Similarly I used to buy new then lost 25k in less than 2 years on an xjr and thought nope never again I now buy one and run it till it breaks then buy another ( still have my classic and p38 both nearly ready for mot again ) I see it that if I pay 15 to 20k and get 3 to 4 years bargain -typically I do 20 ish k a year

Unfortunately I gave the last classic to my brother, a 3.9 Vogue. he took it somewhere for mot and they condemned it on items that didn't need doing (It was still low mileage). He had it done and sold it for no profit, I believe to someone the garage put him in touch with
Should have kept it myself but thought I was doing him a favour, didn't realise he would fall for that one without telling me first.

He's had similar trick done with a 2A but they only had a few parts, not the complete vehicle I cottoned on to that one and rang the garage (one man band) but turns out he's recently lost most of the sight in his last remaining eye. What can you do in that situation, can't really go and hammer him into the floor when he's like that. Got a genuine Solex back but the original was nowhere to be found (At £300 a time why am I not surprised).