15 replies to this topic

[sonikk4]

So as i alluded to in Project Erms thread its time for him to move onto a new home. As much as we would like to finish him off Project Paddy is taking precedence.

So what is a restored and fully painted rolling shell worth. He is a 87 Mayfair complete with V5 in my lads name.

Its just a rolling shell, so front and rear subbies Both seam welded and powder coated, DSN billet Aluminium rear subframe mounts, all of the attached suspension components (Gaz adjustable shocks, new doughnuts, refurbished radiius arms, new top arms, Minisport Hi lo's front and rear, steering column drop bracket, it has the 7.5' Minisport drilled discs but no calipers, they will be sold seperately, the steel wheels BUT i will be swapping out the nuts as they are for the Force racing Mini special wheels. Door seals, rear side window seals. We do have the painted trim strips as well, they are currently not fitted. Oh and the DSN Billet towing eye.

The majority of the panels are Heritage, full boot floor, both rear quarter panels, both door skins, full scutttle and closeouts, full inner wings, both rear inner arches, both waist rails, battery conduit.
Front and rear floor pans replaced, inner and outer sills (Magnum) both door steps, one magnum one hand made. Far too many repair sections hand made, including the bottom of the rear panel, the full bottom of the rear bulkhead, sections of the front crossmember, sections of the front bulkhead (lower section)

The paint has stood up remarkably well for all of its time in the garage, Its Tartan Red 2 and Rover gun metal on the roof, however there are some areas of the roof where we had laid the carbon roof on that have chaffed the paint. Nothing major and should be straight fwd to deal with. We do not have a sunroof so one would need to be found. We never bought one as were going down the carbon Fibre roof route.

My lad has this info as well to back up a lot of what i have written.
Colour matched trim strips.
Body Fully seam sealed and colour matched inside
Gravitex stone chip on the underside and colour matched
New Parts
Steering column extender stainless
Gaz adjustable shocks
Drilled 7.5” discs
New Steering rack
Adjustable mini sport tie rods
Rear brakes (pads/backing plates/cylinders etc)
Rear stainless braided brake hoses
Shock mounts
Forward top arms
Rear radius arms
4 x Suspension Donuts
Mini sport front and rear adjustable trumpets (High lows)
Dsn classic (Now retrosport S-CAN 3D) bonnet hinges
Dsn towing eye
Dsn classic rear subframe mounts
Door seals
Rear opening window seals
Boot hinges
Stainless steel door strikers
Stainless steel fittings
Refurbished parts
Refurbished driveshafts
Refurbished tank
Refurbished rear radius arms
Refurbished steering column
Powder coated red subframes front and rear










Thread link
https://www.theminif...78-project-erm/

[sonscar]

Unfinished project,most parts missing,potentially needing roof?nowhere near what you will have into it sadly.£2K????,good luck Steve..

[DeadSquare]

If it is the colour that the buyer wants, you might find someone who'd pay almost as much as a Heritage shell, but don't haggle over the bits.  .

[beardylondon]

I’d have to disagree with Steve, £2k seems too low, got to be a bit more? But I do agree, don’t haggle over bits. At the end of the day the bits are worth more split up. But it’s obviously a lot more work and hassle to individually list all the bits.

Pop it on eBay and see what offers you get!?

Edited by beardylondon, 23 June 2025 - 07:25 AM.

[sonikk4]

It’s going as it is so not splitting down. However if it’s a low ball figure then to a route we may go. Also we are not letting it go for peanuts. If push came to shove we would think about getting it on the rd.

I have said to my lad about EBay and although it’s not a perfect route it does have a greater reach.

[stuart bowes]

I was thinking more like 4 or 5 maybe

 

reasoning being, for anyone to get to that level (which WE all know is well built but they may need convincing?)  they'd have to buy a knackered car (1-2 grand?) then spend a good 2 or 3 just on parts and refurbing? ignoring time and effort and that's before you even paint it

 

yes they still need an engine, interior and all the trim (unless you can bundle that in?)  which will push their total to something like 6 or 7 minimum maybe.. but where else would you get a totally solid rolling shell with all the bits in perfect condition

 

their alternative is a brand new shell, what's that, 10 grand plus? and that's without subframes, running gear and paint, etc so they're still saving big bucks (And you still need a donor V5 to use so that's buying another car as well)

 

I would feel it was a shame if it went for less, having some idea of how much works goes into it and being fairly sure they won't find a better option for building a good solid car

 

If I was looking to buy one and shortcut the whole shell build and paint, 4 or 5 would seem very reasonable to me.  and red is common enough not to put too many people off it

 

but can you convince people of that when they come to look at it I guess that's what counts

 

would you really get more out of it by finishing it and selling complete?  that's a whole lot more effort and money required from you and what's the completed car worth, 8 or 9 top end maybe to a normal punter who won't necessarily appreciate the skill and effort you've put in

Edited by stuart bowes, 23 June 2025 - 09:37 AM.

[beardylondon]

To state the obvious, it’s only worth what someone is willing to pay, sure you’ve heard it all before.
EBay is a good shout, cast the net far and wide, just make the ad crystal clear, loads of pictures etc.
I used to avoid auctions on eBay, especially for cars, but sometimes it works, put on for 10 days and it builds interest. You could put it on with the price starting at least you’ll take and you might get a few bidders, never know, better than putting it on as buy it now and getting time wasters and low balls, depends how quickly you want/need rid of it.

[stuart bowes]

I wouldn't list it as 'unfinished project' because that sounds like someone got in deeper than they could manage (I know, not always true.. but gives that impression) and you start wondering about the quality of the work

 

if you list it as something more like 'complete rolling shell, expertly repaired painted and ready for engine and interior' with all the pictures to suit, and point out the cost of a new heritage shell, make a bit of a sales pitch for it etc, that looks much better

 

this is all just from the perspective of someone who looks at ebay ads, I have not actually sold one on ebay myself

Edited by stuart bowes, 23 June 2025 - 02:01 PM.

[sonikk4]

I wouldn't list it as 'unfinished project' because that sounds like someone got in deeper than they could manage (I know, not always true.. but gives that impression) and you start wondering about the quality of the work

 

if you list it as something more like 'complete rolling shell, expertly repaired painted and ready for engine and interior' with all the pictures to suit, and point out the cost of a new heritage shell, make a bit of a sales pitch for it etc, that looks much better

 

this is all just from the perspective of someone who looks at ebay ads, I have not actually sold one on ebay myself

 

Thanks for this and a very set of valid pointers. I have popped a couple of valuation requests on several of the FB groups i'm on and annoyingly i have had several "how much do you want??" It says valuation / whats it worth. I mean c'mon guys its in the wording. If i had a price in mind (my lad i should say) then we would have put something on there.

 

Anyway, thats the joys of social media and i should expect this. Hey ho upwards and onwards. 

 

And yup its only worth what someone is willing to pay, i fully get that and as such are expectations mirror that train of thought.

 

One thing for sure, we know we will never get back the time, effort and cost after all its a mainstream car not a Cooper S and as such it was a labour of love, much like Paddy.

[stuart bowes]

... its a mainstream car not a Cooper S ...

 

that wouldn't mean anything to me, in this case though, seeing as a cooper is pretty much just a standard mini with a few extra stickers on it

 

especially if you take the engine out of the equation which you have done, literally. it'll have had all the same running gear and suspension parts, and an engine doesn't have to be cooper to fairly easily get equivalent power, plenty of tuning options to get to that level and way more..

 

so does it not being a cooper make it less valuable?  not to me it doesn't, especially when you're just talking about a shell they can put anything they want into (and which is definitely in far better condition than 90% of the coopers you'll find for sale, especially the later ones)

 

theoretically they could even use it to re-shell an 'actual' cooper and bring decent value back to something which is probably falling apart .  I know it's technically a ringer but as if that hasn't been already done hundreds of times before

Edited by stuart bowes, 23 June 2025 - 03:12 PM.

[sonikk4]

 

... its a mainstream car not a Cooper S ...

 

that wouldn't mean anything to me, in this case though, seeing as a cooper is pretty much just a standard mini with a few extra stickers on it

 

especially if you take the engine out of the equation which you have done, literally. it'll have had all the same running gear and suspension parts, and an engine doesn't have to be cooper to fairly easily get equivalent power, plenty of tuning options to get to that level and way more..

 

so does it not being a cooper make it less valuable?  not to me it doesn't, especially when you're just talking about a shell they can put anything they want into (and which is definitely in far better condition than 90% of the coopers you'll find for sale, especially the later ones)

 

 

Stuart, i think you are missing the point here. As the car comes with a valid V5 and its a mainstream car ie a Mayfair and not a coverted earlier Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 Cooper S which command stupid prices just  for a V5. This where the money is if you go doen the ringer route. This shell if some wanted to go dodgy would only be useful for a MK3 Cooper S but even then to be honest the front wings would be a big give away as they have side repeaters.

[stuart bowes]

no I don't mean the really old coopers that are totally different in style, granted 

 

but the late model rover coopers had side repeaters, no?  https://www.carandcl...om/car/C1892655 and a lot of them are full of rust.. so if someone wanted to refresh theirs instead of scrapping it, a few grand to achieve that, and a relatively simple job of swapping the bits over..

 

I wouldn't do it personally but Im sure the idea would appeal to some

Edited by stuart bowes, 23 June 2025 - 03:33 PM.

[beardylondon]

I think your Lad is right, you should have a figure in mind, as you’ll have to know what you’ll accept, so just make a figure up, the market will determine pretty quickly what it’s worth.

I wouldn't list it as 'unfinished project' because that sounds like someone got in deeper than they could manage (I know, not always true.. but gives that impression) and you start wondering about the quality of the work

if you list it as something more like 'complete rolling shell, expertly repaired painted and ready for engine and interior' with all the pictures to suit, and point out the cost of a new heritage shell, make a bit of a sales pitch for it etc, that looks much better

this is all just from the perspective of someone who looks at ebay ads, I have not actually sold one on ebay myself

Thanks for this and a very set of valid pointers. I have popped a couple of valuation requests on several of the FB groups i'm on and annoyingly i have had several "how much do you want??" It says valuation / whats it worth. I mean c'mon guys its in the wording. If i had a price in mind (my lad i should say) then we would have put something on there.

Anyway, thats the joys of social media and i should expect this. Hey ho upwards and onwards.

And yup its only worth what someone is willing to pay, i fully get that and as such are expectations mirror that train of thought.

One thing for sure, we know we will never get back the time, effort and cost after all its a mainstream car not a Cooper S and as such it was a labour of love, much like Paddy.

[IronmanG]

Put it on ebay with the starting bid at minimum you would take, 5k for example, on for the longest auction time possible which I think is 10 days and send links to every forum and social media group you can. I don't see why 6 or even 7 isn't possible if the colour is what someone is looking for and they happen to have some parts knocking about

[beardylondon]

That’s what I said!

Put it on ebay with the starting bid at minimum you would take, 5k for example, on for the longest auction time possible which I think is 10 days and send links to every forum and social media group you can. I don't see why 6 or even 7 isn't possible if the colour is what someone is looking for and they happen to have some parts knocking about