A blast from the past - 90's AutoTrader

[Pwig]

What amazed me about printed autotrader, it took them years to put the cars in alphabetical order!

used to spend hours trying to find the right car!

[s m]

Levin said:

I wouldn't mind a look at the non-sporting Sierras, if you've got the time.

Budget Buys late 90s

[s m]

Levin said:

I wouldn't mind seeing the AE86 Corolla coupes, if there are any in the magazines. They're worth substantial amounts of money nowadays but there was meant to have been a time when they were dirt cheap.

With these, from what I remember, by the late 90s a lot of the very cheap ones had been hoovered up by the weekend crews coming from Ireland. When the insurance went a bit mad by the early/mid 90s a lot of the older rwd stuff got picked up and taken over to Ireland. People were really into the hot hatches over here at that time. Stuff like sporty old Escorts, Capris, old rwd Corollas, E21 BMWs, Mantas etc were pretty cheap - what seemed to happen was that a bunch of lads would come over in a car on Friday night, Saturday on the ferry - big roll of cash. They'd get an Autotrader, scour it for the cars they wanted, ring up and drop by. Do a deal for cash on the spot, not too much checking over the car, long as it was MOTd they be gone and off back to Ireland. That's where a lot of Mantas and AE86s seemed to go. My Manta, friends E21 323is and AE86 all got bought up this way


There's one on the second line here, late 90s



A few years earlier could find them cheaper I think - the Irish thing only seemed to last a few years in my area

Fun cars though

[TP321]

It does make you wonder what has happened to the world, when all these cars that could have been bought so relatively cheaply, are so highly prized now. I think the main difference is that now they are simply seen as investments hence the poorer quality and reliability no longer fares as it used to. But for how long can this continue?? Where will it all stop, and how can afford to buy them so that prices carry on increasing?

[williamp]

TP321 said:

It does make you wonder what has happened to the world, when all these cars that could have been bought so relatively cheaply, are so highly prized now. I think the main difference is that now they are simply seen as investments hence the poorer quality and reliability no longer fares as it used to. But for how long can this continue?? Where will it all stop, and how can afford to buy them so that prices carry on increasing?

amnnoying isnt it. Mind you, in the 60s nobody wanted pre-war cars, so students would drive around in Bentleys, R-R herses etc. The background of any 70s sitcom (the sweeney, etc) you'd see some tasty stuff just parked on the street: Aston DBS, lancias etc. aybe todays Megane 26r etc, s1 lotus elise will seem cheap at 15-20k??

Of coruse, you'll need to hang onto stuff for a long time for that to happen. Not many of us can do that. Many of the cars I have owned have shot up in value. But I sold them all for good reasons, and my life/style would be different now had I kept them.

I imagine had wheeler dealers kept all the cars and sold them now, they'd see huge profits.

[LukeSi]

This is in the paperwork for my first car (now scrapped). 3rd owner obviously spent a while looking for one. From 2001.

[schmalex]

Wacky Racer said:

My wife ran a Taimar Turbo as her only car about 10 years ago. It was an absolute hoot to drive!!

[Searider]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Indeed they were, I turned 17 in '93 and as far as I remember it was only a Nova SR or Fiesta Supersport that could be insured (group 6?) by a new driver that was even remotely sporty.

As they were older, the Supersports were tough to find as most were rotten so a Nova SR was hot property for most of us. Being in Cumbria, I had to get my hands on the north east and north west editions every thursday to try and get one (finally found one at a dodgy newcastle dealer called Bob Roberts).

My Supersport was a bit "frilly" when I sold it in '92 or '93. About £750 iirc

[Levin]

First of all, thanks a million for taking the time to post those pictures SM. The early 2000s would've been a cracking time to look for a Sierra; some promising examples at promising prices and likely tons of spare parts still to go round.

s m said:

With these, from what I remember, by the late 90s a lot of the very cheap ones had been hoovered up by the weekend crews coming from Ireland

Interesting to hear the market for cheap Corollas was already closing in the late 1990s. To this day, they're still a cult car in Ireland and examples appearing in England often turn up over here. Many of them are Japanese imports now but the UK cars are more desirable, particularly early examples as they apparently had a higher rev limiter.

Again, thank you. Great pictures and great insight.

[Mr Snrub]

williamp said:

TP321 said:

It does make you wonder what has happened to the world, when all these cars that could have been bought so relatively cheaply, are so highly prized now. I think the main difference is that now they are simply seen as investments hence the poorer quality and reliability no longer fares as it used to. But for how long can this continue?? Where will it all stop, and how can afford to buy them so that prices carry on increasing?

amnnoying isnt it. Mind you, in the 60s nobody wanted pre-war cars, so students would drive around in Bentleys, R-R herses etc. The background of any 70s sitcom (the sweeney, etc) you'd see some tasty stuff just parked on the street: Aston DBS, lancias etc. aybe todays Megane 26r etc, s1 lotus elise will seem cheap at 15-20k??

Of coruse, you'll need to hang onto stuff for a long time for that to happen. Not many of us can do that. Many of the cars I have owned have shot up in value. But I sold them all for good reasons, and my life/style would be different now had I kept them.

I imagine had wheeler dealers kept all the cars and sold them now, they'd see huge profits.

These things will always go in cycles, cars will fall in value, hit the bottom then rise once numbers are scarce. Wasn't that long ago when Renault 5 Turbos, Nova GTEs etc were sold for peanuts and usually found handbraking around the local council estate. Now prices are on the up and will continue to do so.

It can also be hard to predict which cars will be worth more. If you'd have gone back 30 years and told someone their base spec mk.1 Escort or VW Transporter would be valuable they'd laugh at you. Even Ladas and rwd Skodas are worth a bit of money now, and people used to scrap them when the washer fluid ran low.

[s m]

Levin said:

Interesting to hear the market for cheap Corollas was already closing in the late 1990s. To this day, they're still a cult car in Ireland and examples appearing in England often turn up over here. Many of them are Japanese imports now but the UK cars are more desirable, particularly early examples as they apparently had a higher rev limiter.

I think your location confirms the majority of the interest is still over there!

[Leins]

I think a lot of it comes from the huge interest in tarmac rallying that there's always been over here in Ireland. Hence the demand for light, wieldy RWD back-road weapons like Mk2s, E30s & AE86s. As kids everyone dreamt of being Bertie Fisher or Austin McHale on the Circuit of Ireland

[Bayerische]

Leins said:

Don't have any of my old Autotraders anymore, but have been browsing through an Autocar from Christmas 1993:






[url]

Good God!!! A 57,000 mile E28 M5 for £10,000.

I won't even get started on the E30 M3's. Considering I was flat broke in 1993, I guess it's irrelevant.

A fascinating step back in time. Thanks for posting.

[Mr Snrub]

£18,250 for a DB6. Even accounting for inflation that's only £34,000 and the cheapest roadworthy one in the classifieds is £300,000................

[V8mate]

schmalex said:

Wacky Racer said:

My wife ran a Taimar Turbo as her only car about 10 years ago. It was an absolute hoot to drive!!

It's great that time has moved on though, isn't it?

Who wants a five push button radio? It's so nice that you only have to push the buttons once on modern radios to get them to change channel.

[schmalex]

V8mate said:

schmalex said:

Wacky Racer said:

My wife ran a Taimar Turbo as her only car about 10 years ago. It was an absolute hoot to drive!!

It's great that time has moved on though, isn't it?

Who wants a five push button radio? It's so nice that you only have to push the buttons once on modern radios to get them to change channel.

Erm. I think the radio in hers had packed up - electrics weren't its strong point. Come to think of it, fuelling wasn't that great either. And it leaked. And struggled to start when it was hot / damp / on a slope. It went like a bat out of hell once you'd been able to overcome its foibles!

[Mr Tidy]

What price nostalgia?

Started my browsing with Exchange & Mart (just before A/T existed I think), and never really got excited about A/T while it was still in print! I mean, a black and white photo about an inch by an inch will really only tell you what the car is (as if you didn't know)!

Sadly now A/T is on-line only the photos from phones don't tell you much more! Progress - probably not!

Happy memories from those days though.

Thanks to Exchange & Mart after selling a 1978 MKII RS2000 in 1984 for less than £3,000 I bought a 1982 Capri 2.8i for £4,950 - don't think I have ever been more excited about collecting any car since!

But looking back, what was I thinking?

[s m]

Bayerische said:

Leins said:

Don't have any of my old Autotraders anymore, but have been browsing through an Autocar from Christmas 1993:






[url]

Good God!!! A 57,000 mile E28 M5 for £10,000.

I won't even get started on the E30 M3's. Considering I was flat broke in 1993, I guess it's irrelevant.

A fascinating step back in time. Thanks for posting.

They'd still got a way to fall from then though

Here at 6k - albeit a few more miles and years



Can't recall them ever sinking as low as the E34 Ms though

They were going, on occasion, for half that at the bottom

[Spannerski]

I remember buying cars via these rags.
You just avoided the cheap hot hatches, Cossies etc as they were all ways shagged and turned into moneypits.
If we only knew.

But then I turned down a UR Quattro with a cracked manifold as the replacement Manifold cost the same as the car.

[matjk]

I found an old newspaper in the garage from the same era, loved looking at the cars but houses where even more interesting. You could buy a 3 bed semi for £60k and a flat for £32k , we are commuting distance into London, same flat now about £170k. Also these cars would have cost quite a bit of cash to keep over the years what with storage and maintenance, bricks always seems to be a good investment