Saying Goodbye to Someone (in this case a car) You Love

[Rollo]

Last Friday, my little red Ford Ka was carelessly rear ended by someone in a Toyota Yaris (I bet they'll blame a sticking acclerator or something).

The insurance company is making its assessments, but I suspect that the price of repair will be more than the net value of the vehicle, and so with great sadness she'll be off the that great wrecking yard in the sky... well, actually across town.

Have you ever had to say goodbye to an automotive friend, or am I being overly emotional over 887kg of steel and plastic?

[Jag_Warrior]

Sorta/kinda. After getting a series of speeding tickets many years ago, a judge and my insurance company convinced me that I should sell my Porsche 944. When a judge asks you if you enjoy walking, and the insurance company demands that you name your first born State Farm, Jr., it's best to find something that will keep you out of trouble.

Sucks about your car though. Were you in the car when it was struck?

[Mark in Oshawa]

I was a bit teary eyed twice in my life giving up a car. My 81 VW Rabbit was my first car, and I was sad seeing it go but I did sell it to buy an RX7...and I was not sad in the end when it went because my brother's friend bought it and I THOUGHT I had visiting rights. Then he blew the motor up!

I was sad when I sold my Accord to screw down my finances a bit tho...it was a loyal ole girl and I suspect I would still be driving it then the 2 cars I have owned since!

[Easy Drifter]

My Alfa, made from recycled Coke signs, can we say rust, and my last race car.

[MrJan]

My Dad was gutted when he had to sell his Accord Type R to get an economical diesel. Also when he was forced to sell the Austin 7 Special I felt quite sad as I really loved driving that car.

I've only got rid of one car but when I sell my current one I'll be sad to see it go....depending on what's replacing it of course :cheese:

[BeansBeansBeans]

My car is basically a piece of garbage, but it got stolen recently and I was heartbroken. Thankfully, it was found a week later undamaged. I now plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, even if my budget expands to allow something newer.

[Daniel]

Last Friday, my little red Ford Ka was carelessly rear ended by someone in a Toyota Yaris (I bet they'll blame a sticking acclerator or something).

The insurance company is making its assessments, but I suspect that the price of repair will be more than the net value of the vehicle, and so with great sadness she'll be off the that great wrecking yard in the sky... well, actually across town.

Have you ever had to say goodbye to an automotive friend, or am I being overly emotional over 887kg of steel and plastic?

I feel your pain Rollo.

I had to say goodbye to my 504 almost 4 years ago when I came to the UK.
If I could have brought it over I would have, it was such a fantastic car. My dad did take everything of any use out of it like the Renno seats (my pub was Australian built by Renault), the engine, gearbox, diff etc etc so I don't feel quite so guilty.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/Files/504/traffic_light_tantrum.JPG

Caroline had a little fender bender in the Subaru just after christmas. Just a scuff on the bumper, broken indicator and a slightly dented wing. She's fully comp but we didn't even bother getting it assessed as all they would have done would be to write it off and give us about 50p for it.

[Daniel]

My car is basically a piece of garbage, but it got stolen recently and I was heartbroken. Thankfully, it was found a week later undamaged. I now plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, even if my budget expands to allow something newer.
What have you got BBB? I've always said that if the Fiat got stolen I wouldn't want it back, but if the Subaru got stolen I'd certainly want it found.

[BeansBeansBeans]

What have you got BBB? I've always said that if the Fiat got stolen I wouldn't want it back, but if the Subaru got stolen I'd certainly want it found.

A MKIV Astra. It isn't a very good car and non of the electric things work any more, but I've had it for seven years and I've become attached. I had a couple of brand spanking new courtesy cars for a few weeks over Xmas (Corsa and Astra SXIs) and can honestly saw I preferred my little banger.

[Daniel]

A MKIV Astra. It isn't a very good car and non of the electric things work any more, but I've had it for seven years and I've become attached. I had a couple of brand spanking new courtesy cars for a few weeks over Xmas (Corsa and Astra SXIs) and can honestly saw I preferred my little banger.

I know what you mean, whenever I've driven or been in a newish car I've always found it to be really dull. We had a couple of Micra's when we went to Finland and then to Switzerland and by god they were just rubbish. I'm quite a confident driver on gravel usually and driving that Micra on the slippery stuff was scary to say the least!

I just realise I forgot the car which I sent to the crushers back in July
http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/Files/DirtyCar.jpg
I really did love that car but when the head gasket went for the second time in November 08 after the exhaust fell off in September and a coil spring broke whilst it was laid up back in 08 my confidence was gone in the car so we traded it in on the govt scrappage scheme to buy the Fiat which despite being a modern car seems to have a little character at least. I felt a bit bad about sending it off to die but considering that it really needed a new engine, the electrics were iffy and it was pretty tatty, I wasn't nearly as guilty as when I left the 504 in Australia......

[MrJan]

Caroline had a little fender bender in the Subaru just after christmas. Just a scuff on the bumper, broken indicator and a slightly dented wing. She's fully comp but we didn't even bother getting it assessed as all they would have done would be to write it off and give us about 50p for it.

I came within inches of a little bump last week. A 4x4 thing pulled across the road in front of me and I had to stamp on the brakes and swerve around him (luckily nothing was coming the other way). I'm still not sure if it was him being a t**t or me being distracted by something else for a split second.

If I'd have hit him then it would have been at less than 10mph but I reckon that the cost of having the bumper sorted and resprayed would have been enough for the insurance company to write the car off :(

Incidentally, is the plate on that Pug T16WRC??

[Daniel]

Incidentally, is the plate on that Pug T16WRC??

yes :p

http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/Files/504/504.jpg

[555-04Q2]

The day I sold my VW Golf 2 GTI, I cried like a little baby as the new owner drove off with it. Still miss that car :(

[MrJan]

Incidentally, is the plate on that Pug T16WRC?? yes :p

Good stuff :up:

[Hondo]

My 1969 AMC AMX. Unless you owned one or drove one, you'll just never know.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rrclassiccars.com/a1969amx15.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rrclassiccars.com/1969amx.html&h=432&w=576&sz=146&tbnid=va46JQKlXD7YEM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1969%2Bamx%2Bpics&hl=en&usg=__5e8R074EL1QHPzucfw9Mv7XLOiU=&ei=cid5S5TFO46vtgfkhOHJCg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CA0Q9QEwAw

Except mine had a manual 4 speed transmission. Corvette eaters.

Second would have been my Sunbeam Alpine. I learned a lot about geography and long distance telephoning trying to get parts for that thing.

[Daniel]

Good stuff :up:
I liked it :D If I ever moved back to Australia I'd pop it back on a car for sure :)

[Caroline]

Second would have been my Sunbeam Alpine. I learned a lot about geography and long distance telephoning trying to get parts for that thing.

I love Sunbeam Alpines. Definitely a favourite car of mine.

I would be so sad if my Subaru had to go. I love it sooo much, it is the most fun car I have ever owned.

I cried a little when my 2CV went down the road on a low loader and I cried heaps when my Vauxhall Viva left. I sold it to someone who loved Vivas so it was all good but I deeply regret letting it go.

[Mark in Oshawa]

My 1969 AMC AMX. Unless you owned one or drove one, you'll just never know.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rrclassiccars.com/a1969amx15.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rrclassiccars.com/1969amx.html&h=432&w=576&sz=146&tbnid=va46JQKlXD7YEM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1969%2Bamx%2Bpics&hl=en&usg=__5e8R074EL1QHPzucfw9Mv7XLOiU=&ei=cid5S5TFO46vtgfkhOHJCg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CA0Q9QEwAw

Except mine had a manual 4 speed transmission. Corvette eaters.

Second would have been my Sunbeam Alpine. I learned a lot about geography and long distance telephoning trying to get parts for that thing.

The Sunbeam the reason you know so much about Lucas and the prince of darkness??

AS for the AMC AMX, you have a 390 in it?

[Hondo]

The electrics on the Alpine were ok. And a man down the street that made furniture as a hobby gave me a scrap plank of burl walnut and helped me make the worlds only Alpine with a burl walnut dashboard. He liked the car too and that dash was beautiful! People in neighborhoods did stuff like that back then.
I had buddies that had Triumph cars, incluing a Herald, and Triumph and BSA motorcycles. I guess the voltage regulators weren't too good because if you missed a shift and over revved or idled with too much electrical load on them...Blink, Poof...darkness. So Lucas, fairly or not, got the cursing and the blame and was christened The Prince of Darkness. As long as you had spare fuses or a small piece of something tubular and conductive, you were alright.

My X looked exactly like the one pictured, including the side pipes, with the 390 engine. I did have a standard transmission, Muncie I believe, not an automatic like the car in the photo.

[tannat]

In college I owned a BMW 635 CSi gray market exemption. I was naïve and believed all the lies I was told by the seller. Eventually it reached a state where I couldn’t justify keeping it any longer. A very kind friend offered a trade for a 320i which has been a lot of fun.

The 635 was quite a car. It was already over 10 years old when I bought it in 1993, ran like a scalded cat, and had an exhaust note that was simply awesome. Lots fun and tickets with that one…

SIGH…….

[Daniel]

The electrics on the Alpine were ok. And a man down the street that made furniture as a hobby gave me a scrap plank of burl walnut and helped me make the worlds only Alpine with a burl walnut dashboard. He liked the car too and that dash was beautiful! People in neighborhoods did stuff like that back then.
I had buddies that had Triumph cars, incluing a Herald, and Triumph and BSA motorcycles. I guess the voltage regulators weren't too good because if you missed a shift and over revved or idled with too much electrical load on them...Blink, Poof...darkness. So Lucas, fairly or not, got the cursing and the blame and was christened The Prince of Darkness. As long as you had spare fuses or a small piece of something tubular and conductive, you were alright.

My X looked exactly like the one pictured, including the side pipes, with the 390 engine. I did have a standard transmission, Muncie I believe, not an automatic like the car in the photo.
There's just something great about old cars. Tbh I don't like British cars aside from Escorts, Cortina's and some more modern ones. I just don't like the fact that they're so badly built/designed that they're not dependable as a daily driver. My 504 was perfectly fine to drive distances in and to drive every day. Between my dad and myself we've had 504's for about 23 or 24 years between us and in that time we've had 2 breakdowns. 1 was when a wire broke off the starter motor which was solved in about 5 minutes when the RAC man crimped another connector on and the other was the water pump in my dads car dying after 300,000 km so you can really complain about that.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

In college I owned a BMW 635 CSi gray market exemption. I was naïve and believed all the lies I was told by the seller. Eventually it reached a state where I couldn’t justify keeping it any longer. A very kind friend offered a trade for a 320i which has been a lot of fun.

The 635 was quite a car. It was already over 10 years old when I bought it in 1993, ran like a scalded cat, and had an exhaust note that was simply awesome. Lots fun and tickets with that one…

SIGH…….

Any photos James?

[tannat]

Any photos James?

You gave away my identity!!! :p

Imagine this in black:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BMW_635_CSi_02.jpg

with rear bumpers from this one:


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1976_BMW_E24_Serie_6.jpg

and you've got it.

A very potent weapon in Group A touring car racing in the early to mid eighties, til the coming of the M3 and the Sierra Cosworth ;-)

[tannat]

Also had a great time with a mid eighties BMW 745i.

Owned it only 10 months, but sold it at a $2000+ profit and purchased my wife's engagement ring with the cash.

Beast of a car-but I was so afraid of somthing breaking on it...

[dunes]

1993 Ford Lariet F-150 XLT w/4 wheel drive.
It runs great and starts every day.
Body looks new, interior is in good shape, has 170,000 miles. Original engine w/ little upgrading.No rust,spent its 1st 15 years in florida.
Just can't afford to fill its two small fuel{12 gal in front,17 gal in the rear} tanks anymore.
I almost want to cry.

[Mark in Oshawa]

The electrics on the Alpine were ok. And a man down the street that made furniture as a hobby gave me a scrap plank of burl walnut and helped me make the worlds only Alpine with a burl walnut dashboard. He liked the car too and that dash was beautiful! People in neighborhoods did stuff like that back then.
I had buddies that had Triumph cars, incluing a Herald, and Triumph and BSA motorcycles. I guess the voltage regulators weren't too good because if you missed a shift and over revved or idled with too much electrical load on them...Blink, Poof...darkness. So Lucas, fairly or not, got the cursing and the blame and was christened The Prince of Darkness. As long as you had spare fuses or a small piece of something tubular and conductive, you were alright.

My X looked exactly like the one pictured, including the side pipes, with the 390 engine. I did have a standard transmission, Muncie I believe, not an automatic like the car in the photo.

They were a neat car....that 390 was the only decent motor with actual AMC design that they had. Most of the later AMC's had motors from GM and the like...