I’m a BMW 2002 specialist and gave up commenting on BaT cars due to kickback from others who don’t understand why I would tear cars apart that looked decent to them, but I could see beneath the nail polish. I also got fed up with having to explain myself every time, my background, my literal life long experience with those cars. Thank you for daring to post this video!
I have worked on , restored and judged many Rolls and Bentley cars. Whenever I point out all the problems on BAT, I always get criticized for picking on such a nice car! I have called myself the Voice of reason and finally I have stopped. I also have done Chevelles, Corvettes, many many Willys, Deloreans and Panteras plus more. I now just watch and say little as folks don't seem to care. I recently watched a Cab over willy's truck that on any good day might be worth 18K bring over 43K . I only buy for myself and have no customers since I'm long retired. So now I'm more of a watcher and Laugher! Thanks for pointing out what others have missed.
Had a 48 studebaker come into my restoration shop for some minor things but I always do a good look over to make sure the truck was worth the effort. Found it to be on a f100 frame that had a mustang 2 clip grafted onto the front half. Flux core splatter all over. Poorly painted frame. The battery box was made out of cheap tin and the battery hold down was a bungee cord. The small block Chevy would barely run due to the big time “restoration shop” did a tuneup and flopped the firing order around. Brought the owner out to the shop to find out the dude paid 24,000 dollars for a half ass restored project that will never be correct. Did I mention whoever welded the clip on didn’t cut both sides the same length and the thing always dog tracked. The owner brought it to me to do an alignment on the thing and I said there’s no way I can align this mess. Lesson to this dude that if you don’t know anything about cars find someone who does and a specialist. I rather pay someone 300 bucks to save me 24,000 as I said to the owner. Wound up doing a real restoration and did everything including body work…. This thing had more bondo than the cars in American geaffitt
I remember out high school shop teacher telling us about some cool pr9jects on there in 2005(?). When I checked it a while back I was astonished they only sell Top dollar stuff now
I am one of the victims or fools from bring a trailer on an MG TF. I was sold a bill of goods by the seller that ended up being totally false. A car that was a supposed regular driver and semi show car had the engine coolant passages so full of fix a leak it could not have run in years. I ended up with a total rebuild on the engine in the many many thousands of dollars. If you can't see it and drive it get an expert to do it for you otherwise DONT BUY IT.
Anytime you buy a classic car only take what is in your sight. Oh it was rebuilt. No paperwork it wasn’t rebuilt. Any self respecting seller would be transparent and have paperwork for their investments. Don’t trust no one…. But hey people that buy classic cars should be able to rebuild their classic car with maybe the exception of a transmission.
I was never curious about bugeyes, nor do I have any desire to own one. But I find this kind of technical analysis fascinating. Great video. Keep up the good work!
So used car sellers are not always fully forthcoming in their descriptions of their offerings? Must be societal decay because it wasn't that way back in the day when I bought my first used car that was only driven to church on Sundays by a little old lady from Pasadena.
😊 That is why buying a classic car from a very good dealer is a must (no names as there are many). 👍 I am 62 and want to relive my 20's and be happy with my favorite classic car, the top end dealers will do all of the inspections and will usually give some sort of warranty. 😎 Sure you will pay a little extra, but it is well worth it when you are spending 30k to 70k on your dream ride hotrod.
Great video! I bought one car online, even had an "independent expert" (haha) inspect it. After pouring thousands of dollars into it, I was just worn out and hated it. I will never again buy a car without personally inspecting it inch by inch with one of my mechanic car buddies. Even big in-person auctions don't allow that depth of inspection. Bottom line: whatever you buy online or at an auction, figure spending another ten to twenty percent of the purchase price to fix everything and often to just make it safe.
I just found your channel and it's a refreshing look at the classic/vintage car insanity. After spending half my 66 years working as a mechanic involving mostly European and British cars , I feel somewhat qualified to comment. I'm sure the Bug Eyes featured went for top dollar and were represented as the finest in the land. The terms "restoration" and "rebuilt" are red flags in my experience as proven in your video. I've seen my share of both and have had to deal with some very unhappy buyers. They didn't do the basic homework and were dazzled by the shiny paint and endless hype about classic cars. Buy a car unseen and cruise happily into the sunset. BaT has become the go to venue for a lot of people with lots of money and very little common sense or basic knowledge. I have commented on BaT but only if I have direct and useful experience with the vehicle in question. I have seen nice shiny restorations that reveal shoddy work and shortcuts if you know where to look. Many are obvious but totally lost in the general comments made about the vehicle. I wonder how many of these auction vehicles actually go through a PPI? The idea of having to ship my very expensive new purchase to your shop to correct the flaws and poor workmanship is really a sad statement but hey, it keeps you busy.
Well done. As mentioned by others, this is not a BAT problem, it is universal to include private sales. An example would be my latest acquisition, a 1963 MG.. replacing my 1964 sold last year. I knew the owner.. a former M Benz dealership mechanic when I was an M-B USA factory District Manager in the 80s. I understand stuff wears out, I do not understand deliberate butchery and attempted hiding of same, and out and out lying. This was not as prevalent when I started buying/restoring Brit cars in the 60s. Auctions are the bane of car ( and many other items) collecting.. it artificially drives up car prices ( not value). Buyer beware.. as with guitars ( my other hole in the water where your money goes) Play before you Pay. Trust no one. Which includes the seller of my current car . IMNSHO he should never touch another Brit ( or any other) car. Thanks for the video. PS I miss my 1958 Bugeye bought in 1970 for the princely sum of $50.. yes fifty. ,
I love Bugeyes! Even with the weird spring mount I’m glad they are still out there and even happier there are people who still work on these great little cars.
My friend in HS bought his bugeye for 85$ ...he haggled...but it didn't run. He was pretty good with cars so 10$ carb rebuild kit it ran great. Took it to get gas filled it up for less than 3$. What's funny is how expensive we thought the carb kit cost
It is likely that many of the cheerleaders in the comments section over at BaT are primarily interested in driving up the values of those vehicles that they themselves already own.
Good job on finding the issues. I misspent a lot of time working on old cars including Sprites. My take is 9 out of 10 mechanics would not have found any issue with the car on the lift that was not readily apparent. I remember taking my old Sprite to a number of known good mechanics and not a one could figure out why it was shaking at speed. I talked to an old Indy mechanic and he sent me to an old guy who raced Sprites. He drove it around a bit and said - loose nut on the pinion and sure enough that was it.
Just stumbled upon your channel. Excellent presentation and I'll have to check out your other videos! Thanks for sharing the information you have acquired over the years.
I bought an Audi TT on BaT. It wasn't listed as perfect and had 75k miles on the clock. I only payed $5500 for it, and put that into it over the next year. I assumed when I bought it that it that any 14 year old sports car with 75k miles will need maintenance. If anyone is buying a car on line and expecting a 90+ point car, they should have it inspected before they bid. I've owned bugeye's, midgets and triumphs, and they weren't that good when brand new. I would gladly buy one on BaT, but if I were expecting it to be a restored 100 point car and especially if I were paying a premium price, I'd pay the extra $$ to have it checked out by a guy like Dave first. Having a 50 year old $50K car show up on your doorstep sight unseen is foolhardy for me. For some, no big deal, I guess.
David, very good video. I understand your point of view. Look at it this way. Its a car. Every car that is used is going to have an issue. Over the years and miles many many things happen. We all know the statement is "buyer beware". I do not think its a "Bring a trailer issue, it is an Shi# happens issue and we car guys all know that nothing is perfect. You look hard enough at any vehicle no matter where it was purchased and your going to find some little something that is not right. It presents itself as an opportunity for someone like yourself to fix it! So the cars are the ones taking care of us! Sorry if I stepped on any toe's but in this world we live in nothing is perfect for long. We are on a rock in space moving at 67000 miles per hour around a fireball, Its a freaking miracle that we even have the ability to communicate as we do and that cars exist at all!
I left my body once and went to a sun star or whatever you want to call it , very crazy but it was the source of everything and I found the key to life than I was sucked back into my body and forgot the magic that was coming from it . I will tell you 🌟 are more than just fireballs 🤙
I love those loud pumps. They're the only ones I like to install. They work good, and they're built good. I've had a lot of the other types fail on me pretty quickly
I dunno, just that crazy shiny paint on the underfloor would have made me doubt the decisions that were made through the rest of the car. They never looked anything like that when they were new.
I worked a second job at a body shop The man was known for t-bird builds. Once a very pretty 63 bird came in. Some one even painted the floor pans inside the car odd but I thought we had to finish off the car, but when the shop owner told me to grab a disk grinder with some 800 grit paper. He walked over to the quarter panel put a straight edge down there. It rocked badly.i asked again about the correct grit and he made a few lines on the quarter panel. He told me to stop when I hit metal. 15 minutes later I was covered in Bondo dust. The car had issues with fener skirts fitting. He took a cut off wheel width of metal out. A few taps with a body hammer and the skirt fit perfectly. Seen a lot of horror body work was common issue. Learned something that day.never look at paint only look for rust and the common issue before buying anything. Price maybe cheap but to make it right will cost you more on the back end of the job. Happy hunting.
Many thanks, one of my favorite social media comments I have ever seen, thank you for this acknowledgement, too much blaming, generally... we are all in this together. Thanks for writing!
Very important lesson here. I get really tired of hearing people say "it's worth it" whenever they see a BaT auction price. How could they even possibly know? Lol
This channel popped up so I had a look. A really good presentation. Very tight-it's a pain when someone (as often happens) takes much longer than necessary to make their points. Even though I won't be able to have one of these cars it was still fascinating to learn a bit more about them. And buyer beware...
As this was shipped without brake lines, it must have been sold as a "project" car on Bat. I'm not a huge fan of BaT (though it's not a bad auction site), but the cars are labeled accordingly, and it's quite easy to ask very specific questions, to request additional pictures and documentation (etc.) of the seller before bidding (in the threaded discussion area). As with any other car purchase, if the answers to questions and requests aren't immediately and satisfactorily forthcoming, move on to the next car.
First time to your channel! You were in my UA-cam suggestions! What a beautiful car! I was worried this was going to be a horror story, but with a few small adjustments/changes, it looks like the customer got a nice car. (I would never buy something not seen in person, unless I personally knew the shop or person. (Although I did buy 1 car (not a classic car) sight unseen & although a few things were a let down, (a friends fathers estate sale car-it was a 20 year old lower mileage Ford Crown Victoria) it turned out to be a good car. (Bought it to resell) I appreciate you not slamming the seller or others who might have had done work on this car over the years. Looking forward to more of your content! Stay well, from me in Manitoba, Canada!
Older British sports cars were always problematic. That is why they are no longer made. So rather than taking the view that a no-inspection online purchase of a two generation old British sports car has issues that were not exposed, I would say it is nice there is somebody familiar enough to diagnose and have modern fixes for those issues.
Bought a 1965 Land Rover through BAT - looked great, hundred photos or more, engine overhauled, cold start video, running video, etc, etc. It arrived and I have never seen a car that spewed so much oil out the exhaust pipe in my life. Took a year to get rid of it and lost $15k. Never again.
1:10. I would say that the bigger issue is that there’s no push rod to the clutch fork. You can bleed hydraulic cylinders with the bleed screw in the bottom, just ask old Chrysler and Volkswagen brakes. But even if you bleed it, it’s not going to push on the clutch fork with nothing connecting them. Yes, I also move those bleed screws to the top when I pull them out of the box. Not the issue.
It's a 'restored' 60 year old car, so it should be problem-free. If it was original, you're right, you'd expect issues. What is your point? Are you the builder?🙄
I follow Bugeyeguy. He is the oracle on these old Sprites. He’s like the MOPAR guy on Graveyard Carz. Knows every bolt and screw even the body welds. He takes Bugeyes and makes them better than the originals if you let him. He can always spot the sows ear in the silk purse. Edited for spelling.
I’m restoring a 1967 MGM GT. My dad loved MGs and told me, “Son, I’ve forgotten more about MGs than I remember.” And he knew a lot! Experts will see every fault while a casual observer will miss them.
It looks like a great car to me. You have made it better, and the next expert will find something you missed. Brand new cars off the assembly line frequently have issues and an old car that has been worked on by so many mechanics will absolutely have things that aren’t perfect. I lived in England and personally never saw ANY car as clean as this one. Good work making a good car even better. But many of the things you identified the owner never would have noticed or had problems with if his intention was to drive it.
Certainly eye opening! If the first one was the Cornwall Sprite then I must say I’m glad I dodged that bullet because I was seriously intending to buy it on BAT. a few weeks ago. Thanks.
Good review and repairs of the red car; it must have driven terribly. Buyer must be disappointed with the BaT auction. Buyer might be upset by a large repair bill but will have a properly driving car afterwards.
Dad bought a Porsche and i was always a suspect of Bring A Trailer. My dad was driving it and he noticed the back taillight wasnt lighting up the passenger side tail light wasnt even fully screwed in. Thankfully he has tools and the lightbulb for it to make it an easy fix
Having gone through the British car phase in my younger days (74 in a few days), I can say I've never purchased a British car, in any condition, and kid myself it wouldn't need something fixed no matter how well it looked and drove. It just comes with the territory A wake up call for most I'm sure.
If you think BAT cars are bad, you should see what my customers have brought me from ebay. Have your cars inspected by a pro, or, plan on work to be done.. I always allow $2000 for after purchase repairs, but, it looks like more towards 4-5000 lately
I agree that it seems to make no sense for the bleeder to be on the bottom of the clutch slave cylinder but for some reason that was the way the factory intended it to be. The system on the Jaguar E-Type was exactly the same from the factory. At least having the bleeder on the bottom makes is easier to get at to open it. I intended to change the piping on my E-Type but even after having the car for over thirty years I never did do that. It never seemed to make a difference really.
After bleeding more than 400 Bugeyes, we've found that it is easier to bleed with air going up and out, and moreover, this one, when it arrived, had air in the clutch, and didn't actuate properly. We moved the bleeder up and it now works great. We've found that the rear wheel cylinders have a similar issue, and we prefer the later type which are also easier to bleed since the air has a chance of finding it's way out...
@@bugeyeguydotcom certainly air going up makes more sense. Sometimes things that the factory did made no sense. I have had a GT6+ for over 47 years. I know every part of that car. A restoration book that I bought from a reputable restorer made fun of someone for putting a bolt in the grease fitting hole on the front uprights just above the trunnions. trunnions. The factory put bolts in there and the bolts were to be removed when gear oil was to be pumped in and then put back in place. Restorers just assumed that grease nipples were supposed to be in there.
David...what every buyer needs to do is find an expert like yourself who has the knowledge to correct any problems with that particular make of car. BaT is great for finding rare, low-miliage cars and possibly from orignial owners.
BaT suffers from the same thing as most car auctions. Cars specifically built or “curated” for auctions by sellers. While there are some nice examples that get listed, I question the authenticity majority of whats listed. Specifically low mileage barnfinds
I got to see a Bring A Trailer purchased Mercedes Benz 560 SEC that looked great in pictures but not so great in person. The seller flat out lied lied lied. Many do. Lies of omission are still lies. The buyer had to spend many thousands fixing undisclosed problems. BE CAREFUL!!
They also missed some paint on the body seam hanging down right beside the front right pad on your hoist... ...some of the welds between the body, the angle iron and the C-channel right behind the wheel well doesn't look like very good welds, I can easily see the holes in the welds from the cameras view even with the camera on the move... tho that may actually be normal from the original factory welds, I've never had the chance to look closely at one of these cars belly's in real life to know if that's normal... but I have definitely seen some garbage welding on shock towers on BMW's since back in the '90's, they seem to be among the worst for having bad welds on their structural steel based on the cars I have seen in real life...
Sexist comment to follow...When the paint quality dominates the condition discussion, it is akin to putting too much make-up on a woman. Great video guys, thanks
Special cars need specialists who know everything about them. That way the money is well spent on people who actually know what they are doing and feel right at home doing it
I learned very early on with BAT that comments are stacked by the administration. This was when the site first launched in the late 1990’s. There was a regular group of commenters that were universally positive about the various auctions. I suppose this has not changed and they might even be on the payroll.
I very much do not like buying a car sight unseen, or even through an auction, but, bat is a very good site, and listing place, with very responsive and knowledgeable people. And their mods (ig idk what to call them) aren't afraid to take down listings and ban people for doing shit. And, when you do buy a essential lemon from them, (very rarely) they'll actually refund money, usually what they'd get from their profits from that listing and occasionally ban the seller if the car is just not at all right, and completely wrong.
Clutch bleed valve is just fine if not better where it is! I pressure bleed from the bottom up thru the master cylinder. This way ALL air is out of the system…
Maybe, but in this particular case, when we got the car, take -up was way too rapid, air was in system, and it needed to be fixed, hence the call out... Now, with the new line and the bleeder on top, the system works flawlessly. I'm sure the builders thought the clutch was supposed to feel the way it did, but it feels a lot better now and is easier to drive and shift.
This is teriffic information! I've been into MK 2 Sprites / MK 1 Midgets for a long time. (Same suspension. ) Are you saying that the hand made spring plate was basically welded in too far forward? (I know it's common for the 1/4 Elliptical spring sockets to rust out.) How would you make sure it's in the correct place the first time around?
The main advice that this video is missing to do before any car purchase is to have a professional pre-purchase inspection performed. Obviously if you are going to buy on an unique car located far way by using an online auction, arranging a pre-purchase inspection is not an easy task to do, but it can be done if you're willing to put in the time and effort. Whether you're buy the car in person or online, the purchasing due diligence is the buyers responsibility, so identifying Bring a Trailer as being part of the car's problems with this purchase is simply not fair since these same missed problems could have occurred in any purchase without a professional pre-purchase inspection.
I doubt the vast majority of professional mechanics would have caught any of those issues doing an on-site inspection. Possible a clutch issue would be identified with a test drive if seller allows. Most of these older cars aren’t going to be daily drivers anyway and problems can be addressed as needed. I’d imagine a great many cars these days are just being flipped and the person selling the car really doesn’t know the real details on the vehicle. I’d think inspection for body and frame rot or structural crash damage would be beneficial. A solid vehicle can have mechanical and electrical problems reasonably corrected a patched up rust bucket can be beyond economical repair, especially rare models with little or no aftermarket components.
I've purchased two, otherwise nice, low-mileage older vehicles on BaT. One smells like cigarettes and one like ass. There was no disclosure from the sellers. Only buying in person next time.
The BAT crowd, namely those commenting on auctions, are often times dangerous. “Greatly sold, greatly bought” comment comes out WAY too much. So many people commenting on how great a car looks when in fact there are some blatantly obvious flaws in full sight. Bubbles, drips, and swirls indicating obvious body work and not very well done body work are met with comments of “beautiful example!”. Comments like these hurt the would be buyers and tarnish BAT in general.
On line auctions are for the most part, a joke. Unless you have hawk eyes on a vehicle, you're going to need to do some follow up work once the vehicle is in your possession. The peanut gallery on most auctions can be quiet loud, not to mention fan boys! lol
I don’t understand why people buy cars off bring a trailer. Why would I want to bring a trailer when buying a new car. I want to drive it home. The reason why it’s called bring trailer is because the website originally was based on Craigslist lust ads for junk cars. Hence you would have to bring a trailer. Not actually what I want to do with a restored car v
Nobody actually makes you bring a trailer (even if shipping is not offered via BaT) and many gamble and drive their purchases home. It is a bigger gamble if not a late model vehicle. Definitely a function of distance from the sellers location to yours. I would not want to drive a vintage vehicle many hundreds of miles, "restored" or not. Just bought my second vehicle off BaT. The first had many hidden issues not reported and felt I overpaid. It had a new paint job, but was not well done and there is already failure on the roof (due to improper preparation in my estimation). That was purchased from a dealer who flips cars. The second was a vehicle (truck) type I was searching for a time. I could not believe someone was not going to outbid me and won it surprisingly. I got it for less than half what similar were going for just a year or two ago. I have seen several since not as nice that went for more money. It was shipped most the way across the country (so sight unseen except many hi-res pics). Even with that expense included, it was still a killer deal (still less that half price). It was garaged stored its whole life in CA and briefly in AZ. No rust in its 35 year life. You have to be in the right place at the right time. There are deals to be had. I have also marveled at lofty prices sold on VERY low mile examples that clearly sat unused for long periods. In addition to timing, it also depends on what you are trying to get. For example, some very low mileage examples of high-end luxury Japanese cars (i.e., Lexus) do not appear to hold their value and can often get you into one for 20% of the original acquisition costs. If there is a CarFax record that bolsters mileage claims, has maintenance history, and does not report an accident, then the gamble is lessened. It can and does make sense sometimes.
Relatively minor issues for an auction bought car. Beware of BAT though it's full of schill bidding,market manipulation,and professional write ups that skim over anything negative. Expect to spend several thousands extra on anything you buy.
Tons of different ways to bleed, but this one, however, didn't actuate properly when we got it, so help was needed, and now she has a new clutch line with the bleeder on the top
Never buy a vehicle w/ out a in-person inspection by someone knowledgeable that is of your own choosing, that is accountable to you…. Stupid buyer behavior not protecting their own interests - it’s not the auction platform’s responsibility to do the buyers due diligence
I’m a BMW 2002 specialist and gave up commenting on BaT cars due to kickback from others who don’t understand why I would tear cars apart that looked decent to them, but I could see beneath the nail polish. I also got fed up with having to explain myself every time, my background, my literal life long experience with those cars. Thank you for daring to post this video!
I need to send you my rusty e10
I have worked on , restored and judged many Rolls and Bentley cars. Whenever I point out all the problems on BAT, I always get criticized for picking on such a nice car! I have called myself the Voice of reason and finally I have stopped. I also have done Chevelles, Corvettes, many many Willys, Deloreans and Panteras plus more. I now just watch and say little as folks don't seem to care. I recently watched a Cab over willy's truck that on any good day might be worth 18K bring over 43K . I only buy for myself and have no customers since I'm long retired. So now I'm more of a watcher and Laugher! Thanks for pointing out what others have missed.
Had a 48 studebaker come into my restoration shop for some minor things but I always do a good look over to make sure the truck was worth the effort. Found it to be on a f100 frame that had a mustang 2 clip grafted onto the front half. Flux core splatter all over. Poorly painted frame. The battery box was made out of cheap tin and the battery hold down was a bungee cord. The small block Chevy would barely run due to the big time “restoration shop” did a tuneup and flopped the firing order around. Brought the owner out to the shop to find out the dude paid 24,000 dollars for a half ass restored project that will never be correct. Did I mention whoever welded the clip on didn’t cut both sides the same length and the thing always dog tracked. The owner brought it to me to do an alignment on the thing and I said there’s no way I can align this mess. Lesson to this dude that if you don’t know anything about cars find someone who does and a specialist. I rather pay someone 300 bucks to save me 24,000 as I said to the owner. Wound up doing a real restoration and did everything including body work…. This thing had more bondo than the cars in American geaffitt
Bring a Trailer was so much easier when it was filled “project” cars and sellers not looking for top dollar in an auction.
I remember out high school shop teacher telling us about some cool pr9jects on there in 2005(?). When I checked it a while back I was astonished they only sell Top dollar stuff now
I am one of the victims or fools from bring a trailer on an MG TF. I was sold a bill of goods by the seller that ended up being totally false. A car that was a supposed regular driver and semi show car had the engine coolant passages so full of fix a leak it could not have run in years. I ended up with a total rebuild on the engine in the many many thousands of dollars. If you can't see it and drive it get an expert to do it for you otherwise DONT BUY IT.
Did they not post new vids of the car in motion or driving it?
What is that fitting? Maybe a grease fitting? A bleed screw? Seems like a weird location in the middle of that line 5:20
Well your first mistake was buying an mg.
Anytime you buy a classic car only take what is in your sight. Oh it was rebuilt. No paperwork it wasn’t rebuilt. Any self respecting seller would be transparent and have paperwork for their investments. Don’t trust no one…. But hey people that buy classic cars should be able to rebuild their classic car with maybe the exception of a transmission.
I was never curious about bugeyes, nor do I have any desire to own one. But I find this kind of technical analysis fascinating. Great video. Keep up the good work!
David, great information delivered very diplomatically and professionally. This helps all of us! Thanks and have a great weekend.
Many thanks for that nice comment, and ultimately, we are all in this together in the quest to keep the cars alive!
So used car sellers are not always fully forthcoming in their descriptions of their offerings? Must be societal decay because it wasn't that way back in the day when I bought my first used car that was only driven to church on Sundays by a little old lady from Pasadena.
Quarter mile each way?
Well, sometimes she may have stopped for a few beers on her way home. So maybe a little more than a quarter of a mile then.
Was it a super stock dodge that you bought?
😊 That is why buying a classic car from a very good dealer is a must (no names as there are many). 👍 I am 62 and want to relive my 20's and be happy with my favorite classic car, the top end dealers will do all of the inspections and will usually give some sort of warranty. 😎 Sure you will pay a little extra, but it is well worth it when you are spending 30k to 70k on your dream ride hotrod.
I agree, buying a private sale car is much more advantageous.
Great video! I bought one car online, even had an "independent expert" (haha) inspect it. After pouring thousands of dollars into it, I was just worn out and hated it. I will never again buy a car without personally inspecting it inch by inch with one of my mechanic car buddies. Even big in-person auctions don't allow that depth of inspection. Bottom line: whatever you buy online or at an auction, figure spending another ten to twenty percent of the purchase price to fix everything and often to just make it safe.
I just found your channel and it's a refreshing look at the classic/vintage car insanity. After spending half my 66 years working as a mechanic involving mostly European and British cars , I feel somewhat qualified to comment. I'm sure the Bug Eyes featured went for top dollar and were represented as the finest in the land. The terms "restoration" and "rebuilt" are red flags in my experience as proven in your video. I've seen my share of both and have had to deal with some very unhappy buyers. They didn't do the basic homework and were dazzled by the shiny paint and endless hype about classic cars. Buy a car unseen and cruise happily into the sunset. BaT has become the go to venue for a lot of people with lots of money and very little common sense or basic knowledge. I have commented on BaT but only if I have direct and useful experience with the vehicle in question. I have seen nice shiny restorations that reveal shoddy work and shortcuts if you know where to look. Many are obvious but totally lost in the general comments made about the vehicle. I wonder how many of these auction vehicles actually go through a PPI? The idea of having to ship my very expensive new purchase to your shop to correct the flaws and poor workmanship is really a sad statement but hey, it keeps you busy.
Well done.
As mentioned by others, this is not a BAT problem, it is universal to include private sales.
An example would be my latest acquisition, a 1963 MG.. replacing my 1964 sold last year.
I knew the owner.. a former M Benz dealership mechanic when I was an M-B USA factory
District Manager in the 80s.
I understand stuff wears out, I do not understand deliberate butchery and attempted hiding
of same, and out and out lying. This was not as prevalent when I started buying/restoring Brit
cars in the 60s.
Auctions are the bane of car ( and many other items) collecting.. it artificially drives up car prices ( not value).
Buyer beware.. as with guitars ( my other hole in the water where your money goes) Play before you Pay.
Trust no one. Which includes the seller of my current car . IMNSHO he should never touch another Brit ( or any other) car.
Thanks for the video. PS I miss my 1958 Bugeye bought in 1970 for the princely sum of $50.. yes fifty.
,
Exactly....like they expect an off the show room floor condition. The thing is like over 40 years old!
I love Bugeyes! Even with the weird spring mount I’m glad they are still out there and even happier there are people who still work on these great little cars.
My friend in HS bought his bugeye for 85$ ...he haggled...but it didn't run. He was pretty good with cars so 10$ carb rebuild kit it ran great. Took it to get gas filled it up for less than 3$. What's funny is how expensive we thought the carb kit cost
Too kind to the builder. Of course he knew about the radius arm and axle issue … he took the bushing out!
It is likely that many of the cheerleaders in the comments section over at BaT are primarily interested in driving up the values of those vehicles that they themselves already own.
The reverse is also true. Many commenters are trying to scare away competing bidders by throwing shade at a car.
Good job on finding the issues. I misspent a lot of time working on old cars including Sprites. My take is 9 out of 10 mechanics would not have found any issue with the car on the lift that was not readily apparent. I remember taking my old Sprite to a number of known good mechanics and not a one could figure out why it was shaking at speed. I talked to an old Indy mechanic and he sent me to an old guy who raced Sprites. He drove it around a bit and said - loose nut on the pinion and sure enough that was it.
Just stumbled upon your channel. Excellent presentation and I'll have to check out your other videos! Thanks for sharing the information you have acquired over the years.
You guys do such good work and know these cars down to the DNA level. Well done! If I ever get one, I'll buy from you for sure,
Great presentation. Feel like I've learned something about BaT, bug eyes, and human nature.
I bought an Audi TT on BaT. It wasn't listed as perfect and had 75k miles on the clock. I only payed $5500 for it, and put that into it over the next year. I assumed when I bought it that it that any 14 year old sports car with 75k miles will need maintenance. If anyone is buying a car on line and expecting a 90+ point car, they should have it inspected before they bid. I've owned bugeye's, midgets and triumphs, and they weren't that good when brand new. I would gladly buy one on BaT, but if I were expecting it to be a restored 100 point car and especially if I were paying a premium price, I'd pay the extra $$ to have it checked out by a guy like Dave first. Having a 50 year old $50K car show up on your doorstep sight unseen is foolhardy for me. For some, no big deal, I guess.
David, very good video. I understand your point of view. Look at it this way. Its a car. Every car that is used is going to have an issue. Over the years and miles many many things happen. We all know the statement is "buyer beware". I do not think its a "Bring a trailer issue, it is an Shi# happens issue and we car guys all know that nothing is perfect. You look hard enough at any vehicle no matter where it was purchased and your going to find some little something that is not right. It presents itself as an opportunity for someone like yourself to fix it! So the cars are the ones taking care of us! Sorry if I stepped on any toe's but in this world we live in nothing is perfect for long. We are on a rock in space moving at 67000 miles per hour around a fireball, Its a freaking miracle that we even have the ability to communicate as we do and that cars exist at all!
Nice haha
I left my body once and went to a sun star or whatever you want to call it , very crazy but it was the source of everything and I found the key to life than I was sucked back into my body and forgot the magic that was coming from it . I will tell you 🌟 are more than just fireballs 🤙
I love those loud pumps. They're the only ones I like to install. They work good, and they're built good. I've had a lot of the other types fail on me pretty quickly
I dunno, just that crazy shiny paint on the underfloor would have made me doubt the decisions that were made through the rest of the car. They never looked anything like that when they were new.
I worked a second job at a body shop The man was known for t-bird builds. Once a very pretty 63 bird came in. Some one even painted the floor pans inside the car odd but I thought we had to finish off the car, but when the shop owner told me to grab a disk grinder with some 800 grit paper. He walked over to the quarter panel put a straight edge down there. It rocked badly.i asked again about the correct grit and he made a few lines on the quarter panel. He told me to stop when I hit metal. 15 minutes later I was covered in Bondo dust. The car had issues with fener skirts fitting. He took a cut off wheel width of metal out. A few taps with a body hammer and the skirt fit perfectly. Seen a lot of horror body work was common issue. Learned something that day.never look at paint only look for rust and the common issue before buying anything. Price maybe cheap but to make it right will cost you more on the back end of the job. Happy hunting.
BIG fan. Love your fundamental, "don't blame" the uninformed, attitude.
Many thanks, one of my favorite social media comments I have ever seen, thank you for this acknowledgement, too much blaming, generally... we are all in this together. Thanks for writing!
Love to hear mark experts clearly demonstrate their knowledge - this was great!
I do a fair amount of PPI on vintage cars and the BaT model doesn’t help the buyers.
Very important lesson here. I get really tired of hearing people say "it's worth it" whenever they see a BaT auction price. How could they even possibly know? Lol
Great job, Dave. You're doin' great. Miss seeing you around at the shows, but some day......
This channel popped up so I had a look. A really good presentation. Very tight-it's a pain when someone (as often happens) takes much longer than necessary to make their points.
Even though I won't be able to have one of these cars it was still fascinating to learn a bit more about them. And buyer beware...
I am the guy that points out every thing I see wrong on a car on BAT...and people get mad at me.
As this was shipped without brake lines, it must have been sold as a "project" car on Bat. I'm not a huge fan of BaT (though it's not a bad auction site), but the cars are labeled accordingly, and it's quite easy to ask very specific questions, to request additional pictures and documentation (etc.) of the seller before bidding (in the threaded discussion area). As with any other car purchase, if the answers to questions and requests aren't immediately and satisfactorily forthcoming, move on to the next car.
First time to your channel! You were in my UA-cam suggestions! What a beautiful car! I was worried this was going to be a horror story, but with a few small adjustments/changes, it looks like the customer got a nice car. (I would never buy something not seen in person, unless I personally knew the shop or person. (Although I did buy 1 car (not a classic car) sight unseen & although a few things were a let down, (a friends fathers estate sale car-it was a 20 year old lower mileage Ford Crown Victoria) it turned out to be a good car. (Bought it to resell) I appreciate you not slamming the seller or others who might have had done work on this car over the years. Looking forward to more of your content! Stay well, from me in Manitoba, Canada!
I bought a bugeye shell out of a salvage yard. No engine, trans, interior etc. put a RX 7 drive train and interior in it. Its a blast to drive 😊
Older British sports cars were always problematic. That is why they are no longer made. So rather than taking the view that a no-inspection online purchase of a two generation old British sports car has issues that were not exposed, I would say it is nice there is somebody familiar enough to diagnose and have modern fixes for those issues.
Very informative video..
Just came across your channel.
Thumbs up.
Bought a 1965 Land Rover through BAT - looked great, hundred photos or more, engine overhauled, cold start video, running video, etc, etc. It arrived and I have never seen a car that spewed so much oil out the exhaust pipe in my life. Took a year to get rid of it and lost $15k. Never again.
1:10. I would say that the bigger issue is that there’s no push rod to the clutch fork. You can bleed hydraulic cylinders with the bleed screw in the bottom, just ask old Chrysler and Volkswagen brakes. But even if you bleed it, it’s not going to push on the clutch fork with nothing connecting them. Yes, I also move those bleed screws to the top when I pull them out of the box. Not the issue.
You mean this 60+ year old car aint perfect??? You are such a hero. Has Discovery channel contacted you yet??
It's a 'restored' 60 year old car, so it should be problem-free. If it was original, you're right, you'd expect issues. What is your point? Are you the builder?🙄
@@roscoejones4515 Shush...
I follow Bugeyeguy. He is the oracle on these old Sprites. He’s like the MOPAR guy on Graveyard Carz. Knows every bolt and screw even the body welds. He takes Bugeyes and makes them better than the originals if you let him. He can always spot the sows ear in the silk purse. Edited for spelling.
I’m restoring a 1967 MGM GT. My dad loved MGs and told me, “Son, I’ve forgotten more about MGs than I remember.” And he knew a lot! Experts will see every fault while a casual observer will miss them.
Interesting video! There's no substitute for having lots of experience with specific moels.
I love the dirt simplicity and similarity to old Land Rover.
It looks like a great car to me. You have made it better, and the next expert will find something you missed. Brand new cars off the assembly line frequently have issues and an old car that has been worked on by so many mechanics will absolutely have things that aren’t perfect. I lived in England and personally never saw ANY car as clean as this one.
Good work making a good car even better. But many of the things you identified the owner never would have noticed or had problems with if his intention was to drive it.
Certainly eye opening! If the first one was the Cornwall Sprite then I must say I’m glad I dodged that bullet because I was seriously intending to buy it on BAT. a few weeks ago. Thanks.
Cool Video! Yes always get an inspection before buying. We encourage that.
Good review and repairs of the red car; it must have driven terribly. Buyer must be disappointed with the BaT auction.
Buyer might be upset by a large repair bill but will have a properly driving car afterwards.
Dad bought a Porsche and i was always a suspect of Bring A Trailer. My dad was driving it and he noticed the back taillight wasnt lighting up the passenger side tail light wasnt even fully screwed in. Thankfully he has tools and the lightbulb for it to make it an easy fix
Agreed, though wouldn't a pre-purchase inspection be in order in this instance? Specially for an old vehicle such as this Sprite.
Having gone through the British car phase in my younger days (74 in a few days), I can say I've never purchased a British car, in any condition, and kid myself it wouldn't need something fixed no matter how well it looked and drove. It just comes with the territory A wake up call for most I'm sure.
If you think BAT cars are bad, you should see what my customers have brought me from ebay. Have your cars inspected by a pro, or, plan on work to be done.. I always allow $2000 for after purchase repairs, but, it looks like more towards 4-5000 lately
Very informative with no blow back the previous people who Tried the best they could. Wether from BAT or anyone for that matter buyer Beware!
I agree that it seems to make no sense for the bleeder to be on the bottom of the clutch slave cylinder but for some reason that was the way the factory intended it to be. The system on the Jaguar E-Type was exactly the same from the factory. At least having the bleeder on the bottom makes is easier to get at to open it. I intended to change the piping on my E-Type but even after having the car for over thirty years I never did do that. It never seemed to make a difference really.
After bleeding more than 400 Bugeyes, we've found that it is easier to bleed with air going up and out, and moreover, this one, when it arrived, had air in the clutch, and didn't actuate properly. We moved the bleeder up and it now works great. We've found that the rear wheel cylinders have a similar issue, and we prefer the later type which are also easier to bleed since the air has a chance of finding it's way out...
@@bugeyeguydotcom certainly air going up makes more sense. Sometimes things that the factory did made no sense. I have had a GT6+ for over 47 years. I know every part of that car. A restoration book that I bought from a reputable restorer made fun of someone for putting a bolt in the grease fitting hole on the front uprights just above the trunnions. trunnions. The factory put bolts in there and the bolts were to be removed when gear oil was to be pumped in and then put back in place. Restorers just assumed that grease nipples were supposed to be in there.
David...what every buyer needs to do is find an expert like yourself who has the knowledge to correct any problems with that particular make of car. BaT is great for finding rare, low-miliage cars and possibly from orignial owners.
Great video - nice and clear! And love your impression of Louis CK! :)
Hoovie bought a Superbird off BAT and was sold a misrepresented car he got the commission money back so buyer beware
The very name “Bring a trailer” should say it all. I would never go there.
Wow! Never seen a car so,shiny underneath!
BaT suffers from the same thing as most car auctions. Cars specifically built or “curated” for auctions by sellers. While there are some nice examples that get listed, I question the authenticity majority of whats listed. Specifically low mileage barnfinds
I got to see a Bring A Trailer purchased Mercedes Benz 560 SEC that looked great in pictures but not so great in person. The seller flat out lied lied lied. Many do. Lies of omission are still lies. The buyer had to spend many thousands fixing undisclosed problems. BE CAREFUL!!
They also missed some paint on the body seam hanging down right beside the front right pad on your hoist...
...some of the welds between the body, the angle iron and the C-channel right behind the wheel well doesn't look like very good welds, I can easily see the holes in the welds from the cameras view even with the camera on the move... tho that may actually be normal from the original factory welds, I've never had the chance to look closely at one of these cars belly's in real life to know if that's normal... but I have definitely seen some garbage welding on shock towers on BMW's since back in the '90's, they seem to be among the worst for having bad welds on their structural steel based on the cars I have seen in real life...
Sexist comment to follow...When the paint quality dominates the condition discussion, it is akin to putting too much make-up on a woman. Great video guys, thanks
You never know the enemy until you’ve done battle with them
Worked a few years at a hot rod shop, saw so, so many basket case cars brought in that someone "got a good deal on" .....
Nice video. What's up with the paint run @7:56?
Special cars need specialists who know everything about them. That way the money is well spent on people who actually know what they are doing and feel right at home doing it
I always found it funny. The thing is called "Bring A Trailer" that means exactly what it says. Those cars aren't drivers 😂
I learned very early on with BAT that comments are stacked by the administration. This was when the site first launched in the late 1990’s. There was a regular group of commenters that were universally positive about the various auctions. I suppose this has not changed and they might even be on the payroll.
I very much do not like buying a car sight unseen, or even through an auction, but, bat is a very good site, and listing place, with very responsive and knowledgeable people. And their mods (ig idk what to call them) aren't afraid to take down listings and ban people for doing shit. And, when you do buy a essential lemon from them, (very rarely) they'll actually refund money, usually what they'd get from their profits from that listing and occasionally ban the seller if the car is just not at all right, and completely wrong.
wow that slave cylinder is a heck of a screwup!
Clutch bleed valve is just fine if not better where it is! I pressure bleed from the bottom up thru the master cylinder. This way ALL air is out of the system…
Maybe, but in this particular case, when we got the car, take -up was way too rapid, air was in system, and it needed to be fixed, hence the call out... Now, with the new line and the bleeder on top, the system works flawlessly. I'm sure the builders thought the clutch was supposed to feel the way it did, but it feels a lot better now and is easier to drive and shift.
what "restorer" installs a spring without the entire suspension assembled to ensure fitment?.....
A careless one
Nice logo I like the sprite mki or I think that’s what is its
This is teriffic information! I've been into MK 2 Sprites / MK 1 Midgets for a long time. (Same suspension. ) Are you saying that the hand made spring plate was basically welded in too far forward? (I know it's common for the 1/4 Elliptical spring sockets to rust out.) How would you make sure it's in the correct place the first time around?
The main advice that this video is missing to do before any car purchase is to have a professional pre-purchase inspection performed. Obviously if you are going to buy on an unique car located far way by using an online auction, arranging a pre-purchase inspection is not an easy task to do, but it can be done if you're willing to put in the time and effort. Whether you're buy the car in person or online, the purchasing due diligence is the buyers responsibility, so identifying Bring a Trailer as being part of the car's problems with this purchase is simply not fair since these same missed problems could have occurred in any purchase without a professional pre-purchase inspection.
I doubt the vast majority of professional mechanics would have caught any of those issues doing an on-site inspection. Possible a clutch issue would be identified with a test drive if seller allows. Most of these older cars aren’t going to be daily drivers anyway and problems can be addressed as needed. I’d imagine a great many cars these days are just being flipped and the person selling the car really doesn’t know the real details on the vehicle. I’d think inspection for body and frame rot or structural crash damage would be beneficial. A solid vehicle can have mechanical and electrical problems reasonably corrected a patched up rust bucket can be beyond economical repair, especially rare models with little or no aftermarket components.
I see the slave cylinders put in like that all the time. It’s almost a running joke around my shop.
I've purchased two, otherwise nice, low-mileage older vehicles on BaT. One smells like cigarettes and one like ass. There was no disclosure from the sellers. Only buying in person next time.
So what you are telling me is that buying a car without seeing it first is fraught with problems. Who knew?
Why do folks that obviously know cars, still call the parking brake the "e-brake" or "emergency brake"? Just curious.
The BAT crowd, namely those commenting on auctions, are often times dangerous. “Greatly sold, greatly bought” comment comes out WAY too much. So many people commenting on how great a car looks when in fact there are some blatantly obvious flaws in full sight. Bubbles, drips, and swirls indicating obvious body work and not very well done body work are met with comments of “beautiful example!”. Comments like these hurt the would be buyers and tarnish BAT in general.
“…creates the *furor…” Not the “fury.” Lol
I bought an original, numbers matching numbers 1973 RS Z28 Camaro and had to rebuild the motor and transmission, a total worn out money pit.
To be fair, this is the nature of auctions in general. Auctions are the ultimate "Caveat Emptor".
Hence , I say old chap , your real!
Good job calling out online auctions. Risky business for sure. Nice shop.
Any time you buy a car, no matter where, how or who you buy it from, you have to assume you eill spend a few thousand $$$$ to sort it out properly.
On line auctions are for the most part, a joke. Unless you have hawk eyes on a vehicle, you're going to need to do some follow up work once the vehicle is in your possession. The peanut gallery on most auctions can be quiet loud, not to mention fan boys! lol
I don’t understand why people buy cars off bring a trailer. Why would I want to bring a trailer when buying a new car. I want to drive it home. The reason why it’s called bring trailer is because the website originally was based on Craigslist lust ads for junk cars. Hence you would have to bring a trailer. Not actually what I want to do with a restored car v
Nobody actually makes you bring a trailer (even if shipping is not offered via BaT) and many gamble and drive their purchases home. It is a bigger gamble if not a late model vehicle. Definitely a function of distance from the sellers location to yours. I would not want to drive a vintage vehicle many hundreds of miles, "restored" or not.
Just bought my second vehicle off BaT. The first had many hidden issues not reported and felt I overpaid. It had a new paint job, but was not well done and there is already failure on the roof (due to improper preparation in my estimation). That was purchased from a dealer who flips cars. The second was a vehicle (truck) type I was searching for a time. I could not believe someone was not going to outbid me and won it surprisingly. I got it for less than half what similar were going for just a year or two ago. I have seen several since not as nice that went for more money. It was shipped most the way across the country (so sight unseen except many hi-res pics). Even with that expense included, it was still a killer deal (still less that half price). It was garaged stored its whole life in CA and briefly in AZ. No rust in its 35 year life. You have to be in the right place at the right time. There are deals to be had. I have also marveled at lofty prices sold on VERY low mile examples that clearly sat unused for long periods.
In addition to timing, it also depends on what you are trying to get. For example, some very low mileage examples of high-end luxury Japanese cars (i.e., Lexus) do not appear to hold their value and can often get you into one for 20% of the original acquisition costs. If there is a CarFax record that bolsters mileage claims, has maintenance history, and does not report an accident, then the gamble is lessened. It can and does make sense sometimes.
Relatively minor issues for an auction bought car. Beware of BAT though it's full of schill bidding,market manipulation,and professional write ups that skim over anything negative. Expect to spend several thousands extra on anything you buy.
Reverse bleed the clutch. No problem.
does BaT stand for Buy a Turd?
Shiny paint jobs sell everytime 🙂
The radius arm thing was hack work.
What's that fitting? Grease? Bleeder? That's an unusual location. 5:20
Grease zerk to lube the parking brake cable. There should be one on the arm pivot too.
@@UncleGrowl wow, for the parking brake cable. Didn't know they had those. 😊
You tend to nit-pick a damn near perfect restoration.
This is NOT a BAT problem. Any where you buy is subject to problems.
This door gap is terrible
Why anybody would buy a car sight unseen and uninspected is beyond me.
It's wrong of course but reverse pressure bleeding it would work satisfactorily.
Tons of different ways to bleed, but this one, however, didn't actuate properly when we got it, so help was needed, and now she has a new clutch line with the bleeder on the top
max willson built a nice one
Never buy a vehicle w/ out a in-person inspection by someone knowledgeable that is of your own choosing, that is accountable to you…. Stupid buyer behavior not protecting their own interests - it’s not the auction platform’s responsibility to do the buyers due diligence
Always something!