another story of the hidden horror

[anddon]

took the plunge today and took the rs down to "the escort agency" (west wales) for him to give me some advice on her condition, because i am no expert.
it went wrong when i took her for pre-mot and the guy told me parts of the chassis and floor to sill area needed welding. eeek!! alarm bells, cos i thought she was good and a nice freshen up was turning into something else, like i said i'm no expert.
stripped the inside right out for him to look and i was worried because he was finding bits everywhere, except from the doors back she was very good and the inner wings seem very good.
after going through it all, he stood back and i feared the worst, he said "yeah shes not bad is she" well worthy of putting right and i'd struggle to find a better one in its price range.
so his advice is to get her sorted and he could a superb job of it, looking at the cars he has there. but its all money and i budgeted myself to about £3k - 3.5k, the finished job is obviously gonna go way way past this and i am worried about having a half completed car, with no coin left.
on the other hand he said i'd buy it off you for £2000 as it is (not really a figure i liked) but then i could spend £5-6k on something that has hidden rot, someone else's trouble if you like.

Damn, Why can't i weld ? anyway whats the opnions and thoughts of you guys, i know its down to me at the end of the day but its always good to hear others thoughts

[Frosticles]

Mig welding is dead easy. I tought myself to weld in about 20 minutes

[Banishit]

i would like to know what hes planing to do for £3.5 +k

you have looked at mine for £1100 inc all materials, and this from a bodyshop owner I had never met until 7 weeks ago

Brian

I would get more people to look at it first off, someone who knows what they are talking about, not that I'm saying he didnt but hes in business to make money not friends ?

[vinny]

Brains right m8 - get some more opinions on her, some one wouldnt pay £2 k for a car that needs £3.5 k spending on her

[Judge_Fudge]

I agree with Banishit, Martin is out to run a business... why else did he offer to buy the car of you? And, would you really want to open next month's Classic Ford and see your car for sale in there for double what he paid?
Get the car round some more bodyshops and have a word. I was quite suprised at some of the reponses I had when I asked if they'd be interested in painting an old MkII Escort.. a lot were quite keen to work on something a bit more interesting than a Vectra, I was even lucky enough to be charged 'friend prices' even though i'd never met the guy before.

[Banishit]

Get the car round some more bodyshops and have a word. I was quite suprised at some of the reponses I had when I asked if they'd be interested in painting an old MkII Escort.. a lot were quite keen to work on something a bit more interesting than a Vectra, I was even lucky enough to be charged 'friend prices' even though i'd never met the guy before.

never a truer word spoken thats about what my fella Richard said

hes said it nice to being working on something that has not been crashed and will be appreciated after the hard works been done,

also if you find a sympathetic bodyshop ask them can you get invovled in the prep work (rubbing all the shit of it and taking apart) as this is where the main part of the labour comes in time is money

Vinny cheers for calling me

Brains

the Great usually does mate LOL

[vinny]

brian, u must follow me about picking me up on my english, u r not the grammer stalker r u - lol

[Banishit]

no mate, its just my Name I recognise it LOL i dont have to put an X like normal

[Dermot]

I've met Martyn from the Escoert Agency, and found him sound.

By all means shop around, and good luck with the car.

[anddon]

to be fair to him he was giving me his advice and that even if i went else where his advice was to get her done. theres a fair bit of work involved, even i can tell that. it was estimated with him to cost a minimum of £3k to get her ready for painting (£1500) the body then would be fully restored and you wouldn't be able to tell anyones ever been their, no patches everywhere. but its a lot of money because all the other bits would need doing then because they would look old. he has offered for me to go and use their tools on my days off (stripping etc). i think he's been quite fair to be honest, he's expensive because of the quality of finish etc. other workshops in the area don't wanna know, one guy had it for 9 months.
so i am in a right pickle.

[RS2000CUSTOM]

2 x Inner wings
2 x Outer Wings - allow minimum £1200 in parts alone !
1 x Front Panel
2 x Chassis Rails

This is before floor repairs and you have to buy new clips, hoses, fittings etc etc etc

Labour = Think of a number and triple it - If you paying "retail" then double that number as well !!!!

Respray - apprx £1000 !

I know a lot on here will say "I can get it cheaper" maybe but not everyone has access to a MKII friendly bodyshop.

In my role as bodyshop manager I can make more profit from a front bumper wing and door replace than I could from ANY resto job !

The clock NEVER stops on a resto and at £25.00 per hour + vat it soon clocks up a fortune.

My own resto took just under a year as it was mainly carried out on weekends and evenings.

Good luck to anyone undertaking a resto but please go in with both eyes (and your wallet) WIDE open.

Not having seen your car £3.5k starting price sounds fair but a little cheap !!!!!!

[anddon]

parts he found or was not happy about and would require attention were,

A posts, botched in the past
bulkhead in need of repair behind the heater would mean removing the bubble under bonnet
various parts of the chassis needed cutting out rather than a patch job
inners wings were very good.
the same time as doing the outer wings (i have 2 gen wings)he would do the front panel (although that seemd ok too.)
some work on floor to sill area and possibly drivers floorpan
very minimal amount of work to the rear, possibly only a small piece replaced around the grommit in the boot
unhappy with the lips being cut away on the rear arches also
he can replace my roofskin to remove sunroof

Estimated between £3-5k before paint, his paint jobs are £1500 (stunning)

All this scared the sh@t out of me, but he maintains its damn good car to start with, could have a lot worse and thats what scares me because if i past it on now and bought another, is it sombody elses trouble or are there plenty of really good solid ones out there for around £5-6k

[lee bishop]

if you buy a car for £5-£6K, it will still need work done on it, no doubt you will find something you wont be happy with......... i paid a fair bit for mine, and within 2 months i'd shelled out another grand on door repairs, new wheels and a few other odds and sods. i'd get some more quotes, and think seriously about fixing yours up, you know its done then for a few years, how pi$$ed of will you be if you find a tidy £6k car, and find its full of filler 6 months later.......

[Frosticles]

Telephone numbers are beginning to spring to mind as far as costs go...........Luckilly 90% of my original stuff is ok to re-use in my restro. If I was going to go the full concourse route then I would at least tripple my expendature.

[SIGYELLOW]

I paid £2.5k for my Mexico, had similar problems when I started to pry deeper and ended up paying an Aston Martin restorer around £7k to put her right!! We've all had bad experiences, but you just have to make a decision on weather to fill a couple of credit cards up or not and pay it off slowly.

Easy for guys like me to say who don't have a wife, kids etc and rent a little place as opposed to having a mortgage. Best advice mate - patch her up yourself, get her through an MOT and enjoy her (that's what I should have done). You can always get a better car later on, or do a balls out restoration when finances allow...