had been for sale for a long time - very straight but had been off the road 10 years and really could have done with a respray, but no one wanted it so the seller was understandably going to race it. I stepped in and rescued it and got it roadworthy and polished up.I sold it on at a fair loss and it stayed locally where i watched it go downhill over the next year or so with no love whatsoever before being written off and scrapped.The other i found out about the other day - a blue 1.6 crusader mk5 I discovered in a driveway locally, 38k from new with full history stamped every 6 months regardless of mileage, one owner from new who died age 95, then the car was laid up at his son's house for a couple of years where it deteriorated a bit - some slight rust here and there but very little. I bought it as it was headed for the scrappy and it went back on the road. Sold it - next owner decided to paint it matt black which i always think is the kiss of death as it makes it bloody hard to sell on... he then passed it on to a bloke, it failed its MOT on some minor welding so its now getting broken for spares.Seems a sad end to me for what was a year and a half ago an utterly original full history one owner car. Makes me think I wont bother doing the rescue thing again.

[Mr Lobster]

Trouble is you can only save something whilst you own it. That way you have total control over what happens to it. Sadly once its out of your control then it is up to the whim of the next owner what happens with it.