Does circa £1,500 buy anything interesting anymore?
Discussion
As the title really.
I remember before I started driving £1,500 seemed like plenty of money to buy an interesting old. I remember drolling over (admittedly a bit ropey) GTS-T Skylines, TT GTOs, 300ZXs, the odd MR2 Rev 1/2 Turbo and so on waiting for the day that I could afford to insure on, whack up the boost and start having fun with a 'rolling project'. Even on the 'retro' front stuff like VR6 swapped MK2 Golf GTIs weren't too expensive, and decent 205 GTI examples were available for that sort of cash without too much hassle.
I even bought and ran precisely the sort of cars I'd want now, a Toyota Soarer and a 205 GTI with a 16V engine swap. But at 18 the vast majority of my apprentice wage went on fuel and insurance so I didn't get very much done in the way of mods. Now with considerably more years NCB and a job that pays well I want a 'rolling project' that I can mess around with on my days off and enjoy driving, restoring and modifying but 'serviceable' examples of those are a fair bit more expensive not then they used to be.
I'm a mechanic by trade and am not afraid of work apart from rust/bodywork issues. Straight line acceleration > Handling but would like something that wasn't TOTALLY useless on twisty bits. NOT interested in hot hatches whatsoever unless its a non rusty example of a 'retro classic', ala 205 GTI, MK2 Golf, and even then those in standard form don't do an awful lot for me. Needs to seat 4 but the people in the back don't need to be comfortable. Can anyone suggest anything, because I'm at a bit of a loss
I'm currently struggling to get Jaguar XJRs out of my head, but they need a slightly higher budget, then budget creep kicks in and I find myself looking at weighing in a lot more than £1,500...
Thoughts?
I remember before I started driving £1,500 seemed like plenty of money to buy an interesting old. I remember drolling over (admittedly a bit ropey) GTS-T Skylines, TT GTOs, 300ZXs, the odd MR2 Rev 1/2 Turbo and so on waiting for the day that I could afford to insure on, whack up the boost and start having fun with a 'rolling project'. Even on the 'retro' front stuff like VR6 swapped MK2 Golf GTIs weren't too expensive, and decent 205 GTI examples were available for that sort of cash without too much hassle.
I even bought and ran precisely the sort of cars I'd want now, a Toyota Soarer and a 205 GTI with a 16V engine swap. But at 18 the vast majority of my apprentice wage went on fuel and insurance so I didn't get very much done in the way of mods. Now with considerably more years NCB and a job that pays well I want a 'rolling project' that I can mess around with on my days off and enjoy driving, restoring and modifying but 'serviceable' examples of those are a fair bit more expensive not then they used to be.
I'm a mechanic by trade and am not afraid of work apart from rust/bodywork issues. Straight line acceleration > Handling but would like something that wasn't TOTALLY useless on twisty bits. NOT interested in hot hatches whatsoever unless its a non rusty example of a 'retro classic', ala 205 GTI, MK2 Golf, and even then those in standard form don't do an awful lot for me. Needs to seat 4 but the people in the back don't need to be comfortable. Can anyone suggest anything, because I'm at a bit of a loss
I'm currently struggling to get Jaguar XJRs out of my head, but they need a slightly higher budget, then budget creep kicks in and I find myself looking at weighing in a lot more than £1,500...
Thoughts?
0a said:
Get on the bargain thread - lots there.
I have been. To be honest the problem I have with that thread is that I know I can get mundane stuff like old Volvos, Saabs and rusty Mercs for under a grand but not many of the cars that are posted there are what I think most people would constitute as 'interesting'.I think there was an 'interesting cars for under '£xxxx' thread doing the rounds months ago but that died a death.
jmflare said:
There's loads about,
Loads of Alfas 156,155,166
Countless BMWs E36,34,39,30
Soarer
Ls500,200
Stagea
Dodgy Skylines
Supra MK3
ATR
FTO
3000GT
Mr2 Mk2
Old Volvos 240,740,940,850
This is the problem, not anymore there isn't.Loads of Alfas 156,155,166
Countless BMWs E36,34,39,30
Soarer
Ls500,200
Stagea
Dodgy Skylines
Supra MK3
ATR
FTO
3000GT
Mr2 Mk2
Old Volvos 240,740,940,850
£1,500 only gets you the most sheddest of 3000GTs, Supra MK3s, stageas, 200SXs dodgy Skylines, soarers, E30s with decent engines, etc. I've been monitoring the market for exactly those cars for a few months and prices certainly have increased. What seems to be left is stuff either a touch too dull to be a hobby car (It won't be used whatsoever for a commute but is my only car, hence the desire for 4 seats) and/or seems a bit on the slow side.
I have completely missed the ATR as it is not usually my sort of thing but I've heard good things about them so will be giving them a look.
Edited by JoshyS on Wednesday 8th January 00:21
JoshyS said:
As the title really.
I remember before I started driving £1,500 seemed like plenty of money to buy an interesting old. I remember drolling over (admittedly a bit ropey) GTS-T Skylines, TT GTOs, 300ZXs, the odd MR2 Rev 1/2 Turbo and so on waiting for the day that I could afford to insure on, whack up the boost and start having fun with a 'rolling project'. Even on the 'retro' front stuff like VR6 swapped MK2 Golf GTIs weren't too expensive, and decent 205 GTI examples were available for that sort of cash without too much hassle.
I even bought and ran precisely the sort of cars I'd want now, a Toyota Soarer and a 205 GTI with a 16V engine swap. But at 18 the vast majority of my apprentice wage went on fuel and insurance so I didn't get very much done in the way of mods. Now with considerably more years NCB and a job that pays well I want a 'rolling project' that I can mess around with on my days off and enjoy driving, restoring and modifying but 'serviceable' examples of those are a fair bit more expensive not then they used to be.
I'm a mechanic by trade and am not afraid of work apart from rust/bodywork issues. Straight line acceleration > Handling but would like something that wasn't TOTALLY useless on twisty bits. NOT interested in hot hatches whatsoever unless its a non rusty example of a 'retro classic', ala 205 GTI, MK2 Golf, and even then those in standard form don't do an awful lot for me. Needs to seat 4 but the people in the back don't need to be comfortable. Can anyone suggest anything, because I'm at a bit of a loss
I'm currently struggling to get Jaguar XJRs out of my head, but they need a slightly higher budget, then budget creep kicks in and I find myself looking at weighing in a lot more than £1,500...
Thoughts?
When was this, though? 10 years ago or so? With inflation and so on, surely £1,500 then is worth considerably less now. There may be an argument to say that we went through an era a while back of not many really interesting and affordable cars being produced new to feed into the near-shed market now, plus a lot of the cars you mentioned would be Japanese imports which aren't as popular now as they used to be. Also inevitably if you have a misty-eyed view of the past it's probably easy to dismiss some current cheap cars as not being as fun as they really are.I remember before I started driving £1,500 seemed like plenty of money to buy an interesting old. I remember drolling over (admittedly a bit ropey) GTS-T Skylines, TT GTOs, 300ZXs, the odd MR2 Rev 1/2 Turbo and so on waiting for the day that I could afford to insure on, whack up the boost and start having fun with a 'rolling project'. Even on the 'retro' front stuff like VR6 swapped MK2 Golf GTIs weren't too expensive, and decent 205 GTI examples were available for that sort of cash without too much hassle.
I even bought and ran precisely the sort of cars I'd want now, a Toyota Soarer and a 205 GTI with a 16V engine swap. But at 18 the vast majority of my apprentice wage went on fuel and insurance so I didn't get very much done in the way of mods. Now with considerably more years NCB and a job that pays well I want a 'rolling project' that I can mess around with on my days off and enjoy driving, restoring and modifying but 'serviceable' examples of those are a fair bit more expensive not then they used to be.
I'm a mechanic by trade and am not afraid of work apart from rust/bodywork issues. Straight line acceleration > Handling but would like something that wasn't TOTALLY useless on twisty bits. NOT interested in hot hatches whatsoever unless its a non rusty example of a 'retro classic', ala 205 GTI, MK2 Golf, and even then those in standard form don't do an awful lot for me. Needs to seat 4 but the people in the back don't need to be comfortable. Can anyone suggest anything, because I'm at a bit of a loss
I'm currently struggling to get Jaguar XJRs out of my head, but they need a slightly higher budget, then budget creep kicks in and I find myself looking at weighing in a lot more than £1,500...
Thoughts?
fatboy69 said:
Jaaack said:
I picked this up for £1200 6 months ago at 19 years old, living the dream :P
Where did you find that? Its exactly what i want right now.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff