Topic

As ive had recent exerience of having to scrap a VVC (1997) in damn near perfect condition due to HGF i though i would add my opinion into the mix. I bought the car with HGF, knowing that everything else was fine, with paperwork dating back to the handover documents from rover. The idea was to fix the HG and get her back on the road. The owner was going to scrap it but due to the condition of it i wasnt going to let that happen quickly, i wanted to see this flame red phoenix rise from the ashes. I even sold my 1.8I to fund the repair. Unfortunatly the engine was totally knackered, well beyond repair and a replacement was needed. The engines were cheap enough to buy but they came with no warranty, so you run the risk of having problems as soon as you turn the key. We phoned a few garages and were quoted around the £800 to £1000 mark for an engine swap, thats labor only! no fluds or anything else included. Along with this high labour cost (a lot of the garages we phoned wouldnt even touch the car due to the engine being in such a tight space) the cost of getting the cam belt replaced, the cost of replacing the clutch, the fluids, the cost of the engine and getting the engine to the garage and no assurance that it would even work or develop HGF without replacing the HG at the same time the cost was hitting such a high that for less money than the repair i could have bought a newer TF with a hell of a lot less miles on it and had a thick wad of change to play with. All in all we travelled well over 500 miles to try and salvage this car and looked into every avenue we could but when the figures started coming in of quotes we knew there was was only 2 options left. Scrap it or break it. The option chosen was the break it to get enough in the kitty to buy another, which i have now done. The only bit of joy i got from the whole experience was knowing that by breaking her up it may allow 3 or 4 more F's to live on for a few more years. The horrible truth of the matter is, these cars are sometimes worth more in bits then as a whole.