Morris Minor Owners Club

I'm beginning to think that it will be time to shift on my fester soon, lots of little things keep going wrong and I am just waiting for something big to happen.

I need some ideas for a cheap car (ideally sub £250) to keep me tooling round till I get the trav done (which might be six moths or six years!!)

Morris or Non Morris, Classic or non classic it doesn't matter - although I want to try and keep under 1.6 to keep my insurance down. Something people wouldn't think to look for on ebay kinda thing

Ideas please??

At <250 you're asking for a lot of trouble and probably only just in range of 'its got a years MOT from a mate of mines garage'. At least you know some of the history of the car you have, and what might go wrong.

If you bank that and spend it on the fiesta as and when it needs it I would have thought thats the cheapest solution (I would have put a fiesta fairly high in the list of choices as they are cheap on parts)

Thing is I'm pretty sure its going to fail the next MOT but I don't know how expensivly! (I know it needs at least one new wishbone and the rear arches need some serious attn) Whilst the stuff I know about is not expensive, I'm worried about anything else I don't spot.

My original plan was to get a new MOT on it and flog it on to maximise what I can get for it, but I'm less and less confident of being able to get it though at a sensible price

but at 250 you will be buying exactly the sort of car your thinking of selling. Someone else is likely to have squeezed it though an MOT and wants shot of it because of future worries.

You might get lucky and find the bargain buy that lasts a few years without trouble, probably someone getting rid of 'one car too many' or their 'last car'. But not easy to find.

what you really need is an honest mechanic to tell you whats likely to be a problem, perhaps a pre MOT check plus looking for other fault that an MOT would not bother with.

My current daily driver was 95 quid with a dog end of tax and test. It passed the MOT first time, and may well get throguh the next. I'll check it over myself a couple of weeks before it runs out, and if it does indeed need a fair bit of work I'll take out the mp3 stereo that came with it, and sell it on for spares - Still most likely breaking even on my original £95!

I've not had to take a spanner to it since I've had it, I don't drive at all gently, and I'm really not mechanically sympathetic.

As cars are seen as dispoable fashion accessories nowadays, I'd be expecting at least a couple of years trouble free motoring from a £250 banger, I've even seen sound road legal cars given away on Freecycle!

Well, I've had a succession of cheap cars that have quite definately been high-mileage-motors which cost very little. The trick is to find something non-rusty and non-mechanically knackered which isn't popular.

Early polos, four door Mk1 golfs, cars that are naff (Yugos, Ladas); and classics that aren't popular (my Viva was expensive, but you can pick 'em up for way less).

A good trick I found was to turn up at the lower-end dealers and ask what they'd taken in as trade-ins and wanted rid of. The viva *should* pass it's next MOT with a bit of exhaust sealant on it... oh, and new tyres (the old ones have all started to crack rather worryingly).

Pyoor_Kate wrote:Early polos, four door Mk1 golfs, cars that are naff (Yugos, Ladas); and classics that aren't popular (my Viva was expensive, but you can pick 'em up for way less).

This is the kinda thing I mean. Ideas


Thinking now that I might run the Fester till MOT day, see what it fails on and break and sell on ebay if its a mess.....

Pyoor_Kate wrote:Early polos, four door Mk1 golfs, cars that are naff (Yugos, Ladas); and classics that aren't popular (my Viva was expensive, but you can pick 'em up for way less).

This is the kinda thing I mean. Ideas


Thinking now that I might run the Fester till MOT day, see what it fails on and break and sell on ebay if its a mess.....

mk1 Rover 200 (213/ 216). Dull to drive, but reasonably nippy and refined, they go for peanuts unless immaculate/ EFi (starting to become sought after). Classic insurance too

I wouldn't touch anything Ford myself - Usually heavier on fuel than other similar sized cars, rot just as much if not more, and the bonus of parts being cheap is offset against them being needed more frequently!

If you see one for a fair price, an OHC (1100 upwards) Uno might be an option. The engines are fantastic, they drink next to no petrol, grip far better than they handle (so scary but sticky), but like every other 80s car they can be a bit of a haven for tinworm.

Don't know if you could get one in your budget, but early 90s Toyota Corollas are good. My brother drives one that we've had since new in '92 and it's only broken down once in all that time (wheel bearing about a year ago), with 175-180,000 miles on the clock. It's only ever failed one MOT on some rusty brake pipes.

Polo. Cheap parts and they don't rot.

If you look on Loot and leave all fields blank except distance willing to travel and max price (lowest is 500) you'll get a huge variety of things coming up.

I got one L reg golf for £500 and that was it.....

oh well

I got my Trabant for 200 Euro...
One went on ebay for £200 last week, but with German paperwork.

Other options would be anything that needs work. E.g. an accident damaged Corsa - I nearly got one last month for £50 that needed a new tailgate and a 'bit of hammer work', which still had 8 months MOT.
Sadly the owner turned out to be a bit Vicky Pollard so I after asking 'can I have it' for 4 weeks I had to give up
(It's still sitting there a month later)

Accident damaged cars tend to be a bit pricey on ebay, as too many people are looking for a quick profit. Therefore, it pays to keep your eyes peeled.

Peetee wrote:Polo. Cheap parts and they don't rot.

STRONGLY seconded, esp the MK 1s - they last astonishingly.

I bought a Pegueot 205, 1989 model, from Onne's housemate, and it's been okay - GBP250 (need to reconfigure keyboard settings - lost me pound sign!) and I'll give it a check just before its MOT to make sure there's no potentially expensive problems occuring.

Furrtiv, a tip for the pound sign... hold the ALT key down and type in 0163 and release the Alt key ;) I have a canadian keyboad so it's the only way I can get a £ sign!

I have a canadian keyboad

You cant help but be different can you Lee
I suppose its a collectable keyboard.....................

Not really Kevin It was the only ergonomic cordless keyboard I could get at the time