A tough choice - sell your last 'shite' car?

[Pillock]

How would you cope with not a hundred, not a dozen, not even one shite car in the household?A few of you will know I have a late model VW Type 3 tucked away. It's a cracking car, kitted out for dragracing with a flipfront and decent motor, twin 40s and all that jazz. But it's not been driven for 5 years, it looks shit, and I never get the time to go and fettle it. I can't park it at home, it would be trashed by the local shits overnight. Most importantly, I'm fugging skint to the max.Other than that, I have no other shite. I have the use of a 2001 Saxo which is shite without the 'e' but nothing I can call my own.I'd love to get the Type 3 on the road and making me smile but in my heart I know it's not going to happen. It needs all the work a 5-year-stood car will need to brakes and pipes and stuff. It needs carpet, seats, instruments, paint, door panels and other trim, bumpers, exhaust and other stuff. I don't want to drive it half-finished, I hate 'ratlook'.I've had it 7 years and driven it 90 miles. I love it but it annoys me that it's not more usable.Do I pick up the phone and accept the £400 I had offered....?

[Mr Lobster]

Do I pick up the phone and accept the £400 I had offered....?

It's a very personal decision, but I would say yes.If you know it's only going to sit there, slowly deteriorating then you might as well sell it.I had the same situation a few years ago. Had a Mk1 R5 Le Car2, I'd owned it for around ten years and it was my pride and joy. I had bought loads of new panels and rare bits for it but it hadn't been used in three or four years and I knew that I would never get around to fixing it myself and wouldn't / couldn't spend the money on a profesional restoration. I ended up selling the whole lot for about £500 which was really the best thing I could have done. It hurt to do it if I'm honest but at least I got some money from it and the guy who broke it at least got some use from it (not to mention a load of rare as hens teeth R5 panels).

[mouseflakes]

Yes.You may not be in a position to get some useable shite right now, but when you are, the VW will make you feel you should work on that instead.So, let it go and clear the way for getting something you can use and enjoy when the time is right.EDIT: Just read the post from mk1_4dr below - obviously I'm saying 'yes' to getting shot of the car - assuming the money you're offered is a realistic amount - I've no idea what these things are worth to a 'dubber (I'm afraid I value anything that's unusable as if it's scrap).

[mk1_4dr]

Don't touch the phone, its worth more than 400 any day. Theres probably that in the carbs and manifold if they're webbers. You need to have a long hard think, if your really never gonna see the road in it again, you need to do a 'proper' valuation. Whats the body like? Rot? Pics?

[Pillock]

It needs no welding for the MoT, but the edges of the inner rear wings are starting to go frilly.

 

 

 

Part of it is that I really could do with the cash, part of it is that I'm not going to do anything with it in the near future so someone else might as well be enjoying it.... the interested guy is working for my mechanic-dude so it'll probably get fixed up and enjoyed pretty quickly.

Might be able to get the price up a bit, £400 was his first offer to see how desperate I was.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Yes.You may not be in a position to get some useable shite right now, but when you are, the VW will make you feel you should work on that instead.So, let it go and clear the way for getting something you can use and enjoy when the time is right.EDIT: Just read the post from mk1_4dr below - obviously I'm saying 'yes' to getting shot of the car - assuming the money you're offered is a realistic amount - I've no idea what these things are worth to a 'dubber (I'm afraid I value anything that's unusable as if it's scrap).

But doesn't this have shades of the situation you had with your R16 & somebody convinced you you could turn the situation around & advised you to stick with it?

[Guest Kyle]

I had to do it last year, my kids were being abused and were placed with me by social services. I had to stop work and start from scratch with their clothes, uniforms, shoes etc. Had no money coming in so the first things to go were my cars. Do I regret it? No.Do I miss my cars? Do I ever....It's awful not having something to play with and occupy my mind for the future.If that Type 3 was mine I wouldn't sell it, they fetch decent wedge and it isn't that bad. Just think, will you ever have the money to replace it?Once the money is gone, it's gone.....

[Pillock]

I know... I'm smart enough to know "If you ever sell it on, can I have first dibs" means jack sh't all really so once it's gone I might as well give up on it.Posting the pictures, I look at it and it does look smart, and I'd love to picture myself turning up to a show in it all painted and shiny. But it really is rough cosmetically. It only needs a small amount of wedge spending - just some seats and brake consumables would get it roadworthy, then start prettifying it. But i have to remember I have NO money right now, nothing at all.AAARGH.

[Spottedlaurel]

I say sell, but ideally for a bit more than £400 and making sure that the guy who takes it on really will do something with it.I’ve sold two old Skylines in last 2-3 years, which ideally I’d still have. Letting the maroon one go was a wrench, I’d had it for nine years but it was starting to go downhill and the money tied up in it has gone towards more useable cars (the hardtop JDM Laurel, then the current slightly older one). It’s gone to someone who I believe will do the right thing by it, so I’m happy enough. I regret the sale of the yellow one more, not so much because I let it go too cheap for what was a very solid example, but because the guy who bought it did it up quickly then sold it on again. Even so, better that it’s living a new life rather than festering away in my ownership.

[wuvvum]

Wot they all said /\. I'd give you £400 for that and I couldn't give a rat's arse about Volkswagens, so someone who's into the whole "dub" scene would probably pay substantially more. Then once your finances are a bit healthier you can go out and buy something shite but needing less work.

[garethj]

Dunno about the value, but I do know the VW crowd are very familiar with "I love it, it's worth loads. Oh by the way I'm not actually going to hand over cash for it"Old VWs come and go in terms of fashion and value but T3s are always on the outskirts, although they are ahead of 411s and 412s If you haven't done anything with it for a while, I'd say sell. £400 (or £500 if you can get it) is quite handy to have, and whatever the car is, you can always find another one when time and funds allow.Finding the next car is part of the fun

[Pillock]

TBH I'd buy something usable - the Type3 is a great laugh but the practicality value is zero - it needs to be a third car, after a 'sensible diesel estate' and a 'little runaround for her' sort of thing. A weekend car. I'd probably go to work in it once for a laugh but not every day.I've also got some wheels for it.... Kinky Mick has an identical set for £350 but they're so rare, they're only worth something if someone wants them. Seen four other sets ever. I'd be probably thinking closer to £6-700 for the car and maybe £200 for the wheels now I've got my sensible head on. But I still don't know if I'd regret it instantly

[VWPowered]

moneys money better 400 notes now rather than 50 after another 5 years of nothingness...if you really gonna do it up best to cover it over type 3's really love to rust

[pogweasel]

Hard choices!I went through the same with my Super Minx, in the end paying the mortgage won out, and with it needing £800 in work to make it MoT-able, it wasn't going to happen quickly. Be good if you could find a happy home for it, rather than it ending up a fanboi driveway ornament...

[VWPowered]

driveway ornament...

even though it does make an awesome ornament at that

[Pillock]

They don't really rust badly, it's good old-fashioned German Tin and though it's had a few extremities replaced (I've done both doors, and both rear wings are the wrong colour inside) the main guts have had very little done.

 

I'm still torn but I think I'll leave it till I'm not gagging for the cash to decide so it's not a rush decision.

 

Part of the reason to keep it is that it does have some history to it.... it used to be a regular at York Dragway and I'm told that it was owned by someone who worked there, so it used to get trotted out in different colours each season. This agrees with the fact I found 14 different shades of paint on the C pillar, and the front looked like this when I rubbed the matt black down...

 

 

A guy I work with also remembers seeing it parked locally in the early 90s on his mum's estate. Previously to that it's Yorkshire registered and kept so it's not gone far.