1800ES For Sale or Swap or Part-Ex?

[capt jack]

Spring is sprung and I'm thinking I might like a new project - but this means that first I'll need to find a new home for the current one!

Monica is an 1800ES automatic, in sea-green metallic 115 with tan leather interior.

I've owned her for two years and have spent that time re-commissioning her.

Bodywork is in very good condition with no rust. The interior is also very good.

She has the B20E fuel injected (D-Jet) 2 litre engine and BW35 autogearbox. The odometer reads just under 12,400 miles, although the true mileage is approximately 40,000. A new speedo was fitted at some time.

Monica was first registered in Feb 1973, but I have documentary evidence to show that she was in fact built in November 72, which (following a telephone conversation with the local DVLA office) will mean that she is tax-exempt. Presently she is SORN. I recently put her in for MoT, and she failed on two rusty brake pipes, with no advisories. Both offending brake pipes have now been replaced, and so I am confident that she will now pass the MoT should a new owner so wish.

When I bought her she had been dry-stored for about 5 years. Her brakes were seized, and fuel system not working. She also had some minor bits of wear and tear to the interior.

I've replaced the battery, cleaned up and re-sealed the brakes and master cylinder, fitted a new fuel pump and filter and a new modern fuel pressure regulator. I've also stripped and rebuilt the distributor, and replaced the exhaust back box with a Jetex one, and fitted a single tail pipe in place of the old twins. Not quite original I know, but the noise is fantastic! I've tidied up the bits of interior door trim that were awry, and replaced the window scrapers. I also needed to strip and rebuild the wiper assembly, which had seized, repaired the radio and replaced the clock.

For the eagle-eyed, the attached photos show the original tail pipes (which I still have), and the original fuel pressure regulator. The vacuum retard has also now been removed, and a new coil fitted.

She has 5 Dunlop tyres that are hardly used.

Interior-wise, all the instruments work, including the Smiths clock (which keeps very good time), but not the oil temp gauge. The wiring is all intact for this, so I'd guess that the sender is broken. The carpets and tan leather seats are all in very good condition, and a period Blaupunkt push-button radio LW/MW is fitted and working.

Exterior-wise she is in very good condition, with a couple of very small blemishes, but certainly no major work is needed, and there is no rust. Chromework is good, with a little tarnishing in a couple of places, but this certainly does not detract from the overall appearance.

I've been keeping her in dry garage, and I've a box-file full of old receipts and MoT reports. I'm the 4th registered owner. The previous owner kept her for 20 years. Her original owner was a Knight of the Realm and, I believe, a member of the Thatcher Government.

She is in very good all-round shape and is admired by all who see her. If a new owner was so minded, I reckon she could readily be a concours winner.

Putting a value on her is difficult, so right now I'm open to offers. There was a very similar car on the Car and Classic web site last month for sale at £15,000 - I do think this was more than a bit ambitious, and so have rather more realistic aspirations!

I am sorely tempted to keep her, but if the right offer came along then I would certainly give this serious consideration. I'd quite like a 164 - I saw a beauty on display at Seymour-Howell last year, or maybe a good 240GLT saloon, or maybe one of these two plus a 480 Celebration, so if a deal involved a part-ex or swap, again, I could be interested. Whatever, it would have to be an auto.

Monica is located at my home in North Yorks, not far from the A1 / M62 junction. For now, I'm only advertising her on the Forum here.

Cheers

Jack

[gray]

How much do you want for her Jack?

[capt jack]

Well........, this month's 'Practical Classics' values a Condition 1 ES at £8000, and a Condition 2 at £3750. A difference of over £4000 does seem hard to reconcile!

Trouble is with magazine valuations it's difficult to match their necessarily generalised categorisations to any one car. Personally I'd consider my ES to exceed their Condition 2, coming darn close to a Condition 1.

Having said that, SWMBO says I'm crazy for thinking of selling. Oh heck, now I don't know what to do for the best!

Cheers

Jack

[joncooper]

hiya Jack,

She does look like a lovely car and now I'm torn - I'm seriously considering an ES and am split between pursuing your car and Lister2286's. FYI I'd be inclined to use Lister's price as a reasonable guide. He's asking £5900 which seems about spot on. As lovely as Mo undoubtedly is, the lack of MOT and tax and the odd bits and pieces not working would put her a lot close to £5k than £6k for my money.

So why am I torn? Mo's colour is lovely!

Hmmm might come back to you in a week or two if she's still on the market..... must go and butter up the bank manager...

Jon

[Clan]

lovely car takes me back to when they were launched :-) where are the polished stainless steel wheel rings ? They are missing and completely ruin the impression of the otherwise almost perfect car .. Those rings made the car ( and the 140 GL ) in my opinion .

[capt jack]

Originally Posted by Clan

lovely car takes me back to when they were launched :-) where are the polished stainless steel wheel rings ? They are missing and completely ruin the impression of the otherwise almost perfect car .. Those rings made the car ( and the 140 GL ) in my opinion .

I've tried to source the trim rings, but so far without success. I agree that the car should have them.

At one time you could buy them in Halfords, but not any more!

If anyone has a set, or knows where I can get them I'd be very interested.

Cheers

Jack

[Alf ista]

Originally Posted by capt jack

I've tried to source the trim rings, but so far without success. I agree that the car should have them.

At one time you could buy them in Halfords, but not any more!

If anyone has a set, or knows where I can get them I'd be very interested.

Cheers

Jack

Jack, they turn up all the time on ebay. I got a lovely set for my Amazon a few months ago. Here is a set in the states, but the aution is nearly over...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volvo...spagenameZWDVW

[dugie]

Originally Posted by Alf ista

Jack, they turn up all the time on ebay. I got a lovely set for my Amazon a few months ago. Here is a set in the states, but the aution is nearly over...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volvo...spagenameZWDVW

you have to carefull when buying wheel rings ive seen a lot of copys and the quality is awfull some dont have the edges turned over and are razor sharp also originals were made of stainless steel be aware the company that supplies these listed on ebay do two types chromed abs plastic and stainless have a look on there web site jc whitney auto parts personly capt jack i would keep mo where are you going to find another dugie