A couple of *abandoned" cars.

[Dobloseven]

During the week,was fitting a new washing machine for a regular customer.She said it'd be easier to wheel it in through the garage,and opened the double door.My eyes fell upon something big and silver under a dust sheet.Turns out to be her late husbands 1990 Mercedes 230E saloon.A basic model with dinner plate wheel trims and scabby wheel arches.Private plate,but just A20 ___,his initials.Last MOT 2016 at about 140k miles.Usual story,her grown up son wants to "do it up' . Mentioned that I seen a lot of them last month over from the Netherlands on the Carbage Run.She seemed to quite like the idea of it being used for something like that,so if anyone's got any ideas,I could put them in touch.

Later,I went to pick up a chair off Freecycle for my elderly cousin and the lady got it out from a  Fiat Doblo WAV at the side of the house.59 reg petrol manual,so one of the last first gen.Covered in green mould,flat tyres,last MOT 2015 at 19k miles.Been off the road for 60% of it's life!Again,I think her disabled mum had died and life had got in the way and time had marched on.Don't know if there's much interest in that sort of thing anyway.Had a nice chat and told her I'd owned four Doblos, including what must have been the first one in Leicester.

[sierraman]

These where someone’s died are a bloody nightmare as you say, the son always has plans despite living on the 14th floor of a tower block and working a 60 hour week. Then another family member gets involved and according to his Millers Antique Guide it’s worth £15,000 so your offer of £8.75 should be told to fuck off! 😂

Then eventually someone else passes away but by that point it’s total scrap and some kind men come in with a dustpan and brush and sweep it up for free. 

[comfortablynumb]

There was a VERY odd bloke on the A17 I used to get some bits from, unsociable as you like until he got to know you a bit, you had to be persistent. Sort of fella who answers the phone with 'WHAT??'

He'd got his dad's old Anglia 105e, Which we found out about after MK2 son first got his.

We enquired about some parts. His response was 'id rather it sat here and rotted away'

Obviously had been a pretty nice car at one point. 😕

[JeeExEll]

23 hours ago, sierraman said:

These where someone’s died are a bloody nightmare as you say, the son always has plans despite living on the 14th floor of a tower block and working a 60 hour week. Then another family member gets involved and according to his Millers Antique Guide it’s worth £15,000 so your offer of £8.75 should be told to fuck off! 😂

Then eventually someone else passes away but by that point it’s total scrap and some kind men come in with a dustpan and brush and sweep it up for free. 

Years ago I read a magazine article, possibly a late 70s Custom Car or early 80s Rod & Custom, where a bloke customised a 70s Camaro or Trans Am in the carpark of a block of flats in London. He lived on something like the 9th floor and had extension cables out of his window for power tools and a welder.

He resprayed it (I think red) using an electric spray gun, one panel at a time.

[sierraman]

Sadly fire safety regulations prevent such high jinks these days. 😂

[JeeExEll]

I used to do electrical work on a local country estate and there was all sorts of cars stashed away in various sheds, 1930s Hillmans and other 1930s cars of various sizes, 2 Morris Minors, a Rover P4 75, Triumph Herald with no roof, Morris Minor pick-up, and some sort of ex-WW2 army-surplus 4x4 Canadian Ford truck thing from the 1940s in bits.

When the owner of the estate died in 1969 the cars were just left there.

Shortly after the next generation of owners died in 2004 the whole lot disappeared. All there one day, all gone the next.

 

[comfortablynumb]

There was a very dilapidated house just north of Cambridge on the A10, you wouldn't have known it was there, it was so overgrown.

Apparently when it was cleared, presumably the owner died, there was around 50 rootes vehicles all round the place.

Think they all got skipped 😕

[JeeExEll]

All the cars were covered with dirt and dust and some were in sheds with leaky roofs. Flat tyres, usually with no tread. Junk piled on top of them.

Jonny Smith would have had a field day.

Try jump-starting them though. Errmmm, no.

[New POD]

Fucking relatives. 

For a few years I was very angry at my uncle (Rip) 

My Grandad was still alive, had given up driving, but kept his Allegro Vandom Plas fully MOTd taxed and insured for any driver over 25. 

It got use occassionanally because my other uncle and his wife lived 1/2 a mile away and when my Grandad needed to go anywhere he insisted that one of them drive it. 

Eventually my other uncle who was also an executor of my Grandads will was told that he was to inherit it eventually, in a will that was remarkably weird. It did have a private plate EUL 27 which was my mothers maiden name. But for context. My aunt got the house, the cash was split three ways, a couple of bits of furniture was specifically named, and my uncle got the car. 

Remember in this story my Grandad was still alive.  

Me and my wife had just had our first born, were pretty tight for money, but we NEEDED a car.  Knowing that this car had low miles and was rust free and at that point 20 years old, I phoned my Grandad and asked if we could either borrow it or buy it off him. He said it was now in my uncles garage so I should contact him.

Now for more context this is a man who was on a business trip to New York, had a XJS V12 as his company car, and had bought each of his daughters brand new Fiestas as their first cars.  I spoke to his wife (always a kind woman) and explained my predicament and she said that he really didn't know what to do with the VP and it sounded like a good idea that I buy it off him.

When he got home, he phoned me. I'm sure in hindsight that he probably agonised over his decision, but he point-blank refused to sell it to me. It's value at the time was probably £600. He'd been told that it was worth over £2k. And was a classic. This was 1994. It would be years before its value would rise that much. 

Anyway, I wrote him a letter explaining my need offering to give him first refusal to buy it back at what I paid for it, and to either look after the reg number or transfer it to one of his cars.  He phoned back to say again. NO. 

Roll on to 2000. Grandad dies. I noticed my uncle turned up to the funeral in a posh car with The reg on it.

I asked my cousin what had happened to the Allegro. Oh that old thing. It sat in a car port, before a scrap man came last year and dragged it away.

  I'm sure people thought my tears were due to my Grandads death, and some of them were. 

Only found out about the will when my mum phoned up to say her sister had sent her a cheque for just over £50k which was an equal share of the house, and my mum had returned it as that wasn't what her father had wanted.  My uncle cashed his cheque. (I'm sure that's exactly what her mother would have wanted though) 

Anyway this is why I keep offering extended family my old cars for free. They always decline. 

My uncle died in 2021 from Throat cancer that had spread to other parts of his body but before he died he sent an email saying how proud he was of me and the way I lived my life. 

 

[New POD]

Right. I'm getting up. I'm going to get the MX5 out of the garage and replace a front wing, otherwise it will be there until I die. 

[sierraman]

I kind of get why people are a bit reluctant after a bereavement to get involved with flogging the deceaseds former pride and joy. The absolute last thing you need at that time is a pair of would-be Quentin Wilson’s coming round to chip you down to £15.

I knew of some folks that had a very tidy Mk1 Focus, one owner until he carked it. Can’t remember the specifics but it hadn’t done much work let’s say, anyhow it might have been worth say a grand at the time, from what I recollect they had a series of dickheads ringing up offering £300 etc, it just wasn’t at that specific time worth the hassle of having people like that round they just wanted the thing gone so to the bailer it went. Hassle free and it’s gone then, not having the maelstrom of people turning up in packs of six telling you the clutch is going and extended periods of aggressive bargaining. 

[comfortablynumb]

My 'uncle' had an immaculate MK2 escort 1.3gl, had it since new, in the 11 years he owned it, it covered less than 23k.

When my 'aunt' died he decided he wanted a change, and traded it in at Godfrey Davies St Albans for a new MK1 XR2. He didn't tell anyone what he was doing.

They gave him £600.

Strangely enough, a week later, the dealer principals wife was rolling around in the escort.

I was sorely tempted to go and burn the dealership down 🤬

[New POD]

10 hours ago, New POD said:

Right. I'm getting up. I'm going to get the MX5 out of the garage and replace a front wing, otherwise it will be there until I die. 

Okay so I'm counting this as a partial success. 

Step 1. I'd left the battery on charge all night. Engine starts first time.

Step 2. Pump one rear tyre up.

Step 3. Remove the "Stuff" stopping it moving. 

Step 4. Sort some stuff out. 

Step 5. Put it back. 

Step 6 Put the car back.

Wing still needs replacing but it started raining, so that can wait. 

Also want to replace the wheels with some daisies off an earlier version. 

[New POD]

9 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

My 'uncle' had an immaculate MK2 escort 1.3gl, had it since new, in the 11 years he owned it, it covered less than 23k.

When my 'aunt' died he decided he wanted a change, and traded it in at Godfrey Davies St Albans for a new MK1 XR2. He didn't tell anyone what he was doing.

They gave him £600.

Strangely enough, a week later, the dealer principals wife was rolling around in the escort.

I was sorely tempted to go and burn the dealership down 🤬

What year would that be?  Early to mid 80s.?  That was probably a fair price 

[somewhatfoolish]

Your uncle refused to sell you a car he didn't own? I suppose in that sense there's something to be grateful for.

[New POD]

10 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Your uncle refused to sell you a car he didn't own? I suppose in that sense there's something to be grateful for.

At that point he'd been given it "early".   At the time I couldn't get over the fact that within the family there was a car that nobody really wanted, when I needed a car. 

But in hindsight, its clear that he must have had a huge resentment about the will only he ( and the solicitor) was party to.  Which ultimately his sister tried to fix. 

My mothers reaction to that is another story and not car related. 

[sierraman]

12 hours ago, New POD said:

Okay so I'm counting this as a partial success. 

Step 1. I'd left the battery on charge all night. Engine starts first time.

Step 2. Pump one rear tyre up.

Step 3. Remove the "Stuff" stopping it moving. 

Step 4. Sort some stuff out. 

Step 5. Put it back. 

Step 6 Put the car back.

Wing still needs replacing but it started raining, so that can wait. 

Also want to replace the wheels with some daisies off an earlier version. 

I’d be tempted to give all that shite piled up on and around the car to a nearest and dearest early. Save any arguments later down the line about who gets the old fridge and the off cuts of carpet. 😂

[Floatylight]

A friends grandmother had a Rover 414 in the late 90's must have been about 10 years old, minty and v low mileage but pretty worthless, but she had given up driving, friends Dad needed wheels and was given use of the car, for context we all lived in a small village only accessible by lanes, of you drove a mile car was dirty,  anyway family made such uproar from other family that the car was being used and the fact it wasnt being looked after thst he go it fully valeted and put it back in grannys garage, fast foward to when it did get to being mildly collectablle and someone had it scrapped.

Same friends uncle had a J plate beetle in the garage for 25+ years, untouched save for storing loads of old crap in & on it, he died a couple of years ago and left it to my mate in his will but with the proviso that my mate get it fully restored, its currently with a classic car specialist having a bare metal rebuild, mate is in a hole for over 10k...

[New POD]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

I’d be tempted to give all that shite piled up on and around the car to a nearest and dearest early. Save any arguments later down the line about who gets the old fridge and the off cuts of carpet. 😂

That's the Christmas Freezer ( or overflow freezer) you are talking about.  Full of buffet items from 2018 that nobody wants to eat yet. 

 

[Pieman]

Some of the people described in this thread are the same people who moan about banger racers wasting old cars...