Hello, and good luck with your purchase.
rockdemon said:
I'd have thought £1500 would get you a decent car that may not look that pretty but is solid and reliable....
I'd like to dwindle about this point, and I must say the ellipsis is an important point to note from Richard. Onto that, I'd like to add that the price doesn't necessarily guarantee a cars condition. That sort of money is also what I'd recommend, for a daily runner - which allows plenty of scope for improvement.
In my experience, It's likely to be the cheaper cars that you'd want to go for - you can expect something that's rubbish for the price, and either get what you're expecting or be pleasantly surprised, and vice versa for the more expensive cars.
a few examples:
In September 2010, Nick Dunning from the forum had a brown 1975 2200 auto that had just been recommissioned. To make a show winner, it needed wings, a front decker panel, a rear bumper, a matching colour interior and some paintwork. Other than that, the only issues were that it had a slight rattle, and shut down smelled a bit, due to a slight oil leak above the exhaust. The plus points were that the base unit was perfectly sound, I don't think it had ever been welded, and the doors were in as good condition as you can get - easily worth £400 alone. The engine had had some work - it was either rebuilt or replaced at the time recently, and was, as a result, faster than Nick's concourse 2200 auto with less than 30k miles under its wheels. This car also had a full MOT. The car sold for £690 on ebay, and apart from needing a top up of oil (and fuel), it covered just over 1000 trouble free miles to its new home in Austria. In all honesty, I wouldn't have minded that car myself, a friend had to wrestle me from the bid button.
Some time last year, Nick Dunning and I went to see a car that had been advertised for well over a year (and sold about a month ago I hasten to add). It was a 1975 3500 auto advertised at £4000. We went to see it in the rain (of all weathers) and despite this, even from a distance Nick straight away spotted that the bottom half was a different shade of white to the top half. When we looked in the car, there was evidence that the car had been messed about with, the carpets were damp, the car needed welding as well as half if not all the previous welding was of questionable quality. The whole quality of the car was so poor comparable to the price, we didn't bother to go for a test drive, we actually went to a scrap yard to see what they had there. I must say that I'd hate to know what the buyer of this car paid.
Also, late last year, my dad and myself went to see a 1973 2000SC that we ended up purchasing. Yes it was raining when we went to view it, and this did compromise the viewing. But it had had a cheap blow over (so looked shiney but could have been of better quality), had had some decent used panels put on the car, as well as bumpers. The interior was also of a very good quality although split in a few places. She had also been used as a daily runner - it showed, as was very reliable. Letting other people drive the car, it is said that this car had also had some engine rebuild work, as she was powerful and braked well. Relatively new tyres were also in the mix. The pitfalls of the car were that she needed some exhaust parts, and rubbers, and welding. Also on closer inspection, some of the previous "welding" was not what most people call welding. Other than that, being used as a daily by us, 6000 miles in about 6 months have been completed without drastic work required. This car was advertised at £1500 although we had to haggle.
So basically, you could get an expensive car cheaply or a theoretically cheap car by paying 'too much'. That said, some cars that are known good are expensive for the right reason; I know someone who has 2 P6's soon to be for sale, both within 30-40k miles never welded, full history (etc) that need minimal work to make concourse; and that shall be priced upwards of £3/6k. Although these are more for weekend or show use, rather than daily.
I hope my slightly long and jumpy essay has been useful
Many Thanks, Adam.
