Comments on fixing reshaped car

Love to see piccys of this mate, I think the best way to fix it would be to get a new door and use a jack and blocks to raise the roof slightly.

Personally, if it's got a good engine, then remove the engine and gearbox and wheels etc.. and trim components and sell them on E-bay and local paper. Make back a few hundred pounds at least, and scrap the body shell. Taxi drivers are always looking for cheap replacement seats and trim.

Andy

Absolutely. Scrap values are on their way back up again. I just got 48 quid for that old Seat Ibiza. Engine, 'box and wheels are not big earners on Ebay in my experience. The real money is made on postable items like wiper motors, electric window parts, ECU's, ABS sensors, instruments, etc. With a bit of thought, the OP should turn 300 quid or so from that initial 15 quid.

Interesting idea. Sounds like a bit of work, but for that sort of money it may be worth it. I shall give it a go at getting it working though. I think I do need a motorway car. I shall give it a go with a jack and some wood.

I have put up some pics at

Note the pics are big, but this link is to an index of them. Looking at the damage in the daylight, it really looks as if the car has been scraped along somthing (like the ground?) but there is no damge to the sides, or further up the roof. I really do not know.

Oh, and there are links to pictures of the other car I bought, hence needing a motorway car. That was 500 GBP, a pretty good deal I think, as it work fine.

Thanks,

Hugh

Yeah - consider wearing a straitjacket when you visit car auctions in the future :-)

Blimey! I'll bet whoever did that has learnt his lesson.

The Minilite wheels and folding sunroof must be worth at least half that on their own. Yup, definitely a good deal. Has it got overdrive?

cop it and make it a pick up type back end,use shiny checker plate and paint it a nice bright colour put a surf board rack on it, take it to Cornwall and flog it for £1,00 to some surfs up dude.

The message from Willy Eckerslyke contains these words:

And, of course, the perennital favourite - wing mirrors!

David Jones ( snipped-for-privacy@myself.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You paid *money* for that?

I've got a very nice bridge for sale, y'know.

Could it have been parked too near a wagon with a tail lift or in the wrong place on a car ferry when they lowered the ramp?

Whatever's happened, something's been dragged backwards, against the roof, with a lot of force.

Even if a new tailgate went on, it ain't worth it. It's definitely a scrapper - but is there enough of value on it to justify the time & effort breaking it? It's "only" a mk1 medium-spec Mundane.

I guess you mean 5th gear? No it hasn't. A real shame, or it would be OK for motorways. The rev counter seems unable to make up its mind as to exactly what the gear ratios are, but some of the time it seems to decide it is red lineing at about 85 in 4th, and sometimes it says it is doing about

4,000 rpm at 90.

David Jones ( snipped-for-privacy@myself.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, he means overdrive.

Why not? everything else on the car seems fine, and it runs perfectly. One owner since new, and has just have a main service. I do not care about cosmetics, and I cannot see how the damage here would effect anything that matters (chassis, steering etc.)

I was even thinking about driving it as it is until the MOT came up. It would give me time to find something a little better. However I have found a new tailgate of the samew colour down a local scrappy for 30 quid, and they are easy to replace. I think it is well worth it. I thought these Mundano's were suposed to be fairly well rated.

How do I tell then?

0

A trimmed compressed jpg of one of them .

So is the opps for doing it in the first place, or coming back from an auction with it? ;)

David Jones ( snipped-for-privacy@myself.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

OK, so it's about £250 worth - before the accident.

Just as well...

It's entirely possible, looking at the force that's been on that roof, that something could have bent. I'd certainly be looking very closely at the rear subframe, then - once it's in use - keeping a close eye on rear tyre wear.

Look at the photo of the roof - the skin's pushed hard against the frame. The front edge of the hatch has been pulled back against the hinges. That's a lot of force. Something's been lowered onto it, then it's been driven out.

On the plus side, the rear wings don't look rippled, and the door gaps look OK. I'd be looking carefully at the seams around the rear of the boot, in case any force has been transferred through the lock.

IF the hinges are still where they should be.

They were better than mediocre, when they were new. And that's being kind, from what I remember of the one I had.

I think 5th gear is technically an overdrive, but no, I'm referring to an optional gearbox extension often fitted to cars like yours and activated by a switch on the gearlever or steering column. It can usually be used in 3rd and 4th to give a longer ratio in that gear.

OK, probably just a dodgy gauge or drive cable, but also be the sort of thing that could happen with an overdrive and dodgy electrics. Have a look under your car and see if the gearbox has large cylindrical box on the end, about 8 inches long. You never know, you could be in luck.

David Jones ( snipped-for-privacy@myself.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Is that an overdrive switch in the top of the gearlever?

These are MG Midget ones, but the photo shows on with and one without:

There is a switch that says IN and OUT on the top of the gear lever, is that overdrive then? That is really good news, as (1) there is not something wrong with my rev counter, and (2) probbly OK on motorways then.

Thanks for the unexpected info.