NeilMH Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I have a habit of retrospectively justifying any car related thing I do but if I was really honest, every now and then I go mad and do really dumb things. Mine probably aren't too bad at all but I bet there are a few howlers out there....? Mine: 1. Spending quite a lot of money on changing the suspension on my Elise and making one of the best handling cars ever so much worse that I wanted rid of it from that moment onwards 2. Paying completely over the odds for my second Caterham and selling at at the worst conceivable time at the peak of the credit crunch. I must be the only person to have lost such a high percentage of a Caterham's value in such a short space of time (I cannot bring myself to say how much)...all because I had another cunning plan (which wasn't) 3. Many years ago buying a brand new Morris Marina because I got such a good part ex on my Hillman Hunter. 4. Thinking I would be a good rally driver. Bought a rally car. After two days tuition sat next to Tony Higgins on a forest stage. He then sat next to me.I was cra*p. I gave up, sold the car and lost some more money . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will370z Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Stalling my new Saab within 2 days of buying it on my parents steep drive. Started rolling, panicked, hit the wrong pedals and rolled the car half way through the living room wall.....mum was not impressed. Not as bad as my cousin though, he wrote his instructors car off on his driving test. Automatic fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Not passing my driving test until I was 37 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Doing a service on my mother in laws Nissan Micra and overtightening the oil plug, splitting the sump Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Stalling my new Saab within 2 days of buying it on my parents steep drive. Started rolling, panicked, hit the wrong pedals and rolled the car half way through the living room wall.....mum was not impressed. Mine was probably supercharging the Z. I turned down a few offers when it was for sale because I had decided to s/c it. Lots of money & hours spent and its back to being n/a. I wish I had sold it when I had the chance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Oh yes... we are off to a great start Trust me... this will be very therapeutic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 1. Spending quite a lot of money on changing the suspension on my Elise and making one of the best handling cars ever so much worse that I wanted rid of it from that moment onwards What on earth did you put on it?! I don't really regret too much when it comes to cars, I'd rather look at everything I do as an experience rather thana mistake. I guess I might put down moving from the Zed before I'd gotten to do everything to her that I wanted, but then I'm now in my dream car so I can hardly complain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ioneabee Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Buying a second hand Morris Marina !!!!!!!! it drove like a sofa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 1. Listening to a mate who said he knew the country lane we were driving down like the back of his hand, getting to a corner he still swears wasnt there and rolling my mums clio into a ditch Still no one was hurt, mum got a good deal for her car and a cheap new Clio! 2. Trimming the Zed in S-alcantara off eBay. The finished looked really good until the sun hit it and bleached it. Lesson learnt, proper Alcantara costs lots of money for a reason. 3. Trying to re-dye my leather seats which were shot to ****. As with the s-alcantara, they looked great to start of with but the finish was not hard wearing as the "specialist" said it would be which required me to redo them all the time. Although it lead to my best purchase for the Zed - my Recaro's which were f'in awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt L Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 well... for me... Corsa - spending more than twice the value of the car on it and it still being slower than a milk float, however stopped and handled very well and i still miss it to this day just wish it was quicker. Ibiza - well... buying it was a big mistake as its the worst car in the world handling wise, however it has redeemed itself since moving to a job thats a 50mile round trip each day as it averages 58 to the tank which is nice however still doesnt make up for the god awful handling, also bought alloys for it which weighed more than the moon and sold them for a massive loss after buying new tyres for them, also bought rear anti roll bar + spacers for it, spacers were too wide so wheels scrubbed, anti roll bar was good and improved handling however car had a tendancy to face the roundabout whilst going around it :| so they all got sold and now its back to its standard form. zed - depends which way i look at it, mistake was buying it as its an expensive toy now and money really should have been put towards the future however everytime i drive it puts the biggest smile on my face ever so in that respect its not a mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zugara Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Having owned over 75 cars in a 25 year driving career, could have bought myself a nice lambo with the amount of cash i have lost. Still, life really is too short to stick with one car eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cesc Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Buying an RX8 instead of a 350Z. I now have both but I've been trying to sell the RX8 for nigh on 4 months and the Zed is just sitting in my garage until this bloody Mazda goes. Great car to be fair, but the novelty wore off so, so quickly. The Zed is a lot better in nearly all aspects aside from practicality in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zugara Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 HItting an artic lorry in a honda civic, caused £100k worth of damage, my ex girlfriend lost half her left leg, i had 197 stitches in my head as i scalped myself on the sunroof. When We were cut out of the wreck, the copper that was at the scene, later told me that all he could see was a huge white patch on my head, that happened to be my skull So all in all, that was a bad day..... But true non the less, even made tv as the crash happened right outside Meridian Studio's in Southampton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 1. Spending quite a lot of money on changing the suspension on my Elise and making one of the best handling cars ever so much worse that I wanted rid of it from that moment onwards What on earth did you put on it?! Well....it just shows its all a matter of opinion. I fitted the LSS kit developed by Lotus from the S2 to fit the S1. Virtually 100% of the people who bought it said it was a vast improvement and said the original suspension made the car look like it was on stilts. I beg to differ. The S2 was a substantially heavier car. IMHO the kit eliminated one of the key advantages of the original spec - ride quality. So the original Konis/springs sometimes sounded like billiard balls rattling but I would have retrieved them from the dump with my bare hands if I could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 It will be a challenge to see if anyone can top Zugara's posting... sounds horrific...and very considerably less amusing than those that preceded it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy P Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 1.)Driving a pink corsa 1.0 club for the first 2 years of my driving life 2.)Crashing in to an old woman's parked car and stoving her boot in, which was full of presents for her grandkids, who she was going to drive down and see for christmas. She was going to be driving from Horsham to Cornwall to stay there for christmas but couldn't get there because I broke both her car, and her relatives' presents. Myself and my dad ended up driving her and her aunty (must have been over 100) to Dorchester and then coming home. It took 6 hours. Oh, how it hurts to be a good samaritan. A very bad day. That's about it really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy P Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 HItting an artic lorry in a honda civic, caused £100k worth of damage, my ex girlfriend lost half her left leg, i had 197 stitches in my head as i scalped myself on the sunroof.When We were cut out of the wreck, the copper that was at the scene, later told me that all he could see was a huge white patch on my head, that happened to be my skull So all in all, that was a bad day..... But true non the less, even made tv as the crash happened right outside Meridian Studio's in Southampton. F**k that's awful, okay my day was better than yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ioneabee Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 HItting an artic lorry in a honda civic, caused £100k worth of damage, my ex girlfriend lost half her left leg, i had 197 stitches in my head as i scalped myself on the sunroof.When We were cut out of the wreck, the copper that was at the scene, later told me that all he could see was a huge white patch on my head, that happened to be my skull So all in all, that was a bad day..... But true non the less, even made tv as the crash happened right outside Meridian Studio's in Southampton. F**k that's awful, okay my day was better than yours came home to find my battered old toyota corolla (shed for work) was 2 feet shorter and slightly flatter - A 6 wheel tipper truck (20 ton i think) reversed over the top of it. The driver later commented that my brakes must have been good, because he felt the resistance Nope - Zugara wins it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zugara Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Still have lumps of glass in my head and the great scar to boot..... The exact day was July 11 1991,(Thursday) I remember it was a solar eclipse which we watched through the sunroof, that later on the same day ripped my flesh from my skull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 This reminds me of that Monty Python 4 Yorkshiremen sketch....you think that's bad... I used to etc.... The only trouble is someone is going to have to come up with something truly unbelievable to top Zugara's story. Their entire family will have had to have to have been kidnapped by the Russian Mafia in an FSO Polonez or someone will have had to have their wedding tackle ripped off by a flying wing fragment when trying to change the inboard brakes on a 2CV or similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexx Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 1) Selling the Zed for f*** all money considering how much Id spent. 2) Spinning the R8 just a couple of days after deciding to sell it 3) Sending the R8 to Sherwoods Vauxhall....where it's still at 2.5 months later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Zugara! That sounds horrific - think I would be scared to get in a car again! If we started a 'You call that a scar' thread, I have a feeling you may win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewan221 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 swopping my mint TR7 for a total Dog of a Reliant Scimitar that only lasted 2 months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff-r Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I've only been driving for 8 years. Worst thing I think I've done is crash into a parked car. Lovely May day bank holiday I must have been about 18 and we were off to the beach, driving out of town the roads were a nightmare and I was coming up to a petrol station, fumbling around trying to get my wallet out of my pocket I glanced down and BANG, hit a parked car. I think I caused about 1k worth of damage to my car and the bastard Citreon AX I hit sustained about £70 worth of damage. It was made worse by my mates wetting themselves and the fact that I never got down to the beach. When I eventually found the owner of the car he didn't even notice the damage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 The Reliant Scimitar trumps the Pink Corsa. depending on what the R8 is like when it finally gets back from Vauxhall. You would think an AX would be written off even if struck a glancing blow by an Amoeba's Beret Label ... how annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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