optamistic

[englishbull]

re. my caravan comment....there's caravans and there's caravans.!

Pulling leg mate.....................but know where coming from.........

[englishbull]

Rally car has now cleared it's low reserve - fingers crossed!

Will get good money....................

[CharlieD]

Think this one is worth going the extra few £££ and blowing the budget for! - all those Rally bits and pieces should easy to sell on for good money.

[Rob B]

Think this one is worth going the extra few £££ and blowing the budget for! - all those Rally bits and pieces should easy to sell on for good money.

Just a note of caution, you have only the sellers word that the bits and pieces are what they say they are and no idea of the condition, a viewing would be wise but im sure you know that anyway.

Good luck with your bid, I keep getting tempted by different cars I see on ebay but said I was going to go without a classic for at least 2 years and trying hard to stick to that.

[Spider.]

It always puzzles me when these sellers can't be bothered to take a picture of the front view of a car...

what, like this one?

[TedTaylor]

If it went for £2k it will be a bit of a bargain as all of the Rally bits should be easy to sell on for good money ( I would want to return it to mostly road spec), the shell is sound which is my main concern, going to ask a mate to have a look at it for me who lives local to Preston.

Now I really like your thinking Charlie. I think people are getting carried away with this a a good rally project and forgetting what it is - an exceptionally early Mk1 (how many survivors were built in 1963) with the stuff to build a rally car which could be used on a later car.

Please don't think I am criticising the advertiser or anyone else who has been on about finishing this project off - whoever owns the car has a right to do with it as they wish. However I have been caught in this conundrum with my Mk1 2000 saloon which although built in August 1964 and well into the production run, as far as I can work out it is within the 20 oldest surviving.

In 1990 when I bought the car for £200 (Mot'd and ready to use) at the time Mk1s were nothing special, especially an 'old' one and almost an oddity because most people were interested in the Mk2s. I wanted to go historic rallying with it to avoid wrecking my historic Landcrab in serious rallying so I used it as a basis for a historic rally car (I was heavily involved with the organisation of the HRCR at the time).

Now that I am doing its second rebuild with the help of Andy who has uncovered more rust gremlins than I originaly thought ... I do wonder whether it should be returned to standard. However my approach was different to the norm in my modifications in that I wanted it to be fitted with mainly 1964/65 spec. period bits and pieces so that as little of the car was post '65 as I could find and was an example of what was done at the time by a keen club rallier. I never rallied the car because I was so involved with running a club and association of motor clubs that time and money were at a premium but did use it as everyday transport for a few years .

Now the problem. Being early do I return it to its original spec. - difficult with all the things I have done to the car? Or do I keep faith with my original concept as a 1964/65 period rally car?
I have decided on the latter because where else will you find a this sort of thing for people to see, and a nice comparison with other cars, original spec or even Andy Boris' BMW engined car.

Should this 1963 built car being so early perhaps be put back as original as Charlie suggests? Again not criticising anyone or pontificating ...... just a few of my thoughts from my own experience.

[englishbull]

Think Charlie will still be using it on RBRR and 10CR events so it won't be totally standard.

As you have mentioned Ted, with it being an early car you will not be able to find the very early bits that it would have been fitted with eg exhaust, bakerlite pulley etc..........

[englishbull]

Who bought the rally car?

Anybody off here?

[TedTaylor]

Think Charlie will still be using it on RBRR and 10CR events so it won't be totally standard.

As you have mentioned Ted, with it being an early car you will not be able to find the very early bits that it would have been fitted with eg exhaust, bakerlite pulley etc..........

But that can be the fun/challenge - just got to work at getting the correct bits. No need for it to be done all at once, get the car on the road as near as possible the correct spec. and get the word around for what is wanted. At least that is going to be my approach with the Mk1 PI estate.

Ted