Bargain car purchases - Your storys :)
Discussion
So continuing on from this thread http://pistonheads.co.uk/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&... bargain car purchase!
What bargains have you had, or know of people who bought cars for silly money.
Pictures and stories please, all types of vehicles welcome.
Ill start,
My Dad picked up a,
1998 Ford Puma
1,7
130,000 Miles
Slight rust bubble on rear arches and a slight missfire.
No NCT (Irish MOT) or Tax.
Cost €180.
I bought a ,
2000 Ford Puma
1.4
115,000 Miles
No rust
No NCT (Irish MOT) or Tax.
Engine was f
ked so replaced it with one off eBay.
Cost €420 + €400 for engine.
Total Cost €820
So now lets hear your storys...........
What bargains have you had, or know of people who bought cars for silly money.
Pictures and stories please, all types of vehicles welcome.
Ill start,
My Dad picked up a,
1998 Ford Puma
1,7
130,000 Miles
Slight rust bubble on rear arches and a slight missfire.
No NCT (Irish MOT) or Tax.
Cost €180.
I bought a ,
2000 Ford Puma
1.4
115,000 Miles
No rust
No NCT (Irish MOT) or Tax.
Engine was f
ked so replaced it with one off eBay.Cost €420 + €400 for engine.
Total Cost €820
So now lets hear your storys...........
Edited by RB26DETT on Monday 22 November 22:06
My mum bought a 30,000 mile F-reg Escort for £250 in 2007. It was a friend of a friend's aunt's old car, and she'd stopped driving. It was bought as a stopgap...
And a bloody good stopgap it was too. In 3 years and 20,000 miles it hasn't broken down once
Mine now 
She's a lucky one with these though. Earlier this year bagged an 02 plate Focus for £700. Stolen/recovered and a previous bodge on the wiring meant the previous owner had just given up on it. But, ~£250-300 rectifying work done to it and it's fine, so essentially £1000 Focus with average mileage. Book price just under £2000.
And a bloody good stopgap it was too. In 3 years and 20,000 miles it hasn't broken down once
Mine now She's a lucky one with these though. Earlier this year bagged an 02 plate Focus for £700. Stolen/recovered and a previous bodge on the wiring meant the previous owner had just given up on it. But, ~£250-300 rectifying work done to it and it's fine, so essentially £1000 Focus with average mileage.
Book price just under £2000.Last year- BMW E30 318IS for £750 on ebay because it was grubby and poorly advertised. Turned out to be a weekend car of an enthusiats, it had the optional LSD and had more than £800 worth of work in the previous 6 months including new timing chain and new beam bushes all done by a performance BMW specialist. The car had one rust bubble on the sunroof, a missing rear badge a worn gearknob, it was otherwise immaculate. It also had the biggest history box of any car I've seen. I crashed it.
This year- Jaguar XJ40 4.0 Sovereign- £200 with no MOT, £130 bill from the garage for 12 months test, some welding and a wiper blade. 5000 miles since Feb and it's had some new shock bushes (£30) and an oil change. It drives better than most new cars with no noises or warning lights, just a super smooth ride and a fair wave of torque when the throttle interfaces with the carpet.
This year- Jaguar XJ40 4.0 Sovereign- £200 with no MOT, £130 bill from the garage for 12 months test, some welding and a wiper blade. 5000 miles since Feb and it's had some new shock bushes (£30) and an oil change. It drives better than most new cars with no noises or warning lights, just a super smooth ride and a fair wave of torque when the throttle interfaces with the carpet.
1 - Peugeot 106 1.1 that had been sat for 2 years....10 years old with 30k on the clock and not a single scuff on the paint.
I got it for £200 - £50 on a new battery from the scrappy and an MOT (passed without an advisory) and i sold it for £1000 within a week.
2 - MG ZT-T 190+ 130k but every extra (sat nav, xenons etc... and full service history including a recent clutch and the origional invoice for 28k. The car was 8 years old at this point and had just had the big ends go.
I baught it for £350. I intended to fit a new engine from a scrappy but ran out of funds. I sold it as it was for £1200 2 weeks after towing it home.
I got it for £200 - £50 on a new battery from the scrappy and an MOT (passed without an advisory) and i sold it for £1000 within a week.
2 - MG ZT-T 190+ 130k but every extra (sat nav, xenons etc... and full service history including a recent clutch and the origional invoice for 28k. The car was 8 years old at this point and had just had the big ends go.
I baught it for £350. I intended to fit a new engine from a scrappy but ran out of funds. I sold it as it was for £1200 2 weeks after towing it home.
1 wanted advert : 'Looking for a salvagable passenger door for a HPE Volumex'
Response : 'I have one you can have for free, you just have to take the whole car'
Result :
£200 saw it gain an MOT and it did me proud for 2 years before a moody garage decided to destroy the wiring loom by setting fire to it during some welding to the rear strut towers. Many parts lived on in the original car that I eventually restored
Response : 'I have one you can have for free, you just have to take the whole car'
Result :
£200 saw it gain an MOT and it did me proud for 2 years before a moody garage decided to destroy the wiring loom by setting fire to it during some welding to the rear strut towers. Many parts lived on in the original car that I eventually restored
1988 MR2. Paid £1650. Sounds alot? It was a 1 owner car with complete history, in a very rare metallic grey. Ran it for 2 years and sold it for £1650.
1998 BMW 328i TOuring: £700. I don't think I'll ever get more car for the money. Done spaceship miles but it drives beautifully.
My mate is the king of bargains though. He's always been a fast ford nut.
One day, he saw a Fiesta RS parked up, looking a bit faded. He left a note on it, and the owner got in touch as he'd been thinking of getting rid. It turns out it's a one owner car, full history, unmodified but meticulously maintained. He pays £500 for it which is what the guy said he wanted for it.
So He runs about a bit, it comes up beautifully with a good valet and polish and looks like a time capsule car. Swaps it with a mate for a Sierra Cosworth.
Then he finds someone who WANTS a shagged Sierra cosworth, and he swaps it for a Subaru Impreza STi Type RA. Eventually he got bored of having strained neck muscles and filling the thing up every 8th gearchange, and decides it's time for a change.
Finally, he sees a Escort RS Cosworth that he's had his eye on, offers the Subaru and £4k in part ex for it, and the guy buys it.
So that's a very nice Escort RS Cosworth (only been nicked twice
) for £4,500 outlay, and an interesting route to get there. Basta&&d.
1998 BMW 328i TOuring: £700. I don't think I'll ever get more car for the money. Done spaceship miles but it drives beautifully.
My mate is the king of bargains though. He's always been a fast ford nut.
One day, he saw a Fiesta RS parked up, looking a bit faded. He left a note on it, and the owner got in touch as he'd been thinking of getting rid. It turns out it's a one owner car, full history, unmodified but meticulously maintained. He pays £500 for it which is what the guy said he wanted for it.
So He runs about a bit, it comes up beautifully with a good valet and polish and looks like a time capsule car. Swaps it with a mate for a Sierra Cosworth.
Then he finds someone who WANTS a shagged Sierra cosworth, and he swaps it for a Subaru Impreza STi Type RA. Eventually he got bored of having strained neck muscles and filling the thing up every 8th gearchange, and decides it's time for a change.
Finally, he sees a Escort RS Cosworth that he's had his eye on, offers the Subaru and £4k in part ex for it, and the guy buys it.
So that's a very nice Escort RS Cosworth (only been nicked twice
) for £4,500 outlay, and an interesting route to get there. Basta&&d.E28 BMW, found in south London for £350, brilliant barge, lasted a year before failing MOT on welding needed. No tools and no workshop meant it had to be sold, probably for banger racing, still regret that.
Picked up a ratty old Audi 80 from a garage for £150 a few years ago, it was an MOT failure and they couldn't be bothered trying to fix it up, £300 later and it was serviceable and kept me motoring for about a year before packing in. To be honest it probably would have gone for at least another year if I'd had tools and somewhere to work on it.
We've picked up a couple of MGB GTs pretty cheap, £600 for one and £500 for another, both needed only cosmetic work doing to them. One was mechanically sound but with a paint job that looked like it had been applied by a blind man with a spoon. It was advertised as 8/10 too!
Best buy was my Saab, £750 IIRC, old boy selling it and he had looked after it fastidiously forever. Top condition outside and in, full Saab service history from new until 120k, felt like a 30k car to drive. Still going as well as it was when we got it with only service parts required. For a daily beater I couldn't recommend it more.
Picked up a ratty old Audi 80 from a garage for £150 a few years ago, it was an MOT failure and they couldn't be bothered trying to fix it up, £300 later and it was serviceable and kept me motoring for about a year before packing in. To be honest it probably would have gone for at least another year if I'd had tools and somewhere to work on it.
We've picked up a couple of MGB GTs pretty cheap, £600 for one and £500 for another, both needed only cosmetic work doing to them. One was mechanically sound but with a paint job that looked like it had been applied by a blind man with a spoon. It was advertised as 8/10 too!
Best buy was my Saab, £750 IIRC, old boy selling it and he had looked after it fastidiously forever. Top condition outside and in, full Saab service history from new until 120k, felt like a 30k car to drive. Still going as well as it was when we got it with only service parts required. For a daily beater I couldn't recommend it more.
Best purchase I ever made was this old BMW 635CSi.
Bought it off the daughter of a retired diplomat for £800. Car had spent the majority of it's life in South Africa, and as a consequence had no rust on it anywhere at all. Heaven only knows why she wanted to sell it, but I was in the right place at the right time and so it became mine. I ran it around for a bit before MOT'ing it and selling it on - I would have loved to have kept it, but I felt I couldn't give it the home it deserved (the heated garage type thing) so I sold it on ebay for just under £3k, and I reckon that was bloody cheap at that money, the car was that good.
I often wonder where it is now - the plate has not been taxed for a while!
Bought it off the daughter of a retired diplomat for £800. Car had spent the majority of it's life in South Africa, and as a consequence had no rust on it anywhere at all. Heaven only knows why she wanted to sell it, but I was in the right place at the right time and so it became mine. I ran it around for a bit before MOT'ing it and selling it on - I would have loved to have kept it, but I felt I couldn't give it the home it deserved (the heated garage type thing) so I sold it on ebay for just under £3k, and I reckon that was bloody cheap at that money, the car was that good.
I often wonder where it is now - the plate has not been taxed for a while!
Bought a 98' Clio of fleabay for £435, had 8 months MOT & TAX on it, went to collect it and the old boy who owned it said "the sunroof has just broken" I had a look and it was just the handle by the looks of things, he knocked off another £35; Drove the car home, straight on ebay new sunroof handle £5 delivered, sunroof fixed
Used the car for 3 months as a stop gap, and then sold it for £900
Not a massive profit, but it did what I needed and I was happy.
Used the car for 3 months as a stop gap, and then sold it for £900
Not a massive profit, but it did what I needed and I was happy.
N reg 306 diesel. Bought for £100 with a '£900' repair bill for the MOT (mate took it to main dealers for MOT)1 new tyre which was free as I had one the right size kicking about, new headlight bulb and welded up the back box. Passed with no advisories. drove it around for a year and sold it back to the people I bought it from for £750. Been offered it for £100 again but after looking at it now: The CV joint is away to desintegrate, the vacuum pump or servo are completely gone, both windows dont open and its burning large quantities of oil. I dont think I will bother this time 
Bought for £350 owes me consumables and has flown through two mots, just hit 122k miles everything works on it
2 shocks
4 tyres
1 exhaust rear section
1 rear wiper arm which I snapped the other day *grumble grumble*
Brilliant car, no rust on it apart from one dent on the rear, which I am getting sorted
2 shocks
4 tyres
1 exhaust rear section
1 rear wiper arm which I snapped the other day *grumble grumble*
Brilliant car, no rust on it apart from one dent on the rear, which I am getting sorted
Bought my 2006 TVR Tuscan Mk2 Convertible last year for 24k.
It should have been over 30k and I snatched the guys hand off before he could reconsider.
I was offered 28k for it this year by a dealer who would have put it up for over 30k.
only 83 or 109 (depending on source of info) ever made in the last 2 years of TVR production so very rare car.
I know I can have plenty of motoring in it before depreciation hits me.
Oh and its a fantastic touring car with 2 trips to Spain, and 4 trips to Germany under its belt in the last 15 months.
These were the advert photos.
It should have been over 30k and I snatched the guys hand off before he could reconsider.
I was offered 28k for it this year by a dealer who would have put it up for over 30k.
only 83 or 109 (depending on source of info) ever made in the last 2 years of TVR production so very rare car.
I know I can have plenty of motoring in it before depreciation hits me.
Oh and its a fantastic touring car with 2 trips to Spain, and 4 trips to Germany under its belt in the last 15 months.
These were the advert photos.
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