Cars you passed over but then wished you hadn't

1. Free Porsche 924 advertised on a supermarket adverts board. Needed a new rear screen, though, which are unobtainable and hugely expensive....
2. Fiat X1/9 in really good condition. I bought my tatty 124 Spider instead.

They're the only ones I can recall.

Abo gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Not so much "passed over" - but I was just pipped at the post for a Tatra

603 on fleaBay a few years back.

On the whole, though, I'd have been better passing over many of the cars I _have_ purchased...

1967 SWB Porsche 911 - £1,800 1981 TVR Tasmin - £1,500 Midas Bronze - although it will be up for sale again and I could be very tempted.

I tend to be less pleased about the stuff I've sold.

The GTM Rossa K3 was a fantastic car, but we needed a Holiday and maybe that fortnight in Florida was just about worth it. The BMW E3 was great too, but my God, the rot... I loved my Royale Coupe, but had left full time employment and went to University.

I could go on, but we would be here all day.

I think every car I've realisticly wanted I've bought, so no regrets for me :)

1. A fairly local Rangie 3.5 with fresh MOT and working lpg conversion that I missed getting a bid on, that went for £600, so I bought that snotter one from Kidderminster instead.
2. A Prelude VTEC import that was in perfect nick but an auto, when I wanted a manual. It drove perfectly. I gave up looking in the end and bought the GT4.
3. A Skoda Estelle 120L that came up just as I had bought the first Saab. It was fully classic trial prepared, with a tuned 1300 engine and

5 speed box, big weber, all braced suspension, decent shocks, wide wheels and tyres. The guy that owned it had to give up driving because of a heart condition discoved about 2 weeks after he finished building it.

Great car... I loved the one I had, although yes it was a manual, and yes, it was horrendous on petrol.

Silky smooth engine though, and scared the shit out of anyone stupid enough to ride shotgun, when you showed them how well it stuck to the road round corners. ;-)

The thought of driving it probably kicked the condition in. ;-)

Nah, he had 5 others, this one was the peak of his buiding, sourcing all the right bits over the years then finally finding a clean shell.

He had a Fabia estate, then an Octavia diesel as his runarround as his disabled wife needed wheelchair space.

He was gutted when he had to quit driving because as well as having to rely on Taxis for transport, his main escape from being an almost full time carer was gone too.

i like them, 4WS always put me off cos it can be a bugger if it goes wrong, had a blast with one down some local B roads once in my old MR2 Turbo, had him on the starights but not much in it but he caught up well in the bends i was really surprised!

Capri 2600RS - probably the car I most regret not buying when I had the chance.

Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 in magenta with AC and leather, 30k miles back in

93 for £3000 - insurance had made it unsaleable but I should have just gone for it. 911 Carrera 3.2 I could have bought for £7k.

The Jensen Interceptor FF that could've been mine for £2500. Bloke who owned it had spent fortunes (around £40k) getting it restored professionally but then decided it was time to move to Spain - quickly...

The MG ZT-T 260 from earlier this year, should have bought it for myself. Still the most 'me' car I've ever driven, that.

Two Bristol 501's for, IIRC about £300 in the early 70's. One in good condition, exterior and interior, but with a blown engine. Damaged block. The other with a good engine, but quite tatty inside.

I'd answered an advert for the one with a damaged engine, thinking I could repair it. Then was offered the other when I turned it down as too expensive to repair . Was very tempted to take the pair, but had nowhere to put them. I only had a drive long emough for two cars. Mine and the wifes, and was in no position financially to rent the space needed to work on them.

I'd always liked the shape and the performance of the 501's, so was sorry I had to give them a miss. Mike.

Not really.

It's normally one relay that needs attention, IIRC.

That, and when it's not working, the car still drives fine and still handles the nuts. :-D

Aye... I know which one I'd rather be braking really hard in, as well. ;-)

Oops! My mistake. Meant Bristol 401, not 501. This model:-

You are LJK Setright and I claim my five pounds. ;-)

LJK Setright? Mike.

Hummm, motoring journo, long dead.

Type 'LJKS' into Google and it finds him instantly. He was an iconic journalist, but very technical and difficult to read at times. Stephen Fry would have seemed monosyllabic in his presence.

He was pretty much The Boss when it came to respect among his peers ; then and now.

And he only ever approved of two cars.

Honda Prelude 4WS and any Bristol ever produced.

for me it would be the MINT MX5 import the guy had that sold me my MR2 turbo, had a body kit which i wasn't overly keen on but the car had don hardly any miles and was a 1.6 and he only wanted between £3-4k for it at the time. but i didn't want another 2 seater and it was more to insure than the BMW although would have been cheaper in the long run.

also still have second thoughts over my mates MX5 Turbo, he offered it to me for £3k but i wanted something newer with lower millage so bought the mini, still happy with my choice but can't help wondering how much fun a 200bhp MX5 would have been. he later sold it recently and got £3800

Unlike myself. I only really like the Bristol 401 and 403. IMO the later range of Bristol cars were not as nice looking. Mike.

16v Delta HF sold by my fathers bosses son a coule of months back for £3600, to be honest it was a shed but still.