I've now sold my Beetle, so have an empty space to fill.

Been regreting selling my S1 the moment i watched it drive off. Did a 3.5 year resto on it, new nut and bolt everything and sold it for just shy of Ł6k back in 2006.

So i was gutted to see it on ebay last year, totally abused and in pieces again, the chap sold it for Ł1k with a blown up engine

Anyway after a brief ownership with the much over rated escort cosworth, and a hand full of other marquees. I keep getting drawn back to the S1.

Problem is theres is a lot of crap out there at the mo, and people passing off half arsed restos and mint cars, and asking rediculus money for them because "well i can break it for more" type statements.

Anyway ive found a nice S1, which is buy far from mint and will require a full stripdown resto. but it is currently a runner and is also 99% complete with ony parcel shelf missing!!!

Ł1500 is the asking price

All was going well, until the HPI, VRM number reported as stolen/recovered in 1991

Now is this really an issue, i know people wince at the thouhght of it, but really all it means is, it was unfortuinatly stolen but some thieving mindless chav and then found and returned to the owner/insurance co.

Bearing in mind the car is complete and i have big plans for my project, do i over look the HPi fact, on the basis that the car is complete and a will make a sound car for restoration albeit with a "dodgy" history?

Im not going to concourse originality so history is not a major issue!

What would you guys do, please vote and also make a comment.

I could use it for parts i suppose, but then i have to go through all the hastle of sourcing another Hpi clear S1 shell

 

problem is you will throw thousands at the car and whe you come to sell it, it will be worth nothing cause its stolen recovered

 

I would rather buy a stolen/recovered car than a insurance write off IMO. Personally it would depend on the condition of the shell as to whether I would buy it too

 

personally, if the car was what i wanted then it wouldnt bother me in the slightest and i think if you spent thousands on it and wanted to move it on it would be a very picky indervidual that would worry about that. and those that would be looking at the car would know that whatever the history is... its what it is right now as long as its legit at the time.. who gives a shit LOL

 

buy it. as long as everything is ok with the car, who cares about its hpi status as long as it aint a ringer, cut and shut, totally bent car etc etc etc. just buy and drive then sell for same price when you wanna let it go

 

lee if you do what i think your going to do which is give it a resto and then make a earner on it, it doesn't matter how good it is if you tell people its a dodgy right off you won't get the big money. i have seen and owned old written off rs's from the old days and i could tell they wern't as good as a cherished low miles low owner example.

 

wouldnt bother me, as said aslong as its not a ringer, cut and shut or been insurance write off you should be fine

 

Nope im done with "saving cars", ive promised my wife the next one i do will be a keeper.
In the 6 years ive known her ive had 9 project/resto cars!! opps

All the cars ive restored/rescued ive given sympathetic restos to, with a target audience in mind when the time comes to sell.

This new project is going to be different, infact i dont think ive ever seen it done to an S1 before ever!!! So in a way doing it to one with "bad" history may ease my mind and keep the lynch mob at bay!

The car will not be original concourse, but will it will be clean , hopeful mag feature.

Also i do not plan to throw Łssss's at it, I do all work my self from building the engine to laying on the paint. the car is complete mechanically, so will only want a few usual tuning items, and the interior/trim is complete so no money needed therr trawling the classifieds like i did for my last S1.

Im not too bothered about resale, the car will be what it is. ANyway i plan to keep it for a while, and i suppose i could always find a donor shell in the future when one comes up for sale!?

Im very supprised at the poll responses, but also worried

Like i say its not a ringer, not a minger, just an unfortuinate history due to some theiving scum!

Arr what to do!

 

Go for it mate,make it your own and keep it

 

stupid double posting turds!

 

on a newer car stolen rec would bother me. on a classic nah!

 

would bother you should you need to claim on insurance,,,, you will be paied out half the value of it due to being on HPI,,,, thats VERY important to consider when looking at rare cars !!!

its a little like Q plates

 

i would never gloss over the fact that the car has history and i don't mean service invoices. in its favour in 91 the cars were well out of production and a set of trimmand wheels etc would write it off no probs but i have had old stolen rec rs's with bodywork issues one being a 100% cut and shut sierra cosworth that i have never mentioned on here or anywhere else, as soon as i found out why it was cut and shut and was 2 differant cosworths welded together my mrs and kid never went in the car again, that car was stolen and recovered not recorded as accident damaged, i used to see all sorts of tricks by insurers who knew the score with rs's and classified them as best they could

 

For me it would be down to condition of the car, would you buy a wreck with perfect history or good condition car with a blemish.
Also, alot of cars can have a hidden past anyway, bumps and scraps fixed outside insurance.
In a few years there will be less of them about, so if someone wants buy it a blemish like this will probably be irrelevant.

 

this is a good point.....

i have never ever seen a old rs with a perfect history that has been a total wreck condition wise, i have seen total shite with no history bar being a write off though

 

But were not talking about megga money in the first place here.

The car is worth the asking price in parts alone. Which is where the dilema is.

Its a complete car with a bad history.

Or do i hang out for one of similar value, which has a hand full of stuff missing, like my last one, part of the reason why it took 3.5 years to do, due to sourcing the parts. but is hpi clear.

 

I dont really care about Stolen recovered cars or Tbh Total loss cars anymore.

As long as they have been re-built correctly using the geniuine parts.

And are that lil bit cheaper, then so be it.

.

 

I would worry far more about crash damage than a stolen recovered flag on some HPI register

If you're gonna keep it for a while surely you'll be buying purely on condition rather than mileage or HPI history. If you're doing a resto on it then the most solid/most complete car is the go

 

I used to work for a vehicle assessors a few years ago and never once did an engineer do that.

A car under 5 years previously being HPI recorded might make a difference to the Pre accident value but not half.

 

I can't believe that anyone would be fussed about a car being stolen back in 1991!!! That is 18 years ago!!!

I think too many people completely rely on the HPI check and either walk away from very good cars because of bad history or buy absolute wrecks because of good history.

One car that I bought a fews years had been stolen and recovered, however it was being stored at the time and so wasn't insured and so there was no record of it!!!

My sister had her Nova broken into many years ago, we found it at the end of the road as the thieving scum weren't able to break the steering lock. We had to replace the steering cowl and locks but again there was no record?

My current car was a category write off back in 2001. It unfortunately went head first into a hedge. As most cossie parts are difficult to source most are simply 'written off'
Since then it has been completely rebuilt and I believe looks better than most. It doesn't bother me in the slightest that an insurance company assesor looked at my car 8 years ago and thought 'Thats going to be difficult, lets just write it off and give the man some money and then sell the car for a good price'!

I suppose if I ever sell the car I will have to reduce the price but I think a genuine enthusiast will look at the car and realise what a great one it is.

I think there are alot worse things that happen to a car that the following owners never realise, such as shoddy repairs that do not involve an insurance company, track use etc.

Cheers

Paul

 

My first Cossie was Cat D accident registered in 1996 (I bought it in 2004). I got it a bit cheaper cos of it, and in the end it rusted to death and is being reshelled at present. The fact it was listed never ended up mattering at all in any way, it just saved me money.

Personally, the fact it's 18 years ago means that any problems would have arisen long since, so I'd go for it. If it was stolen/rec 1 or 2 years ago, I'd stop and think about it, and want more money off probably.

 

If it is just stolen recovered & not crashed or burnt then there cant be too much damage. Theres the lock or window they used to get into the car, the steering lock & the ignition barrel. As long as its properly repaired then its no problem what so ever

 

my mate IS a claims engineer AND my sister just wrote her car off to find out its a cat D and get half the value of it back minus the excess !!!

it DOES happen mate, i thought like you till i was shown otherwise, my mate does it all the time, its hes job to reduce the pay outs in what ever way he can and a write off is the easiest,, on a "classic car" history makes a difference so it would also affect the insurance value of it aswell

this aint some fiction but what ive seen and what my mate who works for nowich union does every day and has done for a few years

 

as i said i personally have owned a sierra cosworth that was only stolen recovered and had been cut and shut, right the way across the back end of the rear floor pan and across the c pillar.

i think if its a keeper Lee you already know what to do and if its worth what your paying in parts its not a big risk.

 

personally ,


i just want to know what plans you have for it ???????????


spill the beans fella ????

 

Ive got a S2 which was recorded stolen in 1989,Bought car on conditon glad i did its a cracker,go for it mate.

 

Id walk away, especially as you have plans to restore it. No point throwing money at a car that will always have a strike against it. Yes it may not actually make the car itself any worse than the next one, but its an RS and no one will ever pay good money for a car on the hit list, regardless of how mint you make it.

Why not just buy one for a tad more? It will pay off in the end as youll be happier knowing that its history is clean, and will certainly pay off when you come to sell it.

To be honest, id never buy a car on the hit list, whether i got it cheap or not. It would always be in the back of my mind that its just 'not right'. It bugs me if i get a new chip on my bumper, so owning a car thats stolen recovered or a write off would send me crazy!

 

would,nt bother me when it comes to old cars like s1,s your lucky there still on the road so as long as its a good shell ad buy it . a never even hpi old cars when buying them if its a good solid car thats good enough for me .

 

Oh also after another check and a call to the DVLA the car is also registered as a repaired write off. nothing wrong with that, its all legal still, but its crossed off of my list, simply because for my purposes its not worth paying all that extra money for an S1 pedigree when the shells worth less than an xr3i due to its past history!


Spill the beans.......................................

Not a chance, im going to be building something which will gurantee me a front cover magazine feature. which has always been my dream, but all the cars ive done, have either not been good enough for me to be proud of or they have been mint but just not intresting enough.

I mean youve seen one series one youve seen them all really havnt you!

What i have in mind is gna make a few people kick up a fuss, but its for the greater good. Ive been thinking about building this car for the last 6-7 years but never actually got round to it or had the money before.

I am going to make a massive resto/project thread soon, of all my restos and then i will begin to post on there the NEW project, but only snippits, as i want the first time people really see the car to be in the magazine!

If i can pull it off its gna be one of the cars people recgonise and talk about. If i get it wrong....well i dont want to think about it!

 

Repaired write off-no good. One thing if it had the door bent back and ignition jimmied in 1993 but a smack is a smack and 80% of people simply won't care how well restored it it

 

Well thats not true, if your buying the car as a keeper and want a bit of fun then it should not be an issue, as long as all the repaires are done "professionally".

Why is welding on say a rear 1/4 skin any different to welding on the skin when it was made.

The only time it it is "no good" is if your after a mint car with clean history and want to buy the car as an investment.

You buy the car for less due to its history and simply sell it for "less" than hpi clear cars. It becomes all relative.

As said there is nothing wrong with the car, its just got an unfortuinate history. ideal if your after a cheap motor, but not ideal for me because i plan a full restoration to high standards! and it then becomes financially uneconomical!

Sadly the car i was looking at the chap still wanted good money, simply because the sum of the parts on the car. Ideally for him the car should be broken. If he was willing to lower the price buy about 30% from what he advertised before all this hpi stuff came up then i may well be tempted to buy it.

 

I'd look at the car now not from 18 years ago........

 

If he didnt tell you it was on the list before you hpi'd it, then what else is he hiding? If he genuinely wasnt aware it was on the list as stolen recovered/write off then you have to ask do you really want to buy a car from someone who doesnt even bother to hpi them themselves to start with.

 

some of yous folk need to get a grip its a B or C reg series one its lucky to still be on the road not everybody hpi,s cars specially at Ł1500 if its solid thats all that really matters in a car that age not that its been stolen recovered as back when rs turbos , xr2s , cosworths etc were new alot of them were stolen pity this one had its insurance claimed and ended up on the register not exactly a big deal .

 

So in your case this car is no good to you.......thats what I meant. You have already said you buy with resale value in mind-you'd be mad not to. Whether you can tell how good the repairs were(never mind the fact that your restoration work could rectify any shortcomings) or not the value of that shell lies within the RS scene , where a car on the hitlist is obviously a no-no , based on this poll.

D'ya see where I'm coming from now? maybe I could have been clearer earlier

 

Yeh it clearer now.

I feel really bad, im such a sucker for old cars like this. im like a crazy old woman who rehomes cats.

I still in the back of my mind want to buy this car, just cos i feel it deserves some love and attention to get it looking nice again......

But at the same time, im after a cheap project as its only a bit of fun, im not like some mad RS entuiast in a tracksuit, but the price is just not worth it, when for another Ł200-Ł300 i can get a car with a clean history.

But maybe there is a message here underlying all this and also reflected in the pole..........

Maybe there are no "clean" S1's left to restore, maybe all thats left out there are the last pickings from over the years!?

 

Being an RS, and an old one at that, i think thats even MORE reason to hpi it mate. At the end of the day, whats the point in throwing buckets of cash restoring a write off or stolen recovered car? Say an S1 is worth Ł6k fully restored, being a write off instantly puts the value down to around Ł3k, (maybe Ł4k at the most), not to mention the fact that youll massively reduce your market, so you'd be better off spending a bit more on a car with clean history in my opinion. Its just false economy.

 

its a fact that most damaged repaired cars i see are not repaired properly, so with that in mind it kind of puts me off by thinking a damaged rs couold of been really walloped and bodged back together, only i can judge that as i have seen on this very site and the rs owners club lads fawning over badly repaired cars with shiney paint they just can't see is a wrong un.

now i'm sorry if some people see shiney shiney on here and think its mint but i have experiance that makes me look at panel gaps,look for filler ripples,snotty welding patches,jig clamp marks, paint sitting heavy,wheels out of align,differant shades of paint around the car,spot welds non standard etc etc.

i think if Lee goes and has a butchers he will see if its any good, it may of even been reshelled as that was common back in the day with damaged rs's due to the high costs they were worth.

i do like a reshelled rs, i'd rather have one of them than a cocked back to gether gink

have you seen the car yet Lee ??

 

This is more than likely I'd say , these cars are older than I am at this stage and have been valuable for a long time now so there's been plenty of them restored etc there can't be too many neglected but rot free one's left

There's another question as well , if this car is fairly solid but has had some panels replaced due to an accident (properly) , in theory it could be a better car overall than one which has rotten and been welded all over

 

What do you mean at this stage? They will ALWAYS be older than you mate.