Buying a damaged N420 - Are there any surprises?
Discussion
Episode 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-5r-_UL9A
"Conclusion is about £5,000 for parts".
"I am definitely no Aston Martin expert."
Bonnet, Wing, Grille, Headlight, Slam Panel, Undertray, front Body Panel, plus unseen parts. £5,000 !
Hmm we shall see. Possibly not be aware of AML parts prices.
Good luck with the project.
He has 3 videos, fascinating to watch and wonderful that he is saving one from the scrap heap
He seems to be doing very well, hats off cause I couldn’t do it
he can claim to be an Aston owner, something I am still working g towards! Lol
He seems to be doing very well, hats off cause I couldn’t do it
he can claim to be an Aston owner, something I am still working g towards! Lol
Edited by kevin_cambs_uk on Monday 2nd August 21:36
Jon39 said:
"Conclusion is about £5,000 for parts".
"I am definitely no Aston Martin expert."
Bonnet, Wing, Grille, Headlight, Slam Panel, Undertray, front Body Panel, plus unseen parts. £5,000 !
Hmm we shall see. Possibly not be aware of AML parts prices.
Good luck with the project.
I take my hat off to anyone taking on such a project. Fair play to keeping another Vantage on the road.
I think his expectation of prices is 'reasonable'. I am sure there are second hand parts out there and you don't always need to go to AM for them. Lots of alternative sources.
I think he got a bargain because of Copart stating chassis damage, so one of only a few whose done well out of Copart.
I watch his youtube as I'm a Vantage owner and a bit of a car fixing guy......
I think his expectation of prices is 'reasonable'. I am sure there are second hand parts out there and you don't always need to go to AM for them. Lots of alternative sources.
I think he got a bargain because of Copart stating chassis damage, so one of only a few whose done well out of Copart.
I watch his youtube as I'm a Vantage owner and a bit of a car fixing guy......
What do you realistically think a cat car is worth on the open market?
I can see the appeal of doing this if its your way into your dream car, I just think the available market to sell to shrinks once they see its been totalled - but everything will sell for a price - ( a genuine question by the way - not meant as a negative - i have repaired a few damaged cars in the early 90s and you can get an unaffordable car cheaply).
I can see the appeal of doing this if its your way into your dream car, I just think the available market to sell to shrinks once they see its been totalled - but everything will sell for a price - ( a genuine question by the way - not meant as a negative - i have repaired a few damaged cars in the early 90s and you can get an unaffordable car cheaply).
Good Afternoon Jon,
I went this rout a few years back although I started out with a DB9. Mine was a badly damaged running wreck. My restoration took nearly three years to complete, doing everything myself except the windscreen installation and front end alignment. Was it worth the effort? I think so for me. I also think if you have the patience and a few spare hours I'd go for it.
My DB9 is now competing and has won several local auto events in my area, I'll also tell you, you will be in contact with some of the greatest people you'll ever want to meet during your quest.
A little advice if you decide to go down this road:
. Purchase used body parts whenever possible. Ebay (USA and UK) and Aston Bits are great sources. (Alistair Elliot, owner of Aston Bits, provided much appreciated advice and consent as well as needed parts. I still correspond with him a several others around the world to this day.)
. Many mechanical or electrical parts are from other car manufactures ... Jaguar, Ford and Volvo come to mind. Look at the part number and find out where it came from before going to your local AM dealer.
This forum also has a listing of shared parts.
. Try to do as much work as you feel comfortable with.
. Getting replacement parts from an AM dealer should be your last resort. They are simply too expensive!
Drop me a line and let me know what you decided.
Best of Luck,
Jack
I went this rout a few years back although I started out with a DB9. Mine was a badly damaged running wreck. My restoration took nearly three years to complete, doing everything myself except the windscreen installation and front end alignment. Was it worth the effort? I think so for me. I also think if you have the patience and a few spare hours I'd go for it.
My DB9 is now competing and has won several local auto events in my area, I'll also tell you, you will be in contact with some of the greatest people you'll ever want to meet during your quest.
A little advice if you decide to go down this road:
. Purchase used body parts whenever possible. Ebay (USA and UK) and Aston Bits are great sources. (Alistair Elliot, owner of Aston Bits, provided much appreciated advice and consent as well as needed parts. I still correspond with him a several others around the world to this day.)
. Many mechanical or electrical parts are from other car manufactures ... Jaguar, Ford and Volvo come to mind. Look at the part number and find out where it came from before going to your local AM dealer.
This forum also has a listing of shared parts.
. Try to do as much work as you feel comfortable with.
. Getting replacement parts from an AM dealer should be your last resort. They are simply too expensive!
Drop me a line and let me know what you decided.
Best of Luck,
Jack
Nice project, I think he is doing it 1.for owning his dream car on the cheap 2.for personal satisfaction of having fixed something 3.for following on YouTube.
I can see no wrong in this, plus a lovely N420 will still be around, win-win!
I other news, I pinged him since I have two perfect headlights for sale now!
I can see no wrong in this, plus a lovely N420 will still be around, win-win!
I other news, I pinged him since I have two perfect headlights for sale now!
Hey all, I did comment the other day but I happened to catch a 24hr ban becuase I linked my last video 😅
I'm having a great time rebuilding it, I managed to buy a full front end from a Cat B that had had minor flood damage so all the parts I needed were in essence unaffected. I paid £7000 for the full front end with was £500 cheaper than the next breaker I was going to use. Hopefully I will sell the remaining parts I've not used for 2-3k such as the headlight, wing, mad sensors, airbox, vent trims, badges, wheel arches, right side crush can and quite alot more.
I bought the full front end to avoid being stuck on the project becuase of an unforseen bracket being broken or something like that.
So yeah it's going really well, I've put more than a 1000 miles on it in the past 2 weeks and I have got a dream car with only 10k miles on the clock for sub £34k which means I can easily put another 30k miles on it and not have to worry about loosing any money (even though that's not the reason I did this I just thoroughly enjoyed it and would never have been able to afford a car like this without it being a project) it smells like new and is easily the nicest thing I've ever owned
Thanks for following the thread I'll be sure to do a final cost video when I'm done 💪
I'm having a great time rebuilding it, I managed to buy a full front end from a Cat B that had had minor flood damage so all the parts I needed were in essence unaffected. I paid £7000 for the full front end with was £500 cheaper than the next breaker I was going to use. Hopefully I will sell the remaining parts I've not used for 2-3k such as the headlight, wing, mad sensors, airbox, vent trims, badges, wheel arches, right side crush can and quite alot more.
I bought the full front end to avoid being stuck on the project becuase of an unforseen bracket being broken or something like that.
So yeah it's going really well, I've put more than a 1000 miles on it in the past 2 weeks and I have got a dream car with only 10k miles on the clock for sub £34k which means I can easily put another 30k miles on it and not have to worry about loosing any money (even though that's not the reason I did this I just thoroughly enjoyed it and would never have been able to afford a car like this without it being a project) it smells like new and is easily the nicest thing I've ever owned
Thanks for following the thread I'll be sure to do a final cost video when I'm done 💪
DetailCorpsMedia said:
Hey all, I did comment the other day but I happened to catch a 24hr ban becuase I linked my last video ??
I'm having a great time rebuilding it, I managed to buy a full front end from a Cat B that had had minor flood damage so all the parts I needed were in essence unaffected. I paid £7000 for the full front end with was £500 cheaper than the next breaker I was going to use. Hopefully I will sell the remaining parts I've not used for 2-3k such as the headlight, wing, mad sensors, airbox, vent trims, badges, wheel arches, right side crush can and quite alot more.
I bought the full front end to avoid being stuck on the project becuase of an unforseen bracket being broken or something like that.
So yeah it's going really well, I've put more than a 1000 miles on it in the past 2 weeks and I have got a dream car with only 10k miles on the clock for sub £34k which means I can easily put another 30k miles on it and not have to worry about loosing any money (even though that's not the reason I did this I just thoroughly enjoyed it and would never have been able to afford a car like this without it being a project) it smells like new and is easily the nicest thing I've ever owned
Thanks for following the thread I'll be sure to do a final cost video when I'm done ??
Cool, keep us updated. And good luck with what's left to do!I'm having a great time rebuilding it, I managed to buy a full front end from a Cat B that had had minor flood damage so all the parts I needed were in essence unaffected. I paid £7000 for the full front end with was £500 cheaper than the next breaker I was going to use. Hopefully I will sell the remaining parts I've not used for 2-3k such as the headlight, wing, mad sensors, airbox, vent trims, badges, wheel arches, right side crush can and quite alot more.
I bought the full front end to avoid being stuck on the project becuase of an unforseen bracket being broken or something like that.
So yeah it's going really well, I've put more than a 1000 miles on it in the past 2 weeks and I have got a dream car with only 10k miles on the clock for sub £34k which means I can easily put another 30k miles on it and not have to worry about loosing any money (even though that's not the reason I did this I just thoroughly enjoyed it and would never have been able to afford a car like this without it being a project) it smells like new and is easily the nicest thing I've ever owned
Thanks for following the thread I'll be sure to do a final cost video when I'm done ??
DetailCorpsMedia said:
If you want a real bargain, the guy that bought the cat B breaker paid £17k for it, and the only thing broken was the motor in the driver's seat (was cat B because the flood involved human waste) but it looked pretty clean to me ??
If an AM has been underwater, it might be a risk too far, unless just selling the parts.
Modern Aston Martins can be a nightmare, when electrical gremlins begin.
The official AML diagnostic kit is often necessary and also a high level of CAN bus knowledge.
That counts me out.
Jon39 said:
If an AM has been underwater, it might be a risk too far, unless just selling the parts.
Modern Aston Martins can be a nightmare, when electrical gremlins begin.
The official AML diagnostic kit is often necessary and also a high level of CAN bus knowledge.
That counts me out.
Jon39 said:
If an AM has been underwater, it might be a risk too far, unless just selling the parts.
Modern Aston Martins can be a nightmare, when electrical gremlins begin.
The official AML diagnostic kit is often necessary and also a high level of CAN bus knowledge.
That counts me out.
EVR said:
To me, the real nightmare here is a flood involving human waste.
To be fair most floods that happen due to rain are classed as polluted with human waste beacuse the flood waters typically totally swamp the local drains and thus cause whatever was in them to back flow into all the river water.... So to be safe, flood damage is almost always classified as containing human waste. When the river burst its banks in Dec 2016 around my home the under-river level garage started to fill with water and we had to get 7x 2000gal/h pumps just to slow down the rate of fill. Fortunately the river subsideded again before it got more than a few inches deep and no cars were damaged. Afterwards whilst everywhere was a mess there was no sign of human waste but we did find a 6" Fish (a Perch if I recall) dead on the garage floor!
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