Every car I've owned, from daily drivers to proper projects have inevitably been bought, restored to a far greater extent than strictly necessary and then sold at a massive loss, but then that's cars! For instance with daily drives I can't abide things which don't work, or anything mechanical that isn't quite right, so inevitably most cars new to me need disks, pads, droplinks, track rod ends........

I enjoy having projects, and tinkering with things, but I (like most others I'd imagine) don't have the capacity for building endless cars and there are many I'd love to own and drive for a while, so my question is, is it possible to buy someone elses restoration project when they decide to move on and not have it bite you in the arse when you discover they bodged it horribly and it all needs done again?

Any success stories out there?

I have an Ebay search at the moment for 'unfinished projects', mainly to get wind of a half finished kit car to get me a fair bit into building one. However, it does return all sorts of project cars, and almost without exception the description falls far short of what you can see on the page. For example, 'limited chassis welding' means 'if you don't weld it up you will be doing a flintstone'. Or '90% finished' means 'Only 10% of the car is actually worth salvaging'.

Yep 90% might be true in weight terms Ie KG's bolted to chassis!
But in time and effort the last 10% is actually 90% of the time!

Yeah that's what I've found too. I guess what I'm really after is that the bits which have been done, have been done right. I don't mind having to do some bits, its when you find EVERYTHING needs to be redone and then you might as well have bought a cheap wreck and started from that.

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Originally posted by alistairolsen
Every car I've owned, from daily drivers to proper projects have inevitably been bought, restored to a far greater extent than strictly necessary and then sold at a massive loss, but then that's cars! For instance with daily drives I can't abide things which don't work, or anything mechanical that isn't quite right, so inevitably most cars new to me need disks, pads, droplinks, track rod ends........

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In some ways I think the car I bought was good, but then there is lots I have had to redo or work solutions to as what had been dine didn't make sense or was simoly wrong. I think you will always find this though with any car that you buy as a project.

it's a shame, because I'd love something retro and rear drive, like a viva or an avenger but I'm not sure I could trust someone else to have done it properly! Even knowing the shell had been properly repaired would be a start!

There used to be a saying that went something like, :-

"There's only two ways/conditions of cars worth buying, Brand spanking new of the production line (nothing wants doing), or a total rotten wreck (everything wants doing). if you buy any other condition of car..............then your just buying a secret list of thing to do that will never end."

Bought my chassis second hand from an "engineer". Had to reposition all the brackets, modify the rear diff cage etc.

Wasnt happy!

I have bought numerous projects over the years all of which have needed enormous amounts of work even though they were sold as " finished".... but then you buy that kind of project knowing that it isnt really "finished".... Provided the price is right I dont have an issue.... I quite enjoy the challenge

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Originally posted by alistairolsen
it's a shame, because I'd love something retro and rear drive, like a viva or an avenger but I'm not sure I could trust someone else to have done it properly! Even knowing the shell had been properly repaired would be a start!

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Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
Bought my chassis second hand from an "engineer". Had to reposition all the brackets, modify the rear diff cage etc.

Wasnt happy!

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Trouble is anyone who's not that into cars describes everything as mint. No used car is ever Mint and it pisses Me off that people can't see the rust on the arch or the oil finding its way onto the driveway. I have lost count of the times I have driven to see a used car and its been a pile of poo, the last time it was a 300 mile trip to see one. I actually lost my rag with the bloke for misleading me.

The best used cars I've bought have been from car enthusiasts on forums such as this. 2 I've bought were actually bought unseen due to the honesty in the Ad and turnedout to be 2 of the best cars I've owned.

Now when I buy any used car I always budget min £500 to get the car to a mechanical standard I'm happy with and that's before starting on any cosmetics.

my current tin-top is the newest (7years old) and most expencive (£2.3k :lol: ) car I've ever owned.....
got it thinking it would be less hassle, but its needed just as much work as the 16year old car I had before it that cost me a whole £450 !

even my mums 2 year old polo has had about 10 thing go wrong (less than 25k on the clock) - you just can't seem to win with daily drivers





got given this project for nowt a few years back (might sart it after the dax is on the road....)



everything needs redone! but the main highlights are:

the body has been destroyed by lifting it with straps/hooks in the wheel arches

the electrics have been done with horible pre-insulated terminals, not secured and have wrapped themself round the propshaft

the brand new dry brake lines are so kinked that I doubt any fluid would flow through them

and I'll not know how good the chassis repairs are untill I get the paint off (does seem solid enough but I'm not expecting much )

on the plus side the engine rebuild seems to be ok (but thats all)


still underneath it all I recon there is a good car to be had for not that much cash (ticks alot of boxes: RWD, Tax exempt,......) but it'll take many, many hours of work to get it right...
the plan is to rebuild it like it was a kitcar with all modern wiring etc

[Edited on 21/1/2013 by mcerd1]

[Edited on 21/1/2013 by mcerd1]