Dodgy shit hidden by sellers

[Boycie]

Had to replace the NSF alloy on a 2000 mile c class last week , came back and one the drivers said it was vibrating under braking , on closer inspection it had 4 x the required wheel weights and a Chinese death ring in place of the factory continental , fair to say the alloy was toast , cost us all in about £800 to fix ....

[barefoot]

19 hours ago, Richard_FM said:

I've heard of a Vauxhall Victor FA which had a railway sleeper bodged in under the rear seat to try to hold it in place after the usual rot in the rear floor caught hold.

My Uncle repaired his Sunbeam Rapier with a bodged in sleeper to replace part of the rotten chassis.

In other exciting shit car news, I once went to buy a Mitsubishi FTO for a grand. It had been taken in p/x by a local retailer of exotica. Chap spent ages thumbing through great wads of service history before we went out to the car. It looked very nice, but it wouldn't start because the battery had gone flat. Not a bother, out came the jump pack & the V6 clattered into life, and kept on clattering while it pumped some oil up to the hydraulic lifters. Again, not a bother, TADTS probably. And off I went on my test drive... It was quite exciting, the old manual overide on the gearbox was good fun, but I soon realised that if I left it to its own devices it would only shift between 3rd & 4th. And then I spotted the temp gauge stuck right up at the top of its travel, so I drove it gently back to the garage. I pointed out the faults & to my amazement, the chap said that it wasn't a problem, he'd have both faults resolved for the original price & he'd give me a ring in about a week or so.

12 years on & I'm still waiting for him to call.

[chris667]

One of my earliest memories as a child is wondering why my dad was stuffing newspaper into the wing of an Alfetta he was about to sell.

Those were really beautiful cars, apart from the rust.

[New POD]

14 hours ago, Wibble said:

Yes! I’ve got that book🤣🤣

I fucking wrote edition 2 of the revised version. As yet in published. But teak is structural, right? Morgan use Ash, so teak must be. 

[New POD]

On 29/05/2022 at 06:57, Boycie said:

We received a load of cars from our Stansted branch last summer , on it was a 18 plate Fiat 500 with alloy wheels off a 08 plate 500 ........rattle canned silver with 4 Chinese death rings on them .....took over a week to get a refurb set , Stansted manager struggled for an explanation .....still got the old sitting in our garage at the yard 

Either a customer swapped them, or an employee swapped them. Or the tyre company swapped them.  Either way, just look for an 2008 fiat 500 with 2018 wheels.  That's alot of wheels. 

[davehedgehog31]

I looked at an MOTless MK1 Punto a few years back, really low mileage one owner car, but had been out of test for a couple of years.

Really nice on top, looked underneath and the front subframe was absolutely, completely fucked, fist size holes, think it has probably been parked on grass for a while. I wouldn't even have driven it to the end of the road. It was absolutely shagged.

Guy was a shiny doorstep trader type and stormed off in a huff when I told him I wouldn't be taking it. Was in the scrappy in Inverkeithing a few months later and there it was, had been comprehensively picked over for spares. Goodnight sweet prince. 

[JeeExEll]

7 hours ago, davehedgehog31 said:

I looked at an MOTless MK1 Punto a few years back, really low mileage one owner car, but had been out of test for a couple of years.

Really nice on top, looked underneath and the front subframe was absolutely, completely fucked, fist size holes, think it has probably been parked on grass for a while. I wouldn't even have driven it to the end of the road. It was absolutely shagged.

Guy was a shiny doorstep trader type and stormed off in a huff when I told him I wouldn't be taking it. Was in the scrappy in Inverkeithing a few months later and there it was, had been comprehensively picked over for spares. Goodnight sweet prince. 

 

I made the huge error of parking a Mk3 Capri 3.0S in long grass for about a year, 1991/2.  Fucking idiot.  There was an unbelievable advance in underbody rot over that time.

Sold for spares / repairs and scrapped in the 90s.  It was only about 12 / 13 years old.

[Wibble]

8 hours ago, New POD said:

I fucking wrote edition 2 of the revised version. As yet in published. But teak is structural, right? Morgan use Ash, so teak must be. 

😂Absolutely! Teak is indeed a very hard wood.

[Ben_O]

On 5/29/2022 at 7:26 PM, Wibble said:

Yes! I’ve got that book🤣🤣

Didn't some Haynes manuals have a colour double page spread on how to repair the big hole in your bright red 205's quarter panel using filler?

[cobblers]

On 5/29/2022 at 6:57 AM, Boycie said:

We received a load of cars from our Stansted branch last summer , on it was a 18 plate Fiat 500 with alloy wheels off a 08 plate 500 ........rattle canned silver with 4 Chinese death rings on them .....took over a week to get a refurb set , Stansted manager struggled for an explanation .....still got the old sitting in our garage at the yard 

I bought a brand new Abarth 500 in 2016 and it came with three tyres dated 2016 (and they were all brand new with the lines round em still etc) and one wheel with kerb marks coloured in with black pen and a part worn 2013 dated tyre. 

[MantaGTE85]

4 hours ago, Ben_O said:

Didn't some Haynes manuals have a colour double page spread on how to repair the big hole in your bright red 205's quarter panel using filler?

Yes, in the early '90s I had a Micra K10 HBOL with that page-spread. I was reading it in absolute amazement that you could get a PSA-factory perfect paint finish out of a Holts-tin.. 

[cobblers]

11 hours ago, cobblers said:

I bought a brand new Abarth 500 in 2016 and it came with three tyres dated 2016 (and they were all brand new with the lines round em still etc) and one wheel with kerb marks coloured in with black pen and a part worn 2013 dated tyre. 

Oh and the tyreweld kit in the boot went out of date in 2013 or something, and on my first service (at 1200 miles/2 months old because I was a fucking dipshit) they tried to sell me a new one for £97 

[RoverFolkUs]

Here we have a finest offering from Facebook: 

I wonder which part it is that's needed to restore compression to the bad cylinder? Don't you mean extensive top end rebuild? 

A 1.6 HDi with an anti-pollution fault. "Might be this, might be that, might be an easy fix" - just say the DPF is fucked/blocked... 

Maybe they aren't trying to hide anything, just ill-informed? Anyway - my point stands 

[Boycie]

On 5/30/2022 at 10:06 AM, New POD said:

Either a customer swapped them, or an employee swapped them. Or the tyre company swapped them.  Either way, just look for an 2008 fiat 500 with 2018 wheels.  That's alot of wheels. 

Prob a customer , in 2005 we had a local take a new E Class away and bring it back with a set of 80s spec alloys in its place .......we laughed , pointed to the CCTV and asked to return the correct wheels pronto .....he did , chucked them out the back of a ragged mk4 escort 

[Boycie]

On 5/31/2022 at 9:34 PM, cobblers said:

Oh and the tyreweld kit in the boot went out of date in 2013 or something, and on my first service (at 1200 miles/2 months old because I was a fucking dipshit) they tried to sell me a new one for £97 

Sounds like one of the staff had a slight " accident " , when I worked at a Citroen garage a brand new XM estate and ZX had a coming together in the holding yard .....both were repaired and sold .....I'm sure they told the new owners .....not 

[sierraman]

8 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Here we have a finest offering from Facebook: 

I wonder which part it is that's needed to restore compression to the bad cylinder? Don't you mean extensive top end rebuild? 

A 1.6 HDi with an anti-pollution fault. "Might be this, might be that, might be an easy fix" - just say the DPF is fucked/blocked... 

Maybe they aren't trying to hide anything, just ill-informed? Anyway - my point stands 

They probably don’t know exactly what’s up with it, what they do know is that it’s fucked.

[New POD]

As my old Grand Mother used to say.  Nobody sells a car that's great. 

[Sham]

5 minutes ago, New POD said:

As my old Grand Mother used to say.  Nobody sells a car that's great. 

This. There is something wrong with all of them. A buyer needs to work out what that is, and whether the seller is getting rid of a dud or just can't do the work himself/ doesn't think the garage bill is worth it.

[inconsistant]

I disagree, some cars become unsuitable for owners changed circumstances, or owners fancy something newer. Not often though! 

[warch]

On 5/31/2022 at 10:20 AM, Ben_O said:

Didn't some Haynes manuals have a colour double page spread on how to repair the big hole in your bright red 205's quarter panel using filler?

Ironically about the most rust resistant car of that era was the 205

[GMcD]

I've been mostly lucky.  All minor stuff compared to most.

Seen many a tarted up motor over the years on London Road in Glasgow.  I echo @big_al_granvia  comments -  Ayrshire seems to specialize in shit traders. But all close to home so I've just laughed and moved on. 

I did drive to Manchester once to buy an "immaculate" MR2 Rev1 turbo from a trader that had rear arches made of filler and a huge exhaust leak ("sports exhaust innit"). That fucked me off and put me off long distance collections for a long time but on reflection it was only time and fuel wasted .

 

[Boycie]

Would you perhaps be talking about Killie .......remember Wypers use to rule the roost in Ayrshire in the 90s and early 000s .....some of the stories I heard while in the trade about them !!!

[AnnoyingPentium]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:27 PM, Gerrymcd said:

Ayrshire seems to specialize in shit traders.

Hence why I travelled to Hamilton for my shitbox. Yaris sold as 'advisory free' was anything but when I did look at it... 🤣

[rainagain]

The Stilo I bought for my OH was described as just having a new head gasket and water pump fitted but it was still over heating. I changed the head gasket again and wasted a lot of time fault finding everything but the ‘new’ water pump. This is what the new pump looked like when I removed it. 

TBH once I had this sorted this was one of the better cars we’ve owned. I know Stilo’s get a lot of hate but it was well made inside and the soft long travel suspension gave it a nice ride. The 1.2 16V engine with the six speed box was quick enough  and good on fuel when cruising. 

[wuvvum]

Stilos are cracking cars.

[Out Run]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:27 PM, Gerrymcd said:

I've been mostly lucky.  All minor stuff compared to most.

Seen many a tarted up motor over the years on London Road in Glasgow.  I echo @big_al_granvia  comments -  Ayrshire seems to specialize in shit traders. But all close to home so I've just laughed and moved on. 

I did drive to Manchester once to buy an "immaculate" MR2 Rev1 turbo from a trader that had rear arches made of filler and a huge exhaust leak ("sports exhaust innit"). That fucked me off and put me off long distance collections for a long time but on reflection it was only time and fuel wasted .

 

Rev 1. Someone likes to live dangerously! 😬

[rainagain]

Old skool smash the sills in and stuff with blue roll and fibre glass on my 307. The asshat who did this blocked up all the drains which meant I had to patch the inner sills as well as they were constantly sitting in a pool of water. I drilled a hole in one to let the water out. 

This is what it was made of

 

Add lightness

[paulplom]

10 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Stilos are cracking cars.

Literally. Looking at that water pump impellor.

[Split_Pin]

A story from 1998 this time.

Big Grant at the Haulage Company was a decent fellow, not perhaps the brightest but at nearly 7ft, could lift heavy things. He was so tall that he had to duck to see when driving his lorry as the seat didn't go down far enough. Poor sod.

Anyway, he bought a Sierra Sapphire. Normally these early MK2 Sierras had flappy door bottoms by this time but this one had Good Doors. It looked pretty smart at the time, painted in a very 90s shade of dark metallic pink. It obviously needed new brake discs because the next time I saw it after he'd had it around a week, the car was parked in our yard with the offside rear bumper hanging off with the brake discs he had recently bought to be fitted later,  poking through the collapsed boot floor. 

[HMC]

W210 merc estate I went to view once. I was impressed with the description of “ no rust”

Both wells in the boot had rotted out each side so you could see the road from the boot side hatches. Ignorance rather than deception maybe, but I would have to have checked the car out a bit more before saying there was “no rust” as a vendor. Plus - it’s a w210 pull the other one.