So, what was the first wheels you missed out on?

[M'coli]

This doesn't have to be about the ones that you looked at before your first car - but what was the first one you intended to buy and were beaten to it!

Prior to my Metro, I'd missed out on an X-reg Bedford HA in brush-painted blue with a new exhaust and Chevette 13" rostyles by about 20 minutes. It was advertised in the local no-newspaper, I'd been to see it, and had gone home to sort things out. Just as I got to the end of the drive(we lived rurally just off the main road) on my bike I saw what looked like the damn thing heading south! I turned tail and phoned the vendor - someone had turned up and shown him the money...

 

Arse!!! I've still to this day never driven a Bedford HA. I used to get the postie to show me the switches and stuff back in the 70s.

[eddyramrod]

They're actually quite a hoot, if a bit slow-motion and rather noisy. But then, it's a metal box with no soundproofing whatsoever... rather like driving a biscuit tin! Light weight and RWD make up for it somewhat though...

 

I don't remember what was the first, but the most memorable cars I've missed out on were all American. While I still had my first Cadillac, I found a white Dodge pickup for sale. It had been the chassis-cab of an ambulance and when it was retired, the body had been removed and an ex-army pickup bed fitted. 360V8 and a 4-speed, so it wouldn't have been a slouch! I negotiated a price, but while I was trying (and failing) to raise the cash, someone nipped in and bought it. Some time later I spotted it on ebay, painted army green (it had never been an army truck) and sporting a Nissan diesel and 5-speed. Ruined...

 

Later, an old friend's collection was being sold off (he died during the process) and I really had my eye on a pair of 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood factory limousines, one black, one white. Again, couldn't raise the cash in time. After that, and from the same collection, I spotted a 1981 Cadillac stretch on ebay; the one the same old friend had driven for us at our wedding! I think it sold for about 700 quid. How often do you get the chance (or even have the desire) to buy your wedding car? I would have bought almost anything from that collection, tbh, but as usual I simply didn't have the money.

[Rusty Pelican]

Imagine this , im 18 ( 1982 ) and not long passed my test , theres a bloke down the road selling a roppy looking MK2 Cortina in black , diffs shot in the axle , theres no ticket or rent and he wants £20 for it , I mention it to Pops who says no way will you get insurance on it so you aint parking it on my drive , he was probably right

Twas a 3.0 Savage

[Guest]

A 1300 Mk 1 Escort, which was a daily driver for an old dear until she decided to pack in driving. I'd kept track of it for a few years as it trundled around the local area gradually getting more decrepit. I knocked on her door, offered her some money and hot footed it off to the bank to get the readies.

 

When I got back there some rally jacketed mong from the RS Owners' Club had rocked up with a trailer and 'bought it instead'.

£10 says it's now at the bottom of a quarry in Wales somewhere. BASTARDS. I was sixteen at the time, and OSF prices had yet to go nuclear.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I had read a buyer's guide for the MK1 Fiesta. Presumably one of the tips was 'go on eBay and buy blind' because that's what I did. I found a delightful looking red example not too far away (St Helens, I think) and bid. In the meantime I spotted a white MK3 with long MOT, much closer and from a vendor willing to deliver. I bid and won, confident that someone else would buy the red MK1. Unfortunately, with only ten minutes to go, I was still the high bidder. Crap. How was I going to insure two cars? I didn't really have the space for the first one!

 

I wore out my F5 key over the next ten bid free minutes until some wonderful person outbid me with one second to go. Massive relief and many thanks to whoever it was who did buy NED 507W. Hope it was as good for you as my white one was

[Albert Ross]

As posted in the "want" thread.

 

An addendum... to the "mainstream" S-Class W126 I craved and bought (Yeah, cheers, Luxo, My Scorpio was a 24V Ultima!)

 

There was this. I came "THIS" fucking close to owning one. Then I heard the one I was drooling over got bought by a rodder. Running gear into a yellow be-flamed flip Front Zodiac Estate!!! Restecp to the P5B. BMF 345H you died in a fitting way, and never saw a banger track.

 

It would have changed hands for about £350..... tax and test. Fuck. What are they worth now?

[Cavcraft]

Red 1975-ish Avenger in Kelsall, near Chester. It was dirt cheap, had loads of MOT and was really tidy. Went to look at it with my dad who wouldn't lend me a small deposit as he wasn't convinced the person buying my motorbike would turn up.

Guess what? Motorbike buyer turned up the next day, paid cash and rode off on my KH125. He hadn't even made the end of the drive before I was on the 'phone to the vendor of tha Avenger: He'd sold it and I was blooming heartbroken.

[ProgRocker]

Just before I turned 17 years old, I enquired about an S reg Mini Clubman estate with a dodgy wing for £375ish in 1994. My then brother in law who knew a bit about mechanicals wasn't too impressed with it. The owner said he also had a Mini Mayfair/HL in primrose yellow but back then I thought the pale yellow colour was rather effeminite so I dismissed it.

[theorganist]

There was a garage in Lye which traded in £200 - £500 cars. I wish I could go back there now. For weeks in around 1992 before I bought the ill-fated Renault 5 (from a very respectable looking garage in Kidderminster) I was a regular visitor there looking at the various Escort Mark 2's, Allegro's, Maxi's, Cortinas etc. I can still remember the Renault 12 estate with the speedo needle stuck at 20 mph!

 

I was set on either a yellow W reg Escort Mark 3 1.3L estate or an beige W reg Allegro series 3 1.3HL estate. Haven't a clue why I was looking at estates and I hardly had any need for one, I just think at the time they looked the best cars there. I think in the end the reason we never bought a car from there was that we didn't quite trust the guy. With hindsight I think I would have been much better buying one of those as they both seemed mechanically sound and not too bad bodywise. I wish I had a time machine as that garage would be a shiteists mecca there now.

 

I do remember my driving instructors neighbour buying an S reg Princess 1800 from there for £200 or thereabouts. Apparently the car had numerous problems so he took it back and threatened the guy with trading standards and got his money back. A couple of weeks later the same car was up for sale again for even more money IIRC!!

[dollywobbler]

This isn't one that time had a hand in, just my Dad. When looking for my first car, we looked at a metallic green, A-reg (I think) Maestro HLE. I thought it was great, especially as my dad owned a Montego at the time that I'd already been driving around in. My dad reckoned the water pump was leaking (I very much doubt it) and instead bought me a death trap-knackered Ford Fiesta. I still loved it though!

 

The one I'm kicking myself about was a Citroen Bijou project for £400. Projects can fetch thousands today. At the time (about ten years ago) I didn't have a garage. Arse.

[outlaw118]

A Bedford CF of all things.

I was 20 ish, and in a band, and on the way to practice I spotted a CF for sale, £125. Tax and Mot, both short, but I knew "a bloke" at the time who could sort out an mot for an extra £10, so i wasn't bothered.

I didn't do anything about it, band practice two days later, it's still there. This time i have the lead singer in the car, and mention it to him, he reckons it needed to be bought, so a descion was made. Rang the number about 5724 times over the next three days, eventually drove up there again in order to sort out. Was still there, now reduced to £110 ono. Went to the phone box (days before mobiles) and rang the number again. He was in, and we agreed to meet up in half an hour. I shot off to the bank, withdrew £££, bought some smokes and returned, about 20 minutes later, to see the van pulling off the verge it was parked on. Oh, just moving it for us, I thought. No, bloke had turned up just as someone else was looking at it, he thought it was us, and flogged it to him for £95.

 

Arsecakes and bumbiscuits!!

[garycox]

After I passed my test, the first car I looked at with a view to buy was a 2CV Charleston, I didn't miss out on it though, I just didn't buy it because it was a rusty overpriced heap, even by today's standards.

 

I can't remember missing out on many cars that I really wanted, the only exception being 'that' Sceptre, which still annoys me but that was fairly recently.

[Lord Sterling]

I've missed out on a fair few cars myself, and its always been down to either lack of money and space. I remember being offered an Escort XR3i (So I was told) for free when I was about 19, sadly, it was located down in Essex and I didnt have a driving licence or any money, so it wasnt much of a reality, in fact I've never ever seen the car.

 

Once I had a licence, I was offered a reasonably tidy F-reg Ford Fiesta XR2i in Red. Mate wanted £300 notes for it. I couldnt even muster up £15 for petrol so that didnt happen, it was sold never to be seen again. Fuck

 

I remember a G-reg Sterling (Identical to the one I have now) coming up for a couple of hundred notes. I had the money, just no space (story of my life) and unlike mine, then, it was fully working and ready to drive. Subsequently this Sterling was bought by a mate, then it was sold to girl who later crashed it, he bought it back looking to repair it, but a damaged subframe caused by the crash meant it had to be stripped and scrapped.

 

But the one that really sticks in my mind was an F-reg Sterling I got to drive, it was the first mk1 Sterling I ever drove, it was Dark Blue/Grey small bumper model. I had the money but lack of space put me off, I really wish I had the balls then to just go ahead and just buy it, it really was nice. It later turns out that it could have been a useful tool when I crashed the 827Si.

 

Arse.

 

At the time of both missouts I owned an 827Si, which was a big-engined pov-spec model.

[scooters]

A mark 3 Ford Taunas Coupe in mint nick - gutted- missed it by 20 quid - before the days of the auction sniper

[Barry Cade]

A yellow SC100 that was a trade in at my local Suzuki dealers- dropped from 795-695-595.. I was 17 and my test was only a few weeks away and I had someone wanting to give me £350 for my Yam RD50MX11... I was working and earning 50 quid a week, so figured all the stars would align, it would drop another hundred quid and I'd have enough in wages to go and slap the cash on the table.

Duly passed test on first attempt and went cash in hand to purchase said zook, and it was gone..

I ended up with a silver one, which nearly killed me, and scarred me for life, but that's another story.A few years later a mate told me about the yellow SC100 he had,when I was running around in my black one.. it was the same one.

[Angrydicky]

Gold E reg Metro 1.3L on the forecourt of the local Ford dealership. £65! I went round with my dad to have a look (I was about 13) and the salesman informed us that it was a one old boy owner with 1 weeks' MOT left! It had 53,000 miles on the clock and ran really well, and was in very good condition apart from a bit of bubbling on the front wings.

 

A week later, the price dropped to £45, then £20. I was skint and my dad refused to buy it so it disappeared soon after

[tonedepear]

When I bought my 2nd car I was after a spitfire, and it was in pre-internet auction days. I found a nice looking sounding one in the TSSC classic-fieds and arranged to go round.

 

it was red, and perfect, and everything I wanted. Cuty old bastard basically refused to sell it to me on the grounds I wanted to come back and drive it away today. "This isn't the kind of car you can just take home today sonny" were his exact words. Cheers. Looking back, he obviously just didn't want to flog his pride and joy to some spotty 18 year old, but still. Grumpy as hell I ended up spending ££thousands on a shit and rotten one from far far away just cos I was so annoyed and demanded I have one that week to just to brove the bloke wrong. Gah.