14 Sept 2016

I have a friend who bought a 16v from this seller, it was a rot-box, and needed a lot of metalwork done.

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This silver car looks bad, why call it a rebody? Why not call it what it actually is? You can answer that question yourselves, I think it's a 16v given an HFTurbo ID. This might have been done in Italy 10 years ago, so would be difficult to prove.

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The engine is a lash-up, how can it run like that, never mind be fast? The interior defies description!

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HPI free check didn't recognise the car's reg no, it might be too new to be on the database I suppose.

Some Deltas coming on sale now are looking very shady, but I'm sure this car will sell, perhaps reappearing as a different car in a few years time.

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12 June 2016

Here's a nice Evo1 on Autotrader, it has the usual Japanese crazy low mileage, with no proof probably.

But my gripe this week is about the interior! Not that it's completely bagged up in a bizzare 'we're supposed to believe it' way,

but please observe the seats! Madness, Bride! Bride of Frankenstien more like!

Someone must know where the lock up is in Japan that contains all the lost Delta seats. We would all like to know that, I'd be the first at the van hire depot to drive over there and fill me boots!!

1 Feb 2016

This black Evo1 was listed on Ebay last week, it sold for £16350.00 after 26 bids. I hope the new owner can tell me I'm wrong, but I was a bit worried about the car.

It was described as having the door frame cracks 'professionally welded', new wheels 'sourced and refurbished'. The car also was described as having signs of a previous accident repair. Looking at the car, it had a plastic bonnet, non-original bumper and grille, no fog lights, and the hinge panel looked bent. The front wheels look a bit far back in the side view, all saying to me this Delta has had a hard frontal impact.

The dashboard lower parcel shelf padding has dents from a full roll cage fitment, but this could be a good thing!

I'll say no more, it's really none of my business. I'm sure the new owner went down and had a look at the car, it's probably perfectly good. I'll bet it runs beautifully and stops well. I do invite the new owner to tell me I'm very mistaken, and it's a great little car.

1 January 2016

This beautiful Evo 2 caught my eye, but it's an auction for the reg plate. This plate sold, just before Christmas 2015, for £690.00. Now I think that's a bargain! I should have bid on that, Walkers have K2 EVO for sale now at £2495, 2495 take away 690? that makes 1805, a potential £1800 profit!

Just dreaming again.

I emailed the vendor to ask where the rest of the car was, it looks in great condition. The gentleman kindly replied that the car was hit hard by a white van on the M4, the insurance co took everything away, the car was not seen again. The seller told me words can't express how upset he and his family were at the disaster, they were all ok, but the Delta certainly wasn't, and is much missed.

20 December 2015

At the moment, the Euro to UK pound exchange rate is very favourable. So there are some good Delta purchases to be made in European countries.

We recently bought a Lord blue Evo2 in the Netherlands, here's the story.

This Evo2 was on Autoscout, it looked attractive, and was a good price when converted to UK. So I made contact and a deal was agreed via email and some phone chats. The young gentleman selling was friendly, and knew his cars, we visited his premises in Holland to view the Evo.

The car was located at an ex-Alfa dealership paintshop, now used for classic car renovation and racing preparation. There were several lovely Alfas there, and some great old Alfa engines. The Evo was to be sold to fund the owner's latest project, a Ferrari Dino. The Dino has a metal body with a laminated floor bonded in before the car is painted, so the rot is really bad! All the floor will have to be removed, and this is really expensive, so his Evo had to go.

The Evo looked nice, it had been repainted here and there, but looked ok. It started ok and stayed cool, oil pressure good and it boosted well.

The only real problem was the ignition light stayed on, and glowed brighter with the revs, I assumed the alternator diode was faulty, but he said it had been that way for years, and had never let him down. Hmmm.

I later flew over to Amsterdam, then train to Utrecht. I've been to many interesting places on car buying missions, this was an interesting trip!

I paid for the car and set off for the ferry, the rain started and it went dark, but I couldn't use anything because the battery was going down.

I drove across Holland and made it, very early, to the ferry. I relaxed watching the trailer spotters spinning their trucks around.

Boarding time came, the car did start, I rolled down the passenger window to show my ticket, and of course it wouldn't go back up. On the ferry I only had the wheelbrace, so I pulled the door card out, stuck the bar under the window and lifted, the winder caught and the window closed. so I could lock the car, well I could if the tailgate key worked.

Night time on the ferry was noisy, and I was worried if the car would start in the morning, so I didn't sleep much! The car did start, and Hull traffic jams didn't cause overheating, the cruise over the M62 was fine and the sun shone.

Jim at NW Integrales told me he did the same trip once, with UK plates on the car, as I did, but his Dutch Delta blew up on the motorway, he waited on the shoulder for the AA man worried the police would come first! How would you explain a Dutch car on UK plates?

There were a few other niggles with the car, sorted out at home, which are mentioned on other pages. The alternator diode was indeed faulty, which is a cheap repair, but as you know the alternator is a bugger to remove!

I wish sellers would be more honest, you would still buy the car, but it would make life easier if you knew what to expect.

15 November 2015

Here's a nice looking Evo1, I can't say too much, because the car is currently a live listing on Ebay.

There are a lot of rules on Ebay, not many are obeyed! But if an item is bid on and passes its reserve, it should be collected by the high bidder.

If an item is won, and listed as sold, then re-appears again soon afterwards with no comments, that means someone has been shill bidding with the item owner's consent.

On a 99p cd, this doesn't really matter, but on a £20,000 car, it does matter. This red Evo sold on Ebay for £21,000, it was also listed on a classic car site, it's now back on Ebay again.

I'll leave that thought with you. I have seen his car, I'll comment after it's been sold. 

Right, this car seems to have sold. I saw this Delta at the body shop before sale, it was in for a skim in places and a quick waft here and there. It had been painted before, there was overspray on the door handles and window frames. The bonnet was off, and skimmed with filler, the n/side door frame top was cracked and had been fretting badly, the frame now twisted, Pulling back the driver's side door frame seal showed another crack, and further down the ripple marks of a puller clamp, so the door frame had been pulled diagonally back into shape.

In my opinion, this car has had a bad shunt, the front had turned under and folded the screen pillars, this had all been pulled straight. The front slam panel was still bent.

10 November 2015

Tell me I'm wrong, I hope I am!

I seem to remember this Evo1 on Ebay earlier 2015, for sale in Cheshire, we were going to have a look, but I thought it was a bit expensive, considering all the graphics that would need removing to make it look original.

How wrong was I !! Look at it now, on sale for £34990, that's the best part of £17,000 more than it sold for on Ebay a couple of months ago, still complete with graphics and aftermarket seats, no engine pics are shown, so it's anybody's guess what's under there.

We have entered a crazy world of profit-making, what seemed price madness has now become commonplace.

If you were the previous owner of this Evo, send us a message, we'd like to hear from you.

12 October 2015

I like to look at Autoscout.de, there are some nice Deltas in the heart of Europe.

But some not so nice too! Here's a car for sale in Rome, that's Rome, Italy. Italy being the Lancia Delta's birthplace, you'd think some respect would be due!!

This car is for sale at e50,000.00, that's £35,000.00, someone's put a lot of dosh into this car.

I can see there are some brave styling ideas on the car, but as I'm obsessed with originality, it's quite upsetting!!

Another car from Autoscout is here too.