E30 Values

[pac1982]

Would it be fair to say that due to the lack of decent e30's these days that any spec E30 with a mint shell is going to be worth £1000 plus?

even say a pov spec 316 with a minty minty shell and paintwork

My logic is this my friend is employed by a body repair & paintwork center and also plays with his own cars in his spare time and and i've said he should start buying shabby E30's for a couple of hundred quids and sell them on for £1000-£1500.

obviously the cars history and mileage would play a key factor as well

the sort of things i have suggested he buys are cars with faded paintwork, rusty issues, very minor accident damage etc etc

I know to the untrained dealing with rust issues paint work etc may sound costly but he can turn around a full respray in a day and also gets paint, panels etc at trade cost through his work.

Reason I'm asking is he's not business minded at all, he's excellent at his job but selling cars and profits just aint his bag, which is where i would come in

[MadE30mike]

delboy and rodney

[pac1982]

delboy and rodney

I don't take that as an insult at all lol

[magpie]

you can do this with any car .

[pac1982]

you can do this with any car .

I wouldn't quite say any car, if i went out and got my self a turd of a £150 Nissan micra and did it up i would probably not make any money.

But were talking almost classics like the E30, mk2 & 3 golfs etc etc

The only reason I'm on E30's is because i like them and if you can turn a profit doing something you enjoy its a bonus!

[pacerpete]

you can do this with any car .

I wouldn't quite say any car, if i went out and got my self a turd of a £150 Kia Syphillis and did it up i would probably not make any money.

But were talking almost classics like the E30, mk2 & 3 golfs etc etc

The only reason I'm on E30's is because i like them and if you can turn a profit doing something you enjoy its a bonus!

The problem is that the tatty cars are generally shagged in every other department. You would be amazed how quickly you can spend £500 freshening up a tired turd, and that is before you start addressing the interior and cosmetic woes

As for £200 turds, they are £200 for a reason and will seldom make a nice car AND a profit. The days of a decent saveable 2 DOOR E30 being bought for £200 are definately behind us

[Jim320i]

When you say Mint shell, are we talking, bare shell, cut out jobbie or patch up, respray and served?

[Rtaylor2208]

I know to the untrained dealing with rust issues paint work etc may sound costly but he can turn around a full respray in a day and also gets paint, panels etc at trade cost through his work.

That sounds ambitous. Any welding, pannel fitting, trim removal, rub down etc will take alot more than a day even for a team of professionals never mind one person.

Paint isn't that cheap either. Also minty fresh shells that seem to get the best money are all original.

If you bought even a half decent shell for £200 (which its been a while since I seen any at that price) spend a few hundred on paint and panels, not to mention god knows how many man hours to then get a return of £1500. You are looking at most likely making less than minimum wage going on the effort put in.

Time would be better spent doing repairs on the side cash in hand.

Its a different story if its something special but a povo spec 316 even with a respray won't turn much profit.

[magpie]

and what part in this enterprise are you undertaking .

are you going to buy the cars ? are you going to assist in any of the, shall we say preparation ?
are you going to turn the front of your house into an e30 only forecourt ?

or are you simply trying to make money off your friends back like a leech ?

[pac1982]

When you say Mint shell, are we talking, bare shell, cut out jobbie or patch up, respray and served?

Well what ever it takes to make it truly mint 7 rust free, we are not talking about shit loads of filler and clag, proper metal work, he even does a bit of leading every now and again, more just for the sake of it really lol, we just like keeping old cars old cars alive

this is the one we are playing with at the moment.....

Before.......









In progress......







Almost finished........

[Jim320i]

If you are gonna do it properly, then you can demand a higher premium...

Selling a £200 for £1500 isnt a huge profit after you take in time and materials... But surely a Mint, resprayed shell is worth a lot more than £1500 if done properly?

Offering a good warrenty on all the work done too is a great way to get a higher premium, and if the work is spot on, then you have nothing that can come back on you.

Documenting everything too and making a nice folder full of pictures of the work will also help your sales.

Your only issue is £200 scrap dodging munters also have crap trim with broken/missing parts and rough running engines. Rolling that in glitter doesnt make it a good car.

[polsta]

bear in mind probably ALL "cheap" e30s that are rusty/suitable for such undertaking, will have rotten rear arches, which often will mean inner and outer rear arches needing- that in its self is a fairly costly affair and needs skill and time, to spend £300 on an e30, do new rear arches, without paint, and sell for £1000- your probably making pittance when panels and labour is taken in

a full re spray turn around in a day screams cowboy, maybe a day to mask and put the final layer of paint on , but to do all the proper prep work of stripping, primer,rubbing down, etc , before final paint... takes a lot longer

also to take in to account, im just having my e30 re painted by a top professional, after all the prep work and primer etc, he said hed like to leave the car for a few weeks to really settle, before then inspecting and then doing any final prepping ,before paint, to just ensure a perfect lasting finish , you cant bodge a full re spray turn around in a day, and you cant bodge/rush car restoration ,read what jim says there, after nice paint even, theres so much more to concider like trim, engines, underside, running gear

[pac1982]

I know to the untrained dealing with rust issues paint work etc may sound costly but he can turn around a full respray in a day and also gets paint, panels etc at trade cost through his work.

That sounds ambitous. Any welding, pannel fitting, trim removal, rub down etc will take alot more than a day even for a team of professionals never mind one person.

Paint isn't that cheap either. Also minty fresh shells that seem to get the best money are all original.

If you bought even a half decent shell for £200 (which its been a while since I seen any at that price) spend a few hundred on paint and panels, not to mention god knows how many man hours to then get a return of £1500. You are looking at most likely making less than minimum wage going on the effort put in.

Time would be better spent doing repairs on the side cash in hand.

Its a different story if its something special but a povo spec 316 even with a respray won't turn much profit.

I was only talking about the respray its self taking a day a whole rebuild could take several months depending on the size of the project.

You talk about £200 cars if you know where to look sometimes they can be free

and what part in this enterprise are you undertaking .

are you going to buy the cars ? are you going to assist in any of the, shall we say preparation ?
are you going to turn the front of your house into an e30 only forecourt ?

or are you simply trying to make money off your friends back like a leech ?

to cut a long story short there is a group of 4 of us for the last 10 years or more at least half our weeks spare time is taken up spending time in a garage and fixing up/playing with our cars, i can more or less turn my hand to anything but admittedly i do lack the general knowledge to truly call myself a mechanic or painter of any description.

James our painter and body work guy can more of less repair or restore anything, Andy to be fair is the most skilled out of all of us, went to uni did motorsport engineering and now works as a Nissan master tech but specializes in electronics. then theirs Jim he's an old skool mechanic shy's away from the electronic side of things but great at everything else.

We have taken the decision to rent a unit between us primarily just to carry on as we are but with more space and pay our share of the rent for the privilege but if it does turn a profit or become a business then so be it, I'll be getting the place in my name, if we make any profit from our projects we split it equally, so no magpie I'm defiantly not being a leech

Said unit



As i said its not really about a business as such but I'm just toying with a few ideas that could possibly make money

[pac1982]

a full re spray turn around in a day screams cowboy, maybe a day to mask and put the final layer of paint on , but to do all the proper prep work of stripping, primer,rubbing down, etc , before final paint... takes a lot longer

I'm talking about when its at the point of spray gun in hand cars in the booth and drying time that takes a day depending on what lacquer you use

[maggspower]

Where are all these free e30s? I could do with a few, if you got more than you can handle

[greg124]

Shame you're not a bit nearer to me.
I've got a shell with faded paintwork that, on close inspection, only needs welding in one place - the corner of the drivers footwell. Would make a great basis for a resto.

[Jim320i]

Wheres the Unit?

There is money to be made if its done properly, which you can then also ask for a higher premium. But like the above had said, there is lots of work to make a car mint, but your aware of that.

The best thing to do is buy a project and crack on

[pac1982]

Where are all these free e30s? I could do with a few, if you got more than you can handle

not just talking about e30's magg's some people are just so lazy that when they have an old car with a fault they just want someone to take it away

[Jim320i]

I say there is money to be made... But I dont mean 'quit your job' kinda money, there is 4 of you and you need to be making a profit after each car that can be split 4 way and actually get something to show for it.

Buying and selling standard cars is where you will make your cash, without going mad on full resprays etc, but then you run the risk of tainting your name with scrap cars

[pac1982]

Shame you're not a bit nearer to me.
I've got a shell with faded paintwork that, on close inspection, only needs welding in one place - the corner of the drivers footwell. Would make a great basis for a resto.

I do have access to a trailer and a nice Kia Sorento that would happily do 45mpg on a run

Wheres the Unit?

There is money to be made if its done properly, which you can then also ask for a higher premium. But like the above had said, there is lots of work to make a car mint, but your aware of that.

The best thing to do is buy a project and crack on

can't say just yet because its dirt cheap and not finalized as yet, but its a cracker space for 5 cars, mezzanine level office, kitchen and bathroom

I say there is money to be made... But I dont mean 'quit your job' kinda money, there is 4 of you and you need to be making a profit after each car that can be split 4 way and actually get something to show for it.

Buying and selling standard cars is where you will make your cash, without going mad on full resprays etc, but then you run the risk of tainting your name with scrap cars

We all work full time and have no intention of quitting, in an ideal world we will just be in a situation where we make enough money to pay the rent anything else is a bonus and we are all happy to pay the rent out of our own pockets if needs be

[Jim320i]

Well, you cant loose then dude

I've debating on doing something similair in the past with friends but everyone I know is a fuuuckwit

Im sure I recognise the building but probably mistaken

[Rtaylor2208]

I was only talking about the respray its self taking a day a whole rebuild could take several months depending on the size of the project.

You talk about £200 cars if you know where to look sometimes they can be free

for a couple of hundred quids

I think you'll find a couple means two so £200.

Anyway my main point was IF your in it to make money and looking at a return of £1000 to £1500 you may make a profit based on the materials but you will never make any money out of it if the man hours are factored in, especially when split 4 ways and over several months.

If your doing it for the fun of it then great some more E30's will survive. But to make money, it would pay a pittance.

Servicing and repairing cars on the side would see more income especially between 4 people.

[polsta]

pac- 3 of my mates have a unit they rent, 1 is a full time mechanic, 1 is a full time crash repair and sprayer for volkswagen, together they rented a unit for around £250 a month- £125 each , another mate chips in a bit to store a car there and do bits of work

they put in a ramp, a spray booth, compressor and air lines etc, and they can do more or less anything in there, they do their own cars and private jobs individualy and joint private jobs, and also when they come across suitable cars, they buy them together, some mechanics and paint/dents etc, and sell them on, not big time but it pays for the rent, more tools, more cars and some cash to spend on their cars

just be careful everything is all sorted financialy and set out

for instance....they "HALVED" the unit, a ramp in 1 quarter, booth in the opoosite corner , allowing space for 2 cars stored aswell, things like that you need to sort, so people ar not arguing over space and whats where etc, ie 1 of them think its ok to have 2 of his own cars in there taking up space whilst the others cant get one in, and then also for things like fluids, comsumables like paper towels,sanding paper,oil and things that wear and throw away.,.. coz someone will go in and use up other peoples ,etc, leading to having their own locked cubboards etc to save arguments and whatever

another thing...remove that pic, and absoloutly minimize the amount of people that know where it is or that go there, is never take "customers" there, or people to drop cars off, view cars there,and those involved not to always take random people there etc, for safety of tools and cars/parts stored there

[MARKYMARKY]

Go for it,if you never try you never know.Take the positives from on here and any other advice you are given and kick the negatives and negative people in the bo**ox.

[pacerpete]

To get a nice car you need to start with a nice one. The £200 turds will be worn out scrap with no redeeming features. Look for nice spec cars with nice mileage but a few issues. These are the cars that the money is in .

This is what Mark does. (above poster ) He even manages to turn a profit on quattroportes !

[magpie]

the work on the astra looks good,shame it's the wrongdoor model though .

[Kedge]

Go for it!! From the pics of the Astra he seems to know what he's doing!

It's the low mileage & low owner cars you want to be buying though, steer clear of anything else!

[polsta]

the work on the astra looks good,shame it's the wrongdoor model though .

and the wrong mk ! only a 2 door mk1 has any style

[pac1982]

the work on the astra looks good,shame it's the wrongdoor model though .

and the wrong mk ! only a 2 door mk1 has any style

agreed, the only reason this one has had so much attention is because his mum owned it from new and its the first car he has memorys of from his child hood.

a 3 door would have been better or like you say a mark 1 even better still

[pony]

Go for it,if you never try you never know.Take the positives from on here and any other advice you are given and kick the negatives and negative people in the bo**ox.

+1

I like your entrepreneurial spirit OP

Go get 'em dawg