Help buying a stag

[noel 25]

Went to look at a stag advertised in the SOC yesterday, spent two hours there looking round it. Found filler in rear offside wing with magnet and small amount on front panel. Thin rust line showing through paint along top of sill and in join along sill and rear wing. Is this a major problem awaiting?

Also, passenger door drops a little. The gap on the top of the front wing is not sealed so water can enter. A few small rust bubbles are on the bottom of the door. All other panels, and underneath, are fine. Sills seem hard inside and the floor is okay.

The car drives very well. But there is one problem when the roof is down - a strong smell and taste of fuel even to the extent of feeling like my face was stinging. The car emits a small amount of black smoke when revved and soot in the exhaust. The car has been converted to stag webber.

Any advice on the above would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Hettiherald]

Hi
Welcome to the mad house.
First the fueling issues. Souns like the car is overfueling, could be any number of things but is ultimatly repairable. The biggest issue would be if the car was burning oil, blue smoke as opposed to black. The body issues are typical stag. You need to ask yourself two things, is the car worth the money, and am i prepared to dig deep and accept it will cost money over time. To keep up to scratch.
If you are paying top money, i would expect all the body issues to be sorted, but if its a £5,000 car, you will generally find things that need doing. Try to find a local member that can give you advice and you never know, they might even know the car in question
Usual advice , dont buy the first car you see, like 90% of the members on this site did, including me!
Have fun and enjoy the experiance
Dave

[noel 25]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply.

The car is a 1975, it's just past the MOT and a couple of advisories: suspension bushes and steering coloumn top bearing. The car was advertised for £7950, but he will take £7000. I just worry about the sills. The engine has had it's head skimmed and new inserts and a couple of spark plug threads re-done plus new dif. Also, stainless steel exhaust. If the sills are bad inside, can they be repaired or replaced?

Thanks

[Hettiherald]

Hi
The sills can be relaiced, but it is a bit of a lottery as to how much new metal is needed. I had one side on mine done by a professional and it ended up costing over £ 2000 without paint, but by the time he finished, the boot floor and both rear wings were repaired/ relaiced. So i did the other side myself, took about a month for me to do it, but cost a LOT less.
If the sills are original, check to see if the lower part where they fix to the floor are in good shape, along with the inner sill that it fixes to. Sounds like it will need bodywork in the future, but it is a 40 yo car, so that is a garantee! The droping door is a bit of a worry as it could be the A post is weak, but it could also be a worn hinge, so look carefuly at that area, any excessive movement in the metal of the A post will mean corrosion is present, and work will be needed at some point.
At the end of the day, do you like the car, and are you prepaired to do work on it. But please get a check on it by someone who understands the stag. Even a aa or rac report could help you decide, but ask for somone who uderstans classics, no a spotty yooof who only works on the latest euro tin can.
Dave

[noel 25]

thanks dave think im going to see if i can get some one with the know how to have a look. noel

[Alanmax]

Hi Noel 25. Where do you live? If your local to me I don't mind helping out. £7000 sounds a tad to much from your description. Alan.

[noel 25]

thanks Alan but i live in birmingham the car is in abergavenny this car is advertised in soc and piston heads on net thanks very much any way

[Guest]

I am the Abergavenny seller and wasted 3 hours of my life with Noel yesterday who wants a £14K car (see the one on Pistonheads for £13,995) for £7K . I reduced my asking price to £7K for a quick sale and did not intend him to broadcast it to the world but as it is now out there, that's the price for one week only. Such nonsense on the replies to his enquiries. £2K for cills??You were seen coming ,pal. I can get a full bare metal respray for under £2K and will probably do that unless someone makes the trip down here sharpish!

[Hettiherald]

Dave
At no time have i given advice that could be constued as nonsence and quite frankly your reply is bordering on downright rude. You have the right to have your opinion and if your feeling is that you wasted 2 hours of your life quite frankly i would not be happy about buying a car from you.
If you spend another few of your precious minutes reading my reply you would see that the price i paid for my repairs included extensive work on the boot floor and rear wings as well as the cill repair.
Just because you failed to sell your car, dont take it out on people who are just trying to be honest. I hope that any subsequent posts on this forum from you will be a little less condescending.
Consider this my right to reply...

[V Mad]

I agree with Hettiherald. Not a promising start from a new member.

[andy p]

Hi
The answer is don't rush into the 1st one you see take your time and compare cars when looking them, one you have seen 4 or 5 you will get an idea of car V price,

[Guest]

No problem with anyone having the "right to reply", providing it sticks to facts and is polite, which applies to the sellers post as much as anyone elses.

Please keep that in mind for any subsequent replies.

[Hettiherald]

I thought i was very polite. And very factual. I will not however be ridiculed by anyone and not be allowed to respond.
Please tell me what i did wrong.
Dave

[Guest]

Dave, I didn't say your reply was wrong in anyway.

[flying farmer]

Went to look at a stag advertised in the SOC yesterday, spent two hours there looking round it. Found filler in rear offside wing with magnet and small amount on front panel. Thin rust line showing through paint along top of sill and in join along sill and rear wing. Is this a major problem awaiting?

Also, passenger door drops a little. The gap on the top of the front wing is not sealed so water can enter. A few small rust bubbles are on the bottom of the door. All other panels, and underneath, are fine. Sills seem hard inside and the floor is okay.

The car drives very well. But there is one problem when the roof is down - a strong smell and taste of fuel even to the extent of feeling like my face was stinging. The car emits a small amount of black smoke when revved and soot in the exhaust. The car has been converted to stag webber.

Any advice on the above would be appreciated.

Thanks

Filler can be anywhere and everywhere, especially if repair panels have been let in as they require large areas covered to blend in to the original panels. However repair panels should need no filler at their edges (ie around the edges of wheel arches).

The sill to quarter panel join is impossible to keep rust free long term unless the sill is seam welded to the quarter panel as bodyshell flex keeps cracking the seam sealer and letting damp in, but it tends to be the quarter panel that rusts fastest, if the sill is rotten it would be at the bottom.

Wings were never sealed at the top gap from the factory, though I like to do mine to keep water out. Dropping door is most likely in need of adjustment. "A" posts do go rotten at the bottom but it is difficult to detect as it is behind all the carpet and trim, but by the time they do, rust is often showing at the top of the "A" post and the screen surround as water runs down the inside of the pillar from the top. They don't normally weaken to the point where the door would drop without it being very obvious.

Rust bubbles on door bottoms are a common problem unless the door has been oiled internally, but this makes a mess so most people don't do it and rely on rust proofing solutions which in my experience eventually fail. I prefer oily door bottoms and no rust.

The fuel mixture is obviously too rich, which is unusual as the Weber conversions are more prone to running weak. I would have thought this is most likely a fuel pressure or float height problem which is relatively easily fixed.

Most reliable guide to how solid a car actually is, is the time elapsed from the last respray. If it has been done within the last couple of years it can be hiding a multiple of sins, been bitten hard by that one!

Not keen on the attitude of the seller, but he does have a point about being too picky, and I would prefer a car with an older paint job then spend a few quid getting it sorted, than end up buying a highly polished turd with a 4.6K 2 year old respray hiding a skip load of filler like I did!

Neil