Dutton Pheaton - advice request

[Corpulent Tosser]

Not sure about the spelling !

I have the chance of one cheap around £2000, but know nothing about them.

The car has been off the road for a while but is said to be in good condition. The front suspension is described as McPherson type shock plus spring, and it has a crossflow engine apart from thah I know nothing.

As I am looking for a road car which could also do occasional sprints/hillclimbs, I don't want something that weighs as much as the donor (which I believe was escort) and handles badly.

If this Dutton is fairly light and good handling I could be tempted. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Ferg]

Not being clever or anything, but I would say that was a little on the dear side. The Phaeton is a good value car, it's chassis is rudimentary compared to the modern 'spaceframes' (more about them on the 'Chassis Con' thread ), but it's still lots of fun. A friend of mine bought a 2.1(ish) Pinto powered car for £1500. I wouldn't rule it out, but I'd look around for some more to compare first, especially since *Winter* is here!!

[Corpulent Tosser]

Thanks Ferg !

It seemed cheap but maybe it is not so cheap compared to others, the advice is appreciated.

CT

[PeetBee]

If it doesn't have a MOT then my opnion is that £2k is well overpriced, unless of course it's really in fantastic perfect working condition.

Try www.duttonownersclub.co.uk for more adverts/information

cheers
Pete

[joospeed]

2k should get you something vauxhall 16v powered or rover v8 .. there's a couple of twin turbo rover cars out there at the mo for this money, one even comes with trailer .. 2k is well overpriced. I paid 800 pounds for my 1600 x flow phaeton ...

[Corpulent Tosser]

joospeed

Would you consider a Phaeton a suitable tool for sprints/hillclimbs ?

Handling, power to weight etc ?

[joospeed]

excellent intro to these events .. plus if you trash it, it doesn't cost the earth either .. result!! I had great fun in mine .. went from 1600x flow to 2 litre pinto the 3 litre V6 ..

[Corpulent Tosser]

Cheers M8, I have looked on the Dutton site and there are several cheaper examples there, including a Rover V8 Turbo

My only concern is power to weight ratio and the handling, particularly the rear suspension.

I agree it could be a cheap and low risk introduction to sprints/hillclimbs.

[Ozzie Dave]

Dont worry about the rear suspension on a phaeton , even if it ses cart springs , its not to difficult to change to live rear axle , and give yourself some extra space for the seats at the same time!