A bit of Eunos advice please...
Discussion
Hi All,
My Dad has an 'H' plate, V Spec Eunos Roadster that he has owned since 2001. I got it for him for £2,500 when I worked in the trade and it came in as a PX.
He had many happy years of fun in it but it hasn't been driven for the last 3 years and we have been advised that to get it back on the road, it will need at least a new battery, brakes all round and some welding. The hood has also seen better days so would need replacing ideally, though it is water tight.
We had talked about me having the car to turn into a track day toy for a bit of fun but I'm not sure I have the time (and certainly not the mechanical skill) to actually make this happen, I am very tempted though.
For the last few months, the car has been sitting at our friend's local garage waiting for Dad to make a decision on which direction is best to move forward and over the weekend someone has offered him £300 to take it 'as is'. Although I am realistic and know that a currently un-roadworthy car has minimal value, I have no idea if this is a fair price or not.
Part of me is reluctant to let it go for such a small amount of money when it is ultimately a cracking little car with a great engine having only covered 124,000 km.
My rough calculations tell me that to do the welding, brakes, battery and hood would probably cost me around £750 and the finished car would probably not be worth much more than that so maybe not cost effective but I'm torn and would appreciate some advice from some of the experts on here.
Apologies for the long winded post!
My Dad has an 'H' plate, V Spec Eunos Roadster that he has owned since 2001. I got it for him for £2,500 when I worked in the trade and it came in as a PX.
He had many happy years of fun in it but it hasn't been driven for the last 3 years and we have been advised that to get it back on the road, it will need at least a new battery, brakes all round and some welding. The hood has also seen better days so would need replacing ideally, though it is water tight.
We had talked about me having the car to turn into a track day toy for a bit of fun but I'm not sure I have the time (and certainly not the mechanical skill) to actually make this happen, I am very tempted though.
For the last few months, the car has been sitting at our friend's local garage waiting for Dad to make a decision on which direction is best to move forward and over the weekend someone has offered him £300 to take it 'as is'. Although I am realistic and know that a currently un-roadworthy car has minimal value, I have no idea if this is a fair price or not.
Part of me is reluctant to let it go for such a small amount of money when it is ultimately a cracking little car with a great engine having only covered 124,000 km.
My rough calculations tell me that to do the welding, brakes, battery and hood would probably cost me around £750 and the finished car would probably not be worth much more than that so maybe not cost effective but I'm torn and would appreciate some advice from some of the experts on here.
Apologies for the long winded post!
Tough one. If the car is in good condition other than the things you've mentioned, then I'd say £300 is a bit low. If it's got a tatty interior, then I'd say about right.
If it were me, then I'd strip it, keeps all the bits, fix the problems and track it, then at a later stage put everything back and make it a minter.
If it were me, then I'd strip it, keeps all the bits, fix the problems and track it, then at a later stage put everything back and make it a minter.
300 is maybe a smidge low depending on what the rest of the car is like.
How bad is the rust? That's what will kill the car off.
You can pick up a 2nd hand roof for about £100 if you shop around (try facebook). New disks and pads also aren't much ( try autolink) and both should be relatively easy to replace
A scruffy car with a decent mot is probably worth about 800.
How bad is the rust? That's what will kill the car off.
You can pick up a 2nd hand roof for about £100 if you shop around (try facebook). New disks and pads also aren't much ( try autolink) and both should be relatively easy to replace
A scruffy car with a decent mot is probably worth about 800.
Thanks for the replies. I tend to agree that the perceived value for the seller will always be greater than for a buyer. Ultimately, everything is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. As I said, the car only cost £2.5K fourteen years ago and has been thoroughly enjoyed so owes him absolutely nothing.
I will be sad to see it go though as it was my first introduction to rear wheeled drive motoring and I well remember the embarrassment of ending up facing the wrong way, coming off a roundabout when I thought it would be a great idea to see if the back end would step out at a relatively low speed... It did, I looked like an idiot and I had an irate father in the passenger seat who thought I was going to kill his new pride and joy within day's of him buying it. Taught me a lot about car control though... or rather the lack of it that I possessed back then.
I will be sad to see it go though as it was my first introduction to rear wheeled drive motoring and I well remember the embarrassment of ending up facing the wrong way, coming off a roundabout when I thought it would be a great idea to see if the back end would step out at a relatively low speed... It did, I looked like an idiot and I had an irate father in the passenger seat who thought I was going to kill his new pride and joy within day's of him buying it. Taught me a lot about car control though... or rather the lack of it that I possessed back then.
If you think it can be refreshed spending £700 I think you are being somewhat optimistic .
The mention of "garage" implies that the work will be farmed out, albeit at mates rates/ cash in hand :
so, realistically
welding , depending on severity £300 to £800 plus potentially a quick blow over £300
brakes , £150 including fitting & parts
battery, cheapo including fitting £50, proper £90
roof, cheapest option second hand inc. frame say £150 including 1 hours fitting
Service including cambelt and waterpump, parts and labour £200
what about tyres, almost definitely cracked by now if it has been sitting around for three years so £180 fitted. ( especially important if you plan to track it)
so, best case scenario up to just over a grand, not allowing for the proverbial something else to crop up ( fuel pump, fuel rails, alternator etc etc etc.
But whilst the mk1 doesn't warrant this investment financially, I personally can't see another vehicle in which investing ££ = better smiles per mile !!
The mention of "garage" implies that the work will be farmed out, albeit at mates rates/ cash in hand :
so, realistically
welding , depending on severity £300 to £800 plus potentially a quick blow over £300
brakes , £150 including fitting & parts
battery, cheapo including fitting £50, proper £90
roof, cheapest option second hand inc. frame say £150 including 1 hours fitting
Service including cambelt and waterpump, parts and labour £200
what about tyres, almost definitely cracked by now if it has been sitting around for three years so £180 fitted. ( especially important if you plan to track it)
so, best case scenario up to just over a grand, not allowing for the proverbial something else to crop up ( fuel pump, fuel rails, alternator etc etc etc.
But whilst the mk1 doesn't warrant this investment financially, I personally can't see another vehicle in which investing ££ = better smiles per mile !!
Mattlan said:
If you think it can be refreshed spending £700 I think you are being somewhat optimistic .
+ lots of good stuff...
But whilst the mk1 doesn't warrant this investment financially, I personally can't see another vehicle in which investing ££ = better smiles per mile !!
Actually I'm not sure it doesn't warrant this sort of investment. so thats maybe £1000-£1500 for a car thats properly sorted (assuming there are no other issues and you get the car for free from your old man) and you know the history on.+ lots of good stuff...
But whilst the mk1 doesn't warrant this investment financially, I personally can't see another vehicle in which investing ££ = better smiles per mile !!
Now you can get Tatty Mx5 for about £800 but its likely to need some rust sorting, probably a good service and some tyres. For a half decent one you are looking for £1200-£1500 and for a properly nice one £2000 up to as much as you want to spend really.
The questions is do you really want a cheapish track car? If the answer is "yes I was definitely buying one", then I would think better the devil you know.
If you were thinking "no not really, but this might be a good opportunity" then I wouldn't bother, take the £300 and move on.
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