conundrum/opportunity/nightmare involving a DB7 V12 Vantage
Discussion
I haven’t read your entire story but from what I can see, I honestly believe you will be better off breaking the car and selling the parts.
It is going to take a lot of hours and money to put all the things missing, messed about with or broken right and then what will you do with it?
Sorry if that is not what you want to hear but it is my honest assessment.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
It is going to take a lot of hours and money to put all the things missing, messed about with or broken right and then what will you do with it?
Sorry if that is not what you want to hear but it is my honest assessment.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Surely the car has been in a bump looking at the passenger airbag situation plus the damage to the front bumper?
Windscreen out, repair frame as required. New windscreen - £1,200+ - and the lower panel if it is damaged (very likely) as they are bonded in. If the wings are salvageable and look to be from the pics (but no guarantee) and the front bumper can be repaired then a front end respray anywhere from £2000 upwards. Plus any missing parts that hold the bumper, airbag and so on.
I'll take a wild guess that this would cost you a minimum of £5,000 to make just presentable using mates rates and second hand parts but budget up to £15,000 for a good job. The car would then be worth around £20,000 but they are slow sellers.
You could try selling it to Glen at - https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/612... - who breaks and repairs Astons and TVRs.
or
Douglas Valley breakers where they sell many Aston parts under the name Steve Strange on eBay - https://www.douglasvalley.co.uk/prestige-parts/
I doubt either will give you a good price but it would remove the problem.
Windscreen out, repair frame as required. New windscreen - £1,200+ - and the lower panel if it is damaged (very likely) as they are bonded in. If the wings are salvageable and look to be from the pics (but no guarantee) and the front bumper can be repaired then a front end respray anywhere from £2000 upwards. Plus any missing parts that hold the bumper, airbag and so on.
I'll take a wild guess that this would cost you a minimum of £5,000 to make just presentable using mates rates and second hand parts but budget up to £15,000 for a good job. The car would then be worth around £20,000 but they are slow sellers.
You could try selling it to Glen at - https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/612... - who breaks and repairs Astons and TVRs.
or
Douglas Valley breakers where they sell many Aston parts under the name Steve Strange on eBay - https://www.douglasvalley.co.uk/prestige-parts/
I doubt either will give you a good price but it would remove the problem.
David Ramsbotham said:
I haven’t read your entire story but from what I can see, I honestly believe you will be better off breaking the car and selling the parts.
It is going to take a lot of hours and money to put all the things missing, messed about with or broken right and then what will you do with it?
Sorry if that is not what you want to hear but it is my honest assessment.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
David thank you. I think I'm way past a situation where I can focus on what I would like to hear! Honestly - I'm simply looking to make the best of a messed up situation. Emotionally - it feels a terrible shame for the car not to be restored. It is going to take a lot of hours and money to put all the things missing, messed about with or broken right and then what will you do with it?
Sorry if that is not what you want to hear but it is my honest assessment.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
But, as a friend reminds me - it's just a car!
I haven't looked into what's involved selling parts - is this something you know anything about?
Thanks again for your honest assessment - very much appreciated!
N7GTX said:
Surely the car has been in a bump looking at the passenger airbag situation plus the damage to the front bumper?
Windscreen out, repair frame as required. New windscreen - £1,200+ - and the lower panel if it is damaged (very likely) as they are bonded in. If the wings are salvageable and look to be from the pics (but no guarantee) and the front bumper can be repaired then a front end respray anywhere from £2000 upwards. Plus any missing parts that hold the bumper, airbag and so on.
I'll take a wild guess that this would cost you a minimum of £5,000 to make just presentable using mates rates and second hand parts but budget up to £15,000 for a good job. The car would then be worth around £20,000 but they are slow sellers.
You could try selling it to Glen at - https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/612... - who breaks and repairs Astons and TVRs.
or
Douglas Valley breakers where they sell many Aston parts under the name Steve Strange on eBay - https://www.douglasvalley.co.uk/prestige-parts/
I doubt either will give you a good price but it would remove the problem.
N7GTX thank you very much. Sorry I should have said - the 'damage' to the front bumper is just where the plastic coating thingy has been pulled and torn. The bumper underneath that looks fine. Contrary to what CLC said previously.Windscreen out, repair frame as required. New windscreen - £1,200+ - and the lower panel if it is damaged (very likely) as they are bonded in. If the wings are salvageable and look to be from the pics (but no guarantee) and the front bumper can be repaired then a front end respray anywhere from £2000 upwards. Plus any missing parts that hold the bumper, airbag and so on.
I'll take a wild guess that this would cost you a minimum of £5,000 to make just presentable using mates rates and second hand parts but budget up to £15,000 for a good job. The car would then be worth around £20,000 but they are slow sellers.
You could try selling it to Glen at - https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/612... - who breaks and repairs Astons and TVRs.
or
Douglas Valley breakers where they sell many Aston parts under the name Steve Strange on eBay - https://www.douglasvalley.co.uk/prestige-parts/
I doubt either will give you a good price but it would remove the problem.
When you say 'airbag situation' what do you mean?
That investment guess you did there is brilliant - very helpful. Without knowing anything about restoring cars, I must say that 'feels' about right to me.
Those links are great thank you!! I shall look into those for sure.
Thanks again - I really appreciate everything you've said
morgaana said:
David thank you. I think I'm way past a situation where I can focus on what I would like to hear! Honestly - I'm simply looking to make the best of a messed up situation. Emotionally - it feels a terrible shame for the car not to be restored.
But, as a friend reminds me - it's just a car!
I haven't looked into what's involved selling parts - is this something you know anything about?
Thanks again for your honest assessment - very much appreciated!
Sent you an email.But, as a friend reminds me - it's just a car!
I haven't looked into what's involved selling parts - is this something you know anything about?
Thanks again for your honest assessment - very much appreciated!
morgaana said:
N7GTX said:
Surely the car has been in a bump looking at the passenger airbag situation plus the damage to the front bumper?
Windscreen out, repair frame as required. New windscreen - £1,200+ - and the lower panel if it is damaged (very likely) as they are bonded in. If the wings are salvageable and look to be from the pics (but no guarantee) and the front bumper can be repaired then a front end respray anywhere from £2000 upwards. Plus any missing parts that hold the bumper, airbag and so on.
I'll take a wild guess that this would cost you a minimum of £5,000 to make just presentable using mates rates and second hand parts but budget up to £15,000 for a good job. The car would then be worth around £20,000 but they are slow sellers.
You could try selling it to Glen at - https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/612... - who breaks and repairs Astons and TVRs.
or
Douglas Valley breakers where they sell many Aston parts under the name Steve Strange on eBay - https://www.douglasvalley.co.uk/prestige-parts/
I doubt either will give you a good price but it would remove the problem.
N7GTX thank you very much. Sorry I should have said - the 'damage' to the front bumper is just where the plastic coating thingy has been pulled and torn. The bumper underneath that looks fine. Contrary to what CLC said previously.Windscreen out, repair frame as required. New windscreen - £1,200+ - and the lower panel if it is damaged (very likely) as they are bonded in. If the wings are salvageable and look to be from the pics (but no guarantee) and the front bumper can be repaired then a front end respray anywhere from £2000 upwards. Plus any missing parts that hold the bumper, airbag and so on.
I'll take a wild guess that this would cost you a minimum of £5,000 to make just presentable using mates rates and second hand parts but budget up to £15,000 for a good job. The car would then be worth around £20,000 but they are slow sellers.
You could try selling it to Glen at - https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/612... - who breaks and repairs Astons and TVRs.
or
Douglas Valley breakers where they sell many Aston parts under the name Steve Strange on eBay - https://www.douglasvalley.co.uk/prestige-parts/
I doubt either will give you a good price but it would remove the problem.
When you say 'airbag situation' what do you mean?
That investment guess you did there is brilliant - very helpful. Without knowing anything about restoring cars, I must say that 'feels' about right to me.
Those links are great thank you!! I shall look into those for sure.
Thanks again - I really appreciate everything you've said
trevalvole said:
If you do go down the route of selling to a breaker, then there's the possibility they could low-bid you. To counter this, you could get the two listed to bid against each other and ask them for a firm price (to reduce the chance that they try and take money off when they collect it). You could also not tell the under-bidder that he has lost, rather that you are thinking about it, so that you still have the option of walking away if the winning bidder tries to reduce the price on collection.
Trevalvole thank you. Good call! I've made a couple of phone calls this morning and the response has been interesting - there's definitely a strong interest in the car 
Luckily it's perfectly safe in it's barn so I don't have to panic and make a rush decision!
David Ramsbotham said:
morgaana said:
David thank you. I think I'm way past a situation where I can focus on what I would like to hear! Honestly - I'm simply looking to make the best of a messed up situation. Emotionally - it feels a terrible shame for the car not to be restored.
But, as a friend reminds me - it's just a car!
I haven't looked into what's involved selling parts - is this something you know anything about?
Thanks again for your honest assessment - very much appreciated!
Sent you an email.But, as a friend reminds me - it's just a car!
I haven't looked into what's involved selling parts - is this something you know anything about?
Thanks again for your honest assessment - very much appreciated!
Hello everyone!
Thanks again for all of the great input.
Update - now I've chatted with a few people and received some interesting data about how much I might be able to get for the car, I've cycled back to the question of getting the car running. Everyone confirms that with it running it will command a better price. Not that I doubted that, and several people here have said the exact same thing - it's just interesting to have some figures now from various sources.
It turns out that CLC did actually get it to fire up - but the fuel pumps didn't engage/start/whatever it is they do.
The relevant fuse box is the one in the boot - and it looks like there may be a piece missing ... that maybe should be attached to the black section at the bottom with the holes in it? If that missing piece is the fuse for the pumps that could be interesting.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
Thanks again for all of the great input.
Update - now I've chatted with a few people and received some interesting data about how much I might be able to get for the car, I've cycled back to the question of getting the car running. Everyone confirms that with it running it will command a better price. Not that I doubted that, and several people here have said the exact same thing - it's just interesting to have some figures now from various sources.
It turns out that CLC did actually get it to fire up - but the fuel pumps didn't engage/start/whatever it is they do.
The relevant fuse box is the one in the boot - and it looks like there may be a piece missing ... that maybe should be attached to the black section at the bottom with the holes in it? If that missing piece is the fuse for the pumps that could be interesting.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
morgaana said:
PS! or ... where it says '22' down the left hand side - is something missing there??
According to https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part-finder/aston...Fuses 7 and 15 are the fuel pump fuses, fuse 22 looks to be for a premium amplifier which your car may not have. However there is a missing relay bottom centre which I think is the fuel pump relay on the DB9 / V8V so is very likely to be the problem here.
BigBen said:
morgaana said:
PS! or ... where it says '22' down the left hand side - is something missing there??
According to https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part-finder/aston...Fuses 7 and 15 are the fuel pump fuses, fuse 22 looks to be for a premium amplifier which your car may not have. However there is a missing relay bottom centre which I think is the fuel pump relay on the DB9 / V8V so is very likely to be the problem here.
Next up - looking for a replacement relay ... should I be able to find that on that scuderia site you mentioned?
The 2 black relays are the fuel pump relays, numbers 14 and 17 in the diagram. Replacement relays are all the same colour and interchangeable in this fuse box so you can pull them out and swap them over.
You can pull the relays out for the fuel pumps, they are a push fit. Simply by joining the terminals numbered 30 and 87 using a jumper wire, with a male spade connector at each end, should make each pump run which you will hear. No need to turn the ignition on. At least you will know if the pumps are okay assuming terminal 30 has 12 volts to it.
You can pull the relays out for the fuel pumps, they are a push fit. Simply by joining the terminals numbered 30 and 87 using a jumper wire, with a male spade connector at each end, should make each pump run which you will hear. No need to turn the ignition on. At least you will know if the pumps are okay assuming terminal 30 has 12 volts to it.
N7GTX said:
The 2 black relays are the fuel pump relays, numbers 14 and 17 in the diagram. Replacement relays are all the same colour and interchangeable in this fuse box so you can pull them out and swap them over.
You can pull the relays out for the fuel pumps, they are a push fit. Simply by joining the terminals numbered 30 and 87 using a jumper wire, with a male spade connector at each end, should make each pump run which you will hear. No need to turn the ignition on. At least you will know if the pumps are okay assuming terminal 30 has 12 volts to it.
N7GTX you are a legend! Thank you that's amazing! You can pull the relays out for the fuel pumps, they are a push fit. Simply by joining the terminals numbered 30 and 87 using a jumper wire, with a male spade connector at each end, should make each pump run which you will hear. No need to turn the ignition on. At least you will know if the pumps are okay assuming terminal 30 has 12 volts to it.
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