Who bought this, and more importantly, why?

wait for it to be relisted, happening all the time now.
but yes one stolen van.

Bloody nice garden ornament that.

Nothing a little bit of T-cut wouldn't solve.

I messaged my mate with it Friday , we were both of the same opinion if...that's if it sold it would be for the Id nothing else

1. 4 grand isn't a lot of money these days. Especially in mk1 escort circles.

2. Realistically, how many original, untouched base spec vans with all the original van-only parts are there left, in any condition?

3. They're a very restorable vehicle, even in poor condition. Tbh all you would need to salvage from the original car are the van specific bits. Everything else is available. Anyone with a mediocum of restoration skill could restore that with the parts backup available. You'd probably still turn a profit even if you paid someone to do it if it was done to an anywhere half decent standard.

For reference, here's a Mk2 Escort van up at £13.5k, which they seem to have got. A stock van is likely to net more than a modified one so paying £4k for a complete, if shagged, original van isn't really that unreasonable when you look at the prices of Escorts comparatively.


www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-MK2-Escort-van-2-0-5-spd-NOW-SOLD/192129432042

A thing is really only worth what someone will pay for it and someone values something about that ruined Mk1 van at £4k. Or at least that's what the bidding would show. It may get relisted, it may disentegrate on collection, it may just be robbed of its ID though the latter of these seems unlikely given that IDs pop up fairly regularly for less.

If you want a Ford and don't want to pay mega-coin, there's some surprisingly affordable Z cars. Compared to the stratospheric prices some 70s and 80s Fords are commanding, these look cheap. If you were looking at a project alternative to that Mk1 van, your £4k could get this giant red set of fins. I didn't even have to put any effort in to find this.


www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-zephyr-mk3-classic-car-1965-last-owner-for-35-years-1-previous-owner-/282370518391

No point getting in a froth about how much money someone else is paying on a rotten old heap. It's not like you're going to run out and buy a Mk1 Escort van yourself now, is it? Without people going a bit crazy over particular classics, all old cars will be regarded as disposable bangers. These weird little over-inflated price bubbles are one of those things that keeps the hobby afloat

I think the incredulity is coming form the fact that there is literally nothing of any worth on that car .I doubt there is £500 of bits on there and thats being kind .

I will leave that there and people can draw there own conclusions to why its been bought .

Edit: this isn't aimed at you, @beeswax, just a general rant.  You posted while I was typing

By which you mean someone's clearly bought it to do something naughty.  We don't know if they have or not, and there's little point in speculating on that. There have been some stupendous resurrections of old heaps over the decades, this one may be no different.

On the flip side, for some people acquiring a certain vehicle is an emotional thing rather than a sensible financial transaction. Plenty of people pay more than something is worth and its baffling to those that try and equate the worth of a vehicle with the value of the parts still on it. I'm guilty of this particular crime and I'm not alone, plenty of us commit the terrible sin of spending more on a car than its ever going to return.

So, just like the banger racing discussions, the crying about potential ringing is futile. Nobody is going to report it or get anything done about it without know what is actually going on and it does nothing to help anyone. In this instance I really hope the winning bidder pays up and does something amazing with it, whether that's restoring to factory fresh, modifying the nadgers off it or something in between.

I get fed up of "oh they paid a lot, they must be doing something illegal" statements with stuff like this. It serves no purpose and just fills forums with whining. Fact is, Fords are desirable and expensive, some people are very dodgy, and some internet auctions make no sense. If you're really bothered about it, report whatever crime you perceive to the authorites (I know, they won't do anything) and become vigilante or something. Just post constructive useful stuff we can all enjoy and make use of rather than the hand-wringing over what someone may or may not have done.

The one I had was worse than that tbh which is why I went full on with
Probably the only mk1 van running full grp 4 Irish Tarmac spec
Tubbed for 15,s and bubble arches lol