R1100 & R1006

[millermilla]

Hiya, I went and viewed both of these cars today so I thought I would put my findings on here should anyone else be interested in buying either.

R1100 H277CND BRG £9000 35000miles

I got quite excited at the prospect of looking at this car. It ticked all the right boxes, low miles, a few owners, new MOT, private owned, no rust and looks great in the photos.
Right from the start though alarm bells started to ring when I spoke to the owner. He has not owned it very long, only a few months and driven it only about 10 miles? He claims it wasn't running very well when he got the car in a swop deal with a motor trader up north so since buying it had replaced the ignition module and head gasket which were confirmed by a visual inspection. Im sure he also said some valve work had been done. The MOT was recent however the TAX was SORN so could not be driven. The history is pretty good up until 2001 after which there is nothing until 2007/8. The last mileage on the MOT in 2001 was about 32,000 and according to the owner it sat in storage for 6 years hence the low mileage and no MOT's to back the mileage. Visually the car looks quite good, very little body rust with just a few very minor bits in the usual places. It also looked very original with all the correct ERA parts.

What put me off however was that the car had new front wings, valance and slam panel. The new panels had been spot welded with a mig not very neatly especially when you looked under the arches. It was quite obvious to see work had been done. Sadly whoever fitted the slam panel threw away the brass ERA number plaque which is a real shame. The owner was quite upfront about the repair work and there were receipts showing the work had been carried out to repair corrosion so it doesnt seem on paper to be hiding any nasty crash damage and from what I could see the subframe, radiators, pipes on the front of the engine are all original which doesnt indicate crash damage.

Both sills had been repaired with new sills welded over old and large patches were on both front inner wheel arches. Both rear arches also had patches by the rear subframe at the radius arm bolts and both front floor pans had been welded and were pretty dented from poor jacking point placement.

The engine looked clean but had been tarted up with a bit of paint but without a test drive it was hard to see how good it was other than that from a cold start it had good oil pressure and only smoked a little on start. The boost gauge showed a small positive pressure with a blip of the throttle and sounded OK apart from a small exhaust blow from the downpipe that would need replacing. Tappets were very rattly but maybe they just need adjusting after the head work.

To conclude it wasnt quite the car I was expecting and for 9K I would want a car that didnt have quite so many welded patches, a new front end and a more thorough history to back the mileage.


R1006 BRG F70 BVP 26,000miles £8995


I first went and looked at this car 9 years ago and it's still there unsold which is a bad sign I guess. The car is very hard to see as it's wedged between a wall and another mini. From what I could see it's completely original and doesnt look like its ever been welded or had bodywork however looking underneath it looks pretty rusty but mostly just surface rust. The interior is grubby and a bit musty. Exterior paintwork is fair to good with only a very few small rust scabs however there are quite a few scratches and scrapes all over but nothing too serious.

It worried me that the car has not been used for so long and I would be concerned over oil seals, tyres, wheel bearings, clutch, turbo etc. I was assured everything would be sorted out for sale and a new MOT would be put on the car. The salesmen were both quite helpfull and honest regarding the car and confirmed they had owned it since 1998 and it had been in the showroom ever since with the exception of it being prepared for sale 18 months ago which fell through.

My main concern was that having paid nearly 9K for a car I could drive it down the road and just about anything could go wrong given it has sat idle for so long. It was made quite clear that even at full price no warranty would be offered but they "would help out" if anything major did go wrong. Not that I dont trust car salesmen but I would want something a bit more set in stone than that. It would also be a major problem should a major mechanical failure happen as any goodwill repair would need returning to base.

To conclude I didnt think it was a great car however I would be a little more protected buying from a dealer than I would privately and although the car is a long way off perfect it wouldnt take too much. The history with the car is very good and at least I know where its been for the last 10 years! Sadly I made quite a good offer close to the asking price and had a deposit ready to leave but they rejected it without question. I wasn't about to get into haggling over a few hundred pounds for a car that wasnt that great so I walked away. Maybe ill go back in another 10 years!


Hope this helps anyone that might be interested in either of these cars.

[Jezza]

Paul at New Acre cars in Coventry has got a couple of ERA's that he has repatriated from Japan (both apparently UK spec cars) - I have not seen either but he owns a black ERA himself and is a genuine enthusiast so it might be worth giving him a ring?

I think he was looking for around £7K upwards.

[millermilla]

Thanks im going up to see Paul on Wednesday.

Also I notice R1100 has been reduced now to £7995