Finally brought a Mk1 !

[galea360]

i got mine on ebay it god delivered on a flat bed (mint body work) i thought hell yhes this is mint. THey guy went i drove to work noticed not temp gauge. oh well....

that night i took car out for a drive hmmmmm seems funny no temp gauge pulled in to my old mans ..... Bubble buble noised hmmmmmm its over heating, popped bonnet, there is the temp gauge wire.

Its bubbling bad... headgasket gone???

Yep it was gone so 3 days after getting my toy the head was off being skimmed great.

All fixxed now and its brill

MORAL OF THE STORY BEWARE EBAY LOL EBAY IS GREAT BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO USE IT WRONGLY..

[Sharpfish]

Something i've found is the dodgy twos are often resprayed and offered for sale at a higher price than they should be. 'honest' cars with visible rust (but solid underneath) seem to be below a certain range. In other words the 'tarted up' cars that have a cheap respray are being sold on a massive profit to punters who just see shiny paint but don't notice the details (like sills filled on to skirts, side trim painted over body colour, decals painted over on the boot instead of removed/replaced).

Basically the #1 problem with buying a mk1 now is not so much the rust, it's the hidden problems and especially 'tarted up' cars that do nothing to enhance the mk1s reputation. I'd rather pay cheaper (what the car is actually worth) for one in obviously honest 'needs work' state and get a pro to sort it properly than trust an undocumented 'yes mate arches all done, body resprayed' for an over the top price.

Just be very careful and never buy one you don't feel right about, check for original condition and underneath and don't let the salesmen/seller try to bamboozle you by pointing your attention to the nicer stuff like 'seats look like new', take your time and go with the intention of walking away to think about it.

Obviously you can't do this on ebay which is why I bid FAR lower than i'd pay for a inspection sale, it's just not worth the risk. And i'm only after a solid/sorted body with good paintwork, I totally disregard the engine's condition and I still can't find one that isn't over priced or tarted up.

BTW if anyone has a silver mk1 pref sunroof or tintop with ORIGINAL paint and doesn't want to try and rip anyone off, get in touch I may take it off you for a fair price.

[smc24021970]

Well ... I have brought another MR2, this one is in GREAT condition. It's been restored twice, with all the bills, service history is really good. There are one or two bubbles in the paint, but oddly not on the arches, they are on the lower rear ends of the wings, small paint chip on the right top T-bar surround. It was £ 1400 so twice the price of the last one. I will advertise the initial Toyota for sale once I get the log book back, but I'll be honest, and show the filled areas. Anyone want a project ?? LOL !

[widster]

Well ... I have brought another MR2, this one is in GREAT condition. It's been restored twice, with all the bills, service history is really good. There are one or two bubbles in the paint, but oddly not on the arches, they are on the lower rear ends of the wings, small paint chip on the right top T-bar surround. It was £ 1400 so twice the price of the last one. I will advertise the initial Toyota for sale once I get the log book back, but I'll be honest, and show the filled areas. Anyone want a project ?? LOL !

Well done. You don't hang about! Hope this one works out for you.

[smc24021970]

Many thanks.

Once I get my membership details through ( paid a fortnight ago by Paypal ??? ) I'll set up my Garage thing and show it with a bit of pride !!

[nicedude1976]

Why on earth would anyone buy a car without viewing? It was only MR2 and £800 but looks like some people would do it for much dearer cars. Glad you got the sound one the 2nd time though

[PJ3074]

Got my current MK1 off ebay as a last minute bargain (but was fully sober and got what I was expecting)...£500 with 6mths tax, years mot, £300 security system and a £300 mechanical bill back in Feb 08, cashed in the Tax, so its cost me a measley £400 and now I'm spending this year getting it decked out how I want it and will spend £1,500 in doing so....looking at your photo's for £800 thats not bad going, but why did you get a white one??

[nicedude1976]

Buying cars should always involve viewing and test driving them. Unless you are a scrappy and pay £50.

[coverco]

Buying cars should always involve viewing and test driving them. Unless you are a scrappy and pay £50.

Don't agree with this, perhaps in an ideal world, however if you are paying £500 for a car you know what to expect, if you live in Inverness you are not going to travel to London to look at a car that costs £500 it would be a waste of time and money. All 20 year old cars need or will need work to keep them going, if you want a trouble free car buy a 2 year old Fiesta

[smc24021970]

I had asked questions about the car, and to be fair, under the copious amounts of filler lurks a good car. I'm the first to admit I was a little impatient, and I agree, I should have viewed the car first. How I wish I was never wrong and had the wisdom of all the others who have never in their lives ever made a mistake. Not once. Not even a little bit. But then, that'd make me exceptionally dull, so I am glad to be wrong on occasion, but I'll accept advice and wisdom from the wise. Most of the time.

I LOVE white cars, Essex born and bred me, innit ?

[HT]

Why on earth would anyone buy a car without viewing? It was only MR2 and £800 but looks like some people would do it for much dearer cars. Glad you got the sound one the 2nd time though

I paid £400 for my current mk1, off ebay at easter. Got on the train the next day to Leicester handed over the cash and drove it back. It was exactly as described - and was a blast to drive back the 170 miles that evening. Have since spent roughly £800 inc repairing the rear arches new wings and new valances and a very (I mean very!!) cheap respray. Its never missed a beat is near enough fault free (hasn't been welded underneath etc either) and drives superbly.

I went this route after deciding I needed another mk1 after selling an SC last year, and set a budget of £1250 max - all the time I was looking everyone had considerable faults thta would require spending if not now in the near future. This one will never be concours (I live by the sea so this suits me fine), but is not going to need anything bodywise that will stop it being a rot free, solid and tidy example. Which was my aim, providing me with a fun cheap to run everyday classic.

When you consider the cost of wheel arch renewal on a mk1 - it definately pays to buy the best you can. If the arches are gone you have to expect the underneath to be generally poor (floor pan beneath the A pillars and the floor around the rear suspension mounts) - then you need to decide how log you are going to run it in deciding whehther to start contiuosly parting with cash on a vehicle forever!!!

[widster]

Buying cars should always involve viewing and test driving them. Unless you are a scrappy and pay £50.

I can see what you mean and this is what i thought the first time i heard that one of my friends had bought a car on ebay. Sometimes people think it is worth taking a risk, especially for the right price. You only bid as much as you think is right for a car that you haven't seen. Also, the person's feedback rating, sellers history, description and wording of the item, and the photos can tell you quite a lot.

I bought a Citroen ZX off ebay 18 months ago. I put in a maximum bid of £70 and got it for £62. I ran it for 6 months and it didn't cost me anything. It worked out for me that time. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

[PJ3074]

If you're found a car that's basically good in terms of:-

1) Mint Interior
2) Good Mechanics
3) Low Mileage Engine
4) A Few Owners
3) Solid Floor Pan

Then, you've got a workable tool and if like me, you are planning on keeping the car for a long time and you should....give it 5yrs or so and you won't see many MK1's and like MG's of old will start to steeply rise in value when everyone realises what a great car that was, I'll buy one and there aren't any to buy £££££'s you spend will come back to you if you did sell in the future.

If you need to get replacement arches then get them from hoddhippie on Ebay - he's out at Le Mans this week. I'm ordering an OS Rear Arch and Return Panel for £95 delivered in galvanised steel and they are fabricated for a perfect fit. He has top feedback from other MK1'ers. If you need both sides with arches and panels A & B then the lot is only £210 ish - you try getting that priced up from Toyota...

Also, if you need a 1st class sprayer who's reasonable money then drop me a PM and I'll give you his details. I'm getting him to do mine once the prep works done. He does welding too if you need it. He is based in North Kent, but he runs his own mobile business and has facilities.

Hey, you could respray it in a decent colour like Red, Black or Blue Mica...but as you said you love White being an Essex Boy and all, I'm sure a fresh'd up white paint job would still look the nuts.

[bburn13]

I`ve bought all of my mr2`s off ebay
Never had a bad one
/Touches wood
This includes;-
Beauty my SC,
The Red Dwarf my Track N/Ail and
Rummy my Tin Top - 1.5

I bought one from Waymouth for £250,
as a spares car a couple of years ago

99,000miles
12 months MOT
6 months taxs
No Rust
Bargin, was better condition than the cars I was doing up
Drove it back the 269 miles

All ended in tears 2 weeks later though


Went 12ft in the air, landed on the roof and rolled 4X
Shame I really liked that car

Dave

[PJ3074]

I didn't realise you could get onto IMOC from the "other side"...surely you must be dead

[SuperRedMR2]

How on earth did that happen?

And there is nothing wrong with white cars! Us Essex Boys are proud!

[halflife]

Wow how the heck did you get out of that??? were you hurt or is that a silly question

[TheCraig]

Wow how the heck did you get out of that??? were you hurt or is that a silly question

Looking at the pictures and reading the description I'd imagine it's because he didn't hit anything. What usually causes major damage to people in crashes is suddenly coming to a halt, due to hiting a lamp post or tree etc. Rolling the car 4 times will dissipate the vehicles energy over a prolonged period reducing the risk of injury.

Not to mention was in a mk1 with twice as many bulkheads protecting him as most cars.

[Blue1984]

We got this MR2 off Ebay & it's a good one - no filler, the only rust is slight bubbles around the wheel arches and tax 'til Oct with MOT 'til then and no advisories. Saying that - it's not perfection and we never expected it to be, but it's an honest decent MR2 and that's all we wanted.

A few years back, before I had got a good amount of driving experience behind me, my man bought a Silver D-reg MK1 off a 'friend' and it was rust through & through as it had been severely neglected and due to other circumstances at the time it went off to the big scrappy in the sky! We certainly under estimated the work needed but it was a learning curve to say the least.

I wouldn't knock getting a car off ebay personally, there can be rogue cars anywhere after all and if you are close enough sure you can test drive & such but sometimes circumstances say otherwise.

[bburn13]

Back end steped out, didn`t manage to get it back,
then over corrected
sending it spinning ar$e first into a stone wall
Threw me in the air,
landed on the roof
then rolled over 4 times
Not hurt at all really,
just a couple of glass scratches in my hair/top of the head
Got out of the car swore, shook the glass of me
Got back into the car - It started!!
Drove it to where I took the pics (on my mobile) and parked it up




Tough The mk1`s
Dave