Rust in peace... (Its a joke?)

[s-type]

I have changed the names / details to protect the anonymity of those involved.

I saw a car in rust in peace In Practical Classics a while back and decided I would have a go at saving it. I made contact and everyone was very helpful, both on PC and the finders.

I eventually spoke to the owner and ascertained the condition of the car. For this post its a 1952 Austin with coach built body (not a specially rare or desirable car). The owner said it was completely rusty, the engine was no way near running and it had been standing for many years. She suggested it may break up when it was pulled from the hedge it was living, the glass was missing and most of the interior was gone, some serious bits were missing and the chrome is all but gone (eg rusted). Its fallen off the DVLA and a very old V5 may be available, however the number plate is probably gone. The owner was very honest as to the condition and was very realistic that it was just a rotter and may not go many more winters in the open.

I must admit I was quite pleased the woman was so honest about its condition. I then asked how much she wanted for it.



wait for it.......

wait....... hold on now......



£1500.

I spat my tea across the room. I re composed myself and polity suggested that I could offer a bit more than its scrap value, because as in her own words it was little more than scrap. The owner then informed me the scrap value was £800. I'm no scrap dealer and I know the price of scrap has gone up, however i'm not sure this would be worth £800 to a scrappy. I've seen cars go to the scrappy for £50 , £100 or even £200 but never £800 (even if broken up to clean metal and sorted)... The owner seemed to think it weighed quite a lot, even though most the weight was not the metal..

I suggested that I could make an offer around the £500 mark, if I had a look and it was at least a little bit restorative. The owner told me that for £500 she would let it rot.

So, a car may be rotting in a hedge somewhere, almost dead, but its there for a reason. What the owner thinks its worth and what a potential buyer thinks its worth may be so drastically different that it will rot.... Its such a shame, there must be so many cars out there in desperate need of love and so many potential restorers out the in need of cars.

I am obviously aware we live in a capitalist market driven society and anyone can charge anything they want for anything, that's everyone right... ..But it means cars will rot. Oh well back to the drawing board. This all happened a few months back, I may give her another call, but i suspect she will think its gone up with inflation!!!!

Anyone else had similar experiences?

[SEE YA]

See what happens the price goes up when it appears in PC

[DoloMIGHTY]

Crazy woman!

[bnicho]

I had a similar experience trying to save an Oval Window Beetle. I bet it's still there.

[FredTransit]

Such a shame. You were offering a genuine chance for the car to be saved. Trouble is, the general public don't get the actual scrap price. It's metal, not wood that they pay for! Same thing happened when the scrappage was on, people immediately thought every snotter was worth two grand, irrespective of if you wanted to use it in the scheme or if it was even legible for it.....

[s-type]

I'm trying not to be, but I am still angry about this. Maybe angry is not the right word. I am sad. Sad a car I may be able to save will die, sad this woman is clearly mad / deluded.

Oh well, plenty more fish in the sea.

[Martin Evans]

There's an old garage about 3 1/2 miles from the shop. It's been there for years in the same family and for a long time they specialised in VWs but not as an authorised dealership. It was well known for the old rusting Beetles surrounded by blackberry bushes; some even had trees growing through them. Some years ago the Council asked them to tidy things up and so a compound was enclosed behind the building and most of the stuff went in there (Including a Rover P4 Cyclops). It was well known that they never parted with anything, even though it was all disintegrating in front of them . My father can remember that during the early 1950s, they had a Singer Le Mans standing about outside. In those days cars like that weren't worth much, so I expect it rusted away or got scrapped.

Not far away from the garage is a pub. About 30 years ago I remember an old (May have been a flat rad) Morgan was abandoned outside the pub. The landlord was a bit touchy about people even looking at it. I can't think why; he clearly didn't give a damn about it . Eventually it disappeared, hopefully to be restored.

In a similar vein, I have a neighbour, who when he gave up work (He wasn't retirement age), left his work van behind the his house. That's sure to be 15 years ago and the van is still there. He has turned down £200 or so from scrap dealers; so he said, he may want to use the van . I can't really think of any use to which it could be put; one neighbour thinks it is now a "Wall". Would Pink Floyd have said it was "Just another van in the wall"

[TriumphDriver]

I tried to buy a Triumph Vitesse in the early 1990s, lying in a barn, dented, rusty and full of straw. It would have required a replacement engine at the very least not to mention lots of welding and a complete mechanical refurb, and many missing parts sourced and replaced. I agreed a price of £50 with the owner who knew nothing about it, other than it had lain there for many years.
He phoned me the next morning to tell me that "£50 wouldn't buy him a pair of shoes" and it was really worth £400. For all i know, it's still there.
A Herald 1200 was scrapped two years ago as the owner turned down my offer of £100, it was badly vandalised but the seats were mint. It lay open to the elements and was eventually trailered away for the metal, the interior by this time having rotted. He got £25.
I also offered £100 for a pair of rotten Dolomites as I wanted the engines and gearboxes, the owner held out for £300 before selling them to a man who wanted the hubs for making trailers, for £25 the pair. He then gave me the bits I wanted, for nothing...
So: there's a lot of it about.

HOWEVER: my mate runs an Accident Recovery Service and restores classics as a sideline. He bought a Sunbeam Rapier for £900, when he arrived to collect it the owner tried to bump the price up to £1200. The mate countered by telling him it was WORSE than he had expected, shoved £700 in the man's hand, and winched the car on the lorry without another word. He tells me the look on the guys face as he drove off, stunned, jaw dropped and holding a fistful of notes, was priceless.

[1275midget]

I tried to save a Mary Quant mini - it was all there all original (stripy seats, proper wheelarches, all the MQ kit)just with a big fist sized hole in each sill. It ran, turned, drove about all fine, only had 28K on it Unfortunatley the stupid woman wanted to scrappage scheme it to buy a seat or something so wouldnt take less than the 2K minus whatever it cost to shove it through a VERY dodgy MOT. which was about 1800 quid, too much for me., and too much for a mini that needs new sills, even a special one. Even when I explained that if she got it put thru a proper MOT then it would be probably worth more than 2K, nope, to the squasher it went. I was so irritated. I'm still irritated and it was almost a year ago now.

[hillmanimpman]

i had a funny one i try to save Enfield 8000 electric car tuke ages to find the owner,went to look at it need bodywork doing and new batteries six in all.he said £500 before i left to think about it and sort my money out. 2days passed got a trailer ready to collect it rang him up and said you can't have it for £500 i didn't say £500 i meant to say £900 so just left it went out and brought another imp instead.bet in still there rotting