whats your best eBay bargain then?
Discussion
it depends on what you classify a bargain , though , I bought the Lotus on Ebay back in 2005 , sat trawling through the autotrader and ebay (at work overseas is deadly) , your sat on a wedge with no where to spend it.
Car came up , I put a bid in and Ebay crashed no winners , I phoned the chap up before he could re list it , He was a solicitor in London bit of a petrolhead he had an RS6 , an Atom and the Lotus in the garage !! wife said one of them has to go , Lotus being a single seater , no choice really .
We made a deal over the phone there and then , and when I went to pick it up , he had been inundated with calls about the car !!
funny thing is roll on 6 years and I am in a similar position now married with two kids cant realy justify keeping the car
Car came up , I put a bid in and Ebay crashed no winners , I phoned the chap up before he could re list it , He was a solicitor in London bit of a petrolhead he had an RS6 , an Atom and the Lotus in the garage !! wife said one of them has to go , Lotus being a single seater , no choice really .
We made a deal over the phone there and then , and when I went to pick it up , he had been inundated with calls about the car !!
funny thing is roll on 6 years and I am in a similar position now married with two kids cant realy justify keeping the car
Edited by DBSV8 on Friday 24th February 03:44
An early 60's vintage Heuer stopwatch for historic rallying (not a Monte Carlo or Autavia though.)
It was a UK seller and ending, weirdly, at about 3am on a Monday morning. No reserve, cheap postage.
I set an alarm, woke up and put in the winning bid of £16 from my phone. When delivered it was pristine.
It was a UK seller and ending, weirdly, at about 3am on a Monday morning. No reserve, cheap postage.
I set an alarm, woke up and put in the winning bid of £16 from my phone. When delivered it was pristine.
I don't do much on eBay and would probably never buy a car off it. Nevertheless I did buy this once. I needed a new exhaust for my wife's JDM Subaru WRX, so I found this at a UK dealer on eBay. It was surplus stock and I got it for about a third of the RRP. I don't think they were best pleased when they realized what they'd let it go for.
It was only later that I discovered that these HKS exhausts are the best that money can buy for Japanese cars and that the workmanship if beautiful.
It was only later that I discovered that these HKS exhausts are the best that money can buy for Japanese cars and that the workmanship if beautiful.
Got my Lomax off ebay. Had been stood on the guys drive for a year and was on sorn. When i went to see it, the starter motor had packed up but he assured me if a new one was fitted it would fire straight away. Anyway i sat in it and liked it and bought it. When he delivered it on a trailer he had fitted a new starter motor and it fired up. The next week it passed it's MOT with a carb tune up. It is now worth about double what i paid for it! 
A pair of Mk1 Focus RS front knuckles for under 40 quid. NLA from Ford and are usually 150-200 each secondhand.
On the downside I recently bought an electric window set for my Mk1 Golf Cabrio, supposedly complete with wiring for £75, the wiring that turned up was a selection of cheap speaker wire connected to a mismatched pair of window switches with numerous taped joints. I'll chalk that one down to experience.
On the downside I recently bought an electric window set for my Mk1 Golf Cabrio, supposedly complete with wiring for £75, the wiring that turned up was a selection of cheap speaker wire connected to a mismatched pair of window switches with numerous taped joints. I'll chalk that one down to experience.
A 1973 XJ12 for £250 with a smoking engine about 4yrs ago. It was mint and perfect throughout, seller even threw in his tom tom as he didn't need it anymore. His mechanic had told him the engine was borked (it was rebuilt by smae mechanic 3mths previously for £1500)
Poked around under the bonnet for an hour and found one of the injectors stuck open so overfuelling. £52 later it was all sorted and I had a lovely jag i later sold for 4k
be nice to find a few more of those!!
Poked around under the bonnet for an hour and found one of the injectors stuck open so overfuelling. £52 later it was all sorted and I had a lovely jag i later sold for 4k
be nice to find a few more of those!!
mattman said:
A 1973 XJ12 for £250 with a smoking engine about 4yrs ago. It was mint and perfect throughout, seller even threw in his tom tom as he didn't need it anymore. His mechanic had told him the engine was borked (it was rebuilt by smae mechanic 3mths previously for £1500)
Poked around under the bonnet for an hour and found one of the injectors stuck open so overfuelling. £52 later it was all sorted and I had a lovely jag i later sold for 4k
be nice to find a few more of those!!
I thought they were Stromberg carb fed until 1975?Poked around under the bonnet for an hour and found one of the injectors stuck open so overfuelling. £52 later it was all sorted and I had a lovely jag i later sold for 4k
be nice to find a few more of those!!
6 years ago, sierra partialy stripped, £4.50
got it home and found - full spax kit (shocks and springs) 5 speed gearbox (still in my cortina to this day) 2.0 pinto with a ported head and fast road cam + vernia pully, full janspeed manifold and system, they wernt listed in the advert, i only bought it for the gearbox and to weigh in
got it home and found - full spax kit (shocks and springs) 5 speed gearbox (still in my cortina to this day) 2.0 pinto with a ported head and fast road cam + vernia pully, full janspeed manifold and system, they wernt listed in the advert, i only bought it for the gearbox and to weigh in
6 years ago, sierra pattialy stripped, £4.50
got it home and found- full spax kit (shocks and springs) 5 speed gearbox (atill in my cortina to this day) 2.0 pinto with a ported head and fast road cam, full janspeed manifold and system, they wernt listed in the advert, i only cought it for the gearbox and to weigh in
OK i had to drive 90 mile round trip to get it but i had a recovery truck back then (it had no wheels so loading was fun but doable (45 mins to load).
got it home and found- full spax kit (shocks and springs) 5 speed gearbox (atill in my cortina to this day) 2.0 pinto with a ported head and fast road cam, full janspeed manifold and system, they wernt listed in the advert, i only cought it for the gearbox and to weigh in
OK i had to drive 90 mile round trip to get it but i had a recovery truck back then (it had no wheels so loading was fun but doable (45 mins to load).
Edited by NHK244V on Friday 24th February 21:41
benjj said:
An early 60's vintage Heuer stopwatch for historic rallying (not a Monte Carlo or Autavia though.)
It was a UK seller and ending, weirdly, at about 3am on a Monday morning. No reserve, cheap postage.
I set an alarm, woke up and put in the winning bid of £16 from my phone. When delivered it was pristine.
I can recommend goofbay.com ebay sniper - saves getting up at silly o'clock It was a UK seller and ending, weirdly, at about 3am on a Monday morning. No reserve, cheap postage.
I set an alarm, woke up and put in the winning bid of £16 from my phone. When delivered it was pristine.
My bargain was a CSK Range Rover. Bought for a fair price, ran it for a year, sold (on ebay) for more than the full running costs of that 12 months - inc fuel, service, insurance.
Made that 9mpg truck the cheapest car I have run in quite a while...
I've had some major bargains but two stand out.
1) Set of SV650 Akrapovic downpipes, just listed as a set of downpipes, no make. Minor dent in the front pipe and no silencer. A new system (admittedly including silencer) cost >£500 I got them for £34.
2) Set of VFR750F Motad stainless downpipes. Again listed as a set of downpipes, no make. Brand new but missing two flanges. A new set cost >£300 I got them for £36 and then a new set of flanges from Motad for £9.
I then picked up a 'factory second' new stainless Motad silencer to go with it (again >£300) for £110.
So entire brand new £600+ system for ~£160.
1) Set of SV650 Akrapovic downpipes, just listed as a set of downpipes, no make. Minor dent in the front pipe and no silencer. A new system (admittedly including silencer) cost >£500 I got them for £34.
2) Set of VFR750F Motad stainless downpipes. Again listed as a set of downpipes, no make. Brand new but missing two flanges. A new set cost >£300 I got them for £36 and then a new set of flanges from Motad for £9.
I then picked up a 'factory second' new stainless Motad silencer to go with it (again >£300) for £110.
So entire brand new £600+ system for ~£160.
Ebay is brilliant, if you accept it for what it is.
My best buy would be a Ferrari 308 wheel in great condition plus Michelin XWX for £14.06...good job I thought about putting the extra 6p on the bid!!
I bought another XWX (which are £250 each) that was new for £35 and made a good friend in the process...what price friendship?
Then there is my TR6...two owners, 32k miles, known history, never welded, completely unmolested (it's never even had a radio so still has the factory blanking plate). I'll probably keep this until I'm too old to drive!
|http://thumbsnap.com/qfdxSoMN[/url]
There is a downside though...it is compulsive. I ended up with 18 wheels and tyres for the 308!!
My best buy would be a Ferrari 308 wheel in great condition plus Michelin XWX for £14.06...good job I thought about putting the extra 6p on the bid!!
I bought another XWX (which are £250 each) that was new for £35 and made a good friend in the process...what price friendship?
Then there is my TR6...two owners, 32k miles, known history, never welded, completely unmolested (it's never even had a radio so still has the factory blanking plate). I'll probably keep this until I'm too old to drive!
|http://thumbsnap.com/qfdxSoMN[/url]There is a downside though...it is compulsive. I ended up with 18 wheels and tyres for the 308!!
Guilty of buying tut from eBay when lashed up.
However I did manage to get a full set of snap on sockets and ratchets barely used for £10 including delivery. ...
I think it was a death in the family and those selling the kit had no idea what it was.
I've zero intention of selling them and have used them on many many occasions and do lend them out to Friedan and neighbours. A very rough guess this lot would have been £300used - remember lifetime warranty.
I also almost bought .... A Cerbera 4.5 ltr with no history... Pics looked nice when pissed ad the colour I wanted. Somehow I didn't do it. Next day when online I checked my browsing history found it and recalled. Then checked the details .... Ruined engine spares only chassis needing a lot of attention needing full body respray. I'd never have been able to sell it as it was junk.
Dangerous very dangerous.
So bad I've deleted credit cards from user name and ensure paypal account is empty.
However I did manage to get a full set of snap on sockets and ratchets barely used for £10 including delivery. ...
I think it was a death in the family and those selling the kit had no idea what it was.
I've zero intention of selling them and have used them on many many occasions and do lend them out to Friedan and neighbours. A very rough guess this lot would have been £300used - remember lifetime warranty.
I also almost bought .... A Cerbera 4.5 ltr with no history... Pics looked nice when pissed ad the colour I wanted. Somehow I didn't do it. Next day when online I checked my browsing history found it and recalled. Then checked the details .... Ruined engine spares only chassis needing a lot of attention needing full body respray. I'd never have been able to sell it as it was junk.
Dangerous very dangerous.
So bad I've deleted credit cards from user name and ensure paypal account is empty.
Bought a V12 Jaguar special roadster MX 52 for sod all on Ebay. No Mot needed work but a real bargain. £350. About £2,000 finished on the road.
Got the car running then had three years of fun.
It was a genuine properly registered and individual build by an ex Jag engineer. Superb car ugly as sin but just so all of a piece. With a three number private plate.
Went like the wind pulling about half the eight of the original.
Never did hit the top speed it was just too risky.
Called her the Beast because everything was drowned by the howl of the V12.
More fun than was good for me!
Sold the car for ten tines the price I paid which was still cheap after three years. Back to my V8's and Twin Cams. Still miss the Beast.
Best buy I ever had. Best special I ever owned. Wish I could find another!
One of the few cars which I have owned which gave pure pleasure and cost me nothing over several years. Good game.
Got the car running then had three years of fun.
It was a genuine properly registered and individual build by an ex Jag engineer. Superb car ugly as sin but just so all of a piece. With a three number private plate.
Went like the wind pulling about half the eight of the original.
Never did hit the top speed it was just too risky.
Called her the Beast because everything was drowned by the howl of the V12.
More fun than was good for me!
Sold the car for ten tines the price I paid which was still cheap after three years. Back to my V8's and Twin Cams. Still miss the Beast.
Best buy I ever had. Best special I ever owned. Wish I could find another!
One of the few cars which I have owned which gave pure pleasure and cost me nothing over several years. Good game.
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