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ReadySalted

Active Member
I've only ever bought one car without seeing it. It was a series 3 a few months ago and after having it for a few days I decided it wasn't for me as I wanted a 109 and sold it for near enough what I payed for it. A day or so later I saw it on a well known internet dealers website for three times what they bought it off me for.
Well, a few months down the line, after daily looking over ebay, auto trader, etc. I still haven't found the 109 I'm after, within my budget.
I've decided I will now settle for an 88 after all!

There's one I've got my eye on that ticks all the boxes for me, and looks and sounds ideal. I've emailed the seller, and all 'seems' in order. It's about a 2 hour drive away, and I'm wondering whether it's worth driving all the way up there and back to see it, and then if I did end up having it, having to do the journey all over again with a friend to pick it up.

I'm of the opinion that with a series, you come to expect a few bumps and rusty spots, and so there can't be too many surprises to bite you in the ass, as long as you know about the main things (state of chassis and bulkhead, milage, etc.) because it's always going to be a bit of a gamble.

So, who's bought landy's before without seeing them, and have you lived to regret or be glad, of your decision?
 
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I bought mine on Ebay and have been happy so far. I wouldn't worry too much, you bid, you win, you go with the cash and if it's not as described you walk away.
Don't pay a deposit via paypal and don't haggle when you get there, if it's as described you have already agreed a price, if it isn't you walk.
Thats what Ebays rules say, and it works if everyone is honest and plays by the rules.
 
waldershelf said:
I bought mine on Ebay and have been happy so far. I wouldn't worry too much, you bid, you win, you go with the cash and if it's not as described you walk away.
Don't pay a deposit via paypal and don't haggle when you get there, if it's as described you have already agreed a price, if it isn't you walk.
Thats what Ebays rules say, and it works if everyone is honest and plays by the rules.
Click to expand...

That's the same with mine, i saw it on ebay put in a cheeky bid in without viewing expecting to be out bid straight away... and i won the auction :eek:

Me and a mate went to view it, its was as described paid my dosh and drove away :D
 
I took the 2-3 hour drive to view mine first as I didn't know what I was looking for and it was cheap so wanted to give a deposit and agree a price face to face if I was happy :)

Still got the landy :)
 
Don't care what any1 says if you haven't owned one you don't know what to look for.
When u take ownership and repair it alot you know where the weak spots are.
 
go see it..... i didnt have the time to view my series and the engine was ferked,front swivel ferked,clutch master ferked,brake master ferked,welding etc etc.....go have a look
 
Series71 said:
go see it..... i didnt have the time to view my series and the engine was ferked,front swivel ferked,clutch master ferked,brake master ferked,welding etc etc.....go have a look
Click to expand...
Did you buy it on ebay? if so was it described as you say? If the obvious faults were not in the discription you could have walked away, if it was in the discription then you knew what you were getting.
 
I bought mine on ebay but didn't think to check for the bulkhead being made entirely of body filler :doh:

Tbh if I would have known I'da still bought it but offered £100 less, I'm happy that I've kept a piece of motoring history on the road and that I'm going to be able to use it after restoring it
 
got mine on ebay didnt run due to electrical probs. didnt see it, didnt know what to look for as never owned one, but the seller seemed honest. started it by jumping it straight to the back of the starter and drove it home.

its a 76 series 3 that i paid £550 for, chassis and bulk head look like new. so far im in it for a new alternator (seller told me about this before buying) rad leaks slightly where badly repaired, heater not working and i think head gasket as it overheats (may be sender but this is worst case) bit of welding to drivers door frame, some rewiring work,filters oil ect.

alternater cost £55, heater mod cost £30, rad i can replace for £120 or have profesionally repaired for £50, gasket set £30. welding and rewiring cost pence as i had the stuff in the garage to do it, filters and oil £90.

did i do well? i think so, as i quite enjoy tinkering with it, if i had been buying a working usable vehicle that i needed to use then it would have ****ed me off, but three hours in the garage including parts is cheaper than three hours in the pub including beer and a lot more fun.

so from my experiance i would say you pay your money and take your chance. nice clean ready to use landys could develop a fault on your way home that would effectivly write them off. my engine may be knackered and i could have got a pup. who knows. i will find out on monday when i pop it to the garage.

what i can tell you is every time i get in it running or not the smile on my face gets bigger and bigger and £800 odd quid is pretty bloody cheap for a hobby. if the engines knackered it will be even more cheap entertainment in the garage.

so to end the essay if you want to buy an origional, good, working vehicle go and look before parting with 1p and take a friend that knows more than you about what your buying. if you want a project and a bit of fun, join the aa and take a chance.

just what i think and i quite often talk a load of b******s. ask my wife.
 
Cheers for your replies guys.

I think the problem comes when on an internet sale, the pictures are very good, and the description is fairly sparse, not giving much detail about the car. Then you've got very little in the way of come-backs. After all, pics can be very deceiving and a good seller/ photographer will be somewhat selective in what pictures they use, and how they display their car.

How much worth does a galvanized chassis carry when buying a series?
Obviously on the face of it, it's a good thing, and should mean that the chassis won't need welding. It should also mean that at some stage the landys been stripped down, and presumably any work that needed doing/ parts renewing, was done when the chassis swap was done? Is there a downside to it at all, as I would expect it to add hundreds to the value of one of these, but only occasionally appears to?
 
Seen good galvy's go for around £1500, some came with them from the factory too
 
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Pretty sure I've seen some listed as from factory, then again they might have lied


Defo sure on the price though cos I looked at a couple at that price before going to get a disco instead
 
So much to my surprise, I've gone and bought myself a series 3 (again! lol).

Not the one I intended or expected to win by any means, but I had been watching it for a week, not expecting to have a look in, with my budget. Anyway, I gave it a punt, and to my surprise I won it for the top end of my budget.
This one looks ideal; very solid, and some good work recently done on it. It looks like all the little tidy-ing up jobs have been done on it, which is great, but I always think the little niggly jobs you do straight after you buy a car like this, provide a good oppurtunity to learn about your new car early on, it's also quite fun to have a tinker too! That said, I'm sure that there WILL be jobs to do on it sooner or later, and plenty of them. So I'm not going to speak too soon.

I don't want to post any pics of it yet, as the auction has recently finished, and I won't be picking her up for a few days, so of course she's not legally mine yet.

A few details: Ex mod, Repainted (looks recent) Not standard nato green, but not deep bronze either, a kind of inbetween shade. Has steel wheels and that original cat-flap thing at the back which are both nice features I think. A very tidy specemin on the face of it, but only time will tell how good she is underneath. I suppose the acid test will be seeing how it drives!

I'm eagerly awaiting picking her up now. Once I've got to grips with how a series drives I can't wait to get her on some local greenlanes and begin using and abusing her. No plans to modify her in the way of, bigger wheels, chequerplate etc, with the exception of maybe a horseshoe on the grille which I always think is a characterful addition.
I'll keep you posted.
 
Hmmm I got conned big time. I had extensive chats over the phone about the vehicle and he said it was totally roadworthy and explained all the work and maintenance that had been done. He came across a real gentleman and a decent soul, always courteous and polite. He even said he beleived in the consequences of Karma and was a practising Buddhist. came across really friendly and genuine. I paid the money and had it transported to my place.

As it turns out, nearly everything he mentioned as being serviced and/or repaired needed to be done. Gearbox totalled. leaking wheel hub seals, brake wheel cylinder leaks, prop shaft and diffs noisy, seats had it, sports steering wheel fitted and it goes on.

I think this is some sought of con psychology? Basically most of the truck was ferked and I paid prob double than what it was worth.

make sure you look at the vehicle and go through it before handing over your hard earned cash.
 
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