Me & 3 friends are thinking about doing a banger rally in 2011. The rules for all the ones we've looked at are fairly similar -- maximum budget allowed for the car is £250-£300.
We are allowed to spend more money once we've bought the car to make it roadworthy, so if we say a total budget of £1k that's probably realistic (comparable to the cost of return flights to italy for each of us) and still keeping in the spirit.
Looking for suggestions for a banger :-) We're after rear wheel drive or 4wd. Old merc's are too popular on these rallies so they're out. Would prefer something cool, v8 rover seems a likely candidate in our budget maybe in a Rover car or an old range rover (not so keen would prefer a car for this).
Whatever the car, it has to take 4 adults and boys luggage (so nothing massive) and some tools and spare parts.
We'll be painting it and decorating it so exterior condition, even light crash damage / bashes aren't that big a problem. One of the guys dad's is handy with a welder too.
More than that though, also sources for bangers. There's ebay, auto trader and the local scrappies (useless) and the local traders (the 3 or 4 we've called are not interested in supplying this kind of thing).
In terms of spare parts, i was thinking it'll all be bodge stuff, so a bottle of rad weld, premixed coolant, a big length of pliable crappy generic coolant hose maybe. Jump leads. Towing rod / bar. Oil's probably not worth the space / weight it takes since it's available at any petrol station. Any suggestions there?
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I would choose a car dependent on your destination. If it is to Italy then look for a European car. Local back street mechanics are likely to have seen them/have parts in stock etc etc.
Alternatively buy an old Subaru. It won't go wrong.
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Old Mercs are popular for a reason, they are simple old beasts...
Remember 4wd is more complicated, as are V8s, etc...
I'd look for something simple to run and fix... I doubt there's much difference between fwd and rwd in this respect... Old and simple, but in as good a nick as possible...
(At first i thought you meant for Banger racing... gives the whole post a different outlook!!)
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I'd think you'd want space more than anything else, or is speed important?
Perhaps something like e-bay Item number: 270679904211 or 390270903904
Last edited by: bathtub tom {p} on Tue 14 Dec 10 at 16:34
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>> Old Mercs are popular for a reason, they are simple old beasts...
Yeah, maybe discounting the mercs is a bad idea. I can't help but fancying something a bit more unique though, they're like the default choice for banger rallys.
Has to be something with a bit of merit, a fwd Daewoo Espero isn't going to cut the mustard here :-)
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>> Alternatively buy an old Subaru. It won't go wrong.
Definitely would have an old subaru, even one of the less desirable models but they seem to claw onto their value once they reach banger age :-(
I guess they've a rep for being strong and this boosts the values.
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Maybe a Volvo 700/900 series estate?
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>> Maybe a Volvo 700/900 series estate?
I like it. An old 960 estate (or maybe a 760 given the budget).
I think parts are still in fairly good supply, looks like it anyway from a casual glance at a volvo forum and the GSF website.
That ticks all the boxes so far.
Do they suffer terminal tin worm on the chassis or anything scary to look out for?
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An acquaintance of mine did something similar a few years ago with another guy.
They took a large Volvo petrol auto estate.
Lots of miles, but in reasonable order.
I think it was a genuine part-exchange which the dealer didn't want to retail.
There was a charitable element to their run, and I'm sure they blagged the cost of some preparation work by a local garage in exchange for a bit of publicity.
Worth contacting your local paper, it's certainly worth a pic and a few words when you've got the car, and possibly a follow-up story about how it went.
Can't remember where the guys went with the Volvo, it was Europe somewhere, might have been Italy.
One thing I do recall is they planned to leave/sell the car over there and fly back.
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Car Mechanics mag have done this for a couple of years. I think their choice was an old 7 series last year (very comfortable and didn't go wrong, of course), but I think this would be like a busmans holiday for you :)
Old Lexus V8?
Jag XJ?
Last edited by: corax on Tue 14 Dec 10 at 19:20
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>> Do they suffer terminal tin worm on the chassis or anything scary to look out
>> for?
I think they were as good as most similiar-aged cars for rot. I guess there's been a tendency - like for the old Mercs - to rely on the 'unburstable' image, so latter-day servicing might have been scant.
A slight problem, post-scrappage, has been a hardening of prices at the bottom end of the market. Large old estate cars are still popular among the building trade as 'workhorses'.
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Jeep Cherokee 4litre straight six.
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An old style grand cherokee with it's simple suspension and easy access under bonnet, no need for jack to get underneath...
They're just too tall though, people wont be able to see the saltire flag on the roof ;-)
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Can't believe how difficult it is to find a decent banger. I now have a proper appreciation for how bad a decision the scrappage scheme was.
Between the lot of us we've been to see over 20 motors (doesn't sound much but it took a lot of time) and looked up, oh i don't know but treble figures i'd say.
Tried the auction at Baillieston, what a rip off fees wise. Plus, cars don't really go for pennies, cheapest was well over £400. Plus killer fees on top.
Auto trader, shed trader more like.
eBay, ha!
Notice boards, only seem to be used by folks selling a micra or smaller.
Word of mouth, 4x families, god knows how many friends and friends of friends. Couple of leads but nothing decent.
If we buy in Feb we'd be unlikely to get it finished in time for April. Ho hum. Lads holiday in Germany it's looking like now (all attached, 2 with kids, canny get away with shagaloof :-).
Cue the phone ringing off the hook with decent bangers now we've canned the idea!
Last edited by: Skoda on Fri 28 Jan 11 at 20:36
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I did one about a year ago, that's the hardest part finding the car it was alot harder than I thought. In the end we went for a 405 td estate cost £240.
Where are you going from and to?
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>> Where are you going from and to?
We were leaning towards the Belgium (Bruges) to Croatia (Split) one. There's a massive party at the end of that one which gets more of a write up than the rally :-) Split looks amazing.
There's 2 other cars going from Scotland that we know of, but one of them wants to go via dover i think it is instead of the direct ferry.
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Go for a 405 we did calais to gib in 22 hours non stop no problems. Very comfortable drive TBH was surprised at 196k how good it was never a twingh amounst any of us, good on fuel as well.
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Lada 1600...No electronics....big boot..even more if you drill the boot lid and bolt the spare on. Estate even better.
Cheasp, easy to get tyres. Timing chain, points, carb. fan belt easy to fit without tools, etc, etc.
If you can find one.
Ted
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Lada that got my attention :).
I am guessing you would have to do something about the suspension though.
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This group did a charity rally last year with an Omega:
en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Frank-the-Ramshackle-Omega/212135322162?v=wall&filter=2
Some good material about preparation of vehicle etc. there. IIRC being Luton-based they persuaded Vauxhall to give it a thorough going-over at the factory.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Fri 28 Jan 11 at 23:28
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scrappage certainly has killed the idea of these runs
join copart
www.copart.co.uk/c2/facilities.html
as a sideline member (free) and see if anything comes up in the next few weeks
its only 30 miles from you? ish
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Signed up on copart, see how it goes. Cheers for that
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>> Lada that got my attention :).
Oh, you're not that ill then !
Lada suspension would be fine.......I've never known one to break in all the hundreds I've dealt with. Also , seats are very good for back sufferers....and who needs power steering, they still have a steering box !
Anyway, Banger's not that far, just near the Menai Straits.
Ted
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I know Bangor well and its one way streets, one of the view towns I have driven in outside of Manchester.
I was more meaning the Lada's lack of ability to stick to the roads. I remember my dad nearly falling of the M63 once when he took a corner too fast on the exit.
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Know guys in Cumbernauld College who did this recently in a Xantia.
IIRC on the way back they left it at a long stay car park in France. Might still be there!!
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Banger Rally - Netsur
