Which car from your past do you wished you could have stored

[aston addict]

OldSpeed said:

This was hilarious to own at the tender age of 23.


I very much doubt I will ever be in the position to justify the purchase of another.

love it - total street cred to you for buying it. Also love the look of the Silver Cloud - predecessor I think - they don't make cars this beautiful now.

[Macboy]

You can track my car buying habits by the values rising after I've sold.

Lancia Delta Integrale 8V - sold for what I paid for it (£4k I think)
Lancia Fulvia - put a fortune into it, never more than kept pace with it's deterioration bought for £3k sold for £1k
Porsche Carrera 4 ((964) bought for £14k and sold for £12k (3 months for sale). Nice condition too but everyone wanted 993s or wanted to turn mine into an RS replica and wanted to buy it for less than £10k. It was in lovely condition too. What'd it be now? £25k?
Alfa SZ - Loved owning it but driving position never suited me. Bought for £14k sold for £14k after (6 months for sale and the phone literally never rang)
Clio V6 Mark2 - Same as SZ - special to own but driving position never suited me - you sit on it not in it - Bought for £12.5k - sold for £11k after 3 months

Any one of these could be worth 50%+ more than I got for it and some, like the SZ are genuinely rare and desirable now....ah well

I've got a Mark 1 TT V6 now - watch out for the price rises in 3-5 years time. But the Lancia Gamma Coupe I also own - not sure that's rocketing in value any time soon.

[aston addict]

This thread put a smile on my face.

Probably without exception every car I've owned has been better than the last (not necessarily talking about the cost etc) - it's probably inevitable as technology moves on - but of course there are exceptions.

Unless you're a die-hard enthusiast many / most of the cars mentioned won't be as fun to drive as their modern equivalent - what do people think?

Are there any cars where the more modern version is not as fun as the predecessor(s)? I'm guessing people will mention the 911 at least. Modern cars are heavier - but then offer better crash protection. And are more comfortable. And more economical.

Anyway, enough of that.

The one car I wish I still owned though is a c-plate BMW 520i - with leather, electric sunroof and aircon. Wasn't the quickest of beasts but it had a personality - this isn't the model (had no chrome wheel arch extensions - fortunately):



And those that are concerned about the inflated cost of the classic market - don't panic. History has taught us that what goes up, will come down. Eventually. Classic car bubbles are the last throw before a crashing of prices.

Low interest rates have caused funds to be diverted into classic cars (and property, esp. in the South East). This will reverse and once again prices will normalise. And once again good classics will be realistic prices.

[Zumbruk]

In essence, all of them.

But the most irritating was the 3 door Cossie Sierra.

[Carlos78]

Eight years ago I was lucky enough to be able to afford a TVR Chimaera which cost me £8000, and had I have kept hold of it, it probably be worth around 12 grand now. So potentially not a bad investment. However, for the same money at the time, I was also very tempted with the Renault Clio V6, they were going for between 8 to 10 grand in 2008. And now these little Jack Russells go for anything over 25 to 30,000£££££. That’s £22,000 in eight years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well aren’t I glad that I bought the TVR, which I promptly sold

[Jex]

Going right back to the beginning of this thread - I too had a white Mk2 Escort Harrier, although it wasn't mint when I sold it, it had had a few scrapes - I managed to put it in a field once, but only damaged the front valance a little. It seemed to attract other cars and was hit four times. I foolishly took it through the wildlife part of Longleat and some baboons bit a chunk out of the rear spoiler - I repaired it with cardboard and black insulating tape, but when someone drove into the back of me, I managed to get a new one as part of the repair. I had it for 10 years and sold it when I got a company car. I'd love to have one again, but not at what they go for now - their value compared to other Escorts doesn't make sense, but I suppose it is because few were made.

[Big Rumbly]

The 3 biggies would be Mk1 RS2000, Sold for 1200 quid, MK2 GT6, sold for a Monkey, and S3 Lotus Elan sold for a grand. OUCH OUCH OUCH!

[mechagran]

already regretting my 996 turbo manual. It has gone up 10k since I sold it last march. Ok, so I used the money to buy something even more sought after (aircooled 911) but the reality is I would have kept it if I could. GT1 derived engine, and utterly sublime to drive. Future classic for sure.

[mechagran]

Carlos78 said:

Eight years ago I was lucky enough to be able to afford a TVR Chimaera which cost me £8000, and had I have kept hold of it, it probably be worth around 12 grand now. So potentially not a bad investment. However, for the same money at the time, I was also very tempted with the Renault Clio V6, they were going for between 8 to 10 grand in 2008. And now these little Jack Russells go for anything over 25 to 30,000£££££. That’s £22,000 in eight years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well aren’t I glad that I bought the TVR, which I promptly sold

my 964 has DOUBLED in value in 18 months..... :O

[stokesay]

My MK2 RS2000. Stupidly put on eBay in 2006, and stolen shortly afterwards:



My first car, which was indestructible, apart from the electrics:



My First GTti, due to multiple car wife pressure:



Biggest regret however is not buying a genuine Renault 5 Turbo 2, with engine trouble, from a neighbour for £2200 in 2000

[aspirated]

stokesay said:

My MK2 RS2000. Stupidly put on eBay in 2006, and stolen shortly afterwards:

What's the story with this? Did someone contact you to get your address and never turn up?

[blitzracing]

I stored a Lancia Montecarlo for some years thinking it would shoot up in value - it was £2 k when I bought it, but even in dry storage and after two full body resprays and gallons of Waxoyl it continued to desolve, so I sold it on for the same price before it became a brown stain on the garage floor. Apart from the rust issue, it was not a very good car. It ticked all the boxes being a mid engined Italian sports car, but it was slow, thirsty, rubbish brakes and inclined to pirouette, so I guess that's why a "good" one now is only around 12k.

[V8DNW]

Late model Range Rover Classic LSE with full 5.7 litre Overfinch conversion.

Paid nearly the price of a new RR for the conversion. Then about half as much again to keep it on the road due to Land Rover and Overfinch build quality.

Sold about ten years ago for less than a third of what similar vehicles go for now.

We still wouldn't get our money back, but at least we wouldn't have lost so much if we'd just mothballed it and sold it today.

Can't bring myself to find a photograph of it.

[250GTE]

1972 911 2.4S and a 964 RS, should have kept both rather than sold for 27 k and 30 k respectively. Only a few hundred grand out of pocket !

On the upside , I had them when I was quite young, had a lot of fun and didn't loose money.

Hindsight is a jolly fine thing but when I had these cars the late 80's crash was still in people's minds, plus I have had some jolly nice cars since. There is more to life than a beetle.

[Scooby P1]

fblm said:

I sold my 993GT2 in 2008 for 105k. I thought I was being clever and I'd be able to pick another one up for half the price 6 months later... doh!

Edited by fblm on Thursday 26th May 14:28

ooof. That's a brutal one!

Mine would be my mint Impreza P1 with 90k on the clock sold for £7k in 2012. Next to my brother's Evo 6 Makkinen, which unfortunately got scrapped after an incident involving a lampost and house.



Next one would be best spec (black optics) absolutely mint, 40k miles RS4 avant. Luckily I still have it, and love it.

[jamespink]

Not a good subject for me. I ran a sports car garage for years, so my list includes:
911 SC
911 2.7S
911T
911 2.7RS (£4k at the time) :-(
924, 944, 928s
All flavours of Cosworth Sierra
AVO Mexicos
Audi Coupe, 20v turbo
Dino (mint, sold for £36k)
M1, Mk1 facelift 3000GT/Es + Mk2 3 litre Capri Ghia
Escort RS 2000s
Droop snoot Firenza
Lotus Talbot
X-Pack Fiesta Mk 1 - 1900 steel crank engine
Pre x-flow Mk1 Cortina GT in rally trim
50 x Mk 1 Golf GTIs
20+ x Renault 5 Turbos
Peugeot 205 GTIs
240, 260Zs
XJS, V12 Daimler/Jaguar 2 + 4 door
Series 1.5 4.2 E-Type Coupe (bought for £1300 sold for £8 restored...)
DB6s
Opel Monza/GT/GTE/Manta/Calibra Turbos
Lancia Gamma Coupe, HEs, Coupe, soft tops, various V4s
Oldsmobile Tornado
Stingrays
2002 Ti/Tii
E9 2000 CS, 2.5, 3.0 CSi Coupes
635s
M535s
E39 M5
Thought I was doing well to be selling them...

Edited by jamespink on Thursday 26th May 17:14

Edited by jamespink on Thursday 26th May 17:17

[anonymous-user]

jamespink said:

911 2.7RS (£4k at the time) :-(

when was that?

[jamesbilluk]

Wish I had held on to this, made a loss on it somehow as well when I sold it!

[jamespink]

fblm said:

jamespink said:

911 2.7RS (£4k at the time) :-(

when was that?

I had just bought the 911T from Munich for £2k and the tatty yellow RS was £4k from a London dealer I think around 1982/4

[jamespink]

exitwound said:

My 1967 Honda S800 that I owned from 1972 to 1980. Everyone should have a shot in one at some time in their life.. Its like nothing else you'll ever drive.

My friend Ray had one. He was a big rugby player squeezed into the S800... Very funny!