HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

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AlexLawson1994
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HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by AlexLawson1994 »

Hi, so as the title suggests. Ill be passing my driving test very soon and doing so ive decided the best root for me to go down is to drive a moggie for a year or two to get my ncb's up. Im on a really tight budget for it. Around 500 for the car in whatever condition. I have access to tools such as a welder, A sheet metal cutter and all the other tools any mechanic can access. So Id be wanting a 4 door model morris minor with the 1098cc engine as this works out cheapest on insurance for me. Ive got hopefully around 400-500 for redoing the body work and such. Do you think this is possible or am i dreaming on it? i dont want to spend too much as im only going to be using it to travel from sheffield to university. An example of a morris id be looking towards is something like the image below V V V

Id really appreciatte some input. Also what sort of things should i look out for when purchasing one for the price ive set? and does anyone know the pcd of a morris minor wheel aswell? and is the morris a fairly straight forward car to maintain compared to say something such as a ford fiesta or a fiat punto?

Thanks for any help![frame]Image[/frame]




EDIT: I also dont fancy the trafficors on the doors. I hate those things. So whatever year above those would be helpful :)
bmcecosse
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by bmcecosse »

Welcome to the forum - can only advise buying the least rusty example you can find - under body condition is EVERYTHING - mechanical repairs are all easy and relatively inexpensive, and much simpler than any modern cars. Don't worry about wheels -the PCD is 4" and NO modern car wheels will fit....
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MarkyB
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by MarkyB »

to get my ncb's up
Make sure that this is going to happen, I think that not all classic policies will accrue NCB.
However you will be getting older which insurance companies do cut premiums for :)

"Once you break something you will see how it was put together"
LUR759H
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by LUR759H »

I think you will very lucky to find a MM that price!!! i have discovered MMs are for people with spare cash as these cars always need something doing....

Ill be watching the post it will be interesting to see what you get and how long you stay around....

Mind you this is an unbelievable site and you will find all the help you need for buying and rebuilding but if you are only spending £500 on the car you will need to spend a lot on the rebuild.

Good luck my friend!!!!


Alan
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by Chipper »

Trafficators were fitted to Minors from 1948 up to August 1961, according this link:

http://potteries.mmoc.org.uk/ID/Lights.htm

The Minor is an easy car to maintain in standard form, and fairly easy to upgrade to some mod cons, such as spin-on oil filter, alternator, disc brakes, etc., to make it even easier to live with as a daily driver.
Maurice, E. Kent
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by Bear »

spend £1000 on a KA or a Corsa you need to spend a lot more than £500 on a decent Morris.
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d_harris
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by d_harris »

There are bargains out there and generally the autumn/winter is the time to look for classics as the market the market is depressed.

As others have said, if you do get one get the best you can possibly afford, spend the full whack on something that doesn't need work rather than budgeting fix-it up money. For £500 you are likely to get a time and money pit that will drive you bonkers and empty your bank account, for £1000 you have a good chance of getting a tatty but solid car that may need a few things doing. From experience, trying to do serious work to a car as a student is a real pain the posterior, you have far more important things to be doing like going out drinki-umm, going to lectures and doing coursework...

AlexLawson1994
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by AlexLawson1994 »

Was really surprised how quickly i had replies! cheers everyone! Well unfortunately with me being only 20. The insurance is still raping me severely :cry: so for a corsa at my current location or my parents home addresses it costs roughly around 3000 to insure a corsa. Its actually cheaper for me to buy a 1.6 audi a3 sport on a 04-06 plate than it is to buy a corsa which is so silly really. Ive found that the 4 door im looking for seems to be a 'rare' model. Which is quite unfortunate as personally 4 doors are way better than 2 aha. But the 2 doors seem to be everywhere on ebay, cars and classic, here? for next to nothing. Literally found a nice clean one in a creamy looking colour 3 door that only needed interior items, that was 600 i think. But those extra doors drop my insurance by 200 quid although 700 quid is still EXTREMELY cheap for a first car aha. The guy at the bottom PROPS to you haha Drinki... uhm lectures :lol:
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by bmcecosse »

I can't imagine why having 4 doors costs less insurance than having 2 doors !! Bonkers. Show us a link to the 'creamy' car please! And no - there is no NCB on a Classic Car policy..
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tysonn
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by tysonn »

As far as I'm aware most need you to be 25 years old.
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by alexmcguffie »

25 for classic insurance? I was 18 when I took my first classic policy out but insurance might have moved on since then! I did have to spend more than £500 to get a Minor in sensible condition and it still needed a chassis leg any half a cross member. A Ka/Micra must be a cheaper option once repairs etc are taken into account.
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by ASL642 »

The Club run a special Young Member's Scheme with Footman James for people under 25years. You have to join MMOC. and then quote your membership number.

Contact their rep "Dave@FJ" as poster on this site? He will be able to help you. Ring him don't use their website it's a bit misleading.

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tysonn
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by tysonn »

Well OK then I'll rephrase my post.From my experience of trying to put my grandson on my classic car insurance when he was 22 I would have had to change the well known company I was using as they said they wouldn't do it till he was 25.Bear in mind that another proviso CAN BE(wouldn't want to get it wrong)that it's not your everyday car.
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by neilmorey »

Since you've already got insurance quotes on modern cars it should be possible to get a quote from a broker for a Morris you're yet to purchase. However, whilst insurers may differ but my classic policy requires that I have another car as my main vehicle so a Historic policy may not be an option.
The Morris has been used by people for 40+ years as reliable transport but it will require more routine checks and maintenance than a modern and of course security may be an issue to your insurer depending where you live. My insurer insists on a secondary security device but they don't care if it is Thatcham approved, no real logic there.
25 years ago my friends at college had a Beetle, Mk2 Escort and the car I liked the most, a Triumph GT6.
Good luck with whatever you buy.
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by irmscher »

Try RH a brilliant firm
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by chickenjohn »

I don't think RH will cover you if you are under 25! But yes they are a brilliant insurance company.

As for the OP's question, provided you are OK with the "Rat" look, then yes, it is possible to pick up a project Minor for £500 and get it MOT'd for £500, BUT...

You will need to buy the right car very carefully and budget very carefully so try and get a project car with four good tyres and serviceable brakes for example, that will save hundreds in parts. If you fabricate as many panels as possible to repair the rust then that can save money over bought panels.

Have a look at Taupe's traveller thread to see how to make your own repair panels! And it goes without saying that you will need to do all the work yourself to save on garage labour. and it could take at least a year of spare time, depending how rusty the car is.
Cheers John - all comments IMHO
- Come to this years Kent branches Hop rally! http://www.kenthop.co.uk
(check out the East Kent branch website http://www.ekmm.co.uk )
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by chickenjohn »

and YES! a Minor will be much easier and cheaper to maintain than a modern car.
bmcecosse
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by bmcecosse »

And no Road Tax to pay...
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AlexLawson1994
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by AlexLawson1994 »

Hey guys! havent been on here in a little while! just been working hard to boost my budget aha! but yeah! im not sure why the 4 door is cheaper but after fiddling around with the boxes on money supermarket ive managed to get the 2 door down to just shy of £495 for the year on third party F+T which id be happy enough to pay for! i havent checked classic insurance yet and the company offering me insurance for £495 is called flux direct which may or may not be classic, but hey they offer it me fully knowing my age so im not complaining aha! Ive started looking through the taupe traveller build thread aswell and its definitely pushing me more towards the minor :lol: and i noticed someone mention 'ratting' which made my eyes glow really! id love a ratty morris haha, this one looks quite 'no f*cks given' aswell which id happily have! Also can anyone shine some light on wheel sizes and stuff, i dont really like then original morris wheel and well im not gonna be that guy to stick a set of 20" tis spinners on it, i do fancy upgrading to something a little wider but im not sure on what specifications i should be looking for? like 4x100 and what centre bore should i be looking at? i wouldnt quite mind some 14-15" mini lites or some weller rims or banded steelies :P thanks guys!
bmcecosse
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Re: HELP BUYING MY FIRST CAR TIGHT BUDGET

Post by bmcecosse »

As soon as you take the car away from standard you MUST tell the Insurance co - and likely the premium will go up. There are NO modern car wheels that fit a Minor - so yes Minilite type wheels are available from eg JLH at a price of course.. The Minor PCD is 4 inches - and NO, 100 mm PCD wheels will NOT fit. There are relatively 'rare' van wheels which are 4.5" wide (viz the 3.5" standard wheels) which allow comfortable use of 155 tyres - but again these wheels are not inexpensive these days, if you can find them !
Edit - as it happens - there are two for sale ! http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=57819
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