We all know not to meet our heroes, as we will end up disappointed. Well yesterday I had a motoring equivalent.
30 years ago Mrs BB bought a brand-new Peugeot 306 cabriolet. In a fetching aquamarine blue, 1 month before we got married. Back then 306 cabriolets were real lookers and drove really nicely. We had some great times and happy memories with that car. She sold it after 2 years to help fund a business venture. I told her she wouldn't need to, and of course I was right.
A few years ago I looked up the old registration (M816CLA) and there was no record of taxing or MOTs so I assumed it was in that big car park in the sky.
On and off over the years I have fancied getting trying to find another aquamarine 306 cabriolet (I think there's just 24 left on the road in that colour) to try and relive those happy newly-wed days. At the weekend I saw one for sale, and the advert had a photo of the V5 which showed the original owner details... It was my wife! The car had been on a private pate since we sold it and those owners had kept it for a further 18 years, hence I couldn't find any trace of it online. The last 10 years it had been off the road at a garage in Wales!
The advert spoke highly of how well it had been looked after, it had a full valet, new tyres, new cambelt, bla, bla, bla. Sounded fantastic. Well, I just had to have a look. My only concern was how to hide my 'inside knowledge' of the car and my desperation to buy when negotiating. Oh, and the other think was a silly high asking price. Never mind - I like a challenge. I was expecting the car to be not too dissimilar to the car that we sold 28 years earlier. Not unreasonable??
Well, what a disappointment! Every panel had a dent, ding or scratch and the whole thing had a sad, tired feel to it. The roof had tears in it, the '4 new tyres' were cheapo ditch-finders, the plastic rear screen was impenetrable. It was all so sad that I didn't dare take a test drive, because I just knew that the 90,000 miles that had passed under its wheels since I last drove it would have taken it's toll on the flexible French body and there would be squeaks galore.
I drove home feeling very sad. My message is: Don't meet your motoring heroes!
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Sometimes you just cant go back. Sentimental memories should be just that. The reality is just what you discovered.
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I read your post with growing dread, It was alas inevitable. Before you were blissfully unaware. I would never attemot to chase my old car.
Unless it was the BMW 2002 Tii I had in my care for 6 motnths, but then I never actually owned it.
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Wow. A 2002ti. From memory that was a 2 door with hatch…late 60s early 70s ? When I lived in Bradford, early teens, I remember our local chemist ( Hazlehurst on Duckworth Lane) owning one. A pleasant memory dragged up from the past, that and my pals father owning a Citroen Safari estate ( maybe they were all estates).
Two early cars were a Mk1 Golf GTi ( AUM 880X) 1.6, followed by a new ( heavily discounted) 305 GTi ( B211 UCP) again 1.6. At the time I thought they were, probably correctly, fabulous hot hatches for a single bloke. Wouldn’t buy one now.
Last edited by: legacylad on Tue 13 May 25 at 18:47
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It was a l/h drive turbo with wing. I looked after it for a guy who was on an assignment. He wanted it to be used and not stored. I taxed and insured it. I dont remember the reg, so dont know if its still on uk roads.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 13 May 25 at 19:00
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Our first car (a Morris mini) bought in 1965 had the reg’ 938 JAC cost £325.
The reg’ would cost a small fortune today
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>> Our first car (a Morris mini) bought in 1965 had the reg’ 938 JAC cost
>> £325.
>> The reg’ would cost a small fortune today
Mother of a lad I was at school with had one of similar vintage with a reg ending COO.
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After a spot of unpleasantness ( bye bye house and 50% of pension) I moved into rental and reassembled the troops ( aka saved again up for a house deposit). I decided to go all in and bought a new mk1 Elise R575 GYG.
I’m sure it would still live up to expectations…I had an old VW Transporter 2.4D for work use 6 days a week but the Elise served its purpose in all respects for the years I owned it. Fabulous car. Totally impractical..but I had the van so all was well.
I had joint custody of an old Westie and he loved hooning around in it with me. Quite the attraction.
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A few years ago I went to a dealers to view a 2.8 Brooklands Capri. Lovely condition and £5 under £20K. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately it had just been sold.
Having owned a couple of Capris, and driven a couple of plain 'works' Capris 'back in the day' I can only assume they had lowered the suspension because they seemed more difficult to get in and out of than I remembered :/
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I wouldn't be confident of finding a good one now, but the car that made a bigger impression on me than any other when I first drove it was a 1.6 Golf GTI, must have been early 1980 I think.
Super quick compared with anything I had driven at that time other than my Holbay Hunter, which in theory was close but in practice made such heavy weather of it compared with the tractable fuel injected Golf. Not to mention the difference in handling.
The GTI set a benchmark and 108hp in a 800Kg car felt sensational.
I have driven some much more powerful cars since then and felt almost no excitement. A car with 3, 4, 500 hp is no use to me. Coincidentally my little MX-5 has almost exactly the same power to weight ratio.
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I drove one of the first R/H drive GTi's round oulton park on a track day, a friends. It was utterly gobsmacking for the time, the handling was superb and went round corners on rails.
Just as well, the early ones hadnt had the brake servo moved, and the brakes were, quite frankly, scarilly bad
I'd have a restored Mk1 GTi on the drive.
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Zeddo..interesting you say that. An acquaintance of mine had a ‘big bumper’Mk2 Golf Gti. Think it was an 8v 1.8. He had an horrendous daily commute and as he kept his cars 10 years plus ( he kept this 15) racked up mega miles.
At some point the odometer, and speedo, ceased working, but he still sold it with 150k miles on the clock.
Then he changed to an A3 1.9 Tdi.
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Had a Fiat 127 as a second car for a while. When looking for a car for daughter, saw a 127 advertised and it was the same one. It hadn't had a thing done to it since I'd had it, bald tyres, filthy state and a black treacly stuff on the dipstick. Found her a Metro.
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I had a silly moment where I fancied a 1283p
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Had they called it the tre porte here they might have sold a few more.
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I owned one of those little Fiats in the 70's and loved it . Quite a sporty little motor but of course as with all Fiats of that era the tin rot got it..... and it was also impractical when trying to transport wife, baby and all the relevant paraphenalia.
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It they made the Fiat 850 Special again, I'd have to buy one. Is it possible to get negative scores on NCAP?
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I've owned over 45 jamjars + driven c10,000 and the only one I would have again is ...
The one I have now.
:o)
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Don't meet your (motoring) heroes - Fullchat
