The ones that got away

[jimbo]

Thought I'd start my first chat thread with a subject close to my heart. What little motring gems have you let slip through your hands. Only to regret later. Heres 2 to get you started:

 

1) At 16, My mates mum offered me her oldest son's garaged Mustang (He'd travelled to India and liked it so much he said he was staying.)

 

It was a solid shell, with rebuilt engine and box, and all other parts labelled and boxed/wrapped. Lovely deep purple colour. Mine for a ton!!

 

Mum said 'No'

 

2) At 18, a girl at my college wanted to get rid of a 1967 Morris Cooper MkII (998cc) that her grandad had left her (She wanted the garage space for a Gym!) It was absolutely solid and rust free. Needed stripping, cleaning, re-greasing and putting back togeteher (Price agreed £60)

 

Took me 2 weeks to convince Mum that it wasn't gonna end up being towed away like my older brothers Minis. By the time she said 'Yes', Car had been sold to her dad's workmate for £30!!!

 

Needless to say, I've never taken any notice of her since.

 

Soo you've seen mine, now show me yours......

 

Jim

[spooner]

i was 17 and got offerd a old car by a mate,went and looked at it,a sunbeam tiger with all new panels and parts to finish £1000 .

 

went back 2 days later to get it,the f%^$£g pikeis had taken it the night before

[over_head_cam]

When I was about 22/23 my mate offered m a mint Escort Twink for 400 quid. Recently done with new recaro interior.

 

Needless to say I was (and still am) skint, and that was that

[RFChris]

When i was 14 i worked in a scrap yard. A MKIII Capri 3.0Ghia auto came in and was stacked on top of two other cars. I clambered up, looked, and it was mint. Solid as hell, it was scrapped cos the old guy who owned it had died and it was parked on the street. I bought it off my boss for £50 (he paid nowt for it) I then sold it a week later for £50, merely to keep it on the road (guy wanted to restore it)

 

It was gold with a brown vynil roof and a brown tan interior. It scares me to think how much it would be worth now!

 

Still.....at least i was the catalyst to it having a few more years on the road!

[atomic punk]

Mint 2 door Escort mk2 Popular, bought for £250, swapped for a 950 Mk1 Fiesta..........

[Tom]

2 door mk2 escort 40k near mint condition. the old boy only wanted 200 quid for it and . . . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i've still got it

[bobmk1]

ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO GOT OFFERED A MINTER OF A 1600 SPORT MK2 ESCORT....£400 NOT MY CUPPA AT THE TIME SO PASSED ON IT

[martymk1]

years ago at the beauliegh atojumble, in the automark was a mk1 tina crayford, was with my brother in law, who offered to buy it for me there and then, & drive it home for me, i turned him down, think the bloke wanted about £1500 for it,

 

been kicking myself since then for not taking him up

 

[escortmad79]

1. Mk1 Escort Estate from a scrapyard, very cheap (I think it was tax exempt) & when it was MOT'd by the guy that bought it, it only failed its MOT on a few minors!

Didn't buy it because I was after an 2 door saloon!

 

2. Mk1 Escort Nimbus caravan from GDSF trade stands.

Didn't buy it as it was a shed!

 

3. Mk1 Escort bubble arched, caged, Pinto & Mexico log book.

Didn't buy it as it had been stood for a while, told a mate about it, he bought it & when he was driving down the dual carriageway (naughty naughty! ) the bonnet disintegrated due to rust!

 

4. Mk1 Escort 1300GT that lived at one end of my road & was sold & moved to the other end of the road where it sat in a car port, could've bought it then but I was a mere poor student without a driving licence so didn't.

Then a mate bought it, restored it, sprayed it retina burning Ferrari yellow & I should've bought it off him last year but some b*tch drove into my car where I used to work so couldn't sell my car to buy it so ended up losing it!

Got the money now but I think he sold it a few months ago as it was advertised in the back of Classic Ford for 2 months

 

5. 1550 pre crossflow Anglia back in August, didn't have the money at the time but do now... wonder if he's still got it!

Problem: Out of work (Got made redundant again last Thursday! )

 

Various other Mk1s & 2s.

 

That bubble arched yellow 100E, nearly bought that when it was in Exeter, parked on the quayside, drove past & had a look at it but it needed a bit of work then & think it had a slush box!

[ZetecVan 2.0]

In about 1990 a guy I know with a garage rang me up saying he knows someone selling a Mk2 RS1800 and is it worth the £400 he wants for it. I told him to snap his arm off. I went to have a look at it, to see if it was worth buying off him. At the time I knew bugger all about escorts (still don't!) but I knew it was rotten. Looking back, I doubt it was a genuine RS1800, but you never know.