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The ones we regret we let go.


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As a an exercise in memory loss what car do you regret letting go for whatever reason.

In  my case after a heart attack at 37 we needed cash to live and all savings were long gone. needed to make the mortgage so had the sell the attached.

very rare MG midget WSM.

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1988/89 - Just married, Mortgage interest rates hitting 15 or 16%, part way through a restoration no room to keep it, couldn't really afford or justify renting garage space for it and the TR2 and Stag that we had also accumulated by then, etc etc

Not a valuable car, but a rare early "flat rear panel" MkII Consul that I bought just before my first TR2. I ran the Consul in Winter and the TR's in Summer when a student in Nottingham

Would love to find it again

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For me it was the car i own now......bought as a very tired old Tr in 1979 I had to sell in 1989....regretted it deeply, but i had the opportunity to repurchase some years back.

Taken by my mother on the water front of Andrews Boatyard, Bourne End in 1980....having just passed it first MOT since rebuild.

VHP529 and IP-Andrews 1981.jpg

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10 minutes ago, Rod1883 said:

1988/89 - Just married, Mortgage interest rates hitting 15 or 16%, part way through a restoration no room to keep it, couldn't really afford or justify renting garage space for it and the TR2 and Stag that we had also accumulated by then, etc etc

Not a valuable car, but a rare early "flat rear panel" MkII Consul that I bought just before my first TR2. I ran the Consul in Winter and the TR's in Summer when a student in Nottingham

Would love to find it again

img073.jpg

Its still on DVLA  so its around somewhere.

Stuart.

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I wrote to DVLA a few years ago with an enclosed sae asking them to forward my details onto the current owner if they wouldn't tell me directly - but they refused to do either

A lead from a Facebook group a while back indicated that the Consul may have belonged to a Gary Walters from Potters Bar/Enfield in the 1990's, but that was as far as I got.

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Hi Iain,

basically a Midget or Sprite floor pan with a space frame and roll cage behind rear arches. The body was rolled alumium with a one piece Glass fibre bonnet.

All up weight was around 11cwt with 998cc Miglia engine. It had been fitted with a Shorrocks suoercharger which I subsequently found and .

All weight was reduced as much as possible. The threepenny bit wheel arches replaced in Alloy, foot wells flat areas cut and alloy sheeted over.

probably not the most safely built racer in hindsight .

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Where do I start !, see photos below + another Stag, a 2.5PI estate, Morris 1000 traveller, 2 X series 3 Landies, Sierra XR4 X4 i

Bob

Edited by Lebro
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Of all the cars I've owned (not many to be honest) but the ones I regret parting with are the Fiesta Supersport ULT 992 X which I purchased new in 1982 from Currie motors in Twickenham and the Audi RS6 I sold to fund the rebuild of another car I regretted selling and subsequently purchased back (my TR6 BUO) 

The one I regret not buying was a yellow Ferrari 246 GTS from Chequered Flag in Chiswick at the time £14K ! I had £10 in the bank and it was either buy the Ferrari and take out a bank loan for the £4k balance or buy a new XR3i for £7k ....................I bought the XR! oh what a great tool hindsight is. 

 

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Apologies for the rubbish picture but I definitely should have kept this one.

Rgds Ian

On the back of this post, I recently googled the registration number and it appears to be alive and well in Wales somewhere.

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Austin Healey 3000-1.jpeg

Edited by Ian Vincent
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2 hours ago, Graham said:

Of all the cars I've owned (not many to be honest) but the ones I regret parting with are the Fiesta Supersport ULT 992 X which I purchased new in 1982 from Currie motors in Twickenham and the Audi RS6 I sold to fund the rebuild of another car I regretted selling and subsequently purchased back (my TR6 BUO) 

The one I regret not buying was a yellow Ferrari 246 GTS from Chequered Flag in Chiswick at the time £14K ! I had £10 in the bank and it was either buy the Ferrari and take out a bank loan for the £4k balance or buy a new XR3i for £7k ....................I bought the XR! oh what a great tool hindsight is. 

 

You may have been saved a great deal of grief Graham.  I had a friend who bought a really nice Porsche 911 with FPSH and fairly low mileage back in the eighties, using pretty much all his available cash, only to nearly have a heart attack when the bill for his first service came in at £1100.  Running exotica is usually an expensive exercise.  But we all know that don't we? <_<

Rgds Ian

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My biggest regret was selling my first TR. Bought as a rusty runner in 1971. Joined the Register for spares spent the winter rebuilding the old girl. Spent two summers racing through the club despite it being my only daytime vehicle. Sold it in 1979 when the first child came along as I needed the money. DVLA shows it is still on the road, wish I knew where. Fond memories 

Gordon

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In 1975 a friend of mine acquired a 1965 E-type FHC in gunmetal metallic grey with red leather interior trim. The car had just 4,700 miles on the clock and was as new with no rust anywhere. We took it to the British GP despite thereby increasing the clock reading by almost 2%. I drove it there and Bill drove back. My abiding memory is of the extreme care required when emerging from a T junction with very restricted view, I had never driven a car with so much in front of the driver! I was so upset to hear a few weeks later that Bill had sold the car for £2,000. I must confess that had I known he was thinking of moving it on I would have had it and sold the 4A!

Tim 

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7 minutes ago, tim hunt said:

In 1975 a friend of mine acquired a 1965 E-type FHC in gunmetal metallic grey with red leather interior trim. The car had just 4,700 miles on the clock and was as new with no rust anywhere. We took it to the British GP despite thereby increasing the clock reading by almost 2%. I drove it there and Bill drove back. My abiding memory is of the extreme care required when emerging from a T junction with very restricted view, I had never driven a car with so much in front of the driver! I was so upset to hear a few weeks later that Bill had sold the car for £2,000. I must confess that had I known he was thinking of moving it on I would have had it and sold the 4A!

Tim 

I thought long and hard about a 1968 convertible E-Type for £1570 in 1972.  In the end I decided it was too much money and turned it down and kept the Alfa that I had at the time.

Rgds Ian

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1974 just married with a big mortgage and running a TR3A as my daily driver when a friend comes round with an Austin Healey 3000.  Not any car but a louvred bonnet and Healey's name in the log book, did I want it?  I 'phoned him the next day as I knew that he changed cars on a weekly basis but he had already exchanged it for a Rover P6B.  I imagine it is probably still around somewhere.

Mike

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I have always had triumphs, since my first car in 1993. These have mainly been Spitfires & GT6, but the two I really regret parting with are the triumphtune development spitfire and my T6 Lemans spitfire, which I built from scratch.

More recently my triumph of choice is my modified tr4 6cyl.

 

Neil

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1973  the Arab Oil Crisis had just started, price of oil and petrol was going through the roof and a Light Blue Aston Martin DB5 spluttered to a halt just outside my Dad's shop in West London, I went out to offer any assistance to the somewhat annoyed owner, "It's the dam petrol pump again, keeps on happening" he said,   "Is there anything I can do to help" I said .... "Give me 1500 quid and I'll walk home from here"    he wasn't joking and sadly I didn't have that much money available .... the one that got away ..... what's an Aston worth these days?!

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1 hour ago, Rob Salisbury said:

1973  the Arab Oil Crisis had just started, price of oil and petrol was going through the roof and a Light Blue Aston Martin DB5 spluttered to a halt just outside my Dad's shop in West London, I went out to offer any assistance to the somewhat annoyed owner, "It's the dam petrol pump again, keeps on happening" he said,   "Is there anything I can do to help" I said .... "Give me 1500 quid and I'll walk home from here"    he wasn't joking and sadly I didn't have that much money available .... the one that got away ..... what's an Aston worth these days?!

About £350K now

Stuart.

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Hi Neil,

This post isn't about only TR's the Cossie's  were great but do I regret not having kept it, nah! don't think so.

This more about I suppose the personal struggles that caused the sale that we now regret.

Like the XK 150S I bought for £300, or the MK 11 Escort twin cam rally car. or the Volvo 142 Works rally car, sh1t that was fast and would rev till the valves bounced" a bit of a handful on the loose due to it it's size.

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