Resurrecting My Exmo Project 17 Years On?

[Guest ssp747]

Hi all. This is my first post here as I'm looking for some advice. I'm not sure this is necessarily the right section to post this, but here goes:

 

I bought a stainless steel Exmo kit from Robin Hood in January 1997 with all the available options, including butterfly wings.

 

By August 1997 the car was about 75% finished using a Sierra donor with a 2.0 litre Pinto engine. Most of the mechanical and electrical bits were in and I could drive it out of the garage onto the driveway and back again. There were a number of items along the way that still needed tidying up (pipe work, sheared bolts, handbrake cable, etc from memory) and then seats and upholstery were next on the to do list.

 

For various reasons, working away from home, family, etc, the project pretty much stopped there. I now live 450 miles away from where the kit is (in my Dad's garage).

 

I've just been talking to someone I know through work who also runs a garage where as well as buying, selling and repairing cars, they also have some rebuilding projects on the go (they were working on a Mini and a Singer when I popped in for a chat).

 

I'm considering asking them to finish the kit for me. We've had some initial discussions about possible costs but that's without them seeing it in the flesh.

 

I've been reading as much as I can on the internet about people's mixed experiences of the Exmo and especially about the IVA. This forum has some fantastic information and some very helpful enthusiastic people.

 

My question is whether this is going to be a viable project.

 

Before taking it much further I'll need to see exactly what condition the engine, mechanics, etc are in after all this time. It would then need transporting 450 miles from my Dad's garage to the garage near me which is where the costs start.

 

Somewhere, I do have all my original paperwork, including the Sierra V5 (pre-SORN days), but I don't think have any photos of the build process (different times!).

 

How much work is likely to be involved in making the Exmo IVA compliant?

 

It might be that the cost of transporting, rebuilding, IVA-ing, etc makes it just not worth proceeding and that selling it in it's current form is the best option, but it would be great to finish what I started and get it on the road.

 

Does anybody have any advice/suggestions?

[alantoon]

There is two ways of looking at this, sentiment v's hard cash. To get the Exmo through am IVA is going to mean stripping it back down and taking photos as it is rebuilt,which is fine but if you are paying some-one to do this it is going to cost a fortune. At the end of the day when you get the car through the test, what is it actually worth, I paid £2800 for mine last year, taxed and on the road. The other alternatives are to sell it as a unfinished project or as individual items the latter being to most likely to raise the most money as parts are getting hard to get hold of.

It is going to be a hard decision but if it were me I would sell the bits and buy a complete car and then put my stamp on it.

[Guest Gargoil]

The value of the car is what someone is prepared to pay for it.

I bought mine for considerably more than £2800. for a variety of reasons. It had been freshly IVA'd and built to a spec, at that time, I was comfortable with.

I didn't know much better either.

The build process is only part of the cost of kit car ownership though. Many on here cannot leave thiers standard, always finding fault or wishing to develop, which over the life of the car, can cost much more than the original build. You pays your money and you takes your chances. For me it was a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained and althought the costs have been high, I can justify most of them, well almost......

[Guest ssp747]

Thank you for your responses.

 

I'll talk to the guys at the garage about their experiences (if any) of the IVA. If it's going to need to be stripped down and rebuilt from scratch then I suspect it's just not going to be worth pursuing. The cost of getting it on the road is likely to far outstrip its financial value.

 

It's definitely a case of head v heart. The head is currently saying 'don't do it' for so many reasons (cost, working away from home, young family, large house to decorate, etc). Even the heart isn't totally in it as I'd have limited opportunities to actually use it (and that's before I consider the Scottish weather). It would just be nice to finish what I started but I don't think that's going to be a good enough reason.

 

Maybe I'll look into selling it, either whole or for parts, or just maybe wait until my son is a bit older and we can have a go ourselves.

 

Thanks again for your balanced and considered responses.

[Guest mower man]

You will NEVER make money out of abandoned projects /part builts etc unless, 1 you steal it 2 steal al the parts for it 3 get some one to do all the labour inc specialist services for nowt and then get ithrough a vastly over priced test for nothing this is not a dig it is the plain and simple truth mick

[theduck]

Most kit cars are worth less than the cost to build them even without taking into consideration labour costs.

[agent_zed]

whilst i agree you won't make money out of a build you are likely to lose less than other cars. I bought my bmw 316ti 2003 for around £4k about 3/4 years ago. I built my 2b for around £4k.

 

If i sold the bmw i'd expect 1500 - 2000 if i am lucky

 

If i sold the 2b i'd want at least £3000 -3500 which seems to be a base kind of price.

 

In a couple of years time the kit will still be worth something the bmw will drop to virtually nothing.

 

Obv doesn't account for the man hours i've put in but that was part of the fun.

 

This doesn't really apply if you build a more expensive kit like a cobra as spending £18k etc will lose you a fair size chunk of money if you sell it.

[IanS]

The thing that R Stewart (creator of Robin Hood) was that he understood that there was a good market for basement price kits.

Resale price is lower but you do not loose much.

I am not sure that he has a sucessor.

I would still like a GT40

[Guest 2b cruising]

For all its worth (or not) I really enjoy my Hoody and do not regret buying it.

For the money it cost including running costs, it's a bargain.

Not had so much fun since I was a single teenager.

Took a chap that owns a Westie out in mine and he was really over the moon with the car. Said he regretted paying so much for his.