Author Topic: My Dilemma  (Read 898 times)

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Offline Nick in Beds

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My Dilemma
« on: Friday,May 19, 2017, 03:52:56 AM »
Hi all, I've not posted for a while but still been doing bits on the Europa, most recently sanding off old paint!!

Anyway, I've been getting quotes for body repair, prep and paint and they are a lot higher than I was expecting.  The fibreglass is not in bad condition but I'm looking at around £7k based on estimates I've had so far.

My dilemma is that this takes the costs way over it's value:

Project Car - £4450 (probably over paid)
Parts to date - £2200
Paint - £7000
Finishing bits and pieces - £? - don't know but allow say another £1000

Total is approaching £15k !!

I know it's not all about the money but this is excessive even for me!!

So I'm leaning towards selling on as an unfinished project as I just can't bring myself to spend £7k for the bodywork.

Anyone have a view?

Cheers, Nick.




Offline Clifton

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Re: My Dilemma
« Reply #1 on: Friday,May 19, 2017, 05:22:10 AM »
Paint is not that expensive, it is the labor.  Many people do the body work and prime and hand it to a painter to save some money. I prefer to do it all myself.

Offline 4129R

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Re: My Dilemma
« Reply #2 on: Friday,May 19, 2017, 06:23:33 AM »
My 4688R was badly damaged and cost £10k to repair and spray.

What is your chassis number?

Alex in Norfolk. 

Offline jbcollier

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Re: My Dilemma
« Reply #3 on: Friday,May 19, 2017, 06:38:08 AM »
It is virtually impossible to restore a car for profit.  Usually the cost of restoration versus the actual value when complete is huge.  It helps a great deal if you provide all the labour for free -- or do crappy work.  In many vintage car auctions, the smart people are paying top dollar for the restoration, not the car.

Offline EuropaTC

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Re: My Dilemma
« Reply #4 on: Friday,May 19, 2017, 08:42:45 AM »
Hi Nick,

You're in the same position that many of us have been before, the only difference is that some of us have driven the cars beforehand and hence we know what we'll get out of the restoration. For someone like yourself I can see why you're asking the "is it worth it ?" question.

As John has said, it is very unusual for your average guy to restore a car and make a profit, most of us spend way more than the car is worth. Buying labour is the big killer, parts and materials are a relatively small part of the bill.  To be perfectly honest, if you look at buying parts for modern cars then ours come out pretty cheap !

£7k for a respray on a fibreglass car I would say is in the mid range, I know of £8k resprays on Elans and they are much smaller/easier to do. I would have said Alex's £10k was more like the going rate for a top notch paint job so you're not doing too badly on quotes. You could perhaps shave a bit by presenting a bare shell on a trailer ready for preparation and do all the assembly yourself afterwards maybe ?

Otherwise the budget is just what you're comfortable with and we've all got different priorities.  If you want some man-maths to make you smile, try this for size....

If it costs you £15k to get a nice shiny Europa on your drive then you could spend that same £15k and buy yourself an Elise, a newish sporty Ford, a 4-5yr old Audi TT, all of which would cost you more to run with insurance and road tax.   If it's a new car then in order to sell it later you'll need some main dealer servicing thrown in as well.

Of course they won't steam up or leak in heavy rain, you won't feel that every trip to the supermarket is a Grand Prix and you'll miss the tensions of wondering if you will actually get there and back without some roadside maintenance, but you can't have everything with new cars.   ::)

But in 2 years time they'd be worth roughly £4k less or maybe £5-6k if the car was newish and you've probably spent around £2k running them. Whilst your Europa might not have increased a great deal in value but at least it's cost you buttons to run,  hasn't lost any money and you'll be really good at fixing things.....    there's always a silver lining  ;)


Offline Nick in Beds

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Re: My Dilemma
« Reply #5 on: Friday,May 19, 2017, 08:55:57 AM »
Hi All,

Thanks for your thoughts.  I'm certainly not after a profit, I'm into classics for the fun.  I'm just finding it hard to commit to such expenditure. 

My other cars are a Mk2 Capri and a Mk3 Spitfire and the most I've ever spent on them combined is a fraction of this !!

Alex - mine is 54 1953.

Rgds, Nick.

Offline 4129R

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Re: My Dilemma
« Reply #6 on: Friday,May 19, 2017, 11:47:24 AM »
The problem is an S2 will never command the same re-sale value as a TCS, but will cost the same to restore.


Offline Nick in Beds

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Re: My Dilemma
« Reply #7 on: Saturday,May 20, 2017, 08:24:54 AM »
Oh well, decision made and car listed on ebay :-(