Advice needed- Unfinished build

[danchaff]

Evening all, bit of a difficult post to write but....so I was bought a seiw kit for my birthday (ill tell house which birthday later!) Jmade pretty good progress at first, and accumulated lots of parts but,  as I'm sure everyone here has experienced, I soon found becoming self employed, having two children, moving house, etc, etc meant I was spending less time on the car (wendy) so, now the embarrassing bit, I'm 46 now, the birthday the car was my present for was my 30th!! 😧

I've been a member here a few times over the years and always recieved good advice.

As things stand i dont think I'll have the time or money to finish her for the next 10 years and seems silly to have her just sat there. So I'd really like a bit of advice as to what people think she might be worth, best place to try and sell her (here I hope) and maybe find someone on here who might be interested. I'll try and get some pics and a list of how far I've got and the parts I've accumulated this weekend. 

Thanks Dan 

 

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

Seeing as you're in Yorkshire, why not come along to the next meeting on the 2nd of July. It's a free BBQ, and we might be able to talk you into keeping the car!

[danchaff]

Very kind, I might pop along, not sure keeping is an option unfortunately 

[jeff oakley]

Hi Dan,

That must have been hard to write and any advice people give will be well meant. Life has a habit of getting in the way of hobbies and you are not the first or the last to get into this position.

 

If you haven't got the money to finish it or the time then you either keep it until you can, I assume you don't need to sell it in this case, or sell and try to get back what you can.

 

Selling an unfinished car will have the vultures circling looking for a bargain and as a guide you will be lucky to get 50% of what you have put in, breaking it might make more but will take time.

 

I would make a list of what you actually have in parts and then we will have a better idea to help you make a decision.

 

If there is not that much left to do perhaps there may be some members who might help to finish it and at least if you sell it then you might get more of your money back.  Happy to offer help by PM if you wish

jeff

[Kingster]

3 minutes ago, jeff oakley said:

as a guide you will be lucky to get 50% of what you have put in,

 

Sadly this is about right. Second hand cars seem to be holding their value well, but parts will often command less. 

 

If you split it, some parts (like independent fuel injection kit, lowered sumps, lsd diffs, nice gearboxes, widetrack wishbones, 13” wheels ) are always sought after and thus sell fast - while other bits will end up in the back of the garage for eternity! 

 

If you list what you have it will help as has been stated. 

[danchaff]

Thanks, really helpful so far, I think a list is a good place to start. I'm keen for someone to finish it and use it to be honest, I don't really have the time or money to do that so think it's best to try and move it on. I'll be back with a list and pics! 👍

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

One option may be to pay someone to complete it. It may not sound it but it might be the most economical way of doing it. 

Your options as I see it are.

• Complete it eventually.
• Sell it as it is, may get some where in the region of 50% of it's value.
• Pay someone to complete it for you, then either take the loss and keep and enjoy it or sell it for it's full value as a newly completed car. 

 

Good luck with a tough decision.

 

 

[Alan France]

Difficult issue but no uncommon. My own experiences have been similar over the years.

 

I bought a couple of Dutton’s in the 70’s and 80’ and finished both, and kept for quite a while.

 

I then bought a KVA GT40 kit but about 25% through needed the money to invest in my growing business so sold, losing about 40%

 

I then bought a Dax Cobra which I built to rolling chassis then decided I just had to buy a Corvette instead. I sold the engine separately with little loss but probably lost about 50% on the rest.

 

Then the Corvette went and I bought my Westfield. That was finished in 18 months and it’s the best yet.

 

My suggestion would be take the hit and move on. Life’s too short do what needs to be done.

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

@danchaff I've amended the title of your thread slightly to hopefully help you get the support/advice you need with this difficult decision. Good luck with whatever direction it goes!

 

Best regards,

Ian

 

[danchaff]

Thanks everyone, nice to get realistic advice from like minded people. Its definitely got to go, hopefully to someone on here but I'll have a look at the bits I've accumulated over the years and some of it might be saleable too

[Steve (sdh2903)]

You may find it's worth more in parts than a complete lot.

 

I bought an 18 year old uncompleted kit last year. That was chassis. Bodywork. Loom. All wishbones. Used dampers. Used zetec engine. Used mt75 gearbox. Open diff. Driveshafts. Rear uprights. Handbrake lever and cables. Used calipers x4. Steering column. Used steering rack. And a load of other bits and bobs. And I gave 2500 for it. 

 

I thought that was cheap but I had 300 quid in costs to go collect it and some of the parts ended up being unusable due to either poor storage or missing bits.

 

Best to make a list up of what you have and then you can see the best approach to take.

[Kingster]

Agree it will realise more by selling individual parts.

 

You just have to weigh up the cost vs hassle vs time factors. 

[danchaff]

I wonder if the chassis, body etc as in the starter kit would be more saleable on its own and then the engine, box, seats etc separately?

[jeff oakley]

Before anyone can answer that we need a bit more information. Did you buy a full starter kit with engine etc? What extras did you spec at the time? Are the components new or used? What colour is it?

 

These will all make pricing difficult and if it is semi built how much work for you to dismantle and no matter what you do you may well end up with bits left over no one really wants.

 

Pictures would help

[Steve (sdh2903)]

Itll just depend on what you've got and what condition it's in and what work has been done. And then it's down to how  much hassle you want selling it.

 

If it's all decent useable stuff then you may well get someone wanting the lot. Or as you say advertise as a basic kit but mention you have a load of other stuff that can go with it if desired.