Practically Classics Forum

Do a Richard Rawlings, offer them half and go from there.
I know how much effort replacing a wood kit is and the dark marks all over that one do rather say it hasn't been loved and needs attention immediately.

Come on John, If a job's worth doing, it's worth over-doing.

Knowing your fetish for the unusual Have you found a spare Daimler v8 or how about a Coventry Climax?

Personally I would go for broke and fit this W12 Bentley engine - its nice and compact and don't forget that it started life in the VW Phaeton and is now a 25 year old design so they must be the odd one or two about by now

rich. wrote:go & see it, & make an offer....

TerryG wrote:...offer them half and go from there.

I would have done, but it's a £1500 car at best and that's me being generous and converting what I'd pay into southern values. If I wanted another unstarted project on my hands, I'd go down to my favourite breaker's yard with a pocket full of cash.

TerryG wrote:I know how much effort replacing a wood kit is and the dark marks all over that one do rather say it hasn't been loved and needs attention immediately.

The wood was the least of that car's troubles. In fairness to [the car], the front seats are really, really comfortable and the thing does - in a bizarre reversal of eBay tradition - look better in the flesh than in the listing photies.

Bite the bullet, get a container and import one of these:
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/wandin-n ... 1055728704
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/narre-wa ... 1077278131

Google "Datsun 120y project" and they are both on the first page.

Even if it costs £1500 to import one the cheaper of the two will be at your door for less than £2k and I suspect there is some market for the bits you don't need.

The white one is in a similar bodily state to the yellow 120Y (GMS124S) that was mine when it was only six years old. But chances are its wing rail box sections are more complete than GMS' were, the oily bits will probably work but the shell of the orange car, now that's quite exceptional.
Plan: Contact both vendors via Gumtree (already a member of their Aussie site because I buy quite a lot from folk there), with a view to finding out whether either would sell the engine, transmission and ancillaries minus the shell and other stuff. If one of them would do that, then buy from that person and get onto my man in Adelaide who sorts Down Under things for me and set the wheels in motion.
If neither vendor can be persuaded by the lure of extra cash for taking the parts out, then I'll look into having that orange car shipped... Which would, if it's as basically sound as it looks, see me smoking around in a nicely ratty Sunny for a few months to test out the goods before taking the thing apart.

Action taken: As plan, results awaited.

Cheers Terry.

Edited, Friday 16:57: Had a reply with possible shipping deal available on the orange car as a complete thing. Bottled it though but! How? Because once bitten, etc. and I'd been here with the Mini Cord not that long since.

Solution found! OK, so not quite as per original plan but I am about to pay the deposit on a suitable solution, then I should be collecting said solution next Wednesday and will post back then. Expect something quite a long way removed from what I had in mind originally for the non-modern daily driver plan.

You bloody great tease..... its just flipping cruel making us wait

I should have waited in case something goes completely tits up but sometimes, a random and shiny thing comes into my peripheral vision and the internet makes me unlock my money belt..

pics please!!

If it works out ok, I'll be driving it home midweek time. Pictures once it's here unless I have it sent directly up to the steadings where it can get to know the recipient of its donor organs before it dies.

Meanwhile, a small clue:

If it breaks down on the way north from something called "Essex" , I might ask for a lift back.
I haven't done that 4 AGEs.