Has anyone ever gone back to the past and regretted it?
Discussion
I've really got my heart set on a Rover 620 Ti. Mainly because I've been feeling rather nostalgic in recent years and it's the car my Dad used to have and the car I remember most fondly from my childhood.
I used to love that car, it was faster than all my friends dad's cars (their speedos only went to 140) and it was great fun with it being a wolf in sheeps clothing. The look of surprise on people's faces when it would out accelerate them at the lights was priceless. Plus my Dad was never a slow driver and the way that thing accelerated and the speeds it could achieve always put a smile on my 12 year old face.
So I've been looking around for a decent one which is proving a little hard because they either sound knackered or have been molested. I'm in no rush, so just biding my time waiting for an immaculate, low mileage, totally originally example to show up or one that looks like it's worth spending the time or money on.
What worries me though is that maybe I'll hate it. Maybe it won't be as fast or as good as I remember and that will forever taint my memories.
So has anyone ever bought their childhood car and regretted it or was it just as good or even better than you remember it?
I used to love that car, it was faster than all my friends dad's cars (their speedos only went to 140) and it was great fun with it being a wolf in sheeps clothing. The look of surprise on people's faces when it would out accelerate them at the lights was priceless. Plus my Dad was never a slow driver and the way that thing accelerated and the speeds it could achieve always put a smile on my 12 year old face.
So I've been looking around for a decent one which is proving a little hard because they either sound knackered or have been molested. I'm in no rush, so just biding my time waiting for an immaculate, low mileage, totally originally example to show up or one that looks like it's worth spending the time or money on.
What worries me though is that maybe I'll hate it. Maybe it won't be as fast or as good as I remember and that will forever taint my memories.
So has anyone ever bought their childhood car and regretted it or was it just as good or even better than you remember it?
Yeah, my first idiotic car I bought (after a string of free s
tboxes) as a student was a '97 Rover 820 Vitesse Coupe. Obviously I thought it was amazing, being about 4 years old and worth sod all and to my mind astoundingly powerful.
I drove one recently. It was creaky, wobbly, the engine was incredibly rough and the 4 cylinder vibration through the steering wheel, pedals and gearknob were clearly something from another era. It also wasn't really particularly fast. It wasn't old or quirky enough to have the charm to offset it's objective sttyness in the way a crap old MGB is.
There was a time when a 620ti was a good and impressive car and that time ended about the same time John Major left number 10. Enjoy your memories but don't spend any money discovering things have moved on a long way.
tboxes) as a student was a '97 Rover 820 Vitesse Coupe. Obviously I thought it was amazing, being about 4 years old and worth sod all and to my mind astoundingly powerful.I drove one recently. It was creaky, wobbly, the engine was incredibly rough and the 4 cylinder vibration through the steering wheel, pedals and gearknob were clearly something from another era. It also wasn't really particularly fast. It wasn't old or quirky enough to have the charm to offset it's objective s
ttyness in the way a crap old MGB is.There was a time when a 620ti was a good and impressive car and that time ended about the same time John Major left number 10. Enjoy your memories but don't spend any money discovering things have moved on a long way.
silverfoxcc said:
Looking forward to it....... Twice
1) getting my lads Dolly sprint and 1500TC back on the road
2) waiting for the right Daimler Conquest Century Mk II to come up
My friend is on about buying another Sprint. I hope he does so I can have a drive 1) getting my lads Dolly sprint and 1500TC back on the road
2) waiting for the right Daimler Conquest Century Mk II to come up
His last one was a fun little car
NinjaPower said:
The Turbonator said:
Funnily enough the DeLorean is my ultimate dream car
I hate to break this to you, but you do know that they have an absolutely dreadful Peugeot/Renault engine and gearbox don't you?...Collectingbrass said:
What do you drive at the moment / what would you be comparing it to? How much cash have you got to chuck at it to get it back to "right"?
It's like one night stands IMHO, best kept as fleeting memories that shouldn't be revisited or compared to current.
Only got a Citroën C4 Grand Picasso at the moment which has been a great family car and all my previous cars have been mundane hatchbacks (307, Focus, Mondeo, Micra, Escort), so the 600 Ti will be the fastest car I've owned. It's like one night stands IMHO, best kept as fleeting memories that shouldn't be revisited or compared to current.
I'm just after a second car to look after, fettle with and enjoy on the side really. It might become more of a daily driver if and when the Mrs passes her test but I don't think that will be anytime soon.
Edited by The Turbonator on Tuesday 7th July 22:52
Edited by The Turbonator on Tuesday 7th July 22:53
The Turbonator said:
Only got a Citroën C4 Grand Picasso at the moment which has been a great family car and all my previous cars have been mundane hatchbacks (307, Focus, Mondeo, Micra, Escort), so the 600 Ti will be the fastest car I've owned.
I'm just after a second car to look after, fettle with and enjoy on the side really. It might become more of a daily driver if and when the Mrs passes her test but I don't think that will be anytime soon.
I'd go for it, you only live once. I bet MG John could help you with info on what to look for/fixes etcI'm just after a second car to look after, fettle with and enjoy on the side really. It might become more of a daily driver if and when the Mrs passes her test but I don't think that will be anytime soon.
Edited by The Turbonator on Tuesday 7th July 22:52
Edited by The Turbonator on Tuesday 7th July 22:53
I remember reading the 620ti goes skiing advertorial they did in CAR mag in the mid-90s a few times - one of my favourite car ads
Edited by s m on Tuesday 7th July 23:24
Hi,
I hanker back to my tommi mak evo 6. It has 19k miles when I bought it 2 years old. It was beautifully kept and very lightly modified with extra strut braces top and bottom and different wheels. plus a blitz NUR and mushroom filter.
Everyone tells me that I would think the interior was awful if I got back in one, but somehow I reckon as long as it was mint, I'd still think it was the best thing since sliced bread.
Good luck with your rover quest. Appreciate I am not going quite as far back as you suggest but I get your outlook :-)
Cheers
Steven RW
I hanker back to my tommi mak evo 6. It has 19k miles when I bought it 2 years old. It was beautifully kept and very lightly modified with extra strut braces top and bottom and different wheels. plus a blitz NUR and mushroom filter.
Everyone tells me that I would think the interior was awful if I got back in one, but somehow I reckon as long as it was mint, I'd still think it was the best thing since sliced bread.
Good luck with your rover quest. Appreciate I am not going quite as far back as you suggest but I get your outlook :-)
Cheers
Steven RW
Yes - a while ago I got fed up with the drive by wire throttle lag that all modern petrol cars seem to have, so I went out and bought the best E36 328i Sport Coupé that I could find, a 1998 model made just before the rot set in - a final swan song of cable throttle straight six loveliness. It was a wonderful car and I didn't regret it for one second from a driving point of view. The thing that killed my dream in the end was the constant maintenance and the initial restoration to get it driving like a newer car. For initial restoration, it obviously needed every suspension bush replaced along with the dampers, which understandably ran into four figures, and it needed four new tyres of the same make. The maintenance was then the next thing, and I spend quite a lot of money on it as things needed replacing over time. My total bill for two years of driving was £5500 in upkeep and about £200 of depreciation. I can't decide if it was worth it or not. 
I used to have a Mk2 Revision 5 MR2 back in about 2007. I loved it, but I had to sell it when my girlfriend at the time wanted to leave work and go to University. A couple of years back my financial circumstances changed once again, and this time the car that was to go was a BMW 130i. So I decided to buy myself a cheap Mk2 MR2 for my hour long commute to work. Big mistake.
You know people go on about NVH? It's really a thing, and it's really a thing that has been improved in recent years. The 130i whisked me to work in comfort and I felt good when I arrived. The MR2 drained me on the same journey. The few times I did it in the MR2 told me I had made a mistake.
I sold the MR2 and kept the BMW.
You know people go on about NVH? It's really a thing, and it's really a thing that has been improved in recent years. The 130i whisked me to work in comfort and I felt good when I arrived. The MR2 drained me on the same journey. The few times I did it in the MR2 told me I had made a mistake.
I sold the MR2 and kept the BMW.
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