I wish I kept it

My other half wants me to part with my restoration project but I don't want to get ten years down the track and wish I'd kept it. You hear a lot of friends of friends that used to have GTHO's etc. when they were younger. Did anyone here have a gem that they wish they'd kept? I could be valuable or just sentimental.

Absolutely. Whilst it was no amazingly fast performance car, I wish I'd kept my old Opel Manta GTE. It was a great fun car to drive with a lot of feedback from the road and the first (and so-far only) sports car I'd had. Problem was, somone drove into me in it, and even though the car was put back on the road, driving had lost its appeal (it was a nasty accident). Stupidly I thought it would stay that way so I got shot of the car. With hindsight I would have stashed it away until such time as the thrill and fun of driving came back.

Yes,

A 1971 Mini Cooper S

and about 10 years later a 1971 Ford Fairmont (XY).

Perhaps my Harley as well but it went south when the filthy lucre spoke.

"I dont want a pickle, I just want to ride my motorcycle
And I don't want to die, I just want to ride my motorbike"-Arlo Guthrie

[sigh]

come now Neil, it was:

"I don't want a pickle, I just wanna drive my motorcickle,
I don't wanna die, I just wanna drive my motorciiiiiiiie.......cle"

Mr. Moffat, what on earth is this aussie term, "lucre"??? (or do I really want to know?)

Apart from a few photo's there is not a lot.

But what my Dad sold / gave away. He had several bikes in his youth, Triumphs & BSA's etc. All very cheap just after the war. He raced at Isle of Man among others with, Agostini Duke & Surtees. All he has left is a fuel tank from a 1917 Triumph. All to get married and have........... ME !

Thankfully,

Simon

I sometimes wish I could get back my parents Cortina Mk2 1600 GT- it could be quite a nice car if it's been restored!
I also miss my first Dutton- a series 2 melos. Not a particularly fast machine, not exactly crisp or precise handling but a whole heap of fun- a whole heap of trouble as well!
I really wanted to keep the 1965 Landrover I had a couple of years ago- it came to me as payment for a debt- I kept it for a year, had a lot of fun with it but I looked at how much I would want to spend on it if I kept it (Roll cage, nice seats, seat belts, full hood and frame to replace the hardtop, set of wheels with road tyres, set of wheels with mud tyres, filthy great V8...)... so I sold it.

I've seen that glint in your eye, Bluebottle. It's only a matter of time before there's another Landie in the family. Just as soon as Baby Bottle is old enough to wield a spanner and a torque wrench.

Cars I should have kept? Well, they might not have been much to look at, but I sorely miss

"The Clockwork Orange" - a 1972 Hillman Avenger (that's a Plymouth Cricket if you're in the US). Marlboro McLaren blaze orange in colour, with a clattering timing chain, never was a car better christened.

"Samson the Beast" - a 1971 Volkswagen 1600TL Type 3 Fastback. A joyously tail-happy car which taught me everything I needed to know about oversteer and carburettor balancing.

"The Guv'nor" - a 1973 Rover 2000TC P6. Faster than it deserved to be, and with such a sumptuous ride and interior. In royal blue, it was just like the old police machines you see in re-runs of The Sweeney.

"The Aircraft Carrier" - a 1969 Ford Zodiac V6. Quite the worst car I have ever owned. It was unreliable, it wouldn't steer, it handled abysmally, it chewed up a set of front tyres in 5000 miles, the aerodynamics gave it tangible negative downforce (i.e. LIFT!) at the front end over 60mph, had a steering column gear shift which was truly frightening in its vagueness and I once managed to do an entire 15 mile trip without noticing that the weedy handbrake was on. God, I loved that car!

My life would certainly have been different if I hadn't sold my 403 so I could buy an Austin Healey... but then again, I didn't, because it was gone by the time I sold my car anyway...

But if it hadn't been? Who knows...

As it turned out, I spent a time wasting my talents on fixing Simcas... so I wish I had kept my 403... for a while, at least...

And I wish I hadn't written off my 404 with a sunroof.

My 1934 Ford five window coupe. I converted it to hydraulic brakes and installed a 1948 Mercury 3/4 race engine. Top speed was about 140 mph, but that was scary.
My Riley 1.5 with a stage 3 engine in it. All I have is the badge of the front grill. It would do 95 mph with wife and 2 kids and two Beagles in the trunk. The wife could only see the Tachometer and it would say 6000 rpm so she was happy that I did not speed. Imitation leather upholsterie and genuine walnut burl dashboard.
Corvair Corsa 1965, the most fun to drive on a twisty gravel road. It was probably the best handling car built in north america up to that time, that is once you figured out that the rear tires needed to be inflated to twice the pressure of the front tires. (15 psi front, 30 psi back.) Unfortunatelie Ralph Nader managed to kill it.
My 1970 BMW 2002, probably the most fun car to drive.
With the exception of the 1934 Ford all the above cars fell victim to rust, a normal complaint in Canada.

Originally posted by djb
come now Neil, it was:

"I don't want a pickle, I just wanna drive my motorcickle,
I don't wanna die, I just wanna drive my motorciiiiiiiie.......cle"

Mr. Moffat, what on earth is this aussie term, "lucre"??? (or do I really want to know?)

you are correct, sir. My apologies to you and Mr. Guthrie

[off topic] Lucre is money, from the same root as "lucrative". Usually ill-gotten money, such as the common phrase "filthy lucre". Not particularly Aussie, as far as I know, but I'm not suprised Mo'fat is familiar with it. [/off topic]

The vehicle I wish I still had was a bike. My old Honda 400 Four. In hindsight it was my favourite bike, but now they cost a fortune.

Originally posted by Neil C


you are correct, sir. My apologies to you and Mr. Guthrie

[off topic] Lucre is money, from the same root as "lucrative". Usually ill-gotten money, such as the common phrase "filthy lucre". Not particularly Aussie, as far as I know, but I'm not suprised Mo'fat is familiar with it. [/off topic]

Yes the dirty money harrow..

Neil I spent the afternoon riding around on a Harley Soft Tail Duece
I thought the Harley thing was out of my system but.....

A set of loud pipes, the carby kit, my 11 year old daughter for company and the open highway.

RIKB Agree with you about the 400/4's. A friend of mine had a pretty yellow one, the beautiful curves of the 4-in-1, and the engine sound stays with me, as well as it being the first engine that I ever revved to 10 grand. His met an unfortunate end with a tree, fortunately my friend is still around but it was a rather unpleasant event-I was riding with him at the time on my own bike, not a nice memory, even getting close to 20 years later. They are very rare and far between in this part of the world.

Thanks for the Lucre explanation, had been fearing an ex-wife sort of term....

Probably the car i miss most is my last Charger (I had three).

It was a '73 VJ Charger XL. I bought it for $1,200, it had rusty rear sills, a worked 265 with triple Dellortos, a 3.27 LSD, 14" x 7" ROH jellybeans and a 3 speed box with buggered synchros and a knackered shifter .

I spent three years restoring that car, replaced a number of clutches, fitted a 4 speed, retrimmed the interior, replaced most of the front end, fitted thick swaybars, Koni adjustable gas shocks to the front and Bilstein coilovers to the rear. I also fitted a genuine E49 dash, 2 1/2" exhaust and decent tyres. That car was so much better after all that. Then finally, i had all the panel work done by a mate and painted it Monza Red, with R/T blackouts and decals. When it looked as good as it went, I sold it to raise the deposit for my house. :(

Probably just in time, too... the petrol it drank would have made you mortgage your socks if you'd still had it!

But those supercars of that era were great, weren't they?

I think fuel economy is over rated. I mean really when you look at it, the difference between running a shopping trolley and a performance car is less than 6% of the average wage.

Okay, David... you have a 1991 Camry manual and it gets about 36 miles per gallon. Your Valiant might do 20mpg, or use 1.8 times the amount of fuel.

A return trip to Leyburn, then, will absorb an additional 24 litres or so... a possible turn off if your wallet is a bit light on. Then there's the situation on serious trips...

Kharmann Ghia convertible, LHD, totally useless soft top. I drove it all year round, in England, with the roof down! I hand painted it with grey 'Re paint', before giving it away in 1971.

A Lloyd Saloon. This one got painted blue but I never did get it running.

Biggest regret in hindsight, Rusty yellow VW Beetle convertible, with sliding bolts to hold the doors shut. When I put this car over a friends pit, we discovered that not much remained of the chassis. It went to the great highway in the sky in 1972. About ten years later I came accross the logbook, which showed it as a 1130cc car of 1949 vintage.

I never owned anything that I really regreted parting with. BUT, I am forever kicking myself for missing th egreatest opportunity in my life.
Some of the older Aussis will remember the boxer Wally Tailor; well he and his trainer Reg Layton owned a used car place near the Gabba called Lalor Motors. And I clearly remember a creamy white Auburn with white walled tyres in the showroom. It was a non going car, so the price tag was 15 pounds. The funny thing was nobody wanted the car and it was there for a helluva long time.:( :( That Auburn would be priceless nowadays.