What does £2500 of Rolls Royce look like? Not bad actually..
Discussion
I spotted this on ebay and decided what better time to jump into Rolls Royce ownership than 6 weeks before getting married? Well I'm sure you can all appreciate it didn't take long for me to convince myself it was a brilliant idea... I am very lucky in that my Fiance is always on board with my wacky car buying ideas so I had no worries there.
It is a 1981 Silver Spirit in Ocean blue, it was last MOT'd in 2012 and currently has 61000 miles on the clock, advertised as running and driving but with issues to sort.
A few days later we had hired a recovery truck and made the 500 mile round trip to go and fetch it, it's a big old beast!
The car runs and drives through the gears, the brakes work and the suspension is sitting at the correct height - so all the major bork items are seemingly in good order. It does have an electrical issue, apparently brought on by an attempt at jump starting it, in that the fuse board in the glovebox only gets power to one side. There is no switched live from the ignition, but it is easy to temporarily swap the permanent live over to get the car running.
The bodywork is generally good, the notoriously rusty arches are very good, there are only a couple of rust patches on the car and they are in areas which should be easy for a bodyshop to repair. The battery tray in the boot has totally rotted away, but it looks like an easy flat panel repair job.
P1010541 by Hi, on Flickr
The paintwork is quite flat on the roof, bonnet and tops of the doors - initially I thought this would need repainting but after much elbow grease with some polish I managed to polish out a small patch of the faded bit on the top of the drivers door. I shan't do the rest by hand, as it took ages, so I will do it with a machine polisher.
P1010544 by Hi, on Flickr
P1010539 by Hi, on Flickr
The interior is in very good condition, the leather is all good although the drivers seat is more worn than the rest. The carpets are all good apart from the drivers side which seems to have rotted or been eaten by an animal!
P1010552 by Hi, on Flickr
P1010545_1 by Hi, on Flickr
P1010546 by Hi, on Flickr
P1010547 by Hi, on Flickr
P1010553 by Hi, on Flickr
My plan is to weld up the boot floor panel asap, fault find the electrical issue with the fuse board and then get it MOT'd asap. After that I will continue to clean it up and get the rust spots sorted and then just waft about in it a bit and decide what to do next.
P1010540 by Hi, on Flickr
P1010541 by Hi, on Flickr
So far I have bought a new battery, which arrived today, and I have ordered new number plates as it didn't come with any (due to a previous private plate being removed).
Costs so far:
Purchase £2500
Battery £84
Number plates £16.50
I have already made a start on cleaning it and will add more photos when I have made more progress.
It is a 1981 Silver Spirit in Ocean blue, it was last MOT'd in 2012 and currently has 61000 miles on the clock, advertised as running and driving but with issues to sort.
A few days later we had hired a recovery truck and made the 500 mile round trip to go and fetch it, it's a big old beast!
The car runs and drives through the gears, the brakes work and the suspension is sitting at the correct height - so all the major bork items are seemingly in good order. It does have an electrical issue, apparently brought on by an attempt at jump starting it, in that the fuse board in the glovebox only gets power to one side. There is no switched live from the ignition, but it is easy to temporarily swap the permanent live over to get the car running.
The bodywork is generally good, the notoriously rusty arches are very good, there are only a couple of rust patches on the car and they are in areas which should be easy for a bodyshop to repair. The battery tray in the boot has totally rotted away, but it looks like an easy flat panel repair job.
P1010541 by Hi, on FlickrThe paintwork is quite flat on the roof, bonnet and tops of the doors - initially I thought this would need repainting but after much elbow grease with some polish I managed to polish out a small patch of the faded bit on the top of the drivers door. I shan't do the rest by hand, as it took ages, so I will do it with a machine polisher.
P1010544 by Hi, on FlickrP1010539 by Hi, on FlickrThe interior is in very good condition, the leather is all good although the drivers seat is more worn than the rest. The carpets are all good apart from the drivers side which seems to have rotted or been eaten by an animal!
P1010552 by Hi, on FlickrP1010545_1 by Hi, on FlickrP1010546 by Hi, on FlickrP1010547 by Hi, on FlickrP1010553 by Hi, on FlickrMy plan is to weld up the boot floor panel asap, fault find the electrical issue with the fuse board and then get it MOT'd asap. After that I will continue to clean it up and get the rust spots sorted and then just waft about in it a bit and decide what to do next.
P1010540 by Hi, on FlickrP1010541 by Hi, on FlickrSo far I have bought a new battery, which arrived today, and I have ordered new number plates as it didn't come with any (due to a previous private plate being removed).
Costs so far:
Purchase £2500
Battery £84
Number plates £16.50
I have already made a start on cleaning it and will add more photos when I have made more progress.
Edited by Hi on Tuesday 14th November 19:43
TR4man said:
The omens must be good for your marriage if your fiancé is OK about you buying that just before your big day!
Good luck!
Sorts out wedding transport quite nicely...Good luck!
Ridicuklour value for money, given that all the big ticket issues don't seem problematic! A good detail will transform the car and no-one would suspect this was bought for the cost of 2.5 sheds
Good luck OP, I love reading these kinds of threads
Looks like an ok buy.
Call Introcar, enquire about the RREC club discount, you'll get a similar discount applied to your account just for asking.
The 'big ticket items' really aren't that bad and certainly not compared to modern cars.
check out the info on rrtechnical and on the Ozz RR forum, all the help you need.
They are a joy to work on and own.
Call Introcar, enquire about the RREC club discount, you'll get a similar discount applied to your account just for asking.
The 'big ticket items' really aren't that bad and certainly not compared to modern cars.
check out the info on rrtechnical and on the Ozz RR forum, all the help you need.
They are a joy to work on and own.
p4cks said:
Wow - that's a steal!
How much was the transporter and have you included that in the overall cost?
Not to detract from what looks like an inspired shed purchase, but ref above transporter price= A lot more if vosa had caught you with that set up, that's easily a tonne plus overweight.How much was the transporter and have you included that in the overall cost?
iguana said:
Not to detract from what looks like an inspired shed purchase, but ref above transporter price= A lot more if vosa had caught you with that set up, that's easily a tonne plus overweight.
Hah, I thought the same, he's not putting that 2 1/4 tonne beast on a 3 1/2 tonne flatbed surely. I'm surprised he could steer it on the way home. So include the £300 missed VOSA fine as a saving!BUT, great buy, hope it runs smooth. My neighbour runs a Roller as a wedding car. He loves it, the punters love it, I'll follow this with interest.
Good luck.
Thanks for the comments and pointers everyone 
The transported hire was around £230 all in, including fuel.
I diligently did the weight calculations before collecting the car and found it was bang on the weight limit, only to find a day after getting home (when a friend pointed it out) that I had totally cocked up my calculations and I think it was in fact about 500kgs overweight which I feel a bit bad about. It was close to midnight when I did the calculations, lesson learnt, I wouldn't do it again that's for sure! The van was totally stable and capable though, it felt perfectly planted and still pulled up very quickly.
Yes it is brilliant having my other half on board with these crazy car plans, I think she just thought I was mad when we first met but now she 'gets it' a bit more.
The transported hire was around £230 all in, including fuel.
I diligently did the weight calculations before collecting the car and found it was bang on the weight limit, only to find a day after getting home (when a friend pointed it out) that I had totally cocked up my calculations and I think it was in fact about 500kgs overweight which I feel a bit bad about. It was close to midnight when I did the calculations, lesson learnt, I wouldn't do it again that's for sure! The van was totally stable and capable though, it felt perfectly planted and still pulled up very quickly.
Yes it is brilliant having my other half on board with these crazy car plans, I think she just thought I was mad when we first met but now she 'gets it' a bit more.
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