too good to be true ???

[Gav88]

Found this as I was browsing ebay, as I usually do when I'm board in work.

It's exactly what I want, a 1980 clubman estate with a 1275 and good paint job

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... ink:top:en

Does it look solid enough for a bid anyone reckon ?

[BERT]

Looks like it was painted with rattle cans!I paid the same for mine and its mint compared to that

[Gav88]

Looks like it was painted with rattle cans!I paid the same for mine and its mint compared to that

your right the paint is rough but after paying duty,transport costs on it, 1400 euro isn't bad for a estate model with a decent set of seats and a 1275. Anyone know of anything similar here going for about that ?

[Billy]

Buying any Mini without seeing it first is foolish and asking for trouble.

I've done it twice. One Mini was fine, the other was a pup. Both were described as spotless.

Prices have collapsed in Ireland and it's certainly possible to pick up a late '90s Cooper for under 2 grand. Probably worth looking around Ireland and Northern Ireland where you can inspect the Mini before committing.

Billy

[BERT]

Looks like it was painted with rattle cans!I paid the same for mine and its mint compared to that

your right the paint is rough but after paying duty,transport costs on it, 1400 euro isn't bad for a estate model with a decent set of seats and a 1275. Anyone know of anything similar here going for about that ?

Have a look at mine and see if its of any interest to you or give me a bell,0858445677

[wzd345]

Look at it another way.

The car is at Morecambe in Lancs, which is by the sea and has no MOT, so you cant drive it home to Cork.

Assuming the car is ok, the options are:

1) Fly to Blackpool from Dublin with Aer Arran, min £100, get to Morecambe and hopefully the seller will trailer you and the car to Fleetwood so you can drive it onto the ferry for an 8 hour trip to Belfast say £150 for this. Your uncle/friend or whoever drives from Cork to Belfast with a trailer and you get the yoke back home, say €300. Food extra.

2) Drive with trailer from Cork to Dublin, ferry Dublin/Holyhead €300 return. Return trip Holyhead/ Morecambe is 330 miles. Food extra, then calculate total fuel costs for both trips.

3) Engage a car transport company to ship it €500

Then pay VRT and get it ready

4) Drive up to Greystones with trailer, have a nice day with Bert, give him the money, bring car home.

Its a no brainer.

ps: if you dont have a suitable trailer, he will sell you one!

[gareth]

I find reading an E-bay ad is like reading a job reference for someone... Take a good note of what isn't said as well as what is said. For example if a reference says 'this person worked for our company for X amount of time and fullfilled their duties' and says nothing about their honesty or time keeping chances are you shouldn't employ them.......


Well look at the ad....... They have said nothing about what needs to be done or what has been done, Nothing about rust situation, Nothing of what needs to be bought, Etc Etc.......
It might be a good buy and they are just not very good at doing up an ad on ebay but it does also leave it very open that when you get there and the floors are rotten to say- 'oh i didn't say they were good. I said it needed work to get going'

Personally i think if you want a Clubby Estate you should spin down to Bert. I've not seen it other than in pictures but any mini that Bert has ever had that i've seen is usually good. And it's not like your going far to see it. Plus when you have it all done its an origanal irish car.

[Gav88]

Look at it another way.

The car is at Morecambe in Lancs, which is by the sea and has no MOT, so you cant drive it home to Cork.

Assuming the car is ok, the options are:

1) Fly to Blackpool from Dublin with Aer Arran, min £100, get to Morecambe and hopefully the seller will trailer you and the car to Fleetwood so you can drive it onto the ferry for an 8 hour trip to Belfast say £150 for this. Your uncle/friend or whoever drives from Cork to Belfast with a trailer and you get the yoke back home, say €300. Food extra.

2) Drive with trailer from Cork to Dublin, ferry Dublin/Holyhead €300 return. Return trip Holyhead/ Morecambe is 330 miles. Food extra, then calculate total fuel costs for both trips.

3) Engage a car transport company to ship it €500

Then pay VRT and get it ready

4) Drive up to Greystones with trailer, have a nice day with Bert, give him the money, bring car home.

Its a no brainer.

good point but there's a company in cork called NVD.ie used them a few times before with ebay cars I bought. They collect it in the uk on one of their car transporters and deliver it to me for just 199 euro so its just the 300 or so for the vat and I dont need to leave the sofa, i will give bert a call though

[keith]

cant beat seeing the thing in the flesh... . *and then* taking a good walk to think about it. i went to cornwall to buy a "mint" clubby estate... blew the airfare, hotels, time off work & transport on looking at a hen-house..
before you travel ask to see photos... everyone has a camera, even a phone cam.. look at the floors, sills, rear etc. but still you are best looking at it in person.

[mgb1978]

Of course if you "didn't import" it until july then VRT will be only €50...Having said that there are a couple of things to watch out for with this ad...no mention of a V5, member of ebay since feb this year but hasn't bought or sold anything yet, and the photos tell you nothing (except that the front subframe was painted red).
if you can get a car transported from the uk for €199 then your best bet would be to buy a 1970's clubman estate ( cheap vrt, tax ,insurance, no need to worry about nct) or as others have said take a spin up to look at bert's, nothing to lose but €30 worth of petrol.
By the way any car on ebay with a buy-it-now price of £900 is probably worth half that !!!

[CLUBMANGT]

Aside from the paint look at the side image sill ? damage on rear quarter ? a panel ? all the oil on the ground ? interior painted , rubbish ? I would,nt go near it even at 900 ,am thinking about Berts car myself its A1 for what it is and cheap !

[Miniman]

Personally i tink the exhaust looks like a child fitted it,and berts mini would be a good buy!

[Gav88]

Cheers all,
Some fantastic points made.In the end I got on the owner and as it turns it out it was a old project of his form the early 90's that his son had taken over......... getting further to the point the guy and his son didn't know what I was on about when I asked about subframes, mounts, floor pans, A pilers ect. and they kept referencing what the guys from halfords said about it and had done to it

Gave it a wide birth in the end.

Bert I'll be on to you tomorrow.....