car that puts the biggest smile on your face for less than £500! (past experiences)

izoneiz

izoneiz

izoneiz

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"A car does not have to be expensive to put a smile on your face".

That is the philosophy, but in practice, I've rarely, if ever, seen it happen - until now.

Typically, sub £500 cars are dead fiestas, escorts with 150k plus miles and 4speed citroens from the early 90s.

One of my friends fried his supra turbo on a trip to italy, left it there, and flew home. 3 days ago he turned up in his replacement car - his aim was to get the as big a smile on his face as possible, for £500.

I don't have pics, due to a lack of relevant technology (really ought to rectify this), but he turned up in an early 90s disabled ambulance.

At first I just thought "wtf", but after close inspection I did agree with him - for £500 (£450 to be exact), this car did encourage "happiness". With the sirens still mounted (but not working), a functional ratclif lift on the back and 11 or so seats in the back, with the entire thing hand-painted in Halfords budget red paint, this thing was so stupid, and so inappropriate, it screamed "cool" and "lovable".

It's the perfect road-trip car, and that's what he's using it for (is getting unlimited free fuel for the trip via sponsorship from his employer!)

So, for £500, what's the best (read: makes you happiest) car you've seen?
 
Rover 827 Sterling. Cost me £400 and had crazy fun torque steer. Lots of toys for the money (pity many of them didn't work) and a "I don't give a crap" feel about it.

Bikes wise, it would have to be my old 350LC. Cost me £350 with a siezed engine. Rebuilt it myself and boy what a laugh for such a small amount of money. It got stolen though.
 
205 GTi for me - despite owning one worth a fair bit more than £500, my old project cost me £250, made me grin every time I drove it :D
 
id have to say the underpowered e36 318 i had over winter. In the wet it never failed to amuse me lol. in the dry it was alittle boring tho.
 
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I had a Carina GTi, was great for under £500

Not super quick, but surprising, yet looked like any other carina
 
Citroen ZX 16v, £350. None of the electrics worked (and that's not an exaggeration) and the rest of it gradually fell apart but it was by far the most fun I've ever had in a car. Fond memories.
 
Adz said:
Citroen ZX 16v, £350. None of the electrics worked (and that's not an exaggeration) and the rest of it gradually fell apart but it was by far the most fun I've ever had in a car. Fond memories.
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As soon as I saw that you'd posted I knew you'd put that :D
 
4.0 Jaguar Sovereign. Bro bought at auction for around £400. Mint condition in British Racing Green. Original Alloys and Cream leater interior. Full Jag Service History too.
 
Toss up between my A Reg XR3i that was a £450 rot box, but a hoot to drive, or my B Reg £500 Granada 2.8i Ghia X with all the toys (inc A/C) that still worked!

Great cars, both got nicked. :(
 
Audi 100cd 2.2 on a G plate , bought for £300 with tax and test,it went like the clappers for a big car. i run it till the tax was up .

Sold it to a young lad for £200, filled the logbook out and everything, he then, and i kid you not, used it in a ram raid and got nicked with the cctv evidence :confused:
 
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£101 for a very dodgey VW Scirocco... had been crash repaired (badly) after being rear ended.... so we (brush) painted it silver with radiator paint, attached a load of tat to it and ragged it to within inches of its life across Europe (while playing Hewie Lewis on repeat...) inc driving down the Stelvio Pass at dusk, mmmmm

 
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You can get a Rover Turbo for under £500 now.

Spend £30 on a boost controller and it's one hell of a lot of bang for your buck.

0-60 in around 6.4 seconds and it'll go on to do 150mph.
 
Swissy said:
Audi 100cd 2.2 on a G plate , bought for £300 with tax and test,it went like the clappers for a big car. i run it till the tax was up .

Sold it to a young lad for £200, filled the logbook out and everything, he then, and i kid you not, used it in a ram raid and got nicked with the cctv evidence :confused:
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I had a 1983 A-reg Audi 100CS that I did starship mileage in over 5yrs. When it came to sell it I put it up for £50 and some ****** came down from Uxbridge and bought it on a friday night. The following monday I was woken up by the police from Slough phoning and asking if I owned the car, I told them it had just been sold to some ****** and the reg doc had been sent off. When I asked why he needed them he just said he couldnt tell me but they are but they are despirately seeking the driver. I reckon that was used for a ram raid, it would have been perfect it was pretty quick, good for loads of passengers, fitted loads in the boot and was built like a tank.
 
Cool, Well I had a F Plate Nissan Silvia S12 Turbo which cost me something like £475. It was lots of fun but really it badly needed some attention. Manifold blowing, awful tyres, very tired suspension, knackered battery etc etc. Still it had MOT... It was bought for a stag do. Despite the minor problems I did cover over 1000 miles in "the beast" before selling it on for very slightly more than I paid for it.
 
2.1 Sierra, 1.8 Sierra with Cosworth LSD, 309 GTI, 205 GTI, Golf GTI, Volvo 940, Rover 213, Escort Mk3 1.6, Mondeo 1.8, Fiesta Mk1 1.1 etc etc etc

I can't think of a single car I've owned that I haven't been able to have fun in, and only one of them cost more than £500.
 
Ford Escort mk2 1600 Sport I bought in 1991 for £450, it was a bit tatty but a lot of fun. Number plate KAC 11N :D

It would be worth loads more than that now though, it was a rare 4 door one too in Daytona Yellow.
 
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