I did a big old collect today and it looks like this...

[Fabergé Greggs]

After a long motorway journey at about 55mph I proudly present to you this '82 T25 in remarkably original and rust free condition, but with enough dings and chips to make parking it a worry-free experience. Ideal. 

It's air-cooled and an auto, so we can reasonably expect the MPG's to start with a 1 and heating to be marginal at best. Having been searching off and on for a while for one of these, this one seemed by far and away the best value so I can forgive its foibles.

Low owners, low miles, and garaged most of its life. All the good stuff. 

I did enjoy* a disappearing  brake pedal for a moment there on the M25, which came back with 3 pumps (don't we all).  Pulling over into the services revealed a sticky handbrake on OSR, which after removing the 20p stuck in the mechanism (yanking it on and off again a couple of times) hasn't returned and everything else went smoothly. 

More ownership experiences to follow... 

[purplebargeken]

Excellent colour.

[junkyarddog]

My Uncle and Aunt had a near identical one!!!😮

[doug]

I had one identical as well!! Off to look for pics of it.

[Turbowomble]

  On 18/04/2025 at 16:12, Fabergé Greggs said:

…which came back with 3 pumps (don't we all)

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Choked on my Courvoisier when I got to this line, well played

[Fabergé Greggs]

  On 18/04/2025 at 17:02, purplebargeken said:

Excellent colour.

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I swear it’s getting yellower every time I look at it 

[Matty]

  On 18/04/2025 at 18:15, Fabergé Greggs said:

I swear it’s getting yellower every time I look at it 

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My God that looks cleaner than a clean thing! Is it really that good? Excellent result either way, hope you enjoy it.

[vaughant]

Looks MINT .

 

[Zelandeth]

That contains considerably more metal than my old T25 did.  I thought being on a X plate it would have had the older style air intakes, though I can't remember now what year they actually changed them.

Should be a pleasant - if leisurely - way to cover distance though.  I remember for all the state mine was in that it rode really nicely and was actually pretty quiet on the move.  Mine was the old 1.6 engine so painfully underpowered though!  The gaping chasm between 3rd and 4th gear ratios definitely didn't help disguise that fact either.

[Fabergé Greggs]

  On 18/04/2025 at 18:23, Matty said:

My God that looks cleaner than a clean thing! Is it really that good? Excellent result either way, hope you enjoy it.

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Every panel has a dent of some form, but crucially the absence of rust does seem to defy logic. Paint seems largely original as is the interior (save for the front seats which have had new foam and been recovered). 

[Matty]

  On 18/04/2025 at 18:44, Fabergé Greggs said:

Every panel has a dent of some form, but crucially the absence of rust does seem to defy logic. Paint seems largely original as is the interior (save for the front seats which have had new foam and been recovered). 

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The biggest problem out of the way then. Great buy.

[doug]

My old one.

[Fabergé Greggs]

  On 18/04/2025 at 18:43, Zelandeth said:

That contains considerably more metal than my old T25 did.  I thought being on a X plate it would have had the older style air intakes, though I can't remember now what year they actually changed them.

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Google says '81, this being '82. 

  On 18/04/2025 at 18:43, Zelandeth said:

Should be a pleasant - if leisurely - way to cover distance though.  I remember for all the state mine was in that it rode really nicely and was actually pretty quiet on the move.  Mine was the old 1.6 engine so painfully underpowered though!  The gaping chasm between 3rd and 4th gear ratios definitely didn't help disguise that fact either.

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I had one 15 years ago and a prevailing memory is how nicely it rode. One minor gripe I have around this one is that it's got -25mm lowering springs which the PO did so it would fit through his garage door! Supposedly they are also uprated dampers. It doesn't look much lower to me but I can confirm that it rides worse and steers better than the memory of my last one. I think I'm going to get busy with some sound proof matting to tame the NVH a little- never before have I been so painfully aware of that nasty concrete section of M25. 

I've heard rumour of how underpowered the 1.6 is, though this being a 3 speed auto presumably it's gears are even wider spaced...

[Rustybullethole]

Looks a goodun well bought. 

One of the many things I live about these is that the dash is great for laying out all your curry tins on. More vehicles should be designed with this in mind. 

[stuboy]

  On 18/04/2025 at 16:12, Fabergé Greggs said:

 

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[Sigmund Fraud]

  On 18/04/2025 at 16:12, Fabergé Greggs said:

It's air-cooled and an auto

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Well bought, obvs !

[stuboy]

  On 18/04/2025 at 16:12, Fabergé Greggs said:

which came back with 3 pumps (don't we all)

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not on citalopram.......................... lol

[LightBulbFun]

intriguing I had no idea they did these in Automatic form! what gearbox would that be? did the beetle also have that option? eitherway looks very nice  perfect for sloshing around Central London, selling overpriced coffee out the side of it as a sideline then?  

[drewd]

Well that looks handsome! Well bought.

We had an 1.6 aircooled van that my dad converted to a camper when I was growing up. I loved it, but it was painfully slow. Steep hills were ascended in 1st at pedestrian pace, but I've fond memories of that van.

[barefoot]

Is it the same Marino yellow as my bay?

@LightBulbFun beetles didn't have the same slush box, they had a curious semi auto which was much more fun.

 

[Fabergé Greggs]

  On 18/04/2025 at 19:31, barefoot said:

9Is it the same Marino yellow as my bay?

@LightBulbFun beetles didn't have the same slush box, they had a curious semi auto which was much more fun.

 

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This is bamboo apparently- not a lot in it! 

[Zelandeth]

  On 18/04/2025 at 19:03, Fabergé Greggs said:

Google says '81, this being '82. 

I had one 15 years ago and a prevailing memory is how nicely it rode. One minor gripe I have around this one is that it's got -25mm lowering springs which the PO did so it would fit through his garage door! Supposedly they are also uprated dampers. It doesn't look much lower to me but I can confirm that it rides worse and steers better than the memory of my last one. I think I'm going to get busy with some sound proof matting to tame the NVH a little- never before have I been so painfully aware of that nasty concrete section of M25. 

I've heard rumour of how underpowered the 1.6 is, though this being a 3 speed auto presumably it's gears are even wider spaced...

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From what a friend did with theirs the single biggest refinement improvement they found was putting sound deadening in the boxes under the front seats.  Apparently those enclosures act like resonance chambers.

Those concrete sections are bloody awful!

[HMC]

Lovely, reminds me of @worldofceri ‘s old one

[worldofceri]

  On 19/04/2025 at 08:13, HMC said:

Lovely, reminds me of @worldofceri ‘s old one

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Mine was browner, rustier, and manualler  but otherwise identical.

[MorrisItalSLX]

That looks stupendous! Congratulations to whoever ordered it new with a badermatic.

Can’t wait to see it set all up in camping mode.

[Macscrooge]

That looks to be in great nick. The rich folk across the road when I was a kid bought one of these (beige over orange I think) in the late 70s when they packed in towing a caravan (with a Chrysler 180). 

[Marshall2810]

That's beautiful and unbelievably clean, well done sir 

[The Vicar]

  On 18/04/2025 at 19:19, Sigmund Fraud said:

Well bought, obvs !

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Is it just me who likes it more for the fact that it’s auto? 

[Rightnider]

Lovely machine.
 

I had a 2-litre as auto bay (ex police car) some 20 years ago. It had the looks and the space, but it was unbelievably thirsty. 15 mpg, and 22 on a gentle run. 
 

Everything was spot on, injection, ignition timing and brakes. And the speed didn’t make up for the thirst, so to say.  

[2flags]

That looks fantastic. Very clean. Air cooled and auto. You are going to be popular on the motorway sir! Plan for back roads only then?