Cars you’ve loved and lost

[Rocket88]

The scarlet harlot… 2 litre MIVEC screamer

[maxxo]

my 2003 C5 2.0 HDi Auto 

I loved that car, despite its flaws and issues I got it absolutely fantastic

i then took it to a “Citroen specialist” and asked them to change the fluid in the automatic gearbox

in doing so they filled it with the wrong fluid

which ruined the valves

i had a 2 week wait to get it sorted, in that time it severely damaged the gearbox

about 5,000 miles later I had catastrophic gearbox failure 

I wish none of that happened 

I’d still own that car now

i sadly scrapped it, 180,000 miles I couldn’t justify thousands to rebuild the gearbox

[loserone]

19 minutes ago, maxxo said:

C5 2.0 HDi Auto

Remind yourself at any time of the day

[Schaefft]

11 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

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

I forgot to mention this one. My mate Alex bought it, I think he's taking good care of it up in Edinburgh. Can always ask him for dibs should he decide to sell it one day, absolutely fantastic car.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

My mk2 which had a subtle upgrade of a 2.8 six pot VR6 lump. She was a howler. I still have deep regrets. 

[MikeR]

the Volvo , you could shift some crap with it ....

[mat777]

The only one I really regret selling was "Carly Rae Jeepsen", my 5.7 Hemi Commander....

 

This wonderful old bus had been the Sunday Best for her previous owner, but was soon pressed into service as my daily drive, covering everything from commuting, B road thrashes, greenlanes, motorway schleps, car camping and heavy duty towing. In my 2 and a half years of ownership I took her from 55000 to 125000 miles, requiring nothing more than routine servicing (every 5000 miles, being a pushrod engine!) , a tyre pressure sensor, 2 sets of brake pads and 1 set of discs. Oh, and an estimated 4000 gallons of lpg, 3 litres of Flashlube and 70 litres of fully synthetic high performance oil.....

The noise was always addictive, the towing was gutsy and the performance when unladen (7 seconds to 60) would upset a lot of traffic light grand prix knobs....

Sadly, the economics eventually caught up with me as Carly began to get a little tired... With my now £4k car likely to need 4 new tyres, a full gearbox service, 8 new coilpacks and 16 new spark plugs, 4 new dampers and £3k unicorn of a windscreen all within the next year of my high mileage use, it made sense to part ways. Luckily, a nice man called Carlos came from Yorkshire to buy her just after lockdown, and returned her to a gentle life of local pootling. Unlike most of my used cars, she still shows as taxed and MOTd.... Sometimes I have brief thoughts of a buyback, but I know the optics are likely rose tinted.....

Still, the "sensible" Ranger I replaced her with holds the accolade of being the worst car I've ever owned, so the contrast was strong!

[Honey Badger]

Accord 3.0 Coupe

 

The first car I'd brought without a thought on practicality. It made me smile every time I drove it.

 

It got moved onto Twosmoke when I got an RX300. It came up for sale about 18 months ago but someone had beaten the crap out of it.

[eddyramrod]

Too bloody many...

...And these are just since 2010!  At the moment the only one I can find that predates these is this one...

...Both of these apply.  Here are some more...

If I never have any of them again, at least I can say I've done it once. 

[bramz7]

I think these are the ones I miss most. 

V6 (manual) 406 which lived in Kentish Town. The older bloke had had it as a company car and bought it. Sold to me due to ULEZ. There were reasons why I couldn't keep it long, probably my ex swallowing all my money as per. It's dead now. 

Absolutely thrilling to drive Busso 156 SW, but it was so scruffy and for some reason I had a crisis and sold it. It still lives. 

Lovely spec on this Brava, including the massively rare half wooden steering wheel. I was playing car buying pinball at the time and sold it to a very scary looking man. 

Sheer obscurity value made this appealing. Slow as hell with the 2.1 and auto box, but I liked it. Still around I think. 

This car hated me, I've never had such a pain in the bum with four wheels but I feel annoyed, 7 years on that I let it go. I should have kept at it, I've seldom owned a car since with such an aura to it. 

[GeordieInExile]

My 306 GTi. £700 off eBay. Moon miles but one owner. Failed the MOT and it was gonna be £800 to get it through, so I sold it for a couple hundred quid. Then I went and bought a completely fucked SportKa that first destroyed its clutch and then blew its head gasket. 

[Wibble]

I started this thread because of nostalgia of better times whilst I struggle a bit with the current situation. Thank you all for your contributions, which just shows the variety of cars we’ve all loved and still love. Brilliant amount of diversity here.👍

[RoverFolkUs]

Mine seems a bit weird on paper because it's nothing special at all. But this car was absolutely brilliant, I quite often think of how regretful I was having to get rid of it. 

I remember seeing the glimmer of nightfire red on a dealer forecourt with £995 on the price board. Bear in mind the car was about 15 years old at the time. It was pretty immaculate, looking closer I saw it was a 414S, so nothing special under the bonnet, but had only done about 30k miles. 

Naturally, I ended up with it 😂

2.5 years or so I think I had it, from memory all it ever needed was a track rod end, a few tyres, a pair of headlights and servicing. Never skipped a beat on a couple of 300+ mile journeys, never failed to start, never broke down... Until... 

It lost drive. The clutch decided it didn't like the idea of working any more so it didn't! 

This posed a big problem, because I needed a car the following day for an important long journey. No chance of fixing it in time, so I headed to the nearest bombsite dealer in search of a drive-away today, which happened to be a K12 Micra (🤮) , handed them the keys and paperwork for my beloved Rover and reluctantly left them to dispose of it as they saw fit

The car did survive one further MOT, so someone must have fixed it which was nice - then I saw it go through a police seizure disposal auction some time later having clearly been involved in some sort of hit and run

I don't have any photos of the exact car to hand because it was so long ago, but it was almost identical to this one with the wheels, spoiler and colour:

[SilverMachine]

On 19/01/2025 at 16:19, GMcD said:

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

i worked there briefly last yr, lovely place, nice staff, shame the zero people skill owners were absolute to55er5...

[stuboy]

On 19/01/2025 at 22:56, eddyramrod said:

very nice

[Essex V6]

On 19/01/2025 at 21:44, Dick Cheeseburger said:

My mk2 which had a subtle upgrade of a 2.8 six pot VR6 lump. She was a howler. I still have deep regrets. 

 

[Essex V6]

That looks superb!

[Bren]

This. My first car that wasn't a heap.

January 1992. I paid £2k. Insurance was £680 ish for the year.

It was a good car that reminds me of much better times. I stopped feeling like an ugly duckling when I got the car - I had arrived.

I still occasionally have a dream whereby I locate it and buy it back even though it is long gone.

[stuboy]

5 minutes ago, Bren said:

This. My first car that wasn't a heap.

January 1992. I paid £2k. Insurance was £680 ish for the year.

It was a good car that reminds me of much better times. I stopped feeling like an ugly duckling when I got the car - I had arrived.

I still occasionally have a dream whereby I locate it and buy it back even though it is long gone.

do love a cavalier, think i got one of the numberplate surrounds in my shed

[Essex V6]

Mine is the first of many Capri’s. A very early 2.8i on a W plate. Made way when a mint later 2.8i became available but there was something about that early car - getting my dream car at the age of 20 was an amazing feeling. It replaced a Mini Ritz 😀. Funnily enough, Minis and Capris have been a constant in my life ever since.

Honourable mention goes to my completely stock and mint WRX which I owned in NZ - only sold when I moved back to the UK the first time.

 

[Mrcento]

My old Disco. Broke my heart selling it, just couldn't get anywhere to get the inevitable Disco rot welded. Still miss it every day. Would have chucked several thousand at it to get a proper job done, not a single place would even entertain the idea. Have never been able to replace it, always wanted to, only came semi close once, sale fell through for the exact same reason i had to sell the original, it needed welding (less than the original), Not a single place i contacted within 200 miles would touch it no matter what i tried or offered to prove i A) was fully aware what welding is like, how labour intensive it is and how quotes can easily grow feet and legs the more you cut into it, and B ) wasn't going to shaft them and could pay in full however they liked, some up front, some on completion etc if it made them easier about taking it on.

Even the restoration places told me to fuck off. Which was nice.

[eddyramrod]

I know that feeling!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

30 minutes ago, Essex V6 said:

That looks superb!

Thanks fella! It was a riot to drive and the six pot sound was addictive. I've owned a couple of mk3 VRs but this mk2 was a different league.

Your WRX wagon looked lovely. I owned a classic Impreza turbo a few years ago - it was a UK limited edition Catalunya. The handling was sublime!

[sheffcortinacentre]

I'm the idiot that brings stuff worse than that looks back onto the road.

My crayford I put two full floorplans ,a full boot floor, rear wing, bulkhead repairs & full inner & outer scuttle in.

It's the only 1.6 auto of the 5 1.6's converted.

The bakkie full floorplans, kick panels, centre chassis rails Inc front spring hangers, bulkhead repairs, inner/outer scuttle,full cab rear,roof,inner front panel,upper & lower front valance, full load box except floor shortened P100 tailgate sectioned P100.

It was the only MK3 bakkie know in the UK at the time.

Always get a kick outta putting stuff like this back on the road when others dismiss them as not worth it/to far gone,etc.

 

[Dave_Q]

H534EBV

A 316i I had fitted with 318iS interior, engine, and is/325 suspension.

I had pulled the iS engine and was in the process of fitting an M50 2.5 from an E34 when I went away to university.

It sat in a friends mums drive for a while then I sold as an unfinished project it for £500 in about 2012.

It never saw the road again and even a rotted out shitter to start again with would be a good couple of grand now.

[Wibble]

On 18/01/2025 at 00:07, Wibble said:

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 🙁

Just realising I never posted a photo of the car finished. Sadly, I only really have one:

I liked the colour keyed bumpers at the time, can’t make my mind up now.

[catsinthewelder]

Just scrolling through, hoping someone is desperate for one of the heaps I'm stuck with back!

For me its my first BX 

A scruffy old heap I got on Freecycle and really liked.

 

[chaseracer]

This was a brilliant little thing, owned April 1985 - February 1990 when this happened.  Bit frilly, but did its job when it mattered.

[HMC]

2002 fleet shot at HMC towers……

FNB657D. My first minor and my first old car. It was quite rotten, despite the man from the ministry being happy. Floors welded over floors, disintegrating crossmember the works.  I did about 10k in it and it was totally reliable. It made me an expert on how and where minors corrode, and after this schooling ive become an expert at buying good ones. RIP. 

The series 1 land rover cost me £500 IIRC.

[Imhotep]

Got a few in mind here, first, this:

 

My old Saxo VTS. Not a day goes by I don’t miss this thing. Got it when I was 21 and the insurance was £1900(!!) - it was basically everything I wanted out of a car then, fast, handled well, looked great, could park it in the dodgy part of the city and not worry about it. Had to sell when a new job/move to another city fell through and I ran out of money. I kept the plate though. 
 

This:

 

No real reason other than well… Look at it! Might have only had 113bhp or something but who really cares when it’s warm and you’ve got the roof down? Glorious thing. Loaned it to my godmother who overfilled it with oil and it killed it. 
 

This:

 

Very fast, very cheap, autobox was garbage and the thing fell apart. Still bought another.

And finally this:

 

Slow, thirsty, automatic, comfortable, keypad immobiliser. What’s not to like?