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When I lived in America I had a few ace motorbike bargains.
First was when I saw someone on craigslist selling a Kikker 5150 200cc Bobber kit. They'd bought it, lost a heap of money some way or another and had it for sale for £1300 unbuilt in the boxes. They were like $2500 new at the time. I put it together and got it registered then rode it for a bit. Tuned the little engine heaps and it was immense! Alas it was only a 3/4 size thing and wasn't too great for Houston traffic so I sold it for $2700 built or something. Then I bought a Kawasaki Ninja 250 that wasn't running right. Bought for $1400, cleaned the carbs, put a few thousand miles on, sold for $2300.
Then best of all I bought a Suzuki GS500 that used to have a fairing but the young guy that owned it had smashed it up. Bought this for $500, did the normal servicing etc. a pair of tyres and put a screen on it. Did about 1000 miles and then I got hit by a Mexican guy in a pickup with no license. The bike fell on its side and bent the bars and I really bruised up my leg but it wasn't a serious accident. He gave me $300 to repair the bike (and I assume to avoid the police getting involved seeing as he didnt have a license. Good job it wasnt more serious I suppose). I bent the bars back into place for free and painted the scratched side cover. Another 2000 or so miles and then sold it for $2200 to fund another bike!
Since I've been back I havent really had any 'bargains'. It's really difficult to find a cheap car (thats interesting anyway) nowadays. Especially up here. They always get sold instantly.
In October however, I was looking for a winter car/banger rally car for less than £500. Nothing came up so I left it. Then my dad tells me a woman at his work was going to scrap her Peugeot as she couldn't afford to put it through its MOT after finding out it needed a small patch welded on the chassis rail. Went to see it to find it was a FULL spec 206 GTI 130 with a full service history, new tyres, stainless exhaust and she had owned the car for 13 years. My mate welded it for £100 and I bought a set of number plates and it sailed its MOT. I really wanted to use and like that car but it just really wasn't me. Advertised it for £1000 and sold within an hour for £900.
Buying a bargain car nowadays appears to be a right place and time thing. Unfortunately i'm never in the right place or time!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,867
Club RR Member Number: 58
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I had a bit of luck last year when I got a fully loaded BMW 750i for £700 Found it on Gumtree, weighed up the risk of it failing horribly on me and got a train to go buy it. It actually turned out to have some service history and a comprehensive file showing how one of the only 3 or so previous owners had lavished money and parts on it It turned out to be totally reliable and a lot better on fuel than I was expecting, it did have a failed rear suspension strut which made getting it through the MOT a little pricey but I sold it for £2000 so I was pretty chuffed all round Would probably have kept it if it was a little more exciting
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in the mid 90's I saw an advert in the local paper for a 76 Jaguar xjs for sale with a slipping clutch, I was at the blokes house within an hour and paid a grand for it. I wonder how many people will get this
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omegod
Part of things
Posts: 166
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Pug 206 for £50 spent £100 on it sold for £1500 Corsa for £800 sold a week later for £1800 Nissan Sunny, paid £300, ran it for 3 yrs, got wrote off for a tiny bump insurance paid out £350 and I kept the car then sold it for £300
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gn3dr
Part of things
Posts: 391
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in the mid 90's I saw an advert in the local paper for a 76 Jaguar xjs for sale with a slipping clutch, I was at the blokes house within an hour and paid a grand for it. I wonder how many people will get this I think I get it - V12 Manual early car?..... rare.....what happened to it?
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in the mid 90's I saw an advert in the local paper for a 76 Jaguar xjs for sale with a slipping clutch, I was at the blokes house within an hour and paid a grand for it. I wonder how many people will get this I think I get it - V12 Manual early car?..... rare.....what happened to it? Yes, only 56 made, I put a new clutch in it, took it to Germany and sold it for 10 grand.
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Run a breakers yard so get a fair few from time to time,here's some recent ones.
06 Range Rover diesel vogue needing engine €4000, one injector later and three and a half grand profit.
Bought two series III xj6's the other day,one good runner,one fit for the banger boys €500
A red r129 on amg splits 300sl 2200 pounds......sold into the mainland.
Red 2.8 inj special very clean cond 1000euros....sold with a v8 Capri into the mainland.
Couple years back a white F reg sapphire cosworth for 2500euros.....fella had it parked up had plenty of money,was looking 5k,car was lying idle covered in green,Couldn't come to a deal at time...Hit the fuel inertia switch in the boot on my way out.....12 mnts later got a call.bring a truck collect the cossie! His brother had the lower dash disassembled checking wires...couldn't get to the bottom of it,owner stuck for dosh,car had to go.. Brought a jump back and 2 gallons of juice,paid the man,hit the switch...fish tailed her out the gap and away home. Much to everyone's surprise ..the boot tied down with twine as the lock was stuck it was some sight on the road
Try stick a few pics next few days
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Bought for €5k in the midst of recession There's the 2.8 capri Here's the SL Gte Astra with champion leather €500
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skinnylew
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,546
Club RR Member Number: 11
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Currently driving an eBay bargain. Peugeot 406 2.0 glx, 1998, 101,000 miles with no mot, was down the road in Dartford and I was driving a shed of a Picasso diesel (£97 off eBay). Went to get it and it was better than the photos, two main beam bulbs later and it had an mot with 1 advisory on a tyre. Sold the Picasso for £190 by the roadside and have done 10000 in the Pug without any issues, including towing a big old caravan with it as well! It owes me nothing and will make a bit of profit when I sell it. Just recently bought another Peugeot from Dartford, this time a 106 Quicksilver for £150 which will turn an ok profit when stripped. It came with 15" alloys, set of decent 6x9's and a more or less dent free body!
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scimjim
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,503
Club RR Member Number: 8
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My first car was a ten year old 1973 Viva bought from the Leominster car auctions for £140. In the mid 80's I used to buy a car from the auction on a Thursday night, spend the weekend and evenings after work cleaning it up and fixing whatever it needed, then sell it privately before the next weeks auction I sometimes kept the nice ones to smoke around in for a few weeks - the gorgeous £700 mk2 2.8 Granada Ghia, the £150 Triumph 2.5 estate, the £100 Fiat 132, £140 Fiat 126, the £75 mk2 Escort, etc. swapped a rusty Spitfire 1300 for a mk3 Escort, bought a rebuilt 1275 mini for £800 (written off a month later ) and a Fiat 131 twin cam 2 litre Supermiafiori for peanuts. The bargain I most regret selling on was a mk1 Escort that I was given for free (failed MOT for a hole in the sill), welded up and sold to a mate for £50. The one I most regret not buying was a Stag that had been fully rebuilt and painted - the owner (a mate) needed cash quick and eventually sold it for £1k. Others included a mk3 interceptor for £1k and an Alfa Spider for £3k. The one I kept longest (except for Scimitars) was a Fiat Strada - £50 from the scrapyard with 6 months T&T and that included any bits I needed from the nearby pile of two dozen or more stradas (2 green doors, 2 purple doors, a green tailgate (the car was bronze), a fuel tank that didn't leak, an exhaust manifold and the best 5 tyres I could find). oil change every year, one puncture, one fuel cap and one battery earth lead - sold it for £190 three years later
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R-reg Vectra £100 of a mate just after he bought it for £350 and spend £250 on service. 2 brake pipes to pass MOT. Had it 6 months and sold.
P-reg saxo VTS £200 of and add on local car boot. Oil leak from head gasket. Turned out to be cammed, chipped and with S/S exhaust. Sold it 6 months later as base for track car. Wish still had it. Don't exist on DVLA any more.
A-reg Fiat 126 £FREE from here. Had it 3 years,restored and sold 2 years ago to help fund our wedding. Turns out our calculations went wrong and didn't need to sell it.
Y-reg Suzuki Jimny £500 no mot on gumtree. Went straight through. Had it 1,5 year, sold as needed money for deposit for house.
P-reg Punto from friends mate £40. With T/T for 8 months and 3/4 of tank. Non runner but it was only £2.5 spark plug. He lost logbook but applied for one week before and sent to me. I found £20 note in side pocket and got £20 for Amp from boot. Missus didn't like it so it's gone week later.
Year ago £150 for 02 sharan tdi when customer heard price for DMF, clutch, starter, battery and turbo. Thought about doing it myself but washed it and stuck on eBay. sold to a trader as spare repair with nearly £600 profit. Wouldn't get that much profit after all work and parts.
There is few more but can't remember now.
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Last Edit: Feb 5, 2016 0:36:32 GMT by paul555
1984 Fiat 126 Brown - SOLD 1993 Audi 80 - work hack 1994 VW Golf 1.4 L - SOLD 1997 VW T4 Syncro pickup - looks like new project 2005 Audi A3 Sportback TDI - daily / euro trip bus
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Crashed my EA Falcon a few years ago. Insurance paid out NZ$644, I got the wreck back cos insurance company reckoned it would cost them more than it was worth to haul it away, bought another one with no rust, less mileage on the clock, four new tyres, and half a tank of petrol for NZ$800. Max win.
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gn3dr
Part of things
Posts: 391
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Run a breakers yard so get a fair few from time to time,here's some recent ones. 06 Range Rover diesel vogue needing engine €4000, one injector later and three and a half grand profit. Bought two series III xj6's the other day,one good runner,one fit for the banger boys €500 A red r129 on amg splits 300sl 2200 pounds......sold into the mainland. Red 2.8 inj special very clean cond 1000euros....sold with a v8 Capri into the mainland. Couple years back a white F reg sapphire cosworth for 2500euros.....fella had it parked up had plenty of money,was looking 5k,car was lying idle covered in green,Couldn't come to a deal at time...Hit the fuel inertia switch in the boot on my way out.....12 mnts later got a call.bring a truck collect the cossie! His brother had the lower dash disassembled checking wires...couldn't get to the bottom of it,owner stuck for dosh,car had to go.. Brought a jump back and 2 gallons of juice,paid the man,hit the switch...fish tailed her out the gap and away home. Much to everyone's surprise ..the boot tied down with twine as the lock was stuck it was some sight on the road Try stick a few pics next few days Were those the 2 green S111 XJ's the ones on Donedeal for the last few weeks? I see a silver S111 on Donedeal last week for a day or two and now back up looking like it is sitting in a yard just like yours from those pictures above (Same car was for sale for months last year. Must find out where your breakers yard is if you deal I interesting stuff like that.... but I won't be having you around to look at my Cosworth How's the progress on the E24's - must check your readers ride thread.
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The green ones are not far from me at all,but think yer man won"t drop price...think a couple of the banger bhoys tried him... The silver one was advertised on DD,owner said it was a non runner and no way would it start,went up and he had another one there as well 500quid for the pair. Threw a set of plugs,petrol,battery and tightened the injector wires and away it went,owner was just sick of time wasters . I think being there on the day with cash and towtruck means a lot...sometimes have interesting stuff,call anytime.e24 on back boiler for a while but not forgetting it or selling.
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I advertised for a Carlton GSi when they started to become hard to find and had a call from a local fella whose son had had one parked at his work for several years and he decided to sell it. It was rough, severely faded red paint, went well, he wanted £300 and said that he would have the chassis welded and put a full test on it in the price which he did.
Silly bargain at £1.50 per horse which is how I viewed it, I ran it for 3 years needing mainly welding, saw it past 150mph and eventually broke it for spares and it keeps my other Carltons going.
My silver GSi (scrapyard dodger) was another, advertised for £300 to save it from being scrapped with long MOT and tax, I bought it unseen on the phone so the owner said he would deliver it from the other side of the country for a last drive of it for an extra £25. I got home from work one day to find it outside the house, the owner came back later for the money. Its my favourite car ever now.
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At a Sunday morning Alfa meeting a few years ago, a lady in a blue 3.0 V6 GTV turns up, we got chatting, she said that the car was going to be for sale, I joked that I would give her £300 for it..
Day or so later she contacted me through the forum and said she would sell it for £300, an ex had bought it for her and she just wanted it gone, needless to say I obliged her wishies and raced round.
Very recently on alfaowner forum a chap announces that he is giving away an Alfa 155 V6 not far away from me, who am I to disappoint. There were a bucketload of new spares in the boot, gave him £100 for that and had the car.
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Last Edit: Feb 6, 2016 7:22:21 GMT by waynedear
Bicycle x1 Alfa Giulietta (now wife's) Alfa 156 BMW 630i Honda rc36
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The lady next door gave me her Peugeot 104. Chucked my BMX in the back and drove it straight to the wreckers and got $200. Rode home. Took me all up 45 minutes.
Just sold my Rodeo. Bought it for $5500 had it for 3 years sold it for $5750
Bought a Suzuki GT 750 (3 Cyl 2 stroke thing) for $1000 sold it for $5000 2 years later.
Bought a BMW 735 for $500 did nothing with it. Sold it 3 months later for $1000
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ewokracing
Part of things
Snuffling for food in a river
Posts: 502
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Doing a road trip to go and collect 1 old mazda (1974 929/rx4 hybrid).
Spy Mazda 808 sedan in someone's back yard.
Stop past on way back with newly purchased 929. Buy 808.
Come back next week for 808. Bought for 400 dollars. Sold a month later for $3,200.
Split with mate after taking out petrol etc. I think we made about $1,200 each.
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Bought a mk1 fiesta for £100 or £150 on christmas day once... had some tools for christmas and was stripping my crashed fiesta when a passer buy seen the car and came and had a chat... 10 mins later and I was in his fiat uno turbo and not far away was the little mk1 awaiting a zetec engine... but he had just never got round to it...
Price was delivered and it only needed a small patch on the sill.
Another one was a Fiat Panda, found on ebay for £250 iirc got it delivered and taxed and came with 6 months mot... had to top the water up daily... but it did the job!
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I would say I've never actually had any bargains - Most cars I think I normally pay slightly too much for/then just lie about it to anyone who asks (not a curse word take/dig btw- I genuine have!)
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