Cars you’ve loved and lost

[Billy - Medhurst]

Passed my test in 1989 but did have a few cars before then. In the early 2000's  I had owned near to 500 cars at that point no longer kept a note as I was shocked. Most were in the early days ropey runners with a bit of mot ran for a month and sold / scrapped and onto the next one.  Had many different cars but Loved my Cortina's / Hunters / Marinas maxi's etc.  Cars got better over the years but one stuck out - Owned it for two years and still turned back to look at in in carparks etc. Only sold it as the gearbox started getting a noise - Regretted ever since.

2008 VAUXHALL ASTRA H 1910cc SRI AF58BXC by Jonathan, on Flickr

2008 VAUXHALL ASTRA H 1910cc SRI AF58BXC by Jonathan, on Flickr

2008 VAUXHALL ASTRA H 1910cc SRI AF58BXC by Jonathan, on Flickr

Loved that car.

[chaseracer]

I know it's all relative and AVAS, etc., but the H was IMHO the best-looking generation of Astra.

[Split_Pin]

I wouldn't say I've ever loved and lost a car but I do regret selling this:

Bought from here, totally reliable in the year I owned it, fantastic on fuel, quite fast, cheap to run, bone dry inside and looked good.

I'm delighted with the Saab it made way for but I should have sold the e46 instead while it was working and which is now an undriveable pile of shite sitting in my garage that I'm financially in too deep with to sell in its current state.

[robt100]

It'd have to be the Capri. It was my first car back in 2008, actually bought it in 2007 before I'd passed my test. Had been spending since age 16 deciding what car to get, had narrowed it down to a mk4 (5?) 2001 ish fiesta zetec S, or a Capri. Same performance, but the Capri looked better, was cheaper to buy AND cheaper to insure (a mere £2600 as a named driver vs £4k for the fiesta.......the joys of living in Southend-on-Sea as a teenager!).
Had it until 2023, in that time had a full restoration and engine swapped to a 2.9 V6 cosworth, inc custom ECUs and a lot of hard work. Got messed about by Mathewsons trying to auction it for 3 months till the market fell flat, ended up selling it for half what it had been worth 5months beforehand. Money went in 2 weeks on refurbing the new house 😪

Still got parts for it sitting in the shed as an upsetting reminder whenever I need to do any jobs🙈

Have since been informed the car was crashed/written off last year. Big old dent behind the B-pillar....gutted.

[ProgRocker]

Perhaps the 1999 SEAT Ibiza 1.4 S for me. Unfortunately I ended up crashing the poor thing in the snow just before Christmas 2009. Insurance company wrote it off but I got a decent payout for it.

 

[Matty]

This. 30000 mile from new. Absolutlty mint inside and out. I paid 1500 and sold it for 1500. We has just bought our first house, I was 21 and working away on the overhead power lines, using a 100 quid Cavalier to get there and back. She drove this, spun it once and wouldn't drive it again. I couldn't use it for work obvs so it had to go.

Loved everything I've owned but this is the only car I'd have back.

[ProgRocker]

11 minutes ago, Matty said:

This. 30000 mile from new. Absolutlty mint inside and out.

My sister's ex had one identical to this in the early 1990s. I was sad to see it go when he traded in for a grey 1991 Citroen AX 11. Think the Manta did get keyed once so I can understand why he moved it on.

[MiniMinorMk3]

This is the only car I wish I had kept longer, there are others I wish I still had, by this Alfasud Sprint was one I regretted selling.

I traded a rusty MGB Roadster for it in 1987. It was a 1978, on a T, one owner car with 30,000 on the clock. The original owner had had the front wings replaced and other rusty bits attended to, so for a 9 year old 'Sud it was quite solid and clean. I only did 3,000 miles in it and sold it. My car life started with air-cooled VWs, which I'd almost been cured of. But as any addict knows it's hard to break a habit. The Alfasud was sold to purchase an rusty old VW Type 3 Variant. About a month later I thought why oh why did you do that, go from a nice tidy great handling car to a rusty, smell sluggish old VW. What an idiot!

Others I wish I still had are my 1983 Golf Gti in black and 1986 Peugeot 205 1.6 Gti in white, mainly because it now cost 10 times what decent ones were back in the 1990s.

More recently one that I have slight regrets about is my 1275GT.

I'd spent a while looking for a decent on of these in the early 2010s and found this one in 2014. Whilst at an event in 2019 someone came up to me and offered double what I had paid for it so it was bye-bye 1275GT. As they say, "every thing's for sale at the right price".

 

[vulgalour]

High mileage OMGHGF Rover 414SLi bought in the rain at night that I would go on to personalise and enjoy immensely.  Frugal, capable, probably the most reliable and definitely the least rusty car I've ever owned.  Fragile gearbox aside, it was all the car I really needed and had a BX not come along at the right price, I'd likely still have it.  Unfortunately the gearbox went pop not long after I sold it and that secured its fate so it is no more.

[Rocket88]

This…. Advanced for it’s time ( ohv V8) totally reliable .

 

[Lord Sterling]

To be fair, I've loved all of my cars and I do miss pretty much all of them. Some cars though have though have made an impression. 

1. Zafira:

This is honestly the one car I pine after. Bought off a mate around the first lifiting of covid lockdown for £300. It was amazing. It was mechanically sound, recently serviced, new tyres, air con even worked! I returned an original stereo to it, bought a load cover off here that was missing from it, boot carpet, fitted mats and an original wheel trim that was missing. 

Unfortunately I swapped it for the 407 after someone I knew was looking for a tall vehicle. I did briefly buy it back it back in lieu of a car that I had borrowed but broke under my stewardship. I drove it up north, sadly it didn't survive much longer after 😢

Despite all the below, this is the one car I'd have back in a heartbeat.

2. Vectra 2.2 DTi SRi:

Going to be honest, despite the fact that I seemed not to overly get on with this car, I do miss it and was hoping it'd still be around. Sadly it hasn't survived. It was one of the cleanest Vectra Bs I'd ever seen but at the time I didn't respect that as much as I should have. I even briefly spoke to one of the previous owners.

Unfortunately, me being a bit of an arse, when this car ftp and Red5 took it back for a month or two to sort it out, I was borrowed a Vectra C, which I loved even more (and then imploded it's own engine long after this and the Zafira had gone) when I took on the Vectra C, I gave this back and it was then sold on.

3. Rover 827Si

Again, another clean-as-you-like car. A standard 827Si that was fitted with a TWR bodykit. I found and fitted the correct alloys and returned an original bonnet.

The purchase of original floor mats for this car was the catalyst in turning me into floor mats mad man. I was too lazy and mean to measure them so decided to get original one instead.

As described in the driving fuck-ups thread, I ended up crashing this car, it was never the same again and eventually I sold it to someone who broke it for spares.

4. Rover Sterling

Another clean-as-you-like car devoid of rust, dents, bless etc... I used this as my everyday car for a couple of years. I loved every minute of it, that was until it decided to do a KV6 impression (on a Honda engine) and blow its gasket.

Jobs like that were bigger money than I could afford at the time. I stored it for years in various places until I just couldn't afford to anymore. I sadly sold it for very little money. As far as I know, it's being stored undercover in a unit and currently being ressurected, so it lives on.

5. Rover Sterling KV6:

Despite all odds, this car lived on for much longer than it should have. It also was the car that saw me through some bad times. It kept me going and kept me on the road.

It was a £freebie from Scotland and @cms206 brought it down for me. 

When I got it, it was a mess, the mid section of the exhaust had all but disappeared making it sound like a rally car, the drivers side wing arch lip was so badly covered in filler and badly sprayed it just looked horrid, the rear bumper was flaking off showing the original red paint underneath. It was a poor and tired old thing. Despite being barassic I managed to breath some life back into it. A correct coloured wing and rear bumper was sourced, mirror cap and a new exhaust fitted on. Almost overnight it went from tired and old to being clean and proud.

It was one of the most comfortable cars I'd ever owned, it got the engine power and comfort just right. It wasn't too much neither was it wanting. 

It came off the road and went back on several times due to various changes in my life and it never complained. And even with a Swiss cheese radiator, it kept on going with aplomb.

Unfortunately, the rot got to it, after storing it for a while, the metal on it was ready to disintegrate, the paint was actually holding the now crispy panels together. I sold it to a breaker sadly.

6. BMW e46 316i SE

One of the first post 00-reg'd cars and modernz I ever owned. It was a wonderful car that not only did everything that I wanted it to, but looked good doing it.

Unfortunately it developed engines issues which were never fully resolved. The "mechanic" (I fell out with) didn't resolve the issue on the vehicle which became apparent after I had sold it and caused me some minor issue which in the end I resolved. Due to it not working properly it was scrapped not long after.

[rob88h]

KHM 73W, where are you now 😢

[clayts450]

Two cars in particular for me, one a Rover (surprise), one not. Both succumbed to general malaise on my part, subsequent failure and both were scrapped due to lack of space.

Rover 620 SLI

Proper gifferspec low mileage automatic. An absolute smooth piece of machinery, with the world's most comfortable velour seats I've ever sat on. Cost me fuck all. Fought me hard on the first MOT past (leaking power steering fluid everywhere - I conquered it by asking Pirtek to manufacture a replacement pipe - perfect fit). Probably my best mechanical success ever. Miss it dearly, but events conspired against me to prevent me saving this. Lacquer peel and paintwork faded (dodgy paint job), rust started eating the rear arches (TADTS), windscreen leaked badly. Think I actually made a profit on it when it went over the bridge.

Honda Accord Coupe

The weird and wonderful Coupe which sat somewhere between the 6th and 7th gen European Accords - this was the 2 litre petrol automatic. It was an absolute delight to drive, it was so solidly built, had done moon miles and came with a shedload of service history. It was bought from the back of a car lot for not very much money and did me for a year. Again, sadly, tinworm got to it, then the alternator failed and same old story applied - nowhere to store, not enough time to devote to it, game over. Another car that paid me back handsomely when it was scrapped.

 

[robt100]

Had to revisit this thread for a bit more on the Capri. Just found an old bookmark/link on my browser to the video from when ACA tried to auction it. 0 bids (apart from someone online offering 4k who promptly got told to go away lol), shocked them so much they never even charged me entry fees!
Enjoy a look around the car, I forgot how good it sounded, made me miss it rather a lot this evening 😭
 

 

[loserone]

this.

 

It was never quite the same after this though 

 

 

[yes oui si]

Still really upset about that one. 

[loserone]

1 hour ago, yes oui si said:

Still really upset about that one. 

I WILL get another.  Who cares what side the steering wheel is?

[Bren]

A few more I have owned

2.5 auto. Bought damaged - needed drivers door, wing, bumper, strut. I think I paid £1175 for it (in 1995). Everything repaired and painted and all in it was just under £2k. Slow and thirsty but a nice place to be.

Povo spec 620i. I think we paid £2.5 k for it in 2001 and sold it for just £450 a few years later due to the Bluetooth rear arches.

Laguna 2.0 RT auto. Another cheap car - low mileage and excellent condition - it was like a three year old car. It was cheap because seller had had the autobox fixed and it had given him the fear. I liked the car but when the autobox needed work again I had it fixed and bailed out.

Xantia 1.9 SX. Came with a sheaf of bills and history. Because citroen this meant nothing as it regularly needed repairs and maintenance. And because citroen I sold it to mechanic who looked after it for practically nothing when third gear started to crunch.

2001 mondeo TDDi LX. Replaced the xantia. Racked up a load of miles and sold it when the front end started knocking and nobody could find the cause - probably the strut top bearings.