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Feb 14, 2017 18:16:47 GMT
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I recently posted in another thread about nearly buying an RX8 for next to nothing but got beaten to it by 1 day, and this got the old memory bank stired to a time long ago. Roll back about 15yrs to when I had just started college, on the bus home I use too see a car parked on a drive that never moved, one day I got off the three stops earlier to have a closer look, it was a corolla AE86 in two tone red and black. She was beautiful, so I ogled for a bit and went on my now longer walk home. After much sh*t talking with my friends I said I would knock on the door and ask if they would sell. Some weeks later once I had plucked up some courage I went and knocked on the door and got greated by an old fellow and asked the question. Turns out it had been off the road for a year and he was indeed looking to sell it, I asked him how much to which he replied £500! Fantastic, it wasnt too far out my reach at the time. So I started trying to save like mad what little money I had. Once I got £250 I decided to go past and offer him that as a deposit. I was all excited on the bus but when I got to the house the drive was empty!! She was gone and my heart sank, I sulked home and cried myself to sleep that night and never saw one again for alot of years. So what are the ones that have got away from you before you could get your grubby mits on them?
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,645
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Feb 14, 2017 18:32:56 GMT
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Mark 2 escort owned by a friend of my mum's who was quite a bit old.
A 2 door 1.3 in white with tiny mileage. I was always saying that if she wanted to sell it I would have it.
When I was 16 I went away for a month to Boston. When I came back she had managed to get a new car (Renault 5 Auto) and sold the Escort for 50 quid to some neighbours of mine who proceeded to wreck it around the fields in about 3 weeks flat and then weighed it in.
Still a tough one to take.
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quasimoto
Part of things
I started out with nothing and i have still got most of it left
Posts: 238
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Feb 14, 2017 18:45:30 GMT
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Ginetta lanquishing on a drive way for ages. Knocked on the door and lady said 400 pounds but needed lots of work done. Did not buy it but regret i did not have sense to realise its potential and rarity.
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Mad As A Box Of Frogs
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Feb 14, 2017 18:47:06 GMT
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Sooo many, but in a slightly different way. My step dad was a mechanic and we always had classics. I was 17 and knew nothing so always took his advice. Unfortunately if it wasnt an austin 7 it was considered rubbish.
£1000 yellow rs2000 custom £500 Mint green austin cambridge with spitfire engine £150 mk1 golf gti with mk2 engine £50 bmw 6 series needing head gasket Almost free beige 300e with no test (he wouldnt let me offer the guy more than £25) Ropey but solid RO80? Think that was £400.
I was talked out of all these while viewing. I should have gone alone!
Still, he taught me LOADS and helped me no end on the stuff I did manage to get.
Plenty more before that but my 'trying to buy cars' started when I was about 12. No one wants to sell a 12 year old a car. One farmer said we could have the fiberglass sports car in his field if we cleared the field of scrap and piled it in the corner. No idea what it was, ex race car, front looked like an italian supercar, back looked like a small ambulance. Looking back it was probably a ford sidevalve special. Folks said NO. farmer torched it and weighed in the chassis.
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Feb 14, 2017 19:57:29 GMT
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One of these. Got persuaded to spend the money on my wedding instead, then never got married!
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Feb 14, 2017 20:01:18 GMT
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One of these. Got persuaded to spend the money on my wedding instead, then never got married! We had saved for and planned a vegas wedding. Were booking the tickets on monday but went to a car show the day before. Other half saw an austin 7 rod she loved. She figured we should build a rod and get married at the registry office instead
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Feb 14, 2017 20:26:52 GMT
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my folks had this weird stipulation that i had to wait until i got a job before i bought my first car (fairly sound logic) this meant i didnt get a car until 3 years after i passed my test. i had call from my granddad that his friend at GEC club was giving up driving and would i be interested in his DAF (example picture from internets) at that point in time i was thinking more along the lines of a mini1000 or a bug, the folks were thinking more along the lines of cavalier. besides, in my mind DAF made lorries and sherpa vans and i wouldn't be seen dead driving one of those in my green suede reebok hexalites, chinos and flight jacket, thank you very much i think if i had said yes it would probably have won retro rides
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Last Edit: Feb 14, 2017 20:30:38 GMT by darrenh
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Feb 14, 2017 20:49:56 GMT
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rob112
Part of things
Posts: 61
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Feb 14, 2017 21:03:57 GMT
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Triumph spitfire so nearly bought one, wish I had as now not got the space or funds for one
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Feb 14, 2017 22:02:29 GMT
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There have been a few I wish I'd bought and a few I wish I'd kept. Took a sweet Consul 315 out for a test drive back in the '80s. Went away to think about it. Went back a few days later and the yard was closed and all the cars gone. Never saw it or the dealer again.
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vader
Part of things
Posts: 425
Club RR Member Number: 93
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The ones that got awayvader
@vader
Club Retro Rides Member 93
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Feb 14, 2017 22:06:11 GMT
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1994 my mates RS 2000 MK1 for £2K should've bought it. My other mates RD 500 YPVS for £1700. I REALLY should've bought that! Shouldn't have sold my RD 350 LC or my MK4 XR3i, that went for £1400! This is why I'm 10 years into Stag ownership and have no desire to be parted from it
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Last Edit: Feb 14, 2017 22:06:39 GMT by vader
Triumph Stag Ducati Supersport Shanks’s Pony
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dubwarrior2
Part of things
"Open up, its the filth"
Posts: 576
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Feb 14, 2017 22:33:29 GMT
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My biggest ever mistake..... Just moved with my mrs and had a single drive and two cars. Some friends of my sister in law told me they had an old "vw camper" that they wanted rid of and I could have for....................FREE!!! Went to look at it and it was a hightop t25. Because of the storage situation and thinking they werent that "cool"I turned them down. A mate bought it a few weeks later for £100. It turned out to be a joker model and he sold it for £5k.. I don't refuse anything anymore
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Feb 14, 2017 22:47:41 GMT
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A series 1.5 E Type Roadster in red with black trim and the private plate TOT 7 in 1983 for £800 Ok it needed a clutch and the brakes were a bit naff but still..... The missus at the time vetoed that cos "I had too many cars already", I never really forgave her!
And a 1959 Ford Zodiac convertible with 1500 miles on the clock from new, this old lady owned it, it had been on blocks in her garage since 1960 when her husband died. She wouldn't part with it, but I did a deal with her son to give me first refusal when it became available. Before that happened I moved house and lost touch...........
Steve
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scimjim
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,503
Club RR Member Number: 8
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The ones that got awayscimjim
@scimjim
Club Retro Rides Member 8
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Feb 14, 2017 22:56:02 GMT
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1987. The mk1 Escort needed welding for its MOT, the spitfire needed it's engine rebuilding and I blew up the daily, a Pug 305SR, on the A303 (water pipe went at 90mph and warped the head). I needed a car to get me and a mate to Birmingham airport because it was summer leave and we were going to My Jorca! There were several options at the car club but in reality it boiled down to: a 1976 Toyota Corolla estate (1200cc IIRC?) in primer grey with a towbar and MOT for £50 OR A Stag that had just come out of the spray booth for £1500 OR a 914 in disgusting green with a dodgy MOT I'd seen the repair work done on the stag (top welding) but never heard it run and it needed an MOT. I wasn't sure if our suitcases would fit in the Porker. The plane leaves in 5 days. I actually grew to love that Corrola
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BT
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,772
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Feb 14, 2017 23:38:05 GMT
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There are some mistakes in here that would probably have me dangling off the wrong side of a bridge with the regret I had to deal with. You're all braver than me.
I can't really compete. I passed up a running and driving covin a few years ago, perhaps 2013, which the seller was trying to move on for less than a grand. Sometimes wish I had bought it but something didn't sit right at the time.
Another was a very genuine 106 S1 rallye that I left for £400 (running and on the road) in around about 2008.
A Red tin top Mk1 golf gti at £300.
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Feb 14, 2017 23:51:47 GMT
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Circa 1988 I was after a new classic with a budget of £10K max. I was scouring the Exchange & Mart motoring section week after week, (for the youngsters on here that was the equivalent of ebay in the olden days). One car grabbed my attention for 3 weeks in a row, a 1970 Aston Martin DBS on at £14K. Described as driving & MOT'd but scruffy. OK, I didn't actually go to see the car as it was hundreds of miles away but by the 3rd week I'd given it serious thought and was getting hot under the collar thinking, " If he'd take an offer ..." and "... I could get a small loan ..." the ad didn't appear a 4th time. I suppose I was sort of glad then because if I'd blown every last penny I had on buying it, (as well as some I didn't have), I'd have had no budget for restoration. I look at the type of money they're selling for now & I could cry. It probably didn't look quite as nice as this one;
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,658
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One of these. Got persuaded to spend the money on my wedding instead, then never got married! Now that STINGS.
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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dubwarrior2
Part of things
"Open up, its the filth"
Posts: 576
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When i left school at 16 and started a YTS with REME I was adamant that I would save up and buy myself my first car and it would be a Vw Beetle. It was all I ever wanted. An elderly family friend died and his wife offered me his car because she couldnt drive. Again, for FREEEEEE!! It was an MG metro. I was a 16 yr old VW maniac and there was no way I was going to drive an MG Metro.......... What an idiot. My aunty had it and sold it for £1500 which was exactly how much I had to save for 2yrs to buy my 1st beetle. Oh the impatience and stupidity of youth
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I could cry at some of these stories
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When I was a kid here was a newsagents at the bottom of my street where all the local children converted their their pocket money into Beano's & gobstoppers, I'd been going there from the age of about 5 or 6. An elderly couple ran the shop, the wife was always quite kindly but the husband was a right old misery and a total skinflint with it. Selling newspapers, comics & sherbet pips must have paid OK as they lived a few streets away in an enormous detached house. By the time I was 14 I was Jag mad and noticed that this old guy from the newspaper shop had an XJ6 4.2 litre s1 in his drive that obviously hadn't moved for a few years. It was scruffy but not rotten. One day I asked him about the car and he totally transformed from this Steptoe-esque skinflint and lit up, he became quite animated for a few minutes while he spoke to me about his Jag. Years passed and I didn't find out about this until around a decade later. After I'd spoken to the newspaper shop owner about his Jag he found out where I lived and came to ask my Dad if he could give me his XJ6, my Dad said something along the lines of, " No thanks, I've got enough rusty old junk in the drive without adding to it!" So I didn't get my first XJ6 until I was 18 when I could have been doing one up 4 years earlier. s1 XJ in the same colour.
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Last Edit: Feb 15, 2017 1:04:26 GMT by MkX
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