A blast from the past - 90's AutoTrader

[Rangeroverover]

essayer said:

Didn't dealers used to bung AT so they'd get it the day before the public saw it?

Friend of mine would drive down to Poole to get a copy of exchange & mart on a wednesday, during the classic car boom late 80's he swore it gave him an edge. The magazine used to run ads saying "if you are contacted before thursday let us know"

[BertieWooster]

ozzyt17 said:

Not exactly classifieds but these are adverts from a regional Hertfordshire magazine in 1995 my parents had from their wedding day (their picture was in a wedding dress maker). They are only a couple of ads but they still show how cheap SUV's were, and how Ssangyong were using the Mercedes trick even back then.

I remember going with my dad on a test drive one of these in the mid-90s when he was in the process of choosing a new company car. I thought it was absolutely fantastic and was gutted when he didn't get it (reason being that the fuel economy was pretty horrendous).

[Aaron_W]

Remember the £600 Ford Capris? Only in the past few years that they're going up, seems like 80's cars (205, Sierra, Astra) are starting to shoot up, can't imagine that in 10 years a good mileage good condition S reg Focus could start going up in value.

[kpb]

Simpler times.

Copies of the 'Trader, E&M, Parkers Used Car Guide (for the vital stats) and the Birmingham Bargain Pages would keep me occupied for days.

My favourite 'Trader memories
- moving house and realised I was on the border of the Lincolnshire and Midlands regions and had access to two editions on the same day
- scouring through 'wrong' sections in the 'Trader looking for mid-advertised Hot Hatches that may have been overlooked, such as anything Peugeot with a GTi bodykit but just listed as a '1.6' or '1.9'
- knowing that if you needed a car gone, you just punted it on the Trader 10% cheaper than anything listed the previous week and you could practically guarantee it would sell it by Saturday
- getting 60+ calls in a weekend for my rusty Corolla GTI-16v. Sold it to a lad who bought it in the dark on a rainy unlit street in my village. Perfect buyer!

Least favourite memories
- buying a multi-week deal and missing the deadline to inform them i'd sold the car before the next edition came out
- fielding calls for cars sold days before, and dealing with angry disappointed idiots
- the pre-anonymous phone number era when scam companies bombarded you with "give us £65 and we'll give you the names of buyers for your car"

[Flat6]

964 RS

[swisstoni]

When you got fed up with cars in Exchange & Mart you could turn to the other main section and buy a surplus battleship and the like.

[Martin_Hx]

I loved looking through the sports section as an early teenager dreaming

[Ved]

Great thread. £10k in 1990 would be £22k today but even then some are incredible value.

If only we'd known!

[Aaron_W]

Ved said:

Great thread. £10k in 1990 would be £22k today but even then some are incredible value.

If only we'd known!

The DB6

[Rob197]

I'll take the v12 jag on slicks please! Second or third pic in top corner

[essayer]

kpb said:

- the pre-anonymous phone number era when scam companies bombarded you with "give us £65 and we'll give you the names of buyers for your car"

My business partner fell for that when he was trying to sell his Freelander, not one lead!!
They were so insistent that they have people waiting to buy your car RIGHT NOW

I used to tell them if they were so sure I'd pay them commission. Strangely they never took me up on that.

[s m]

kpb said:

Simpler times.

Copies of the 'Trader, E&M, Parkers Used Car Guide (for the vital stats) and the Birmingham Bargain Pages would keep me occupied for days.

My favourite 'Trader memories
- moving house and realised I was on the border of the Lincolnshire and Midlands regions and had access to two editions on the same day
- scouring through 'wrong' sections in the 'Trader looking for mid-advertised Hot Hatches that may have been overlooked, such as anything Peugeot with a GTi bodykit but just listed as a '1.6' or '1.9'
- knowing that if you needed a car gone, you just punted it on the Trader 10% cheaper than anything listed the previous week and you could practically guarantee it would sell it by Saturday
- getting 60+ calls in a weekend for my rusty Corolla GTI-16v. Sold it to a lad who bought it in the dark on a rainy unlit street in my village. Perfect buyer!

Least favourite memories
- buying a multi-week deal and missing the deadline to inform them i'd sold the car before the next edition came out
- fielding calls for cars sold days before, and dealing with angry disappointed idiots
- the pre-anonymous phone number era when scam companies bombarded you with "give us £65 and we'll give you the names of buyers for your car"

Not just me then - you'd sometimes spot something tasty in 'General Cars' that should have been in 'Sports & Performance' - you could sometimes put a cheeky offer in if the seller was in a rush to sell that week as people wouldn't look for that sort of car in the wrong section

[s m]

Ved said:

Great thread. £10k in 1990 would be £22k today but even then some are incredible value.

If only we'd known!

1998 -£500 .....which one would you have bought?

[DegsyE39]

Evolved said:

Ace thread.

+1

[DegsyE39]

STOWE said:

Oh and this

What year is this please mate?

I had a C&SC Subscription from age 11-16

And i can clearly remember seeing a yellow miura up for sale in 2006 at 66,000 Euros!

That and 35-40k dinos, 7 grand lambo espadas.

I went to a car show in about 2001 and there was a guy with a purple glitter painted countach!

Genuine too i think he paid 30-40k odd if i recall right.

[F40LM]

MDMA . said:

vikingaero said:

As a teenager I used to buy a copy of the Southern Edition of Autotrader and study each car and its relative price. There was one full page advertiser that stood out with his wit and corny lines although I can't remember the name of the dealer. Then I discovered the Northern Edition which was positively a telephone directory - I used to think everyone oop North was a dealer.

He used to advertise along the lines of : "beautiful black seductress, waiting for your attention "

Full page ads, i think in Stockport area. The best were the salvage/damage adverts. Burnt out cars, always described as "mint pre accident/fire". Like it makes a difference!

The dealer in question is Martin Ingham who's based in Bolton. He's still going but without the amusing descriptions

[Squirrelofwoe]

myhandle said:

STOWE said:

Not exactly Autotrader but just as annoying

Wow. What year was this? I didn't think the DB5 and Miura ever dropped this low.

As an aside, what a brilliant thread. This is what PH should be about. Brilliiant.

How about £4,995!

andymac said:

Well check these Aston's and ferrari'sclassic car and sports car mag 1986

[Roy m]

Going back even further there was someone who advertised in MotorSport "Any XK120 for £120" and when Custom Car magazine first came out it had a section on old cars to buy cheaply - Ferraris Lambos Aston's etc

Slightly OT but there were two guys who used to 'rallycross' around the infield in their Ferrari Dinos.

My misses - DB6 at under £10k, Pagoda Merc at under£6k and, worst of all a Renault Alpine A110 on Monte Carlo plates at £1k whilst on holiday in France once!

[Ved]

s m said:

Ved said:

Great thread. £10k in 1990 would be £22k today but even then some are incredible value.

If only we'd known!

1998 -£500 .....which one would you have bought?

I'll take one from the middle please. Wow.

[Roy m]

Roy m said:

Going back even further there was someone who advertised in MotorSport "Any XK120 for £120" and when Custom Car magazine first came out it had a section on old cars to buy cheaply - Ferraris Lambos Aston's etc

Slightly OT but there were two guys who used to 'rallycross' around the infield at Croft in their Ferrari Dinos.

My misses - DB6 at under £10k, Pagoda Merc at under£6k and, worst of all a Renault Alpine A110 on Monte Carlo plates at £1k whilst on holiday in France once!