Is this your Car That Got Away?

Hitachi Personal Finance is on a mission to find Britain’s lost car loves – and you can help.

In the gallery above, you’ll find a selection of the biggest lust-have cars from the 70s and 80s.  Take a look, and once you’ve found your favourite, use the links at the bottom to cast your vote.

And thanks to a competition from Hitachi Personal Finance and Top Gear magazine (published by Immediate Media), everyone who votes will be entered in a draw to win £10,000, giving you the chance of never seeing another car slip through your fingers. The competition is open to UK residents only. 

Check back soon to cast your vote for the cars that got away from the nineties and naughties. Once that’s done, the votes will be totaled and we’ll name Britain’s greatest lost car love of all time.

Click here to cast your vote

Hitachi Personal Finance has been voted the UK’s Best Direct Loan Provider and it’s easy to see why. With some of the lowest rates on the market, you can borrow between £2,500 and £25,000 at rates as low as 3.8% and the funds could be in your account with 48 hours.

And as every barterer knows, when the money’s in your hand you’re in a great position to start negotiating, helping get you the deal you want on the car that caught your eye

Launched in 1976, the 924 was an entry-level Porsche with a four-cylinder engine rather than the usual flat-six. But it was still a Porsche, and a new one would cost you £7,350, or about £50k in today’s money. So it was a bit of a stretch for a first-time buyer...

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The 1970s was a golden age for wedgy sports cars, and none looked more like a doorstop than the TR7. It was designed by Harris Mann, who also drew the Austin Allegro, which – sadly – is what you were more likely to buy while you saved up for the hairy-chested Triumph.

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BMW’s first turbocharged production car was a notorious troublemaker, which is exactly why it was off the menu for most rookie drivers. This was the Seventies remember, when turbo boost arrived about 30 seconds after you asked for it, just as you rounded a slippery bend lined by watery ditches.

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Another legendary hot hatch, the 205 GTI could give a Ferrari a hard time on country roads, then carry 20 bags of shopping home afterwards. It was launched with a 1.6-litre four-pot with 104bhp, which was joined by a 130bhp, 1.9-litre in 1986. That was the one you really wanted.

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It may have been born in the Seventies, but the spiritual father of hot hatchery became a cult hero in the early Eighties when it cemented the trend for turning ordinary runabouts into far more exciting pieces of machinery. The idea was that anyone could drive one, even a fresh-faced teen, but you’d be lucky to convince the insurance company.

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It was a scary hot-hatch with the engine in the middle, where the back seats should have been. This made the handling a bit challenging, but then it was based on a monstrous Group B rally car, which was driven by heroes. So you’d by the softer GT version instead.

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The M3 badge first appeared on the 1986 3-Series. But it was the Evolution models that really turned up the volume, culminating in the 1989 Sport Evo 3 with 235bhp. You might have actually owned one... though it would have been parked in a poster on your bedroom wall.

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Before the Quattro, four-wheel-drive was for Jeeps and tractors. But in a quest to dominate the world’s rally stages, Audi turned it into a performance weapon. The result was the 4WD Quattro, which came in both road and rally flavours. As desirable today as it was then.

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