What cars have you regretted selling? - I might be about to make a mistake...

[Butch]

I'm in a quandary,I went to look at a "new" (but secondhand) car today.

My dear old Subaru is getting on, and despite it being a damn good car, fully serviced and perfect mechanically, electrically and inside, some rust is starting to appear on the bodywork, along with faded paint and laquer peel. It's on 170k miles, I've put 100k of those miles on the old girl. Solid underneath, never once let me down, it's got me to work and more importantly, home in the most awful conditions, snow, ice, rain. The AWD system is just awesome. Never once missed a beat.

Now, my bodywork skills are wank. I can hand build and blueprint an engine, but give me a tub of "bondo" or "filler" and a spray can and my skills are that of a 5 year old, so a DIY option won't happen. If I pay for a respray, it'll come in at over 2k of the cars value.

But my heartstrings are pulling. It's been such a good car to me, I can't bring myself to sell it to some nobber who'll treat it like crap.

It's a bit like barfining a fat bird*. You know it's a mistake, you know everyone will look at you , but despite it seeming like a good idea at the time, there is always buyers remorse the following day when you realise how stupid you've been.

 

*I've never barfined a fat bird. "Big boned", yes. "slightly overweight" - guilty as charged. "bubbly" - most certainly. But fat, never. Also, "fat" is subjective. 60kg's is NOT fat, it's glandular.

[boydeste]

3 minutes ago, Butch said:

I'm in a quandary,I went to look at a "new" (but secondhand) car today.

My dear old Subaru is getting on, and despite it being a damn good car, fully serviced and perfect mechanically, electrically and inside, some rust is starting to appear on the bodywork, along with faded paint and laquer peel. It's on 170k miles, I've put 100k of those miles on the old girl. Solid underneath, never once let me down, it's got me to work and more importantly, home in the most awful conditions, snow, ice, rain. The AWD system is just awesome. Never once missed a beat.

Now, my bodywork skills are wank. I can hand build and blueprint an engine, but give me a tub of "bondo" or "filler" and a spray can and my skills are that of a 5 year old, so a DIY option won't happen. If I pay for a respray, it'll come in at over 2k of the cars value.

But my heartstrings are pulling. It's been such a good car to me, I can't bring myself to sell it to some nobber who'll treat it like crap.

It's a bit like barfining a fat bird*. You know it's a mistake, you know everyone will look at you , but despite it seeming like a good idea at the time, there is always buyers remorse the following day when you realise how stupid you've been.

 

*I've never barfined a fat bird. "Big boned", yes. "slightly overweight" - guilty as charged. "bubbly" - most certainly. But fat, never. Also, "fat" is subjective. 60kg's is NOT fat, it's glandular.

I have never bar fined a fat bird so can't relate, I can however relate to the car situation, I ran a 5 series 3 litre BMW for many many years and it too had similar mileage on the clock. I didn't want to part with it, but my friend who runs the MOT centre had been generous with it for far too long and told me not to bring it back again! I didn't want to sell it, but a young guy with not too much money with car skills asked if he could have it. I decided to let it go cheap hoping he would take good care of it.

Some times you just have to let go.

I replaced it with a brand new van, go figure!

[Aqualung]

Never regretted selling a car but I've regretted buying a couple. 

[galenkia]

Never regretted selling a car, but I wish I had my Suzuki RG500, a nice one goes for £20k now.

[Butch]

1 minute ago, galenkia said:

Never regretted selling a car, but I wish I had my Suzuki RG500, a nice one goes for £20k now.

Gal I have also been tempted by a GPz750 Turbo. There's a C reg one for sale for about 8.5k on Ebay, genuine UK bike. I regret selling my 350LC . Hell of a bike but somewhat unpredictable.

[galenkia]

I’m looking at a Ducati Supersport or ZX-4R for next spring. Really miss having a bike.

[AJSP]

17 minutes ago, galenkia said:

Never regretted selling a car, but I wish I had my Suzuki RG500, a nice one goes for £20k now.

Remember doing work experience in a hotel when I was 14/15 just basic washing up / food prep for a week. I got on well with all the kitchen staff and they offered me part time work after.
 

The second Chef was rare in that he didn’t drink but his passion was fast bikes and he had one of those / I went on the back once and only once. It went like a rocket and I’ll never forget that. 

[Butch]

34 minutes ago, galenkia said:

I’m looking at a Ducati Supersport or ZX-4R for next spring. Really miss having a bike.

Couple of hooligan tools right there.

Mate, live your dream. an RG500 won't lose money. 20K isn't a lot, plus 10 years time it'll still be worth a lot more than the cost price.

I got my Hakosuka KGPC10 for a secondhand Cosworth with a wankered head gasket plus £2k , no fucker wanted anything to do with them. I'm now sitting on a chunk of non capital gains profit right now.

RG500's are and will continue go the same way. In 10 years time you'll struggle to find a rideable RG500 or 500 YPVS for anything below £30k. Those that have them will hang onto them, those that want them will pay big money for an iconic, never to be repeated bike. Look at GSXR Slabsides, look at 350LC's and GPz750 turbos, Katanas and OWO1's. No brainer.

Buy one, enjoy one, live your life and keep it. you've overcome tough times and done enough mate. If anyone here deserves a break, it is yourself.

[Aqualung]

1 hour ago, AJSP said:

Remember doing work experience in a hotel when I was 14/15 just basic washing up / food prep for a week. I got on well with all the kitchen staff and they offered me part time work after.
 

The second Chef was rare in that he didn’t drink but his passion was fast bikes and he had one of those / I went on the back once and only once. It went like a rocket and I’ll never forget that. 

I've only been a pillion passanger also... On a powerful motorcycle . That was enough for me even though, at the time, it was a thrill. 

I would however love to learn to drive a motorcycle but whilst I would worry about myself I would be more worried about the shite car drivers out there with no sense of anticipation. 

[Pumpuynarak]

Ford Escort RS Cosworth (30K miles), it was my company car for 2 years and the company offered it to me for 10K when it was due for replacement, i bought it but stupidly sold it to a mate's brother for 11K. They are now fetching circa 80K on Piston Heads Car Sales.

 

[Lantern]

I find that I usually buy a car just as it stops depreciating and just before it starts decomposing. Then it's time to sell parts.

[john1000]

Selling my Honda CBR600. Reason was a hindrance when moving house. It turned out that I never went back to biking since. I still look at bikes but wonder after 12 years if its a step too far in terms of safety, given in my sixties now.

[KWA]

Run my cars until my mechanic says the next MOT could be costly.  Scrap them off and start again on ebay.

[tommy dee]

have a ford ranger 3.2 2wd here in Thailand.  I bought her new some 13 years ago.  last year or so been looking to replace and unless I buy new I seem to be looking at newer vehciles, but worn out really.  she has 170K Km n her,  needs a new wrap, screen, and an electrical problem sorting out that beats me hands down.

 

If i can fix the power issue, she will be re wrapped, new screen, new stereo and kept for another 12 yrs I think until she croaks.  been a bloody god truck, and I hated ford previously

 

but woudl regret selling her.  might oe day buy a car to run alongside tho

[Yesitisdakid]

My 1963 Volkswagen bug had a body off restoration complete. But I was coming to Thailand so it had to go

[maipenrai]

Well, I've owned over a hundred vehicles of all types and 32 bikes in my day but I've never really looked back on them - when I'm done with them, I am done and tend to forget them; except for this one, which I dearly loved and which I wish I had kept - 1983 Husqvarna 500XC, last of the metal gas tank, twin shock absorber Huskies:

[Chester Draws]

On 10/9/2023 at 8:56 PM, galenkia said:

Never regretted selling a car, but I wish I had my Suzuki RG500, a nice one goes for £20k now.

I'm lucky enough to still own a very nice RG 500.  Stan Stevens Stage 3 tune makes it even more fun.

[Mrmango]

In my youth, I owned a 1953 Buick Skylark convertible, 1958 blue corvette, 1957 Thunderbird and a 1957 Rolls Royce. 

[galenkia]

48 minutes ago, Chester Draws said:

I'm lucky enough to still own a very nice RG 500.  Stan Stevens Stage 3 tune makes it even more fun.

They are like gold dust. 
I had mine tuned by Dave Goddard about three miles from my home in Houndslow.

Not as good as Stan, but it needed rebuilding after blowing up, so had it tuned while it was apart. Then bought some Nikon pipes to finish it off.

Thanks for sharing this mate.

[Chester Draws]

14 minutes ago, galenkia said:

They are like gold dust. 
I had mine tuned by Dave Goddard about three miles from my home in Houndslow.

Not as good as Stan, but it needed rebuilding after blowing up, so had it tuned while it was apart. Then bought some Nikon pipes to finish it off.

Thanks for sharing this mate.

They do have a habit of blowing up! All part of the fun.....

[galenkia]

13 minutes ago, Chester Draws said:

They do have a habit of blowing up! All part of the fun.....

Mine blew up twice, that’s when I sold it.

 I was only 20 when I bought it, didn’t know how to,it was my first big bike.

[Lantern]

I have had one car that I wish I still had. ZL Fairlane. Sadly only a 6cyl.

Worth over 40K AUD now. Sold it for $2500. The idiot who bought it gave it to his GF. When she wouldn't f**k him he torched it.

 

And a 125cc & a 250cc version of the Honda TL.

[Chester Draws]

14 hours ago, galenkia said:

Mine blew up twice, that’s when I sold it.

 I was only 20 when I bought it, didn’t know how to,it was my first big bike.

I had another one in 89 too, wrote it off....
 

[galenkia]

6 minutes ago, Chester Draws said:

I had another one in 89 too, wrote it off....
 

Think that’s what happened to a lot of them, or turned into track/ race bikes then wrecked.

By the time I sold mine to Dave Goddard it was also a mess.

[Butch]

Stan Stephens used to tune LC's and Powervalves as well iirc.

They were horrifically fast, but like many 350 LC's, not unlike a hand grenade with a very loose pin. One of the tips I was always given when looking at a second hand LC was to check for lockwire around the sump plug.

Suzuki absolutely broke the mould with the RG's. The 500's sounded and looked awesome, being a Yamaha fan I always liked the RD500 YPVS , but again, nowadays they're fetching huge sums of money for a half decent one. Plus the Mrs won't let me have another bike anyway, least of all something as ridiculously impractical and fast like an 80's 500cc 2 stroke.

However @galenkia in case you were interested...

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1618525

Edited January 10 by Butch