Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
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Peter_L
Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 2680 Location: New Brunswick. Canada.
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Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:43 pm Post subject: A particular vehicle you never quite had. |
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Around 1964-5 I would regularly travel some 10 miles to pick up my girlfriend from work. I had a Mini Van back then but was looking for something different.
One day a Red MGA appeared on the forecourt of a garage. I can't be 100% sure of the price (maybe £399)... I do know it ended in 99. Alas my parents didn't think it was a good idea and wouldn't help fund the purchase, the insurance was also going to be a problem... Then one day it was gone. In a way it was a slight relief.. That little garage is now a Ford dealership.
Over all the years, it is the only vehicle that I wanted but couldn't have.
... It looked a bit like this....
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Penman
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 4756 Location: Swindon, Wilts.
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Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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Hi
I had the fantasy of making this, an MGAGTE
_________________ Bristols should always come in pairs.
Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10 |
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peter scott
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 7118 Location: Edinburgh
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 12:14 am Post subject: |
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When I was teenager I repaired a very large console radio (Murphy A40) for a friend of my father. He had a Jensen 541 that had been abandoned for a few years and was missing its carbs and a few other parts. I could have had it for very little money but was worried that even if I could find the missing parts I probably couldn't afford to insure it so I didn't take advantage of the opportunity but did regret it.
Peter _________________ http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 6316 Location: Derby
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 2:03 am Post subject: |
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A school friend's father used to run a magnificent old MkV11 Jaguar. I remember it being green with a wonderful smelling leather interior. I was a passenger a few times and always wished I could one day own a car like it. Not long after leaving school the car became available on the grapevine.
I went to see the Mk V11 and expressed an interest in buying it but my ignorance of Jaguar models left the owner unimpressed. What had happened was that I had said I knew what the car was but the owner told me the car was not just a MkV11. Unaware at the time that there was no MkV1, I suggested exactly that!!
What the owner wanted to hear was that it was a rarer MkV11M that produced 190BHP. He felt - quite rightly - that the car should go to someone who had a better grasp of Jaguar history.
The disappointment of missing out on that particular car spurred me on to making a study of Jaguar history and in addition to buying a rare Austin Swallow (a bit smaller than the Mk V11) I became Editor of "Swallow Ramblings"; the Austin Swallow Register newsletter. As a consequence I was proud to have been made an honorary life member of the JDC. |
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Keith D
Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Posts: 1129 Location: Upper Swan, Western Australia
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 2:18 am Post subject: |
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While an apprentice earning very, very little in about 1962, I saw an early MG sports cars advertised at 100 pounds at a local garage. I fretted over this car for ages. It had been fitted with a Ford engine, but in those un-educated days, I looked upon that as an advantage.
Everybody said I was mad wanting this 'old crock'. A much older family friend went out and bought a rather nasty Ford Anglia on my behalf for 15 pounds. That was the nearest I have ever been to getting an MG, a brand I have always admired. The MG sold and the Ford was a disaster. I had a hell of a job forgiving that family friend!
Keith _________________ 1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution |
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roverdriver
Joined: 18 Oct 2008 Posts: 1210 Location: 100 miles from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 6:59 am Post subject: |
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In 1959 I was looking for an older type car, but lacked money. I heard of a 1928 Stutz (I think it was a Blackhawk) so on my trusty bike, I cycled off to see it. It was a beautiful machine, but way out of my price range- they were asking £50 for it! _________________ Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking. |
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Bengt Axel
Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 267 Location: Cheshire
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:09 am Post subject: |
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When I was 15 (this is 1982) a friends father showed my an Isetta bubble car in the back of his garage. It has been parked up some years ago and was basically just dirty and needed a thorough recommissioning. I was in love.
It could be mine for £35, which was a tenner more than I had in the world. Enthusiastically I raced home to tell my dad (and 'borrow' a tenner), only to be told 'you are NOT bringing that bloody thing back here'.
Winding forward thirty odd years I saw the self same Isetta, now beautifully restored, up for sale. £22,995 ..... _________________ "Once bread becomes toast, it can never go back! |
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mikeC
Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 1775 Location: Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:42 am Post subject: |
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Oh, there's been quite a few!
There was the pre-war 6C Alfa Romeo in a back-street garage in Manchester that I could have bought for £20 in 1964. In my ignorance I thought, since it wasn't an 8-cylinder car, it must be post-war and of little interest. It turned out to be an ex-Mille Miglia car which sold a few years ago for several million pounds.
Then there was the one-owner 1924 Talbot 10/23 which I so nearly bought - that was probably around 1970 - but I needed to sell a car first to afford it; I was most upset when the bank manager refused a short-term loan, The car had an NE (Manchester) registration number, and there is no trace of the car today. I have often wondered what happened to it.
And then there was the 1931 Talbot 75, a model I had long-lusted after. At least that one had a sort-of happy ending, since my father bought it with the promise that I could take it over when I had finished the then-current restoration that I was working on. Then marriage and house purchase intervened, my father died, and my mother finished his restoration before selling the car. I did, at least, get to drive it on several occasions:
_________________ in the garage: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
Recently departed: 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on! |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 6316 Location: Derby
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:33 am Post subject: |
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Bengt Axel wrote: | When I was 15 (this is 1982) a friends father showed my an Isetta bubble car in the back of his garage. It has been parked up some years ago and was basically just dirty and needed a thorough recommissioning. I was in love.
It could be mine for £35, which was a tenner more than I had in the world. Enthusiastically I raced home to tell my dad (and 'borrow' a tenner), only to be told 'you are NOT bringing that bloody thing back here'.
Winding forward thirty odd years I saw the self same Isetta, now beautifully restored, up for sale. £22,995 ..... |
I know how you felt at not getting that Isetta.! My Dad's response was very similar but he relented having previously refused to entertain a ford Pop on his drive. At least the bubble car could be hidden away and was, he assumed, safer than the motorbike I would otherwise have bought.
I bought the Isetta for £25 and eventually sold it for £75 which at the time I thought was a good deal. I wish I had been able to keep it - if only as an investment!
(Although not in Mike's league!!!)^^^ |
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Rick Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22447 Location: UK
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petelang
Joined: 21 May 2009 Posts: 444 Location: Nottingham
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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As an apprentice, I was tasked one day to do some repairs to a plain white Triumph Stag that was in a most deplorable state. The paint had gone dull, a big dent in the offside door, dents all over, bits of chrome trim missing and the interior stank with wet carpets and a very unloved appearance yet it was only about 4 years old.
I was smitten by the lovely V8 burble and seriously desired one of these but they were all well above my pay grade at the time.
I approached the owner when he came to collect it and made a cheeky offer but was turned down flat as he had just acquired it to do up.
Forty five years later I still haven't got one but...maybe one day.
Peter |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 6316 Location: Derby
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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petelang wrote: | As an apprentice, I was tasked one day to do some repairs to a plain white Triumph Stag that was in a most deplorable state. The paint had gone dull, a big dent in the offside door, dents all over, bits of chrome trim missing and the interior stank with wet carpets and a very unloved appearance yet it was only about 4 years old.
I was smitten by the lovely V8 burble and seriously desired one of these but they were all well above my pay grade at the time.
I approached the owner when he came to collect it and made a cheeky offer but was turned down flat as he had just acquired it to do up.
Forty five years later I still haven't got one but...maybe one day.
Peter |
Hi Peter. I know someone who has a magenta Triumph Stag that hasn't been used in years. I can make enquiries if you like? |
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V8 Nutter
Joined: 27 Aug 2012 Posts: 587
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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When I was 17 a friend had a 1937 Ford V8 Club Cabriolet, with a broken half shaft. He was trying to sell it for £10, he couldn't afford to get it fixed. I found someone with a half shaft for £2. 10 shillings. I went to buy the car but it had just been sold for £9 to a dealer/scrap man. I went to try and buy it again and it had been sold again for £11. A couple of years later the same dealer had a 1953 Cadillac convertible that was badly knocked about but a good runner. He wanted £125 for it, but I couldn't afford that, I heard later It had originally belonged to Diana Dors. Only recently I was talking to the dealers Great Grandson and he confirmed. Yes, it had belonged to Diana Dors! What would that be worth now? |
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mikeC
Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 1775 Location: Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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This one? _________________ in the garage: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
Recently departed: 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on! |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 6316 Location: Derby
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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You beat me to it, Mike!
Diana had moved on from Yank Tanks and drove about in a Rolls Royce Corniche ( with the top down, of course!) by the time I moved to Sunningdale. |
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