Which is/was the car you always promised yourself?

[Farmer matt]

Probably not the new Capri, probably not the original, but which car have you always had a bit of a yearning for?

I do not mean the lottery win pipe-dream 250GTO or anything like that, I am thinking of the more acheivable.

That little flame at the back of your mind, the half an eye on the classifieds, not necessarily rational, but no real reason why you shouldn't. Except of course the wrath of the missus and the need to fit two labradors in the back.

Get the idea?

 

For me, second generation Chevrolet Camaro, or the equivalent Pontiac Firebird. Not sure why, just the idea has always been there.

Back in the 90s, there were loads of dreadful examples about, even the ads screamed walk away, never mind the actual cars. Rather too many of the better ones were obviously incomplete projects that had over-stretched the ability and/or wallet of the vendor.

Still today it seems to be the exception to find a well presented, properly sorted car.

And yet every one I see re-ignites that spark. One day.....

 

How about you lot?

 

Matt

 

 

[cmatthewbacon]

Jaguar XK8, probably a coupe. Fifteen years ago I was hanging my nose over a GT6, but good ones have got steadily more expensive, and a while back I realised I could get a concours XK8 coupe for less than half what a decent GT6 would cost. And I’d be getting a comfortable, powerful, fast GT car with modern features and systems (eg ABS and air con) instead of a petite 70s antique. A good, well sorted one with 70K miles, rust free and full Jaguar service history is about £8k, and there are more than a few about…

best,

M.

[JamesP]

Dream car, a big Healey, closer to reality a Reliant Scimitar GTE

[HoolioPaulio]

2005 Impreza (Hawkeye).  Closest I think I'll get is managing to bag one in kit form for £35 when they were going for upwards of £80.  Got loads of extra detail up parts, I plan on building it how I would have loved my road going one, metallic orange (Ford Focus RS orange), black wheels, some black rally graphics, big(ger) rear wing.

 

[Sabrejet]

Mine have changed over the years and more recently I don't think I really have a yearning.

 

First would be (in my teens) a Rapier H120. Then an Aston Martin DB.4 (early series, and at one time I could have afforded one) and later, a Peugeot 106 Rallye. I've always liked Facel Vega HK.500s and again, I could have bought one at a point way back. But it would have needed modern air con and decent electric windows.

 

So maybe a Renault Twizy? Sadly we'd only enjoy it on 20 days a year (if lucky). 

 

 

[nearsightedjohn]

Cars I owned in my younger years and wish I could have back, even temporarily: ‘78 Honda Civic CVCC 5 spd, ‘86 Toyota MR2, ‘02 Subaru WRX SportsWagon, ‘11 Mustang GT (first yr Coyote 5.0). 
 

Newer cars I’ve fantasized about owning if I weren’t retired on a fixed-income and transitioning into decrepitudity: Subaru BRZ, VW GTI, Mini Cooper S/ CooperWorks, Catterham 7, Porsche 718 S  Boxster, BMW Z4 4.0, Corvette C7 Coupe,….

[Neddy]

That one's easy...

 

Unachievable - 1959 Ford Thunderbird convertible.  Always a dream car, one of the most beautiful massive US barges of the 1950s and 60s.

 

Equally unachievable - Lamborghini Miura.  Allegedly an absolute pig to drive but oooooh that shape!

 

Achievable - Microlino.  If forced to go electric it's the ideal little urban runabout for a second car and as close as I can get to a bubblecar.

[Jeepboy]

Audi Quattro Coupe (Ashes to Ashes).  Dream car!

 

About 2002ish I had a VW Golf GTi Tdi acompany car and saw a red Audi Quattro Coupe in a local garage.  Dream car.  I had some money and knew I could get a loan for the rest.

 

Had a chat with the dealer, he gave me the keys and off I went.  About 2 miles, dual carriageway, country road then back to the dealer and gave him the keys and walked away.

 

Yes it looked gorgeous.  Yes it sounded gorgeous.  But, compared to the Golf the Audi rolled, wasn't that quick and felt stodgy.  

 

Moral - never meet your heroes 🤔

[Keeff]

Cars owned previously that I would have again .... Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 SRi. It was a bit of an understated car being a saloon but once you hit the powerband in the revs, it was real fun ..... and mine ate XR3i's for breakfast! 

 

Car I'd like now .... Peugeot 205 GTi .... superb car and drove loads as I once worked at a Peugot dealers

 

Ultimate car for me would be a Bentley GT .... don't know what it is, but really like them. 

 

Keith ☺️ 

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Sabrejet said:

Mine have changed over the years and more recently I don't think I really have a yearning.

I'm of a similar opinion at the moment.  I'm certainly not interested in anything Electric, but not for the usual reasons that people quote.  If I were in the market for a new motor right now, I'd probably pick up another Passat but with a bigger engine, or an Audi A5 Estate with a decent motor.  There's something about that car that appeals

 

[Stef N.]

15 minutes ago, Keeff said:

Cars owned previously that I would have again .... Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 SRi. It was a bit of an understated car being a saloon but once you hit the powerband in the revs, it was real fun ..... and mine ate XR3i's for breakfast! 

 

Car I'd like now .... Peugeot 205 GTi .... superb car and drove loads as I once worked at a Peugot dealers

 

Ultimate car for me would be a Bentley GT .... don't know what it is, but really like them. 

 

Keith ☺️ 

A work colleague is doing up a 205 at the moment. It should be a cracker. 👍

 

I always wanted a camper van. I finally bought one in summer and hope next year's weather is better to do a bit of touring in. 

[lestwistle]

would loved to have had a db4 or a 240z,loved my mk3 cortina but we can dream 

[lestwistle]

problem is ,working in the motor trade you get to see all the problem cars and none of the good ones ,roll on my lottery win 😆

[Keeff]

1 hour ago, Stef N. said:

A work colleague is doing up a 205 at the moment. It should be a cracker.

Ooh, nice!  

 

1 hour ago, Stef N. said:

I always wanted a camper van. I finally bought one in summer and hope next year's weather is better to do a bit of touring in. 

Touring and modelling shows!  

 

 

Keith ☺️ 

[fatfingers]

Always wanted a Kia Ceed GT Line, nothing fancy but i liked em from the first day i saw one in the showroom a few years back. Managed to score one on a 73 plate earlier this year and am proper chuffed with it 😁

 

 

If time, money and space allowed i'd have a fully restored Rover P6 3500 V8. My dad had a red one when I was a nipper and i absolutely loved it and was really upset when he got rid 😕

 

Regards,

 

Steve

Edited November 4, 2024 by fatfingers

[Tigerausfb]

Weirdly a Rover P5B or a Humber Super Snipe Series V.  Wishlist Jensen Interceptor, Pontiac Bonneville. 1970 Plymouth Barracuda.....phwoaaarrrrr!

Edited November 4, 2024 by Tigerausfb

[bentwaters81tfw]

On 04/11/2024 at 14:39, Farmer matt said:

Probably not the new Capri, probably not the original,

 

 

Actually, yes, the original Consul Capri of 61-64 vintage. I missed out on 3 of them, then decided against bidding on one during Covid. They were always hard to get parts for back in the early 70s, and they rusted. When I retired I looked at the Volvo P1800, but prices were silly, likewise an MB Jeep. A DB5 came up just after my son was born, so again, lucked out, but what a money pit it would have been.

 

But I did snag one of these for those rare sunny days. A treat for having open heart surgery.

 

 

A T5 GT for not a lot of pennies, but it goes like a bat out of Hell. This is mine.

Edited November 7, 2024 by bentwaters81tfw
Image change

[Sabrejet]

5 minutes ago, Tigerausfb said:

Weirdly a Rover P5B or a Humber Super Snipe Series V.  Wishlist Jensen Interceptor, Pontiac Bonneville. 1970 Plymouth Barracuda.....phwoaaarrrrr!

 

I had three Super Snipe Series IIIs. I preferred the look over the flat-top Series V, but the Imperial was impressive for sure! My Series IIIs did 18 mpg at best.

[bigbadbadge]

I would have loved to have got a Rover SD1 3500 Vitesse, sadly no longer achievable had 3 SD1 3500 s when I was younger and they were great cars apart from the tinworm.  

Would love a decent unmolested Golf Mk2 GTi,  am not fussed can be an early small bumper or later big bumper.

I miss my camper van and would love another Bay window bus.

 

Chris

 

[stevehnz]

A Porsche 944, the practical supercar. I loved the look of them when they came out & still do. All the performance I could ever use & more with slightly sensible economy. With a lotto win, I could probably afford one. Totally unaffordable would be a Ferrari 365 GTB Daytona or an Aston Martin DB4. The car I'd have loved to have built up would be a Mk I Escort with full noise Mk II running gear.

Steve.

[Jochen Barett]

Volvo P1800 (color undecided) (Simon Templar)

Pontiac Firebird, black with eagle (Smokey and the Bandit)

Pontiac Firebird, gold (Rockford)

Ferrari 308 GTS Quattrovalvole, red (Magnum)

Citroën Xantia Activa V6 (a sleeper! Needs a curvy road)

240Z (just listen to the engine! Bronz metallic)

Jaguar S-Type V8 (dark green metallic)

 

Sorry, no Bodi&Doyle car, no red Gran Torino with a white stripe, no black van with a red stripe, and none of DCI Barnaby's cars 😉

[keefr22]

My poster car has always been (& still would be if I still could have posters on the bedroom wall!) the 911. Started way back with the early 'long bonnet' 2.7 engined ones, but they were always unachievable so I set my sights on a 3.2 SC & said I'd have one when they dropped below £10K. Which they did when I still had a well paying IT job - unfortunately my daughter had discovered the money pit that is horse riding & all my Porsche money went on various 4 legged smelly beasts.... and a half decent SC is now around £30K & up.

 

You can still pick up a semi decent 996 for around 10-12K, but I fear that I could no longer get in and out of one (& the bank loan would be a drain on the pension, but I'd live on beans on toast...!!) And it's water cooled.... 😢

 

Cars I wish I still had - any (or preferably all!) of the various dozen or so Mk1 & 2 Escort Mexicos, RS's, Sport, Harrier etc....

 

Keith

[Spiny]

5 hours ago, HoolioPaulio said:

Got loads of extra detail up parts, I plan on building it how I would have loved my road going one, metallic orange (Ford Focus RS orange), black wheels, some black rally graphics, big(ger) rear wing.

 

 

I'm presuming you mean Focus ST Orange? (The hero colours of the RS were Performance Blue (Mk1), lurid green (Mk2) and a paler solid blue (Mk3)).

 

As with a few of the rest of you, my realistic dream car has changed over the years. First up was the Nissan Sunny GTi-R, then about 20 years ago it was a Vauxhall VX220. I was actually seriously considering that when I needed a new car back in 2010, but ended up with a (non-orange) Focus ST instead as needed a tiny bit of practicality. And now there is a large part of me which would like a Nissan Micra Superturbo, but they are rarer than hen's teeth. I'd still love to have the Sunny, Micra or VX220, but can't see me getting rid of the Focus - there's something about that 5-cylinder sound which can raise a smile in most circumstances and it's still a pretty good package for public roads even now despite getting on a bit.

[Orso]

I always anted a two stroke SAAB 96. but I ended up with a SAAB Sonett III instead. 

[Spottedlaurel]

I'm lucky to have had most of the Japanese cars that might otherwise have been on my wish list, and I still have a couple of them now. So I have freedom to daydream about other things that I'd like to try someday.....

 

Opel Manta 'A' (hopefully less rusty than the one I owned 1991-92), or an early Manta 'B'with chrome bumpers, in posh Berlinetta spec with metallic paint and vinyl roof for maximum '70s appeal

 

Honda NSX (original model)

 

Nissan Laurel C33 (I have a grille from one bought from a breaker in a scrapyard, just need everything behind it)

 

Gordon-Keeble, or Jensen Interceptor

 

Random early '70s American land yacht, ideally a full-size 4-door hardtop. Saw a '73 Buick Electra 225 with the big 455ci engine for sale at a recent meet, looked like a lot of car the money at £13,500.

 

Vauxhall VX4/90 FE with SBC V8, or Ford Cortina Mk3 2-door with V6

 

The Manta 'A' is the one I'd really like to have, and might not be entirely unrealistic as a future ownership proposition, but I would be quite fussy about wheels and colour and it could only when be when I have garage space available. At present that would mean either my Laurel or the kits, brochures and magazines would have to go, and I'm not ready to say goodbye to any of them at present....