The car you always promised yourself (but never got around to buying)

[Warren t claim]

Not necessarily a Capri, I just stole the advertising strapline for the thread title.

I'm sure all of us have cars that we've always wanted but never got around to owning.

For about twenty years I've nursed a semi over owning a Porsche 924. Even now I still have a shortcut on my bookmarks bar to Ebay listings for them. I really should've pulled the trigger on getting one eight years ago when they were changing hands for about a grand.

[Warren t claim]

Another one I never got around to owning was the Mk1 Golf ragtop.

[JimH]

I now learned that buying stuff because I want to drive it is a waste of time. In 2006 I bought a very nice Dolomite Sprint with the intention of using it as a daily runner. It had a brand new (as in brand new, straight out the box(es)) built by someone with a reputation for building Sprint engines and the lad who owned it had hardly spared the horse on it budget wise (he tracked down a pair of NOS front seats for it for example). I ran it for about a year before I got completely sick of the shit wipers and the shit ventilation and the fact it was a pain in the tits to insinuate a baby seat into the back of it so stopped driving that and got something easier to live with. Instead I would just use the Sprint for when the sun shone.

The thing is that there was always something far more interesting to do when the sun shone and the fecking thing never turned a wheel again because I could not be arsed with it. Either it was a daily runner or it went. Sadly I was kind of stuck with it because I was only the third owner and didn't want to be the one who spoiled it so it just sat there until I'd owned it for longer than owner two and then sold it to someone I knew and who seemed happy just fannying around with them when the sun shone.

Even the bigger projects tent to bore us once they are finished and running right. They just sit there unused because it is always more interesting to work on the next one than sit in a field or some such shite like that. So I have now come to the conclusion that I am only allowed to buy things that need rebuilt (or built) because everything else is just pointless.

However, the list of cars that I have always wanted:

1967 VW T1 1500 with sliding metal sunroof (it must be that exact, slightly oddball 6v/12v transition model)
VW T34 Ghia
Rover P5B Coupe
Porker 914/6
Some sort of square rigger MG. I'm not that fussed which one.
TVR wedge of one flavour or another
Lotus Elan +2
Alpine A110
Dino 308 GT/4 or maybe an Urraco
Maserati Bora (I could put up with a Khamsin at a push but I would much rather have a Bora)
Pursang T35B (if I found some money in the street)

The list could go on. In truth I've never gone looking for anything. Things just drift across my transom.

[FhakeConcern]

When I was about 19 or 20 I had a Mini 1000 (my 1st car) and really wanted an MGB roadster. To this end I got a bank loan (£2000 I think, but could be wrong anyway seemed a lot of money then) and set about finding a decent one. You can see where this is going as I looked at loads and most were rusty and bodged about or too new as I didn’t want the liquorice bumper version. Also having driven quite a few, I found they weren’t that nice to drive, not all that fast and my Mini could leave one behind on a twisty road. Anyway I didn’t buy anything and pissed the money away on nothing! It’s the only time I’ve borrowed money to buy a car.
Now that I could afford pretty much any car I like if I really wanted it, I don’t really want anything! I’d quite fancy an Elan and maybe someday I’ll get another Mini, but not that bothered really.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

This changes on a daily basis, but…
I went to an interview when I was 16 and had just hitched to London to see if the streets were paved with gold, it was some sort of scam timeshare bollocks and I was fully on board, going to be a millionaire by 18 etc. For some reason I decided I wanted a Fiat 128 3P in green, even whilst sleeping in Hyde Park under a hedge I thought about when I’d get that Fiat. In reality I got a job in a hotel as a waiter because it was live-in , shared a room with 2 Italian lads who were most impressed at my picture of a Fiat 128 on the cork board in our room next to Debbie Harry and random page3 bints.

F983E0C2-F6A3-40A6-94A4-2B7E13A770B2.jpeg (81.42 KiB) Viewed 484 times

First car ended up being a 1970 Cortina 1600 Deluxe, which led to me thinking a 1600E would be the best car in the World. That’s never happened either.

[LynehamHerc]

One of the guys who worked for me a long time ago, Graham, had a yellow one.

A brilliant little car by all accounts.

[brandersnatch]

I’ve always fancied a really good Citroen CX GTI. I had a really bad one for about a month.

[Jerzy Woking]

A TVR Cerbera, no matter what engine. The ones here don't seem to suffer from chassis rust, although the lack of specialists was a worry.

But no matter, found one for sale, only to find it was most uncomfortable for me. Crippling so.

I still want one, but know I will never buy one.

[LynehamHerc]

Lotus Elan Sprint convertible.

I would have fitted in one when I was looking to buy a car and bought the MGB.
I'm far too big now so it'll never happen.

[mercrocker]

Real-world stuff I should have achieved at some point (as opposed to stupid dream/lottery garage ideas) -

Ford Consul Capri
Rover 3.5 Coupe
MG ZB Varitone

Forced to choose just one I'd plump (today) for the Rover just because I passed one earlier as I went out to fill Mrs Rocker's Focus and get some tea. The £90 that cost might well have got a runner back in the day....