worth restoring?? opinions please(lots of photos))

[pistol pete]

sorry loads of photos but want you to see the whole car

well where do i start as some of ya know i went and looked at mk1 that has sat
i want a project car
do you think this is rights is with worth bringing back/restoring and brutalising with a mk1.5??

firstly i ll go through goos and bad points of it

good points
seals are very very good
most body work is good
white
tbar
leather
only paying 50 quid
if you look past the green it seems like a little gem
original toyota stereo (something else to take out)
drvers side arches are excellent
it is in the next road over from me
after sitting connected battery and all lights worked stereo worked (event the ariel came up!!!!!!)
and the old engine turns over
only 100 000mile
new front bumper bar

bad points
had to cut away from the bush that hd grown over it
doors will not close but looks like the catches have gone in the door (interior still looks good) and floor pan is good
passanger arches front and rear need doing (not big job when i want to restore anyway)
will need new carpets (prob rip out with new engine anyway)

have a look at the pics see if you think it is worth bringing back to life
look past the green that will come off with a jet wash
firstly how i found

remeber i am only paying 50 quid if i do go for it
under the bush

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/113.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/114.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/115.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/116.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/117.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/118.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/119.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/120.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/121.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/122.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/123.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/124.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/125.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/126.jpg


after a little time and effort today to get the bush out the way to see what was actualy there
this is what i found --(restorable???????)
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/127.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/128.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/129.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/130.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/131.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/132.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/133.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/134.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/135.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/136.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/137.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/138.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/139.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/140.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/141.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/142.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/143.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/144.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/145.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/146.jpg
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/06/147.jpg

i know bringing it back is a project but i like the idea of bringing a mk1 back to life after speaking to the owners it had quite alife they went all over europe in it south italy etc

do you think its worth it
is there more work there that i think?
cheers guys any opinions please

[pistol pete]

just looking at those pics the seals look worse than they are i went over them with a screw drive and it did not punch any holes through

[Charged]

IMO it is worth £50 but only to break and sell the bits.

As a 1.5 project I'd be looking for something a bit more solid.

Its a hard one to drag youself away from though... its local, its £50.. but see past that and it does look pretty fucked.

There are other (better) Mk1s out there.

[TheGasMan]

How can anyone treat a MR2 like that :violin:<:(

[pistol pete]

IMO it is worth £50 but only to break and sell the bits.

As a 1.5 project I'd be looking for something a bit more solid.

Its a hard one to drag youself away from though... its local, its £50.. but see past that and it does look pretty fucked.

There are other (better) Mk1s out there.

i do wonder if it is me with blinkers
but i have always inteding n stripping down the interior etc and changing the arches.. most mk1's you need ot
i wonder what hweel bearings etc are like
i would change the bushes anyway......
hmmm

i hate how some people treat their cars especially when it was so good to them
but you should see their house
if you can find it in the jungle of theirs

[nik]

'kinell..actually not too bad imho..as long as the underside is good, sills are good, pillars are good..everything else can be sorted with plenty of time, patience and a lot of effort..
looks like youre going to be needing a full set of Zombie Wings..:thumbsup:
my only concern is the hidden rot..i reckon once you take the kit off its going to reveal some nasty surprises..
for a few more hundred quids youll save yourself a lot of work chap..
i know you want to get started asap but theres plenty for you to be collecting and wait for a better mk1 to come along..too many if's with that one imho..

[Tom G]

I second the above, if you've got space, get that for spares, but to restore I reckon there'll be a few too many nasty surprises to sap your enthusiasm! Chances of a better one turning up are high :)
I enjoyed the piccy tour, cheers :)

[robwsurf]

for 50 quid cant go wrong i d buy itstrip it back and see what itsreally like if its too bad break it sell all the bits and make some money on it and look for another one!

and if the floors solid, sills and posts wings and other stuff can be replaced mines was nt good when igot it but the underneath and sills etc were sound and i ve seen some really nice looking mr2s and the underside and boots were rusted out!

[chr15_84t3]

imo if you have the space to break and sell for parts buy it. £50 isnt much more than a tank of fuel these days. if it turns out to be rotten in difficult to fix places then break it, flog the bits/weigh it in, if not, you've just bought yourself a donor car for £50

[TbarTurbo]

Looks rotton as hell imo! Defo worth the £50 though for spares if its not restorable!

I bought one for 50 in a lot better condition than that, but gave it away as another turned up much better!

[pistol pete]

so i think at the moment the general concensus is get it hone strip it down see what its really like

it was my intention of doing that iwht any car i get anyway
wehn you look at other cars
such as
http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=98217
this ones not bad but like everyone says you never know whats underneath
i can get it ot mine strip and see, at worst nik the parts can be used for your company as help

lets see what mr woods has to say :)

[pistol pete]

before i commit to this one gonna have a look round see what else i can get
i think most are gonna need arches of some sort

[Jim-SR]

properly mint mk1's are rare, almost non existant. there probably isnt more than a handful in existence in the UK (bar some museum pieces maybe) that havent already been restored, and dont have a single bit of rust on them

so youve got 2 options...

1. buy a reasonably mint car for £2k with minimal rust, but that still requires some welding doing, and spend another £1000-2000 on the work

2. buy a rotten scrapper for £50, and spend £2500-3000 on repairing the shell so that you end up with a shell that you know to be completely free of rust, and properly restored to a standard where it wont rust again for a decade at least if cared for properly. then spend another £1000 on the mechanical areas of the car

you spend the same amount of cash either way really, but the end result of option 2 is always going to be better. there are common rust spots on MR2's that you cant even see until youve stripped the entire car back to a bare shell, let alone fix. if you buy an already mint car then chances are that it has hidden rust that youll never even know about until its too late (and one day a hole appears that is visible, but the damage underneath is substantial). at least if you start from the ground up you know exactly where you stand at the end of it

im in the process of "restoring" a fairly rusty shell. the end result will be a full-on track car/race car (i probably wont "race" it though, i dont trust other drivers not to shunt it after ive spent endless time and money sorting it out properly! it will more likely do sprints/hillclimbs and such), so cosmetically im not massively bothered. but i dont want to have a shell with any weaknesses, and i dont want to have a car that i spend a lot of time preparing for track use (and i really do go over the top on preparation, its the only way really, and it doesnt help when you work in motorsport and see what a mess a lot of the other guys in the industry make of their work) only for the shell to rot back through the half-arsed repairs in 18 months time and be rendered scrap, and then have to start all over again.

so if it were me, and youve got the cash, time, effort and desire to spend maybe 6 months worth of weekends on hard graft sorting it, then id definitely go for it. the end result would far surpass anything you can buy for the same money, plus it will always be your own work (minus anything that gets outsourced). and the end result is always going to be so much more satisfying when you can compare it to the pictures above afterwards!!!

if you arent capable of doing any of the work yourself, then its not worth it. the expense to outsource ALL of the work would cost a lot, more than it would cost to buy a car that has already been immaculately restored. if you can do everything apart from the welding and painting though (if you can do either or both of those as well then you can basically do everything!!), then go for it for sure :)

[mart1975]

id keep looking, there are still decent mk1's out there for cheap.
i recently got a pretty much rust free white mk1 for £220 or £240, id say theres enough work in a swap allready without taking on all that extra work.

[snowtigger]

my mk1a cost me 400 quid both rear wings need repairing and a few other bits, like jim said if u have the time and money anything is possible.
personally i would buy it see wot it needs doing to it then if it's rotten brake it up for parts and get your money back .

[pistol pete]

i am gonna leave that one i thnk
in contact with a few on fleabay at the mo

[Jiff Lemon]

To be honest, at £50, I'd have got it.

Its on the doorstep and its cheap.

Drag it back, skirts off and a thorough investigation follows.

Then decide - You'd get MORE than £50 on ebay selling it as it is!

[biteme]

a half day cleaning it would net you £250 on fleabay at least

[pistol pete]

hmmmm........... sell its still there
i still not fully decided yet

[pistol pete]

right just went round again to look defo leaving it as managed to jack it up
looking at the rear prob will not tow it out as would prob just rip off back
and would cost me 60 quid for someone ot pick it up and move it to my house

cheers guys

looking elswhere now

[EarL]

Go for it Pete. Nothing a grinder, hammer, nails and some swearing wont fix mate. lol

[nik]

shame.. :(
wheres it at mate..i wouldnt mind having a look myself..

[pistol pete]

litterally over the back of my house road over.....
its still there i am surte will be for some time... like i said i managed to get under it and the whole rear was rotten

[chr15_84t3]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230261221515&ih=013&category=18290&ssPageName=:IT

as you're in kent, might be worth a look?

[pistol pete]

cheers bud bit out of my prioce range at the mo
which is what i am weighting up if worth waiting getting a bit more money together......
watching a couple on ebay at teh mo see hwo they go first

cheers

[chr15_84t3]

no probs mate :thumbsup:

[pistol pete]

cheers these one in ashford but weeelll over priced and the original peeps with the dog of car ahve phoned me and said they would want 150 for to have it
so thats a big no no

Chris-- Nightworker too????

[chr15_84t3]

no, not a night worker. should have been in bed aaaages ago cos ive got work in the morning but as usual i'm distracted by shiny things i cant afford lol