How hard is to find a damn good car?!
Discussion
So far EVERY mini I've been to look at hasn't been as good as described. Been looking for a month(ish) now, and everyone has rusted windows or huge holes in them that the seller 'didn't know about' or they just wasn't expecting me to do such a big check for everything.
Doin' my nut in.
Anyone else had problems trying to find the right car?
Doin' my nut in.
Anyone else had problems trying to find the right car?
PSBuckshot said:
So far EVERY mini I've been to look at hasn't been as good as described. Been looking for a month(ish) now, and everyone has rusted windows or huge holes in them that the seller 'didn't know about' or they just wasn't expecting me to do such a big check for everything.
Doin' my nut in.
Anyone else had problems trying to find the right car?
I think this is a case of either more money or lower expectations.Doin' my nut in.
Anyone else had problems trying to find the right car?
Also with a car such as a classic Mini, then you've realistically got to expect that none are likely to be perfect.
Not sure what cars you are looking at, but it might be worth looking at some older examples, some might well have been restored and be in better nick than late model examples.
Lastly what sort of budget are you considering? If you have the scope and ability/time then you can buy a brand new shell, so you could build an almost new Mini if you so wanted.
6potdave said:
Might be a case of needing to increase your budget. It sounds to me like you are looking at the lower priced and slightly shady examples. If you are looking to pay less than the immaculate ones are going for then be prepared to put some work in on it.
I found a great one, no rust. Put down deposit. And it failed it's MOT 
Got my money back though.
300bhp/ton said:
I think this is a case of either more money or lower expectations.
Also with a car such as a classic Mini, then you've realistically got to expect that none are likely to be perfect.
Not sure what cars you are looking at, but it might be worth looking at some older examples, some might well have been restored and be in better nick than late model examples.
Lastly what sort of budget are you considering? If you have the scope and ability/time then you can buy a brand new shell, so you could build an almost new Mini if you so wanted.
Got about £2000, I know I won't get some beautiful thing, but all I want is a decent body and it to be usable, everything else to make it look nicer will come in time. Also with a car such as a classic Mini, then you've realistically got to expect that none are likely to be perfect.
Not sure what cars you are looking at, but it might be worth looking at some older examples, some might well have been restored and be in better nick than late model examples.
Lastly what sort of budget are you considering? If you have the scope and ability/time then you can buy a brand new shell, so you could build an almost new Mini if you so wanted.
PSBuckshot said:
Not far from me, they've been going for about 4 or 5 years and only do classic-type minis.Worth a trundle down to have a look? (I suppose it depends on time/money).
ETA: contact details and a website from the early 1990's http://www.minis-r-us.co.uk/
C
I have been grazing the internet and local free ads for over 15months now.
Ebay turns up some treats now and then, but tbh i think you need about 2.5 for a rust free bog standard city or piccadilly (with nothing going for it but healthly mechanicals and bland 80's interiors). 2k tends to throw up a lot of badly modified or partly restored nightmares.
Gwiz
Ebay turns up some treats now and then, but tbh i think you need about 2.5 for a rust free bog standard city or piccadilly (with nothing going for it but healthly mechanicals and bland 80's interiors). 2k tends to throw up a lot of badly modified or partly restored nightmares.
Gwiz
GingerWizard said:
I have been grazing the internet and local free ads for over 15months now.
Ebay turns up some treats now and then, but tbh i think you need about 2.5 for a rust free bog standard city or piccadilly (with nothing going for it but healthly mechanicals and bland 80's interiors). 2k tends to throw up a lot of badly modified or partly restored nightmares.
Gwiz
I went to see this one last night near stoke area and I take a magnet and cloth to look for filler on the Minis. I swear this car was 90% filler, magnet wouldn't stick.Ebay turns up some treats now and then, but tbh i think you need about 2.5 for a rust free bog standard city or piccadilly (with nothing going for it but healthly mechanicals and bland 80's interiors). 2k tends to throw up a lot of badly modified or partly restored nightmares.
Gwiz
Was only £1200 though so didn't have high expectations
300bhp/ton said:
What did it fail on though?
Body work and rust is always the hardest to sort IMO, I'd rather a knackered engine with sound body work over a strong engine and a rust heap.
Few failures round the front subframe and a tonne of other stuff. Engine was sound. Body work and rust is always the hardest to sort IMO, I'd rather a knackered engine with sound body work over a strong engine and a rust heap.
And I'm with you, if you know about Minis you're buying one for a good body not engine.
- Oh and had a page and half of advisorys.
Depends on your budget and what you are willing to drive
Purchased a Matiz for £300 with a few issues, all fixed myself.
Purchased a 50k miles R reg corsa with no rust, head gasket and alternator issue fixed under warranty and only other issue which I fixed recently was rocker cover gasket - £900
They are out there, ebay is probably your friend. Loads of long MoT cavaliers and stuff going for £300ish
Purchased a Matiz for £300 with a few issues, all fixed myself.
Purchased a 50k miles R reg corsa with no rust, head gasket and alternator issue fixed under warranty and only other issue which I fixed recently was rocker cover gasket - £900
They are out there, ebay is probably your friend. Loads of long MoT cavaliers and stuff going for £300ish
PSBuckshot said:
Got about £2000, I know I won't get some beautiful thing, but all I want is a decent body and it to be usable, everything else to make it look nicer will come in time.
Trouble is, rust is the biggest issue with these cars. It will have affected every single one by know (only very few exceptions) to a greater or lesser degree.Also £2k isn't a huge budget for these anymore.
Might be worth looking at some 1275GT's or Clubmans, the square front makes them less appealing to some, so often a bit cheaper.
Or look at some alternatives. The Mini-Metro is technically a better car and very similar weight, also easier to work on and more easily tunable for big power. Mini's will still be around in a couple of years if you still fancy one.
If you want to stay classics then how about a Morris Minor. Very similar size and weight to a Mini and RWD. Lots of tuning potential too.
PSBuckshot said:
I found a great one, no rust. Put down deposit. And it failed it's MOT
Got my money back though.
What did it fail on. If there was no rust I would have sorted it out, dealing with bodywork is often more expensive than anything else unless you can weld and paint and most mini parts can be bought cheaply enough. There are BMW mini coopers selling for less these days than fair condition bog standard classic shape mini's, £2k doesn't go far unless you are prepared to do some work yourself.Got my money back though.
Carrot said:
Depends on your budget and what you are willing to drive
Purchased a Matiz for £300 with a few issues, all fixed myself.
Purchased a 50k miles R reg corsa with no rust, head gasket and alternator issue fixed under warranty and only other issue which I fixed recently was rocker cover gasket - £900
They are out there, ebay is probably your friend. Loads of long MoT cavaliers and stuff going for £300ish
Missed out on a stormer recently. £1500, complete rebuild. White italian job replica, 60k on clock. Seller didn't know what he had. Went to click buy it now and someone must of had it 0.5 seconds before me. Was gutted as he was only few mile away by Himley area (where they have the big Mini show)Purchased a Matiz for £300 with a few issues, all fixed myself.
Purchased a 50k miles R reg corsa with no rust, head gasket and alternator issue fixed under warranty and only other issue which I fixed recently was rocker cover gasket - £900
They are out there, ebay is probably your friend. Loads of long MoT cavaliers and stuff going for £300ish
- Oh and it HAS to be a Mini
Edited by PSBuckshot on Wednesday 23 February 14:14
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