Buying your old car back

[jonnie]

Was just reading through the "cars you really miss" thread, and wondered if anyone has ever missed a car so much that they bought it back?

My old Townace is for sale again and I've been endlessly trying to convince one of my friends to buy it because I don't have the space. Would love to see it close to home again.



I don't know if it would be the same to own it again though... I would love another bus but I think I'd have to go bigger and better.

This is great if anyone hasn't seen it:

[speedy88]

I was tempted to buy back Thirteen - the williams volvo saloon in my sig. But something better happened - someone fell in love with it and it's now undergoing the restoration it really deserved

[RobMorris]

I bought my old rover coupe turbo twice!
3rd time round I sent it to the grave.

[joem83]

I bought back my e36 318is after 18 months, ran it around for another 7 months and sold it on again when the MOT ran out for £50 less.

Funiest thing was I left some batteries in the rear ash tray, still there when I bought it back lol.

[MK2VR6]

I originally owned my Moggie when I was 18 (my second car), and had a LOT of fun with it during my 12 months of ownership. I got together with my girlfriend at the time because A. I had long hair, and B. Because I had 'That cool car' (her actual quote )
Apart from a couple of local sightings after I sold it, I heard nothing of it until 11 years later. My brother excitedly told me he had spotted it in a blokes driveway and he wanted £50 for it. There was a reason for this.....

The poor old girl hadn't been very well looked after, and after the owner had rebuilt the engine, he'd given up and let it rot in his drive for several years.
I bought it straight away and it wasn't all bad news. I got my money back by selling the engine and box to a bloke who wanted it for his Moggie pickup; didn't even get my hands dirty as he removed it. I scrapped it shortly after as the rot was literally everywhere. I kept the rear number plate as a little momento of my time with the old girl.
If you do buy an old car back, it's always worth reminding yourself of the reasons for selling it in the first place. With the Moggie, I only bought it back as I didn't like the idea of the owner scrapping it (which is what he said he planned to do). I preferred the idea of some parts of it living on.

[luckyseven]

Back in the days of black and white when I was a poor student at agricutural college I bought back a Fiat 127 I'd previously owned... from my brother. Me and my sister were sharing a house at the time and were so skint it was the only transport we could afford, I think we paid him £50 for it ;D

It was even worse than I'd remembered, had the structural integrity of a teabag (and almost as many holes) and the engine would only work if there wasn't an "R" in the month. It was held together mostly by pug and fibreglass mesh, sprayed over in Magic Mushroom Band muriels with a bit of New Model Army thrown in for taste. Eventually it died the Final Death of a thousand cuts of neglect, and we weighed it in for scrap. Not an experience I'm eager to repeat, Thomas Wolfe was right when he wrote "you can never go home again"

I really splashed out when I replaced it, spent a whole three hundred of your finest English pounds on a Marina Coupe, mind

[MonzaPhil]

Yep, green car left my care for 10 years and racked up a staggering 400 miles. Didn't hesitate to get it back. Tried to buy my Lada estate back but didn't get any joy. (it was at The Gathering though).

Just bear in mind, it WILL NOT be the same as you remember it.

[Einar]

I bought back my Cortina 2.0S and had her to the end. Rust and a broken engine put her down.

[stealthstylz]

I've done it a few times, reminded me why I sold them in the first place and quickly got rid lol.

[mt2man]

I would do anything to buy my old mini back! If you see a mini designer with the reg F58 XOB let me know! Regret selling that car

[kenb]

I've owned this one 3 times now. I've since sold it on again, but its out of the loop so to speak now and I wont be buying it back again!


I also owned a lovely Anglia Super twice too. Thats now gone to Ireland, so unlikely to ever see that again either.

[Dez]

ive done it twice I can remember.

first was this-

which was pretty minty when I swapped it for a quite ropey splitscreen van, a 13 window deluxe with loads of new parts on it, which I then sold 18months later after id 'doe' it to buy my A.

I bought it back about 2 years later, a lot worse off-

rust had come through, half the glass smashed(note lack of rear window), trim pulled off, loads of dents. had been vandalised due to being parked in a pretty dodgy bit of inner city huddersfield, and was probably pretty close to getting torched, new owner was emigrating I think and basically rang me up and said come and get it and pay me later. I dragged it all the way back to suffolk, got it running again, and then flogged it to a mate who still has it (stored).

second one was this, the fat slag.

pic taken from advert I bought it back from. was lower/dirtier when I had it.
I bought it off a mate who had traded it with someone locally for an e30 I think, who had somehow got it off coop on here who had originally painted it (i think). I did loads to it fixing bits, fitted some new coilies rather than the cut springs, smoothed bumpers, etc. sold it for 800quid-ish, bought it back 18 months or so later for £400-ish with no T+T, raised up, half the electrics and door handles not working, with a doorbell wired in as a start button cos the ignition switch had gone! it was at the wrong end of the country, got a mate to pick it up and MOT it for me and then drove it back. (the same mate I sold the pontiac to, who is also the same one I bought my '50 pontiac off. if you think thats incestuous, I got down to pick up the slag by driving down in another b3 wagon I gave him as deposit on the '50 pontiac!)
I used it for another 9 months or so before serious writing it off on the way over to rob0rs cos some daft bint decided to emergency stop in front of me halfway round a corner cos she'd missed her turn off. I gave he 200 quid to fix her rear bumper then broke the passat. I really do miss that car, was great fun.
in another bizarre twist, ive just agreed to buy another b4 wagon, a TD this time, that is wearing the coilovers and interior off the one above.......and is also a bit of a whore having been through at least 3 forum members on here before me......

[luckygti]

Yep, I bought the DoKa back 9 years after it had left my 'care'. It was immaculate when I sold it. It's a long way away from that now I keep eyeing up one that's already been 'done' on eBay, but I must resist. And wait, for a seemingly undefined period, for the local bodyshop to come and give me quote and take some of my savings! (I don't believe they're in a recession )

[Gem]

We bought my fella's old E30 is back.. wish we hadn't as it was more buggered than we sold it.

[omega]

isnt buying a old car back a bit like going back to your first girlfriend.its got more miles and stains on it,dosnt handel as well, moans a lot more ,it isnt as tight as it wasand is a lot more sloppy.

[speedy88]

^^^ Yeah, something like that

I think people sometimes try and buy back the feeling of a time now gone which is captured within memories of a car. The truth is, you should always live for the moment when it comes to cars and only buy back the car if you NEED the fun car back or you NEED the comfy camper back...

Or if some fool is scrapping it and you want to do it yourself

[jonnie]

Sept 17, 2012 19:07:20 GMT speedy88 said:

^^^ Yeah, something like that

I think people sometimes try and buy back the feeling of a time now gone which is captured within memories of a car. The truth is, you should always live for the moment when it comes to cars and only buy back the car if you NEED the fun car back or you NEED the comfy camper back...

Or if some fool is scrapping it and you want to do it yourself

Yeah, that's kinda what I think about buying the camper back. I'd really want something that out-did it. The problem is that van was such good value for money - cheap cars that don't break down are always the best fun, because you tend to have a more care-free approach to owning them...

To get something better I'd have to fork out a lot more cash which sort of takes away from the charm of the car.

One day when I have a bit more disposable income...!

[Mad Max]

I bought my Rover 420 back from the lad I sold it to. If I got the chance I'd buy my first car, 78 landy series 3, back in a second!

[phil73]

I had to buy back my CROWN MS75 coupe from my then-girlfriend's brother when reverse went a few weeks after he bought it. The Toyoglide transmission stopped gliding and started slipping. It was either that or no fun with the girlfriend. I would buy that car back in a shot but I know the present owner will never, ever sell it, nor can I afford to ship it to the UK, nor store it, nor face the pain of spares etc etc.

[dbizzle]

Apparently an old fella in Northern Ireland now owns the Capri I had back in 2004. He contacted me via Retro Cars mag after I mentioned it in an article, asking if I wanted to buy it back. A gut-wrenching decision, given that I've regretted selling it constantly ever since, but I decided not to. Three reasons: I've got nowhere to keep it, I don't have any money, but most significantly of all, it was fresh from a total restoration when I had it, I remember it being perfect; I'd rather keep that memory than lament its faded glory on a daily basis. (He reckons he'd 'been offered £500 for it' so I hate to think what state it's in - if it were the same as when I sold it, it'd be worth ten times that.) It was a brilliant car, but I'm leaving it in the past.