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Hello everyone (First time poster, so please be gentle!)
Let me tell you a few things about myself, I'm 35 (36 in this month - eek!) and I have "dabbled" with cars for as long as I can remember. Grew up and bought a new car (sadly) and thought the "tinkering" bug had left me. That was until I helped my mate get his Jetta (which was mine....) up and running after ten years in storage. this lit the fire, as it were.
I then was taken to my first Classic Ford Show at Santa Pod, this weekend, by another mate. And I've got the bug pretty bad now! I want a "toy" to play with, so I can go to events like this, and take part (rather then just watch)
So, I would like suggestions, for a project car, which is either a retro Ford or VW (under £500) that could be sorted out by a complete novice mechanic, with limited tools and knowledge (my mate with the Jetta's even offering me his garage to store it in....) Something pretty basic (No AC etc) and has bolt on body panels etc?
Many thanks in advance
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mk2 fiesta may fit your budget, will be complete but probably need a tickle with the welder no doubt
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mk2 fiesta may fit your budget, will be complete but probably need a tickle with the welder no doubt Cheers for the quick reply, slammage. Don't think I can do much welding. Dab hand with a spray can, though! Was taught by my Mum, in the ways of the aerosol, would you believe?
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Last Edit: Jun 3, 2014 16:54:46 GMT by dbizzle
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Hi and welcome, £500 will get you an 80's classic which needs a bit of work, get as solid a car as you can, welding one up takes a lot of time to do right, what car were you thinking of buying?
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Sorry guys, when I wrote my post there were no replies, shows how slow I type eh!
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Thanks for the replies, everyone. I would like a VW, if possible. I also fancy a Ford, but after owning a few mk4 escorts (I'd love another MK3...bet they costs a bit?) and mk2 fiestas, I know that they rust for fun! I'm hoping to not have to weld anything if possible, as not knowing how to do this when I was younger, sent many of my cars to the scrapper!
And would you lovely people on here be able to assist a novice in restoring one of the suggested cars? (Sorry for all the begging, it's just nice to be on here at last, I have lurked for a long time!)
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Ian
Part of things
Posts: 977
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I hope yo find something, you should be able to get another Jetta or maybe a mk2 golf for that, I do think though that the days of £500 rust fee examples are pretty thin on the ground. That all seem to start going, early 00's it was easy I had two great £400 cars, a mk2 scirocco and a 205 gti. Now I can't even shift my MOT'd 2002 astra for £500!
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Why don't you stretch the budget and get a VW Corrado ? Cheap , don't rust badly , reliable , fun , quick .
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fred
Posted a lot
WTF has happened to all the Vennies?
Posts: 2,957
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500 quid is a bit of a tight budget, as said Fezzers and Mk 4 Escorts VW 's - be the polo route I guess
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'79 Cossie ran Cortina - Sold
2000 Fozzer 2.0 turbo snow beast
'85 Opel Manta GSI - Sold
03 A class Mercedes
Looking for a FD Ventora - Anyone?
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£500 budget might buy you a rough mk2 fiesta or golf, But not being able to weld will very much limit buying a retro, Mk2 golf is a good start but the gti body kit hides rust well, I have had around 11 mk2 golf's, 1.6 Is just about ok,but 1.8 is better, easy to mod and part's availability is excellent, I also love the mk1/mk2 fiesta but rust can be bad, Peugeot 205 maybe, I had a couple of diesel ones (brilliant car's) and a UK spec rallye 1.4, fun little car but I just didn't connect with it, Learn to weld to widen your rerto scope Keep your eyes open for old cars for sale, They come up every now and then
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MK2 Cortina Estate
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shin2chin
Part of things
Making curse word cars slightly better
Posts: 820
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I'd say Scirocco, the last cheap Vw, plenty of scope for improvement, easy to work on and generally solid. Shameless plug but I have an unloved Rocco for sale nice and cheap.
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1977 PORSCHE 2.0na 924 1974 VW Beetle 1600
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I'd say keep your 500 in your pocket and save until its doubled , ootherwise your going to end up with a "project" that needs more welding than the titanic especially if looking at fiesta and escorts
They rotted in showrooms ,did fords of that era !!! And for the record mk3 escorts are way cooler than the softened up mk4 version
Also think no matter what you may end up having to learn how to weld @£500 notes
I want a ford Orion next as when's last time ya seen one on road Über cool IMHO
Good luck tho with whatever you choose or get
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Really if you don't want any rot then you are going to have to go for early 90's tin Golf or Audi, Audi coupe's are very cheap and don't really rot.
What about an MX5 but they can rot also.
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1993 Fiat Panda Selecta 2003 Vauxhall Combo 1.7DI van 2006 Mercedes Kompressor Evolution-S AMG SportCoupé
"You think you hate it now, wait til you drive it"
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Rob M
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,915
Club RR Member Number: 41
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First of all, I'm bound to say, a limited knowledge and being a complete novice is no barrier to working on any car anymore. Forums like this, let alone model specific ones, will have plenty of people who can advise you and talk you through any issues you may face. What I will say, because Ive been there, is that a lack of tools will certainly hinder any project progress. I know I'm not the only one who has, over the years, spent a bloody fortune on tools when Ive realised that I couldn't go any further forwards without them. Your £500 budget is really not realistic, that's not a massive amount more than "over the weighbridge money" and what you will get for £500 will be a complete shed IF you are set on buying anything older than the 1990s unless its a car that was and still is perceived to be unpopular to the masses. That will probably rule out most 1980s and older Fords and VWs. Even models from the 90s are going to be at least 15 years old and will have issues, then again, is a 1990s car seen as "Retro" in your eyes? Personally, Id say start saving, go on flea bay, buy a welder, decent spanners/socket set and good screwdrivers as the bare minimum of a toolkit. Once you have them then start saving for the car that you have chosen to be your project, the model you have read every scrap of info on, asked every question about and the car you go to look at and impress the seller with your in depth knowledge...... I suppose there is a tendency to see things through rose tinted specs. This forum has some amazing cars owned and created by some very clever people BUT they rarely tell the story of how they have had to motivate themselves to get out and work on the car after a weeks graft at work, the amount of questions they have had to ask about how to do stuff and all the trials and tribulations they have gone through to create something good from something bad. Basically, go into it with your eyes wide open, be realistic and expect grief!! Ultimately, do you want to be driving the car more than you will be working on it? That really will tell you how much you will need to spend on a car. Good luck, it really is worth it, its brilliant being a petrol head.
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save a bit longer till you have enough to buy something sound and complete
the £500 cars will want countless hours and ££££ patching it up and still be worse than a slightly dearer car
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91 golf g60, 89 golf 16v , 88 polo breadvan
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'95 Toyota MR2 Turbo '72 Toyota Celica TA22 '74 Mercedes 350 SL '68 Mercedes W108 280SE '03 Renault Clio 172
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I had a breadvan around 5-6 years old GIVEN to me by a neighbour ! It was well abused and virtually every panel dented (vandalised). Dealers weren't interested in having it in PX and in fact gave better deals without hence given to me when gearchange shaft bend due to duff engine mount allowing excessive movement. Simple repair and it then went onto give many years of reliable use (as back up / workhorse / go to work car instead of the Capri LS and XJ6 I also had at same time) before being passed onto somebody else. Biggest problems were - excessive crankcase pressure caused by blocked breather (on back of engine), leaking fuel tank filler neck & rusty battery tray. Everything else was normal consumables - brakes, exhaust battery, servicing, tyres and such. On reflection great little car and quite fun to drive. Mine was 1100cc and gave reasonable economy however a mate had a new 1300 and found it more thirsty than expected. So I honestly can't say "don't do it" as a Polo might be a good choice for you BTW I fitted a towbar and did the same as a lot of people in that is was slightly off centre. The reason is you have to drill rear panel for a reinforcing strip. What I did was use the boot latch for working out the centre line only to discover it's slightly to one side !
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