One that got away

unkel · 18-03-2021 10:35am

That Saab is the most desirable of them all imho :cool:

outfox · 18-03-2021 4:43pm

Beautiful Saab. I almost bought one when I was about 25, as a first proper car. It was for sale in Cork for £1800. About 10 years old, silver, with the Aero wheels. Then I priced the insurance: £1850. That was the end of that.

alexv · 19-03-2021 9:42pm

I always loved BMWs growing up - e12, e28, 3.0csi, and 2002s. One Christmas in the nineties I was back in Dublin for a couple of weeks before heading back to the continent. Saw an ad in the Evening Press for a 1974 2002 in p.m.o. selling for £400 - reg. 2002 ZO (not sure of the letters but it was the numbers that made it feel meant to be!).
Didn't buy it because I wasn't gonna be in the country and had no spare garage to park it up. Always wondered what happened to that little beauty though.

Later I was in Buenos Aires for a while and fell in love with a 1980 Torino that had a notice in its window offering it for sale. I'd never seen one before, but it seemed to have it all: looks, performance, reliability and staying power. This one was immaculate even though it was over twenty years on the road. I toed and froed about buying it for a few weeks, but in the end the bureaucracy related to foreigners owning a car there, the price (US$5,000 - which the locals told me was pretty steep for a Torino), and the fact that it wore the later Renault badge, rather than the original IKA one, inclined me to turn it down. Still wonder what might have been with that rare gem.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/874486/cars-you-didnt-know-you-want-ika-torino/

vjmcdonnell · 04-04-2021 11:31am

Remember seeing a Metro 6R4 Group B for sale in Autosport for 25k in the 80's. More recently I was looking for a daily and ended up with three car's in my budget. Octavia vRS MK1 nearly new, Lotus Elise and Lancia Intergrale. I decided on been sensible and bought the Octavia but back then the Lotus and Lancia was a lot cheaper than they are now. Hence when I seen the prices of Impreza a few years ago I might have bought one. Wasn't ready at all but not missing the boat this time. Currently building a 6 car garage, not connected at all

Wibbs · 05-04-2021 11:20am

In the 90's I was offered an E30 M3 for buttons. IIRC 3 or 4K. The guy who was selling it I knew through mutual friends and he was emigrating and wanted shot of it. Because it was LHD he was getting pretty much zero interest in it. It was in immaculate condition with low mileage and I was interested after driving it a few times, but my insurance would have jumped by quite a bit, again the LHD was the reason given. And to be fair as my only car the steering wheel on the wrong side would probably have irritated me after the first flush of love had worn off. Still I do regret that, financially if nothing else.

I remember it not being a particularly fast car, but it was quick if you know what I mean? Very chuckable with great feedback, even back then when more cars had more feedback than most modern iron anyway.

Another was a Clio Williams, series 1. Again for feck all. What put me off that was a minor dent in the door. I know. Daft. Funny enough the drive didn't impress me as much as I thought it would have(the same week I drove an EK9 Civic R which would have left it for dead), so I'd probably not have held onto it.

Another LHD, this time a Ferrari 348 for 15K, only I didn't have 15k.

Plus the insurance would have been beyond crazy.

Hyperbollix · 06-04-2021 7:41pm

In a similiar vein........................About 7 years ago I was on the lookout for an early 90's Mini for small money. I signed up to the Irish Mini's forum and mentioned this and soon got a PM from a member of the club who had a freshly restored Rover Mini City in his garage and he had to let it go for space purposes. The car was very decent to begin with. It had been a "one lady owner" job for the first 20 years of it's life, til he bought it. He then spent a bit on getting any welding/new metalwork done and had given it a full respray. It was immaculate. He let it go to me for €2k, which when you consider the kind of dogs you could spend €2k on, to get a solid, rust free, professionally resprayed Mini with tiny mileage......it was a bargain. It was robbery tbh.

I put a set of minilites on it, chrome trim and finished off a couple of bits and pieces that still needed work. Took it to a guy who races Coopers and got the little 1l tuned to perfection, as it had poorish MPG for what it was. When I was finished it was a showstopper. I kept it for about 18 months, but then, as always happens, you get a niggle for a change and you sell to buy something else. I let it go for €3500.

My biggest regret in the last 15 odd years I've been driving classics. If I had it today, tid never leave the garage.

steinbock123 · 07-04-2021 9:55am

In the mid 70’s , maybe 76 or 77, I answered an ad in the Evening Press (no Donedeal or even Buy&Sell then) for a Mk 2 Lotus Cortina. It supposedly had “a knock in the engine”. Myself and a buddy went to look at it one evening, it was on Jones Rd. near Croke Park. Unusually, it was all red, not white and green and had no stripe, but was genuine Lotus. It had a Louth reg. no. , something IY , and the number was 500, I remember that. The car was parked on the road and looked immaculate.
We knocked on the door, and the owners landlady said he was having a bath. We said we’d wait. Anyway , we spent about 20 mins i(IIRC) looking at the car, but no sign of the owner. We called again, and the landlady said he was still in the bath.
So we headed off to Swords, where my buddy wanted to look at a Mini for sale. By the time we looked at that, it was too late to go back to the Cortina.
We went back two days later, but yer man was gone out in the car when we called. We never went back.
He was asking £500 , quite a lot for the seventies I suppose, but it was a bargain, was an unusual colour and had a nice reg.
I’ve always wondered where it went or does it still survive. It would be a mid thirties car now I suppose.

One that got away

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