Well Well Well
I passed my old Touran, HG05***, on the A1 this evening just south of biggleswade. Not seen it since it went back to the leasing company nearly two years ago.
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Ever "met" your old Laguna ?
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I still see a couple of my dad's old cars around here.
I think I would have to pull over and have a little cry if saw Polo... or follow him and steal him back with the third key I think I still have. ;-)
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How did you recognise it? Was it on the hard shoulder with the bonnet up?
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How did you recognise it? Was it on the hard shoulder with the bonnet up?
Nah It was running, albeit 15 mph slower than i was.
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Not since I recovered my property from it at the recovery yard. They had to use a crowbar to open the boot.
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Browsing on flea-bay last week and came across my old D10 Bantam which I sold in 1994, only ten miles from where I live now.
In surprisingly good nick too but at £895 I think I'll pass on it!
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My 97 Saxo 1.5SX Diesel is still doing the rounds in my town. It was bog standard all the time I had it and it served me well but its now got alloys on it as well as those clear Lexus lights at the back!!!
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The only ex-car of mine I have seen was a clapped-out blue T-reg Mini (old style) which bombed past on the M6. I didn't know it was capable of that speed, and I was glad I wasn't in it.
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Was on duty in the old information room in Manchester about 1968 when a call came in about a robbery in a shop. Information came that the getaway car was a white Morris Oxford reg no. JCW 18. I was able to tell the patrols that it was actually a white Wolseley 15/60 with a black roof 'cos it had been mine up to a couple of years before.
I have some old job books from my later life as a recovery operator, out of curiosity the other day I put some of the cars with cherished numbers into ASKMID and got positives on 3 of them. They were all , however, different makes, an MB sports, an MB stretch limo and something else expensive. The MB sports had been an AM Vantage and was the owners initials so I guess he just kept the number. As a slight aside, He employed me to go down to Cornwall with his AM Lagonda wedge which he had traded for the V8 Vantage. He gave me a bulky package to take. Being nosy, I opened it and there was £35.000 in cash in it. I took the V8 to Newport Pagnall for re-trimming and a new hood. Just a colour change, it was mint before when I collected it. I drove it down to the factory twice after that when he had dinged the boot lid on posts...hand made panels
Ted
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I met my old Renault 4 a few years ago in a car park. I remarked to the owner "I used to own this car" and he gave me a wary look and replied "Which bit?".
Apparently he had cut off the good bodywork and welded it onto another chassis section, and taken the mechanical parts from both. He was cautious in case I was from DVLA doing a check on VIN laundering.
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Only once have I seen one of my old cars;talked to the owner and found that he bought it from a dealer on a Saturday morning-I had dropped it off late that Friday night.
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Once saw my old XR2 a good few years back. Had been stolen, crashed (badly) and stripped. Lady was washing it on her drive. Mentioned it used to be mine, but didn't have the heart to tell her its history.
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I still do a quick look at the registration plates of old Royal Mail vans & any other vans, of a vintage I might have sold.
Just to see if they still carry my old company name, as we used to 'brand' all of them!
Good few still exist!!
VB
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I saw an old Sierra I'd briefly owned a year or so before, looking very tidy indeed.
Given that when I'd sold it on, most of its engine ancillaries and interior had been stripped and either fitted to my other Sierra, or stored in my shed, most of its body panels were rotten (it had failed the MOT on welding), and the guy who bought it had taken it away on a trailer, wanting it for its gearbox and propshaft, I was highly suspicious how it got back into that state.
I wasn't going to be the one to break potential bad news to the owner though. I'd done everything legally when I bought and sold it on, so had to take the attitude that it wasn't my problem.
Cheers
DP
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I had a 1999 Merc C200 Auto in doom blue. I bought it in about 2000 and sold it within 18 months to a Nigerian doctor who had moved into the area. I still see him driving it past our house from time to time. Still looks dreadful in doom blue but the original C-class had a lot of class about it. I miss it!
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I still see my old 205 locally - sold it originally to a local motor trader who ran it as his own car for a few months before selling it on. Like me he says he still misses it.
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>I was highly suspicious how it got back into that state.
It may have been re-shelled (though goodness knows why). The blue Mini I referred to above started life white, was rolled and written off, salvaged, and put back on the road in a blue shell with one original door and the bonnet-prop (which was still white). I found this out from writing to the DVLA.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 24/01/2009 at 23:22
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Sold an F reg Volvo 760 GLE estate in 1993/4 . I had the car from 77k miles and sold it at 115 k miles to an East London geezer who beat me down quite a lot but I wanted rid of it to make space for my new business truck ( still got that yank truck ) . When i sold the car it had a few problems which I can't recall exactly now , including a mismatching door and scuffed alloys , inter alia.
About 3 years later I was having a Chinese lunch in Soho during the week and walked off with my lunch partner , when I saw F32 *** parked in the side. Being nosy, I went to have a look, and saw 3 trendy young black guys in it, bopping to the sound system. I told the driver I used to own it, and he took a copy of the log book from the glovebox, and I was named as previous keeper. I noted the car looked much nicer than when I sold it. I asked him ' did you fix this and that - and he had, we were comparing faults and he had all the work done , including a respray and a top stereo. As he showed me round the car very proudly, I glanced at the mileometer - and froze : I can't remember the exact figure, but the miles 3 years on were about 80k....
I remember thinking ' Shall I tell him or not ? ' - I ended up telling him, and the atmosphere in the car changed - I guess he ' lost face ' infront of his mates. I am pretty sure they would have been off from there to find that Arfur Daley sharpish. Heard nothing else ..
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Reminds me, motorprop, of a guy who turned up at our motorcycle club years ago (yes I know it's a bike, not a car but the theme is the same) with his new second-hand Honda/saki/waki 750/whatever saying "Look! 5 years old and only 12000 on the clock!"
"That's funny" says an onlooker, "It had 75000 on it when I sold it. Shall I tell him?"
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My old XR2 bought from new passed through 2 owners hands within my job.
The last owner had it nicked and I had the pleasure of hearing it involved in a pursuit when the thieves were locked up. Not near enough to get in on the action.
Strange as it may seem it took a while for the penny to drop when observations for D123 ABC (not the real number of course) were passed over the air.
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My original 330d is in the family - brilliant car, now with moonshot mileage (something like 160k) its still as smooth as a chocolate frog and not much has gone wrong. Mrs P's 01 MINI is still in the family, looks like new, goes well and not used anything other than consumables. Must be north of 100k by now.
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I've never seen any of my old cars but I've seen plenty of cars of people I've worked with
G reg VW Golf of colleague, last seen 1989, seen again 1997
F reg SRi of colleague, got rid c1992, seen again 1998 (this had had a huge smash and also had about 150,000 on the same clutch & same engine when got rid of in 1992)
G reg Lancia Delta of colleague, last seen 1990, seen again in 1994 (colleague got rid of it after he had bent the chassis by slamming into a kerb sideways)
F reg Cavalier CDi, of colleague, totally worn out due to almost never being serviced, got rid of c1991 at around 120,000 miles, seen again 2001 in Brighton being driven by two real 'characters'
X reg Cavalier 1.6 of good mate, he got rid in 1990, saw it again near Stonehenge in 1995.
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Two of our office pool cars live on locally a 94 1.8 Cavalier sold in 04 (in good order) is driven by a local gardner hereabouts and a fabulous 04 SRi that replaced it for 6 months before a worn steering rack directed it to a scrappie is seen ploughing up and down the local by-pass - it was at 169000 when we sold it (too expensive to fix). It had a full Vauxhall history, everything worked on it, drove like a new car and could burn off horrid little oiks in their Saxo/106 things at roundabouts and junctions. - good honest motor that !
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Three encounters!
1) Wife`s `learner` car - 10 year old Polo.
Crashed three times - scrapyard replacement drivers door/passenger door/ nearside wing/straightened front bumper. Passenger floor pushed up due to going on its side into a field and fire service turning in upright onto a tree stump.
Overheating/low oil pressure/pulling to left - distorted frame.
Sold as PX (fully disclosed) due to not wanting to set anyone up. Three months later seen pulling into petrol station - owner said "Its running fine mate - bought it off an elderly couple"
2) Maestro Auto. (the one with the metal fatigued deep crack and fissure camlobes - hasty PX)
Seen 1 year later coming in the opposite direction.
3) Blue Citroen 2cv - bought new in 86 and subjected to a massive oil/grease/waxoil/ flooded chassis with engine oil - campaign.
Seen twelve years later travelling in the opposite direction still looking like new and with a white bearded doppelganger of myself at the wheel.
I was tempted to post its reg number - on a `car reunited` theme - but didn`t want to risk being identified ;)
Edited by oilrag on 25/01/2009 at 08:52
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I once went to a meeting at a factory and saw, parked outside, my Rover 2.6 SD1 (looking nice) that I had sold a few years before when it was just three years old and just after the inevitable new head gasket, etc. So I said to the guy with it 'that was mine once' - and promptly wished I hadn't.
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About 25 years ago I was on holiday in Scotland when I saw a Rover 3500 with the reg. no. TAP 29. That was the reg. no. of my brother's second car, an Austin A40 Farina. Confirmed the fate of his car!
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In the late seventies my mother was thrilled to see the Austin 7 my father owned in '46-'50 - complete with the same old length of loo chain Pa had used to secure the petrol cap. It is no longer on the dvla database, so gone now.
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Frequently see my old Octavia TDI, but thats because I sold it to my big sister. It ploughs on, despite her son giving it a tankful of four star.....
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Couple of years ago, I was astonished and delighted to see my dad's old Volvo 144 which he bought new in 1970. He only had it a couple of years but it was still looking remarkably good in 2007. Distinctive and very 70's colour of a sort of Colman's mustard yellow. Stiill checks out as alive and well.
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Stiill checks out as alive and well.>>
How do you know? I'd quite like to find out about some of my past cars.
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Go on the Autotrader site. There's a sub menu which lets you check vehicles out. There are probably other ways but that's what I've used.
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Thanks Humph, got it (I think). If so, our much loved BMW 316 is still on the road. Thought about a bit of a weep but then recalled that sagging moment when I actually lowered myself into it or (worse) tried to leap out of it. It went for insultingly nothing but, if someone's enjoying it, good luck to them. Saw it on the road about 6 months after we "sold" it and it looked great from a distance as it always did.
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My second Morris 1000 is alive and well - 30 years exactly after I sold it.
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I think the AT tool just looks up details, it got 'GYM 505C' right but I highly doubt that's anything other than baked bean cans by now.
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You can use the 'vehicle enquiry' tab on the DVLA website (in the area you go to buy a new tax disc) to see if a car is still taxed and therefore presumably still on the road. Just need registration number and manufacturer.
Peter
www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/ {link edited in - DD}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 25/01/2009 at 20:46
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When I was 19 I had an MG Midget. Navy blue with wires. I bought it as a project and spent countless hours and almost all my wages as a Saturday boy in Harry Fentons fettling it over a long winter. The following summer it looked the puppies and went very well. After only a few months of proud motoring it was stolen. Some weeks later it was found in a ditch very much the worse for wear. Way beyond my means or willingness to fix up again it was written off.
Years later I saw it restored to its former glory parked up in Edinburgh. I was quite pleased and saddened at the same time. Often wish I'd kept it forever. Not sure why.
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Harry Fenton's - some top quality threads.
More of a John Collier man myself - the window to watch.
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Got headhunted from HFs actually to Samuel Pepys. Position of head Saturday boy as I recall..... Sniffs haughtily....
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The mind boggles - ever so slightly.
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Don't knock it. Those first heady forays into the cut and thrust of senior corporate management funded a Triumph Spitfire. Albeit not a very good one...
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Those first heady forays into the cut and thrust of senior corporate management funded a Triumph Spitfire.>>
And a few pairs of Lionel Blairs and a Brutus shirt or two, presumably.
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In the mid to late seventies I worked for the worst managed car dealership ever.They had done well in the late fifties and had spawned a couple of specialist divisions which kept the company afloat.As a stand alone venture the car sales side was on a suicide mission.They even employed a sales prevention officer(although that wasn't his official title).
They had sub agencies for ford and BL and a few small fleet customers and their P/X's were the only used stock carried. They would come in two years old with 70'000 miles on and sit in stock for as long as it took for the milage to look reasonable and would then sell,usually after about three/four years.
One day I was tasked to hand over a new car to an old private customer who changed his cars religiously every three years even though he did a miniscule milage. About 2000 miles a year.
He turned up at the showroom to complete the transaction and as he sat down he said 'you'll never believe it but that car in the showroom is the car I traded in for the one I'm P/Xing now.We did the paperwork and went onto the forecourt to my car as his new car was at a different showroom and I was to drive him there.That car on the forecourt is the one I traded in for the one in the showroom he said.
We arrived at the other showroom and to his astonishment there were his other previous two cars marked up for sale!
The ultra low milages did put people off as they didn't believe them but what a way to run a business.
Needless to say ,by the mid eighties they'd gone skint.
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I used to have a Xantia Activa which I sold about 4.5 years ago. Then last summer thinking of buying a cheap plaything my mind wandered to another Xantia Activa. Don't laugh - in it's day Car Magazine rated it better than an A4 1.8T and a BMW320.
So I started having a look round on eBayand saw a rather familiar looking Activa at a cheapo dealership - the type that gets shot of unwanted trade-ins. Knowing an awful lot of the history, back-ground etc. made it a far better buy than the £750 they were asking. And so I bought it back!
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I did not meet my own car but 2 x I have met an identical car (make, model, colour) with a reg no 1 up from mine.
It takes you a minute to work out it is not yours.
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On a recent shopping trip to Bristol saw my wifes old M reg fiesta still going a couple of years after we sold it. Always went through the MOT, but the body was getting tatty when we got rid of it.
We used to see another of her old Fiestas locally too until recently. That one was written off on a motorway slip road after she went into the back of a stationary van on a wet slip road north of Bristol. She has said was a bit of a mess, and wasn't worth much before the accident so always wondered about the quality of repairs.
The only car of mine I ever saw was my '85 Polo which I traded in for my old ZX in '95. Always looked immaculate, and always regretted swapping it, despite the ZX being only a year old.
Have also seen Dads old '94 Merc C Class running around Weston, but not seen for a couple of years.
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>A reg no 1 up from mine ..
Several years ago SWMBO found she was driving behind a 205 one number down from hers. Not that surprising I suppose, as dealers get blocks of numbers and she was only a few miles from that dealer's premises.
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Great post, isisalar! Thanks to others too for good links. Looks like our 1983 Saab, which we px'd in 1986 but which my wife saw in London circa 1994, gave up the ghost in 1999.
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Thank you ole cruiser.
I've got loads of Motor trade tales to tell.Some amusing ,some not so.
Mods should we start a new thread?
For the trade I would suggest as the first subject 'The most stupid customer you've ever encountered'.
For everyone else 'The most stupid dealer / repairer you've ever encountered'
Happy posting everyone.
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My local main dealer used to ask me which lease car's I'd had from the company (had my cars direct from the importer) and they often bought the cars direct at the end of the lease... unfortunately I think I only returned 2 or 3 that had not had some body repairs carried out in the 6months I had them for (damn roof rack straps/kayaks falling off the roof when unloading)
They asked so that they could avoid them....
The other dealer (who we did not like as much) was unfortunate enough to have at least one of my old cars pass through their hands...
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I had a rover 25 (yes I have learnt my lesson) back in 2000. My employer had a deal with Rover and we all got large discounts. When I picked up my new one I found that there were 4 others in the car parks where I worked that were sequential in reg number - very odd, but they were all different colours so no mistaken identity!
I used to see a Mk1 Mondeo I had driving around bath - it had 160K on it and was nearing the end of its useful life when I sold it to a guy who claimed he wanted it as a run around, but was obviously in the trade (he was a mini Aurther Daley driving an almost new Disco). Was still on the road 2 years later, although I suspect it may have had a hair cut along the way.....
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