Ro80: Sanity check required please

[TagoraSX]

BUY IT! Sanity is overrated.

 

As of yesterday I now have two, this one has actual WANKELZ.

 

[Skizzer]

Oo, nice! I saw that one advertised, excited it's in the AS family.

 

Meanwhile Google-fu has thrown up this advert for the brown one from last year, when it was in Slough and the then seller wanted 3k for it.

 

It's had a new front number plate since then, but an MOT has proved elusive. This is a tad worrying. Trick will be not to overpay, I suppose.

[Asimo]

The seller does say there are other photos available on request, worth an ask?

 

they usually look worse than this in pictures. I can't see if it has a sunroof, if it doesn't that is a real boon as the sunroof drains just go into the sills...... The stainless trims can hide lots of problems but the under bonnet shot is very encouraging, Ro80s can rot horribly around the headlights / bonnet hinge panel. And also it is all original under the bonnet, doesn't look bodged at all, and that is pretty miraculous outside of a show car. Honestly, I was looking at much worse examples than this one appears in these pictures 30 odd years ago. It must have been warm and drive for most of it's life. As I posted before, it looks better than the one I had when it was 9 years old.

 

If you can store it dry, buy it. If you buy it you can have my manual / parts books.

[cort1977]

Lovely. Autoshite is unanimous in approving this, the exact opposite of that PT cruiser thread a while back. A sensible* snipe is the only way to go.

[hairnet]

as long as its not rust fucked DOIT

[Bren]

I'd buy that for the colour.

 

Usually for that money they have a different engine - many had ford v4's dropped in them.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

These are like SMs to me I'd love one but wouldn't be in the slightest bit bothered if it was never on the road.

Just to have it sitting on the drive like apiece of art and knowing it was mine would give me a warm feeling every time I saw it, plus it would never cost a fortune to keep running and no possibility of it being a dissappointment to drive,win ,win situation.

Whatever, get it bought.

[Junkman]

In all seriousness, I think the decision is an easy one.

 

Ask yourself whether you can live without it. See, you can't.

If you let it slip through your fingers, you are going to kick yourself in the arse for years to come.

I observed you for quite a while now and you come across as a man, who appreciates the form and function of things, that symbolize an era,

when the sky wasn't the limit and men built supersonic passenger aeroplanes just because they could and gave them a shape to behold for eternity,

just because they knew that what looks good works well and there was no room for the kind of ugliness we are surrounded with today.

I wouldn't be surprised if I learned, that you listen to your vinyl records from your Braun Audio 1 through an Onkyo E 30 equalizer and Harman Kardon boxes

and that you eat with WMF Stockholm cutlery sitting at your Interlübke dining table.

 

A Ro80 would perfectly compliment your R16 in a homogenous way. If the price to get it is having to live on Spaghetti Alio e Olio for a couple of weeks,

it's a small price to pay indeed.

 

You know I'm right. I always am.

[Vin]

Don't listen to any of that lot, they don't know what they're talkin about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ONLY JOKING...

[dieselnutjob]

My 604 had had no MOT for 15 years, and didn't need any welding to get one.  It has rust, but nothing bad enough to stop it getting an MOT.

[Junkman]

Well, you know, what can I say?

 

I'm a simpleton compared with Skizzer.

For me, something Spen King put a big bloody V8 into will suffice any day.

I might be an arguably decent bloke, but me and refinement are mutually exclusive.

 

Skizzer, on the other hand, has that certain grandeur I think a Ro80 would suit to the ground!

[Sudsprint]

A (very) brief childhood car memory from 1973.  

 

We were in my Dad's Triumph 2000 and coming towards us out of the darkness from The Star Hotel underground car park in Maidstone was this devastatingly modern metallic turquoise alloy wheeled sensation.

 

Ever since that moment I have wanted an RO80.

[Vince70]

I'm sorry to say you will most probably get out bid with 2 seconds to go as is normal on eBay or it may get some Shill bidding to pump the price up.

 

But saying that the last two cars I've bought off eBay I've lost at bidding and still managed to secure the cars just by sending a message to the seller afterwards saying that if the buyer doesn't turn up which 9 times out of 10 happens I will have the car off you and you won't get lumbered with eBay fees, so you maybe in for a chance if there's a bidding war in the last hour.

 

I really hope you manage to get that NSU as it looks a real nice car and you will kick yourself if you don't get it, the worst case scenario would be its a rotter underneath but even then you wouldn't loose anything if you had to punt it on and fortune favours the bold.

 

Or in the immortal words of Del Boy "you know it makes sense"

[Skizzer]

LOL @ Junkman (as I believe the young people would say). The record player is a Riga Planar 2, but otherwise you are spot on of course.

 

This place being (still) what it is, a fellow shiter has previous knowledge of this car and has given me some detailed insight into the rot levels. Upshot is, it's probably priced about right where it is and is more of a project than I should be taking on given that I still haven't got the Jaguar, Lancia or Golf road legal (not to mention other bits of nonsense going on in my life). So I'm out for now.

 

I still really want a Ro80 though. Will be keeping a look out, once my clients have paid up and the Big Shed has a roof on it.

 

Thanks for the advice, and sorry for the false alarm.

[D Spares & Tyres]

These are like SMs to me I'd love one but wouldn't be in the slightest bit bothered if it was never on the road.

Just to have it sitting on the drive like apiece of art and knowing it was mine would give me a warm feeling every time I saw it, plus it would never cost a fortune to keep running and no possibility of it being a dissappointment to drive,win ,win situation.

Whatever, get it bought.

Broken SMs look even cooler anyway just cos they sit so low when not been driven for ages

[purplebargeken]

Buy it anyway and hammer a PT Cruiser over the top of it. 

[cms206]

Have you got it yet? Ro80s look the absolute tits and I would happily shit on the Volvos for one.

[cort16]

Definitely one of those cars that's had me considering cashing in my who shite fleet to buy.

[mrcitroen]

Go for it! They are amazing cars.

 

I wanted a GS for years but was shit scared to take one on. Eventually a rot free one came along for good money. I still ummed and Ahhed about it for a week or so, but reckoned WCPGW. I would never loose money on it & if I did not buy, I would probably of regretted it.

 

So on that note, GET IT BOUGHT.

[forddeliveryboy]

This place being (still) what it is, a fellow shiter has previous knowledge of this car and has given me some detailed insight into the rot levels.

 

 

Can this be made public - surely no problem if it's accurate?

[Skizzer]

Can this be made public - surely no problem if it's accurate?

 

It was accurate some time ago, but the car's changed hands a couple of times since then so it may have improved since (but evidently not to the extent of getting an MOT).  

 

The gist of it is, there's lots of good points but at that time both front wings, the sills, the spare wheel well, possibly the doors and - this is the killer - the chassis eyes where the driveshafts pass through were all rotten.  The engine was shot and needed a full rebuild, which nobody's claiming it's had since.

 

It's still sub £1k and that seems a pretty fair price to me - much of the bodywork and the interior is good, some excellent, apart from the above.  Boringly, for once I'd rather pay £4k for a properly running, MOTd one (when I've got storage in a couple of months) than drop a grand on this plus £3k on some serious welding, wings, paint and a full engine rebuild. The chassis rails are a pig of a job by all accounts.

 

Normally I'd try to save all the unloved kittens, really, but I've got three slow-moving projects already.

[TagoraSX]

An engine rebuild is £3000+

[cort16]

3 grand! Given you can get nice ones for 4-5000 then I'd say holding out and spending a bit more is sensible. You don't want to be the person who fits ones of these with a 3 pot diahatsu diesel engine.

[skattrd]

Surely you would fit one of these with a new RX8 engine if it needed a new power-plant or £3k rebuild.

[TagoraSX]

As I have found out, the only way to buy one of these is to buy the best you can afford with an original engine. Fitting an RX-8 motor would be a world of pain.

[barmatt]

When I was a kid our neighbour had one of these in the very same colour, I absolutely loved it and still lust after them now but I've always been nervous of the wankel engines as I remember it destroying itself in a cloud of black smoke and then being replaced with the usual ford v4.

 

13 mins to go and currently at £1595 I suspect it may go a bit high. Good luck.

[Bren]

What did it go for?

[barmatt]

What did it go for?

 

30 secs to go

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1973-NSU-RO-80-2-OWNERS-MET-BROWN-SHOWING-49-000-MILES-/281622031361

 

 

Edit,

 

finished at £1795, did you buy it skizzer?

[stripped fred]

£1695.00

 

Sorry yes it went for £1795 in the end.

[cort16]

Seems quite strong money for something that needs welding and has a borked engine