Ben's right, bubbling under a vinyl roof is always a bad sign, you have to assume it's going to be tender under there, bad glue goes more flappy.
If you want a 1 of 1 project there's the remains of the only Holden Brougham ever officially imported into the UK for evaluation as to whether to import more officially, sadly it's going to donate it's V8 and running gear. There are pictures of it on the net.
He's talking about the pillar trim, not the roof. The pillar can rust underneath the vinyl as you might expect, but they can also readily have the vinyl (original was apparently actually plastic) trim come detached.
I can't see how a car can be judged to be terminally rotten from a couple of pictures online. Yes there maybe crust, but not enough detail to say the whole car is rotten.
DodgeRover wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:33 am
Ok i've looked at the pictures. I would want to have a damn good close up in person look at it.
Is that seriously what they are worth now?
Good price for a Dolly Sprint and been on for a few weeks, so possibly could get bit of a discount. However I'm wondering if I should save a couple more months and spend £6k, instead of £3k for a better example. As we all know, it's usually better (at this end of the market) to buy one with as few faults as possible and spend a little more.
Everything on that one is within my abilities to fix, but I'm not sure I cba to be doing a shite load of welding and mechanical work again. At least I could use it straight away though.
I'd give that a swerve unless you want a daily beater or a big project.
The B pillar rot is unusual and suggests it's potentially had new outer sills but not inners, always a warning sign. The A and B pillar repairs also look very fillery to me. The arches have been previously repaired badly with NOS panels and a re-rotting out, the boot floor under the fuel tank is gone which means the bottom the the tank will be wafer thin and they always go at the corners of the boot first, so that'll be fucked. There is a rust bleb on the top of the bulkhead (under bonnet shot), my 1850 had a similar bleb and a prod revealed most of the top section was wafer thin as they rust from the inside out. Fixing it is a dash/screen out job. C pillar trims do just go saggy with age, easy to tell if its rot as you prod them and they crunch, door bottoms aren't a major concern.
Potentially worth a view and a good prodding but I reckon that's one step away from being a full strip down unless you're happy running a fucked old snotter, a'la me.
1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL - Field based greenhouse. 1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 - Lean green oil dripping machine. 1983 Triumph Acclaim L - Japanglish daily runner. 1989 Volvo 740GLE Estate - Mobile storage unit.
God what a grumpy bunch lot you are. That Sprint is a bit of a project if you want perfection but it is mot'ed and can be driven. You get fuck all now days for 3 grand so it is worth a look. Buy it run it round and see if you actually like the thing before getting involved in full restorations. I am sure even if it is a total dog the worst you can lose is a couple of grand. There are no end of "restored" cars with shiney paint that are hiding far worse that that and are twice the price/ Go have a look if you like it buy it. It isn't my thing as BL never built a decent car since they took over from BMC
panhard65 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:21 am. There are no end of "restored" cars with shiney paint that are hiding far worse that that and are twice the price/ Go have a look if you like it buy it.
Agreed. But if you're in the position where you can save up for a couple of months and double your budget you may as well do that.
How that car got an MOT with the fuel tank hanging out it's arse I don't know. Even my local garage who passed my 1850 with the steering column holding the subframe on wouldn't have declared that alright...
1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL - Field based greenhouse. 1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 - Lean green oil dripping machine. 1983 Triumph Acclaim L - Japanglish daily runner. 1989 Volvo 740GLE Estate - Mobile storage unit.