Portugese "restored" car that cost big 4 fig sum not that long ago

all 2k and carpet neither of which ,lets be honest, the most structural of materials-came back to me for bumper repair patch to floor and mot

yesterday i could have swept what was left into the skip and walked away, trouble is it owes me full set of floors, windscreen panel lower bulkhead and too many hours to count
taking up so much of my time. Time that i cant spare for mine or getting Vs back up and running....she needs to get used to driving 2cvs before driving solo in France to Salabris.
at the point of hating 2cvs....well other peoples

Always a hard call. I did a load of work to a 2CV a few years ago. When I came to put it on the chassis I noticed the car was badly bent in the middle. A bit of investigation revealed it had been driven hard into a ditch and written off 6 years previously. I scrapped it, I should have looked harder before I grafted a new light panel and sweeps into it.

My own rule of thumb is that if your restoration can't realistically get the shell to be good for another 6 or 7 years service without significant intervention in the intervening time then you're at the patch it stage rather than the carrying out proper restoration stage.

It's a hard one. I'm keen to salvage anything really but only because I don't have to pay somebody to repair it, and I'm happy driving cars other people think are substandard, like my red spesh. That's a car that should have been scrapped, and would have been if I'd had to pay the going rate for repairs, or did every bodywork job it actually needed. If it's a customers, then it's their call, but I'd have thought unless they were very attached, it's bin fodder or a new project for you.

reckon its got 10 yrs when this is done

she sold her AudiTT to fund this one...i just want rid of it hate sorting other peoples mess

and those in the business should heed that 2k,carpets and a skoosh of waxoyle is not a restoration
but then im not in the business of turning cars over sucsessfull selling seems to be
max profit /minimum outlay X as many as you can punt on before folk start to notice

Do you know Sean reading this post has changed my opinion. Like a bomber pilot who didn't really think of the poor beggars below, I always accepted that it was the individuals job to suss out what they were buying rather than blame the outcome on the seller.

Reading this post angered me though, an anger reserved for the folks that do push out botched crap on the unsuspecting, there has to be more than just business considerations, there should be ethics involved also.

O-N
this ones quite good compared to the lethal stuff id found last year on another one

apart from the corroded fuel line spraying petrol all round the engine bay and seriously bodged electrics, it had rear wings pop riveted to c pillar and wood screws at the back

cute sticker "diasy" was the main selling point, the fact that folk are willing to pay hard cash for a cute car says it all

better an honest tatty looking thing than blinged up death trap.

There should, but one of the basic issues is that the customers refuse to see reality. I've spent lots of time over the years going with people to look at cars, explaining to them why the car we're looking at is not a good buy and advising them to look further. All too often people then go off and simply buy something because the good advice is boring and something they saw was shiny and superficially likeable. They then pitch up expecting you to sort out the mess.

Good car restoration is expensive. I'm doing a Volvo PV 544 and we had the bodyshell acid stripped before welding it. Then stripped again and E coated. We stripped the engine block, doors, suspension, seat frames, heater box, linkages; basically anything that is steel and doesn't have a bearing surface has been stripped to bare metal and treated. Just stripping and E coating amounts to £3500 worth of outside work and I haven't started putting shiny paint on anything yet.

You then get the refrain, "but the car is only worth". The simple truth is that a day's work requires a day's pay. I agree that there is no excuse for ripping anyone off. But the dishonest are enabled by the customers to stay in business.

That's one of the reasons why an ever-increasing number of people wouldn't buy a lightbulb off the company that I'm sure are responsible for this "restoration"...

The sooner they leave the 2cv scene, the better.

Im really keen to know who this company i. Question is, obviously its fair tosay publicly!

There's more than one James.

I had no idea that the reputation you refer to was supported by empirical evidence?
I took it to be no more than rumour, or perhaps sour grapes at the success of an underdog 'newcomer', (given that in 2cv circles even after fifteen years or so one is still considered to be an upstart.)

TBH I do know of those folks such as Ken, Viking Pete Abbott etc.that provide 100% service and quality, and as 250 says they must also charge accordingly. As far as parts like the lightbulbs etc go, they should perhaps be the same price everywhere, but they're not, which is possibly how such new places then continue to survive?