Cars you’ve loved and lost

[Wibble]

We all must have cars we regret getting rid of and this may have been done before, apologies if it has. 
But what cars have you wished you’d kept?

For me, it’s my first Cortina. A 1982 1.6L in Caribbean blue. Bought in 1988 and I loved it!

The problem was, I bought it in Glasgow, so it soon showed rust issues. Tarted up it looked great but soon needed this:

Rotten A posts, doors , inner and outer sills, boot floor. All repaired, 4 doors found and repainted, inside and out:

 

Repaired sills, 4 new doors, boot floor repaired, wheel arches, bonnet and then traded it in for a Carlton 2.0 CDi. Dad wasn’t well and I was doing many runs from Reading to Scotland, so needed something better but wished I’d kept it. I was offered £250 px until they looked at it and was then offered £750. Very good  for 1994 so I accepted. It was written off shortly afterwards 🙁

Edited January 18 by Wibble
Wasn’t finished!

[DavieW]

Can't find a pic of it, but my dark blue 1990 BMW 318iS.  Absolutely mint, I sold it when I got a company car and have regretted it ever since.

[sheffcortinacentre]

My  82 F 350 pickup (ex military had 15 mm thick push bumpers) mini cabs would still try to play chicken but I never lost😁

 

[Barry Cade]

These are the 3 that hurt the most. Not my faves, apart from the Alfa, but the ones I'd have back in a heartbeat. The GTV was my favoritest car out of the over 500... The 146 beside the Dodge was shite. 

 

[Schaefft]

I learn to like pretty much everything I drove. The Xedos 6 was definitely shite but such a great car for the 500 quid I paid for it. The A6 saloon was nothing special aside from the amazing interior spec, the A6 Avant was exactly the spec I'd have again aside from the engine (small 2.4 V6). All great, mostly trouble free cars for very little money.

 

[hennabm]

A 1600E - TLO 540G. 
I bought it when I was 17 and the insurers would only give me 3rd party - not even fire & theft!

It was a great car but costly for a young apprentice. I had to sell it after a short while and still regret having to do so.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

1980 I had taken a Ford Corsair 2000E auto in part exchange, it had a factory recon engine, the body work was mint as was the interior, unfortunately it was completly rotten underneath. I ran it for a few weeks until the mot expired then scrapped it. At the time value wise these were an end of life disposable car.

One of the handfull of cars I have regretted scrapping.

[Split_Pin]

Great and also sad to read by all accounts. I have had a think and I am happy to say that I have no regrets about selling any of the cars I have owned. I'd enjoyed the ownership experience and was ready to move on.

There's a fair few I regret buying though but that's for another thread, or maybe not 😂

[bunglebus]

My Escort Ghia

And my 5

Both cars disappeared under mysterious circumstances shortly after relationships ended. Neither was a coincidence, and it pisses me off to this day. They were also both off the road at the time, the Escort was half way through an auto to 5 speed manual swap, and the 5 I'd just finished repairing the rear quarter panel. 

[Wibble]

34 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

My Escort Ghia

And my 5

Both cars disappeared under mysterious circumstances shortly after relationships ended. Neither was a coincidence, and it pisses me off to this day. They were also both off the road at the time, the Escort was half way through an auto to 5 speed manual swap, and the 5 I'd just finished repairing the rear quarter panel. 

Some sad stories here but this is tragic and sounds like theft! Sorry for your loss.

[AndyW201]

My favourite 190E, Not the best mechanical spec out of the all the ones I owned, being a lowly 2.0 manual, and not the most luxurious spec either, but it was the colour (Nutria brown, only available in the last year of production), and the little mods I made like the slightly lowered suspension, rare as hell 15" Lorinser dished 15-hole rims and Hella darkened tail lights that really made the car for me.

I instantly regretted selling it (I always said it would take a special 190 to get me away from this one and I found one,  a low mileage 2.0 Sportline model with factory leather in Bornite) and would happily still daily the hell out of it if I could have it back.

This was my holy grail 190. Another Sportline in Bornite, but this time with the 2.6 six-pot. Luxo spec, with nearly every box ticked, but with a chassis to match an E30 325 Sport, and an engine note and exhaust burble to die for.

[Boycie]

On 18/01/2025 at 01:11, Barry Cade said:

These are the 3 that hurt the most. Not my faves, apart from the Alfa, but the ones I'd have back in a heartbeat. The GTV was my favoritest car out of the over 500... The 146 beside the Dodge was shite. 

 

That dodge ..... 

[bunglebus]

7 hours ago, Wibble said:

Some sad stories here but this is tragic and sounds like theft! Sorry for your loss.

Yes the Escort was stolen, very likely by my ex's new partner as his brother had a MK1, so I suspect the poor thing donated its 1600 and went in the crusher.

My ex wife had the Renault removed, was even clever enough to drop hints about it getting banger raced on Facebook. It should have been trailered away to safety a few days before but I got let down 

[Jerzy Woking]

The GS300 Lexus I owned for a few days. UK registered, but bought here for €700. I bought it purely to sell on here, as thought it would make a good collection caper for someone.

Although I only drove it a few miles (it's not legal to drive a UK registered car with a Spanish licence in Spain), but I really fell for it, it was such a lovely thing to just sit in, let alone drive

Sold to @chrisvjm for €700, who drove it back to the UK in one hit (top bloke). Never been so sad to see a car drive away from my house before, let alone one I was just custodian of for a few days.

He sold it onto @Schaefft, who in turn moved it on. Hope it is still alive and well somewhere

[Marina door handles]

Out of my cars there were only three that really got under my skin enough to regret selling.

Manta GTE sportshatch, this was bought as a bit of a distress purchase after rolling my Alfa 164.

The Manta instantly felt like a proper little coupe, it would wag its tail amusingly at pretty low speed mostly because the previous owner had pumped its rock hard back tyres up to 40 psi (And it took me a month or so to realise/check the pressures............). It was proper cheap fun. Then its engine started smoking and I sold it and replaced it with a bodged Sierra.

The next car I still regret selling is my 944. Had it for 6 years, tracked day'ed it, went on driving meets. Sold it due to MOT failure....

Finally and most missed of all was my E28 528i the unimaginatively named "Helga" a slab of charming germanic rust, that really got under my skin. Selling it seemed like the right thing to do at the time...

 

[bigstraight6]

I just wish I’d kept my first car that I bought in May 1985 for £275, the MK3 I now own has been in my custodianship for 22 years but I always miss 300 YYB….

[purplebargeken]

Out of the 700 plus cars I have owned, the following ones are deeply missed: mk2 Granada 2.3GL on a Y plate, the most mint car I have ever had.  Tatty 110 Landie, sold because the then wife was too controlling with money to allow me to get it fixed.  White Triumph 1500 TC automatic.  Grey R19 Chamade. Honda ST1100 and Kawasaki ZRX110. Light blue Triumph Toledo, sold on here, also satin black Toledo sold on here. White 940 Estate -Wentworth Turbo edition, London taxi, also sold on here.  Dolphin Grey Triumph 1300FWD. My last Morris Minor.  Grey Lada saloon and my recent MGF.

[barefoot]

The only car I've ever wished I'd not sold was my final Audi 200 5t. Back then I didn't realise that it was possible for a chap to own four whole cars.

[comfortablynumb]

39 minutes ago, purplebargeken said:

Tatty 110 Landie, sold because the then wife was too controlling with money to allow me to get it fixed.

Fuck. That.

I've lost count of how much I've put into the range rover of too many wheels, certainly more than I'd ever get back, but swombo is acutely aware that if any such game was played, it'd be the last.

I can't complain, it was her eBay bidding that got it for me in the first place 😁

[purplebargeken]

A lot to do with why I am no longer married to her.

[bigstraight6]

I miss this too, I’d always wanted a big Triumph and this one I owned between 2012/22 didn’t disappoint, the sound from the single silencer big bore exhaust was sublime….

[purplebargeken]

Ahhh, lovely. A big Trump in Venetian Blue.

[camryv6]

4 hours ago, purplebargeken said:

Out of the 700 plus cars I have owned, the following ones are deeply missed: mk2 Granada 2.3GL on a Y plate, the most mint car I have ever had.  Tatty 110 Landie, sold because the then wife was too controlling with money to allow me to get it fixed.  White Triumph 1500 TC automatic.  Grey R19 Chamade. Honda ST1100 and Kawasaki ZRX110. Light blue Triumph Toledo, sold on here, also satin black Toledo sold on here. White 940 Estate -Wentworth Turbo edition, London taxi, also sold on here.  Dolphin Grey Triumph 1300FWD. My last Morris Minor.  Grey Lada saloon and my recent MGF.

No photos ? 😎

[purplebargeken]

Photo bucket for a lot of them. The taxi was on here but a long time ago, as was the blue Toledo. Chamade was way before taking photos lol, I have a print of the Granada somewhere. The black Toledo should be easily found.

[GMcD]

Slightly not to thread, but a happy ending (sort of) 

Sold this in 2013:

Regretted it massively. Didn't think I'd get it back as it was SORNd for years.

Fate intervened and I got it back in Sept 2023 (photo at the A66 farm shop having picked it back up).

Currently looking like this, no engine and plenty of welding still to finish:

House move, major refurb and our 8 month old have consumed every spare second of my time but it's back in my possession which is the main thing!

 

[andy18s]

Avon Sunbeam Lotus in Moonstone Blue with the silver stripe,proper little hooligan of a car.

Reliable enough once you let it warm up/cool down before and after ragging it around.

Bought and sold back when they were a cheap fun car,like most others at the time. 

Iirc I sold it to finance a Nordic Blue RS2000 that was up for sale,but the Escort was literally a ton of rust and filler so it never happened. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

It must be the 1990 Volvo 740, this was the car that took me over 5000km to Nordkapp in 2014, what a great car it was. Was on impulse taken in trade-in on a van and sold to teenagers and was killed a fate thousands of Volvos have suffered here.

[83C]

My last Mitsubishi GTO Twin Turbo:

Full Mk.4 99 spec conversion on a Mk.1, had a top end rebuild soon after I bought it, nice interior, very nice speakers and head unit, Tein EDFC suspension, lots of trick bits and rare items like the genuine Mk.4 rear wing and PitRoad M engine damper, plus lots more. I spent a lot of time and money over the course of four years getting it where I wanted it to be, and then had to sell it because I was changing jobs and needed a sensible car. The buyer took it home and stripped it for parts.

Honourable mention to the ZT I had from @RichardK a couple of years ago, I really liked this and didn’t want to sell, however I’d just bought the forum bike A8 which was what I actually needed at the time. It disappeared from DVLA records shortly after I sold it. I was really pleased with it once I’d got it back on the road, it was such a nice car to drive.

[bigstraight6]

I love this thread, we’ve certainly owned some great car’s over the year’s. Can’t imagine this being a thing in years to come with yet another boring white Tesla off to the scrappers with a knackered battery😀

[Marshall2810]

My first car 1989 Metro City X in red. I found a GTA body kit in the scrappy and some lattice GTA wheels on Hayling Island (130 odd miles away) from where I lived. I loved it but was a total shed in reality. Jet washed it once and resulting  in a big red river.

I optimistically booked it for an MOT after nearly a year with it and it's the only MOT where I've had a full sheet of failures with "please turn over" and then more on the back 😆🤦‍♂️

But also many mk2 XR2's I had. This one I bought for £1300 in 2013 and was on ebay recently for £13k and sold!