What car do you regret not keeping/saving

[Station]

1990?

 

[Pete-M]

1990?

 

'92.

[Pete-M]

I wish I had the money to have kept it right. When it worked properly, the thing was sublime.

 

Unfortunately, that didn't happen as often as it should have.

Did you for one moment think that P38 ownership was going to be trouble free?

 

Weird car that Rangie. All the bits that are legendary for breaking were perfect on it. Air suspension? Spot on. Dashboard display? Perfect. Alarm? Always worked a treat. Gearbox? Silky smooth.

 

Unfortunately, it started burning as much oil as petrol, and that's one hell of a lot in a 4.6 HSE. Didn't use any water, just tons of oil. Still went well.

 

Oh, and a tuppence seal on the heater matrix went and it was something insane like a two day job to change it properly (i.e. without drilling big holes in the dash)

[mnde]

This:

 

 

 

 

 

Bought for £50 to "save" it from being scrapped, at a time when I was still living at home and already had my red GSA and nowhere for this to live.... I drove it once. The local friend of the seller who offered to do welding on it and stuff never got round to it, my friend and I lost his number, blah blah. I dutifully renewed the SORN each year... Eventually his wife got in contact and said he'd been very ill and could we sort out moving the car or it would go for scrap. I tried, but the car had been outside for over 3 years, and no-one stepped forward to save it. These pictures were taken shortly before it was taken away to be scrapped. RIP

 

This:

 

 

My first BX, which died due to my inexperience and because I only found http://www.bxclub.co.uk too late! A leaky radiator led to HGF when I relied too often on the low coolant light to know when to top up and typically it happened AFTER I'd bought a new radiator to fit. A long period in my mother's garage did it no favours as - being unaware of the method of keeping the sunroof drains clear, I'd let water fester under the rear seats and a hole was found in the floor near the fuel tank... As I already had another identical BX, it was decided that this one should be sacrificed to donate its best bits to the other. I still miss it because, before the HGF it was a cracking car and had a better engine than my current one, even though it has about 165K miles on the clock. RIP

 

This:

 

 

Suffered neglect as my dear brother's car at Uni, I then drove it for a while - it had problems with the alternator adjustment and snapped a belt twice because it couldn't be adjusted tight enough or the belt had to be stretched to fit, or something. Fan speed module went kaput, was replaced at some expense by the Renault dealer. Their response when tasked with fixing the leaky sunroof was to tape it up. The radiator fan motor died and the car boiled over spluffing rusty coolant all over the engine... But otherwise it was reliable and I enjoyed driving it. But I already had the GSA and BX and couldn't take it on when mum moved it on. It was given to the Renault dealership, and I believe it's still pootling around somethere.

 

Also - B528 JPB - a sky blue 3dr Escort base model that my parents had from new. Dad part-exed it for a new Rover 214Si in 1994 before I'd taken my test... I still dream about it from time to time - that I find it was squirreled away in my parent's garage/an underground carpark instead of being sold, and that I'm going to take it on and restore it.

 

 

Mark.

[R9UKE]

 

Wish I had never sold this old girl. Bought it in April of last year, one typical old man owner from new who had died leaving his delicious 940 SE Auto behind with 8 months MOT and tax, a CD Changer full of 70s french shite and those brilliant sunglasses. A bargain at £150. Headlining was representative of the fact that this guy had smoked himself to death.

 

A brilliant car. Refused to go into fourth gear until about 70 MPH, heated seats that had your arse peeling for weeks after and was capable of driving over a fridge freezer unscathed. Sold for £450 two months later to help buy the C5 V6.... which was shit.

[tonedepear]

 

Now there's an idea for a thread......What was the first car you had sex in? Lol!!

 

 

mk3 Vauxhall Astra.

 

Though to be honest I think most cars are far too small for that sort of thing.

 

Citroen ZX!

[Father Ted]

 

Now there's an idea for a thread......What was the first car you had sex in? Lol!!

 

 

mk3 Vauxhall Astra.

 

Though to be honest I think most cars are far too small for that sort of thing.

 

Citroen ZX!

1978 Ford Transit Crewbus (on top of the rucksacs piled in the back somewhere just outside of St Malo on the ferry).

[ifc63]

 

IFC63, how much do those X1/9's go for? I've always wanted one.

There was one of those bodykitted in red a few weeks ago on ebay.

 

That one cost me about £150 IIRC about 7 years ago. It was cheap i thought but once I'd driven it home I had a prod round and found it was a bit rough.

I still kept it for about 18 months though shifting round the garden at regular intervals.

I still have a hankering for another one and there seems to be between £300 for a rough project up tp £3000 for a real nice one. I would think £1200 to £1500 should get you in a half tidy usuable car. I also found the owners club a good source of info.

[Station]

So, keeping in mind I've happily driven around in cars that are literally half steel/half Isopon mutants and can keep up with engine/etc maintenance every weekend, I could look at paying 500 quid for one. I know they're Italian and therefore have quirky electronics, but they don't eat headgaskets/gearboxes/CV joints/bushes or any of those mad automotive idiosyncrasies that I always seem to end up with? Rust I can deal with.

[ifc63]

So, keeping in mind I've happily driven around in cars that are literally half steel/half Isopon mutants and can keep up with engine/etc maintenance every weekend, I could look at paying 500 quid for one. I know they're Italian and therefore have quirky electronics, but they don't eat headgaskets/gearboxes/CV joints/bushes or any of those mad automotive idiosyncrasies that I always seem to end up with? Rust I can deal with.

 

£500 is still in semi-rough project territory as in this one on Ebay (reserve not met but realistically should be in the sub-500's)

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1984-FIAT-X1-9-VS-SILVER-BERTONE-/160617058735?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item256585d1af

 

or as I said for a little bit more a nicer road-going car can be had like this:-

 

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C241704

 

 

Of the three I owned the early 1300 had no mechanical issues but was suffering a bit underneath with the death knell being when the metal coolant pipes that run from the rad at the front to the engine at the back became terminally rusty. Possibly could have been done but I was younger and couldn't be bothered

The other two were 1500's and I'd heard the gearboxes could be a bit fragile if abused (2nd/3rd gear IIRC) but the Strada I had with the same box suffered no end of abuse and never let go.

[ProgRocker]

For me it was the shite spec Fiat Tempra 1.4, which I oddly had an emotional attachment to despite being a pig to drive:

 

Before -

 

After -

 

Written off April 2001.

[theorganist]

My first foray into old car ownership in 2009.

 

 

Saved it from the Crusher and MOT'd it. After six months I thought I would not be able to afford to do the bodywork so sold it to someone on RR who begged me not to e-bay it. Which he did a couple of months later at double what I sold it to him. It has appeared on the bay once since (when I did not have the funds). It is still on sorn and if it comes up again I will move heaven and earth to buy it back!!

 

Really really regret it as I had always wanted a Maxi and tbh feel really stupid about letting it go.

[Rod/b]

I regret parting with my £50 1987 Audi Coupe. I had it for a couple of years and used it on a couple of banger rallies as well as for my daily driver, but I'd sort of fallen out of love with it after it let me down a couple of times, and after the brand new bonnet release handle and cable snapped a week after I'd fitted it. I swapped it with Keith Adams for a Rover 200 that he had acquired from Autocar, who had used it in their scrappage article. (That was a good car, incidentally, once i'd fitted a new drivers door. I sold that to a friend of a friend who is still using it daily)

 

Anyway, Keith gave the Audi to his son who promptly went out and bought a Saab 9000, so it was then sold to our very own Mr Scruff. Mr S then sold it on eBay, only for it to magically reappear in the hands of his best man at his wedding, and for Mr + Mrs Scruff to drive off to Europe in for their honeymoon.

 

It was sold again afterwards and I had the chance to buy it, but knew i'd be moving away in one way or another so the timing was all wrong, but who knows? One day, maybe.

 

[edit]

[ashmicro]

Can't believe I left this out:

 

One of these

 

 

216 Vitesse EFi. A great machine with a large pinch of class. I was offered very good money for it, several times, and eventually took it. I did get an MG Montego, though.

[Albert Ross]

MB W126 300SE H96XWR

Fso Pickup F68LTL

Capri Ghia COG700V

Citroen DS23 Pallas FTV326L

Austin 3 Litre RJH70H

MB W115 200 UTN496Y (This was a 1969 car)

Sierra Ghia Estate ODO920Y

Mother's Volvo 343DL KGK148T (Took my test in this)

Dad's Senator A494XVV (Looked for all the world like a Traffic Car, and he was followed everywhere, nobody dared overtake)

Dad's Cortina 2000E MMO8P

First Super Minx EFN636C

Humber Imperial NVB21E

PA Cresta 597YBH

Anglebox 275WPP

Humber Sceptre LBL179E

Avenger 12/50 CRX524J

 

 

Etc.