jeska.x Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hi guys, Hoping this is the right place to post this. I'm 22 and looking at buying my own car (currently share a holden cruze with my brother - absolute balls). I stumbled across a 1975 ke35 on carsales, and I really like her. http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Toyota-Corolla-1975/SSE-AD-3056539/?Cr=6&sdmvc=1 I've contacted the seller and organised to go see it with a family friend who used to collect and work on classics. My question is how much a car like this is going to cost me in upkeep. It'd be my daily runabout and transport to and from work, so I'd be looking to maintain it accordingly. (No major mods, just keeping her running nicely) I've got advice from the rollaclub fb page reassuring me parts are pretty easy to source and cheap. Is that your experience? How often do you need to put yours in for a service/average cost? How reliable would you say they are? Many thanks, Jess :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banjo Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Hi Jess, This car is not original, but has had a number of things done to it, so it might be worth $ 5,500 to the seller, but it might cost you a lot more than that, if it has anything serious that needs repairing. Remember, you are dealing with a 40 year "olde" car. The pics indicate it looks pretty clean, but often the danger is what is not always visible. I'm talking about rust ! Mechanical parts are relatively cheap & easy to source & install, as you state. However, if it has any serious rust that needs attention, you could be up for big dollars. It's rego is due this month, so it will have to be inspected thoroughly, as you are changing states & plates. Pillarless coupes cannot cope with too much rust, as they rely on the roof for their strength. The back quaters are particularly prone to rust, up near the gutter. Your friend will certainly look for these points, but be very diligent in checking everything out, before paying that sort of money for it. It's exhaust may be too loud for the inspection guy, and you may well be up for a new muffler & piping. Let us know what you think, after you've had a good look at it. As far as running costs, they are very simple & cheap to service, as you can do it all yourself. Air, fuel & petrol filters are always available at your nearest auto shop. They are cheap to run as a "daily drive" and very, very reliable, if they are in good nick. The 23K klms is probably what the motor has done since rebuild in 2012. If the car had only done 22K klms since new, it would be worth all of $ 5,500 & more. Cheers Banjo Edited January 5, 2015 by Banjo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Jamie Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) These are reliable cars. If you're paying a mechanic, they'll cost the same to service as any other regular standard car. The thing with these old Corollas is, they're so simple you can work on them yourself and save a fair bit of money. Services are pretty much an oil change ($60), spark plugs ($5 each), and half a day to adjust tappets or maybe re-grease a bearing or something like that. That being said, I would not pay $5500 for that car. The wheels stick out past the body which is illegal. If this guy's selling the car registered, he needs to get a roadworthy here in Qld. If a mechanic will pass that car for roadworthy then they're giving him a dodgy roadworthy, so the rest of the car could be rooted and you'd never know. It's only got a standard 4K motor, nothing special. It probably has a too-noisy exhaust. The deep dish steering wheel is wrong, these cars need a flat wheel, you'd need to reach forward to turn the indicators or wipers on. It's got small 13" wheels which are too wide, with crap tyres. I expect the odometer reads 22,849km however these odometers only have 5 digits so it's either 122,849km or 222,849km. Given everything else about the car, I expect the carburettor is oversized for the engine which would lead to poor fuel economy and poor driving, as it would probably bog down when you mash your foot. It's got a fully sick stereo in it, which tells you a lot. In my experience, people who put stereos in old cars tend to not maintain the cars properly and drive them into the ground. These old Corollas are great cars, but this particular one is a project car where you'd have to undo a bunch of dodgy crap someone else has done before it's a really "nice" car. If you go see this car, check all over for rust. Check under the body, along the underside of the doors, at the bottom of the front guards where the front door joins, and at the bottom of the boot corners. Look for crumpling or bending inside the engine bay, along the guards and the rails, and under the car chassis rails, which would indicate the car has been in a crash. Sit with the hose on the front and rear windscreen for 5 minutes each. Check if any water ends up in the front footwells (dropping down behind the dash) or in the boot (getting in the boot seal or the rear windscreen). Do the same to the side windows, those side window seals on the hardtop are hard to find so not many people replace them, but they suck when they leak. Take a philips head screwdriver and take the panel off where the wiper arms are, and put your arm in there and feel around the bottom left and right corners. It's common for these to be full of leaves and dirt and crap, and they rust there. If you want a project car, and this thing is not full of rust or been crashed, offer this bloke $2500 and don't pay more than $3000. If it has rust, don't bother, a KE35 isn't worth it. Maybe in 10 years it will be, but not now. If you want a reliable car to get you from A to B and pay someone else to service it and never worry about it, this is not the car for you. You'd probably be better to buy something about 20 years newer. You can get small cars like 1990s Corollas or Excels or Pulsars for your budget of $5500. Sorry to rain on your parade, but I've bought dodgy cars before and it's really soul-crushing, especially if you're spending a heap of money and it's something which means a lot like your first car. This ad and pictures set off all the warning bells to me. It's overpriced, has had visibly wrong things done to it, so I assume the worst for the rest of the car. Honestly I would not even bother going to see it. Keep looking, the car for you is out there! Edited January 5, 2015 by Super Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.L.Z.BUB Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Probably priced over twice as much as what it's worth. I wouldn't pay more than 2k. Looks nice, probably a lot of hidden issues which is why this guy is on selling it. Edited January 5, 2015 by B.L.Z.BUB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) Don't buy it. Find a stock one without any mods at all, preferably an auto with a good body. Use that to learn all about them and modify it yourself, fitting a manual box then the twin carbs and extractors with a cam and a quiet exhaust. You can get a nice, quick economical car compared to what they were when new. Most manuals have been owned by youngsters and well thrashed, If the 2nd gear synchro is crunchy the rest of the car has probably had just as hard a time. As everyone said, get the best body you can. If you're really keen on this car, just offer him a $1500. He's only had it a couple of years and probably paid very little for it, so you have to ask, why is he wanting to get rid of it. What can go wrong... well, I've replaced diff seals, axle seals, rear brake cylinders, a clutch, engine bearings, rack ends, tie-rod ends, and done rust work around the boot & resprayed half the car ... Those were the maintenence items apart from the modifications over the last 6 years. Now its quick and economical, like I said, but that's still working in 30year-old car terms. It wasn't hard to do, & there wasn't a lot to learn compared to modern ECU driven fuel-injected cars with ABS. How to do it all is in here- http://www.rollaclub...the-girls-ke70/ Checking Gumtree, I reckon it looks more like cop bait than the other two- http://www.gumtree.c...edan/1064742857 Not that I'd leave the wheels black or the stripes on.... http://www.gumtree.c...ke35/1066032961 Also labelled "ASAP" so maybe he will take an offer when desperate. That would be worth $3k.... Buy this one- the most honest looking! http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Toyota-Corolla-1974/SSE-AD-3162784/?Cr=3&sdmvc=1 Edited January 6, 2015 by altezzaclub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.L.Z.BUB Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 This is a good example of a KE3/5 coupe, even then I think this is a bit expensive. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Toyota-Corolla-1974-2D-Hardtop-4-SP-Manual-1-2L-Carb-/131399286231?roken=oR2JrE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clapped out Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 I'd pay it, all the hard work is done............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dzhoel Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 This is a good example of a KE3/5 coupe, even then I think this is a bit expensive. http://www.ebay.com....31?roken=oR2JrE That looks like a perfect ride, everything has been done tastefully and you can easily see the work that has been done to it. The front end looks a bit low however.. You can buy ke30 4 door that will have the same ride 'feel' for way cheaper than a coupe. But the coupe will always be worth more in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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