Lowest Mileage MK1's

[richinlondon]

So is there anyone witha real low miler tucked away out there?!

10-15-20,000 miles?!

A 29,000 mile Supercharger came up in Japan a few weeks ago, would have snapped that up if the money was there!

[kevin..in]

35 miles is the lowest known as in delivery mileage only!!

think Wayne has a 35K miler (the one in wheeler dealers?)

Neil Brindley brin has a super tidy 40K miler

wasn't there a 25K light blue metalic 1A at JAE last year (sold on soon after?)

[richinlondon]

Was the 35 miles in Helios blue? I think there was one for sale last year that went for £12,000! It had been on display in a Toyota dealership.

You would have to put on a trailer to take it to shows!

[Chunky Monkey]

Mines 157K - thats prettly low right

[kevin..in]

Was the 35 miles in Helios blue? I think there was one for sale last year that went for £12,000! It had been on display in a Toyota dealership.

You would have to put on a trailer to take it to shows!

Yes came from a Toyota dealers in Sheffield

[SuperRedMR2]

I just bought a 1990 64k

[richinlondon]

There was a couple of Ebay around 41,000, bargains for around £3000.

Reckon 60,000-70,000 miles is a nice mileage, lets you know the car has not been run into the ground and somecare might have been spent keeping it nice.

[SuperRedMR2]

I bought mine in a private sale for £1700

Just rust on lip of arches. Will get them done maybe in september/october or next year

[Rosssco]

Paid just under 1k for my 66k miler. Bit of rust but nothing terminal, suspension still feels surprisingly tight, but I'm also fairly sure it original...

[SuperRedMR2]

Yeah my suspension feels really tight as well.

I will be getting new tyres soon though. I have to pay my parents back a load of money first but i have come up with a shopping list:

4 x Tyres - probably Bridgestones, Toyo Proxes or GY Eagle F1s

Blitz or TRD Air filter

Magnecor leads

And some good brake pads. My hand brake is very good, but the front brakes feel real soft. Ive got EBC green stuff front pads on my red mr2, and they are so much better!

But in comparison with my mk1b to my mk1a, the mk1a is a bucket of xxxx compared to this car!

[kevin..in]

I pais £410 for a 71k '87 e plate
it drives infinately better than my previous 145+k '87 e plate

[midenginedmaniac]

condition is more important. I am the second owner of mine. 110K Mint. No Rust.

[richinlondon]

I think they do say that condition is more important the older a car gets.

Not more than ten years ago, rubbish vehicles (no names!) would be rusted to death with low miles on them, 40,000 etc....OK....Austin Montego!

You can get low miles and great condition on the Two though, thats what makes them a great buy. It was basically the poor mans Porsche or Mercedes, so first time owners might have held onto them for 10 or so years, treasuring them infinately better than someone spending, 2 or 3 times the money on a car they probably intended to replace after a few years.

[jrleech]

I've had a 42,000 mile and a 50,000 mile Helios Blue Mk1, but both had rust starting in awkward places. My project Mk1 is 60,000 mile (Helios Blue of course!), but is completely rust free

As has been said, condition is far more important than mileage. Engines are cheap to swap or rebuild, suspension and bushes will have softened due to age regardless of mileage, brakes/calipers go regardless so as long as the body is solid, the rest is easy.

[HT]

I've had a 42,000 mile and a 50,000 mile Helios Blue Mk1, but both had rust starting in awkward places. My project Mk1 is 60,000 mile (Helios Blue of course!), but is completely rust free

As has been said, condition is far more important than mileage. Engines are cheap to swap or rebuild, suspension and bushes will have softened due to age regardless of mileage, brakes/calipers go regardless so as long as the body is solid, the rest is easy.

Totally agree! Once the tinworm gets into places such as the A pillars/floorpans its impossible to restore to an as new standard unlike other popular classic's (welding in repairs no matter how good is not the same). Sounds like yours is going to be a corker Jon, with the effort you've put into it.

I thought the 35 mile one that was on ebay last year wasn't sold at over £14k ?? Personally as much as I like mk1's I can think of many other vehicles I'd enjoy spending £14k on. There was a concourse one on ebay very recently (I think the owners on here - bought a smart roadster and wants the space back onthe drive), won a variety of silverware and well worth its £3k starting price. Realistically though very few people want to spend over £5k for a jap sports

[John R]

Agree with Jon and HT

I've seen low milers, kept in garages etc. but have had all kinds stored on them, and are covered in dents and scratches (or next to the tumble dryer ) mine still has marks from when the garden tools were stored on the engine cover.
I believe that if it's held on with nut's and bolts, it can be taken off and overhauled, as long as the body is good your on to a winner.
As an aside, we get stuff off very low hour jets at work, that is nothing more than scrap, but the same stuff off high use jets is like new.

John

[first-footer]

Does anybody where the helios blue Mk1 with the delivery miles went to ?

[HT]

Agree with Jon and HT

I've seen low milers, kept in garages etc. but have had all kinds stored on them, and are covered in dents and scratches (or next to the tumble dryer ) mine still has marks from when the garden tools were stored on the engine cover.
I believe that if it's held on with nut's and bolts, it can be taken off and overhauled, as long as the body is good your on to a winner.
As an aside, we get stuff off very low hour jets at work, that is nothing more than scrap, but the same stuff off high use jets is like new.

John

Also theres no real fun in a car which is unusually under-driven! Must be very boring putting it on a trailer, driving to an event praying in doesn't rain after spending too long polishing it.

[midenginedmaniac]

Its a comprimise between seizing it up and wearing it out. All my vehicles are immaculate. And all are used as much as possible.

This is my daily ride rain or shine. You can have a show vehicle and use it daily. It just takes more work. Luckily I find polishing relaxing. Help

[010on1986]

If you do the maths even if worth £14k that low milage helio had lost a lot of money. Just supposing it listed at £10K in 89 and the £10k was invested in a average unit trust, compounded at 5% to today you probably have 24k. It probably is better to buy it today than in 89 and start enjoying it, rich in the knowledge of what faults its likely to have in future, and being able to tackle them beofre they happen - i.e dinitrol rear archs, change coolent every 2years, etc etc.

get that helios on the road and scream it, thats what its for, let the haynes museum keep the undriveables