the right project ??

[JPB]

I'll gladly discuss my Fister Bros-related woes by pm but cannot do so in public forum. Feel free to ask if you need to know why I wouldn't have 6428872833 down their collective throats if they'd been suffering a serious tonsil fire.

[andypandy]

Rimmers have a certain reputation.

They are variable. 9/10 times the parts you ordered arrive quickly and there is no problem, occasionally they send you completely the wrong thing (eg ordering an exhaust and getting a head gasket set or ordering nothing and someone else's items arriving). Their stainless steel exhausts are rubbish, I have one on at the moment and if it wasn't for the lifetime warranty I would have had to replace it twice in 4 years. Starter motor burning out a week after the warranty expired, the one that I purchased to replace it lasted about 2 months past the end of the warranty. I am largely happy with their service but they do have some quality and warehouse issues at times. If you are getting a mog then ESM are brilliant. I have never had an issue with them, their prices are reasonable and they are very knowledgeable if you give them a ring. They have a huge stock of used parts as well as new ones. They even arranged for a set of their minilite replica alloy wheels to be drilled to a marina stud pattern for me at no extra cost. In my experience Charles Wares are best avoided as their workmanship is not of the greatest quality, a lot of their upgrade parts are copies of the ones produced by others and they are not to be trusted.
If you are going for something with a green oval (land rover) then my favourite supplier is Famous Four for largely the same reasons as I use ESM for the mog. They are always helpful, not the cheapest on everything but when I wanted rear doors for my RR they called round suppliers for me to find some. They could only help with one which arrived dented (was perfect when they sent me pictures), they refunded me in full and let me keep the door which was nice (as I repaired it at a cost of about £20 and fitted it). Anything you want they don't have listed, give them a ring and if they don't have it on the shelf they can usually get it for you.

This is all just my opinion / experience and I'm sure others could give horror stories / praise to most of the classic suppliers in the market.
Once you have picked your toy don't forget to start a blog in the members cars section showing us what you have got and what you are doing to it

i will indead thank you again jpb for your knowledge / opinion. i shell have a look at ESM oh and iv just read rimmer bros reviews i think il stick with ESM

[rich.]

i had stuff from rimmer bros & never had problems.. i also used rover quest for parts they were very helpful & reasonable for prices. they had to change the name of the company as the german owners of the brand names were getting a bit uppity & threatening them with court action...

[Luxobarge]

I'd echo the comments about Rimmers - and add that they'll then proceed to spam your inbox to high heaven too.

Another vote for ESM for Minor spares - got lots of stuff from them, as above they are friendly and helpful. The quality of some stuff is a bit naff, but that's a generic problem throughout the classic car industry, not their fault specifically. I wouldn't buy a complete "restored" car from them though, we looked at a few and they're wildly over-priced, proving I think that you can't restore Minors on a commercial basis - but then there are not many classic cars which you can!

A Minor will definately give you that "Classic driving" experience, and the MMOC forum is great, but you won't get much attention at shows, as they are still pretty common. Depends on what you want really.

Or go even older, and get an Austin 7 - still really good spares backup and a huge club scene, and a proper 30's motoring experience.

Cheers

[andypandy]

i looked on the ESM site last night they dont seem that bad but like you said there cars are not cheap i think most are forsale for about £6000/£7000 but parts prices seem reasonable. oh and i was talking to mrs andypandy last night and she has agread to help me set up a budget fund so thats a result on its own lol. and that will give me a better understanding of what parts i can afford and when

[Luxobarge]

Yeah, that sounds about right for their cars. When we were looking for one we went for a visit there, and even at that price they weren't all that great, that money should buy a pristine one from the classifieds. ESM are good for spare parts though, as mentioned.

MMOC owners club forum is great too - occasionally you'll get a beauty for sale there, and I've seen a few bargains on the for sale section at all levels/conditions. Depends on your budget really!

[arceye]

I don't know about others experiences, but I often use Bull Motif for moggie parts (they do Austin A30/35 and mini bits too) and have never had a problem with them except maybe a couple of times waiting a little longer for an order than I'd like. That said you can ring them to check stock availability.

Talking of Bull Motif and throwing another idea into the pot, What about an Austin A30 / 35, simple little cars, lots of charm, and easy to upgrade to a slightly larger A series power plant if thats your thing.

[Luxobarge]

Talking of Bull Motif and throwing another idea into the pot, What about an Austin A30 / 35, simple little cars, lots of charm, and easy to upgrade to a slightly larger A series power plant if thats your thing.

Good call - and because the Midget was based on this platform, there are qutie a lot of spares that might not otherwise exist.

Yes, I've also used Bull Motif, and they're another good Moggie spares supplier IMO.

[andypandy]

great stuff iv been looking for moggys now after going on mmoc iv got loads of ideas one being a midget 1275 conversion. and a guy on youtube shows how to fit an ARB and mini front shocks makes a big diffrence to handling so im told. iv also been spending hours watching classic car SOS too lol i need sleep!!!

[Ian]

1275 in a Minor makes a very useable car in modern traffic, coupled with a 12G940 head and MG Metro turbo unit would make a punchy little classic, there was a book called Marina to Minor which points out interchangeable parts ie disc brakes etc making upgrades much easier as many of the mods simply bolt on without need for further mod