Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I'd still love to restore a '92 MX5 one day as a long term project. Not in London though

I remember a great one I saw at a wet track day in Bedford a couple of years ago, deep forest green with gold TE37s. Loads of 6-figure cars tip-toeing around the place and he was having a blast sending it into every corner!

A nice lady 'bumped' my Civic in the M&S car park in Morningside. I say nice because she left a note and wants to put things right, unlike the person who damaged the other side in the same car park three days earlier and didn't leave any details :(

I took it to my friendly local Honda dealer in Peebles who said it's not worth fixing the paintwork on a car worth two grand plus the rear bumper is painted plastic which complicates things.

He thought it could be worth getting the alloys fixed up though as that's where most of the damage is, so I'm thinking about billing the nice lady for the cost of an alloy refurb and a paint touch up pen.

The Honda dealer thought £70 a wheel would be about right but a scotch pie and a pineapple tart costs less than two quid in the borders, so does anyone know what I might be looking at in London's famous London, especially as I'm pretty sure it's diamond cut?

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i don't believe those are diamond cut.... but £70 per alloy is a good price imo

Yeah I'm not convinced either, hard to find any info! £70 a wheel was their guess but I'd have to take the wheels off and store the car without wheels which I can't really do (on street parking) plus that's Scotland prices and I'm back to London on Saturday.

Just found one in apparently excellent condition on eBay for £45 delivered, so replacing the wheel is looking like the best option.

The scratches that can't be fixed without the hassle of tracking down a used bumper in the right colour from a breaker are going to annoy me though so I reckon I should add that to the bill.

Diamond Cutting is basically spinning the wheels on a big lathe and taking a cut off the front face of the wheel leaving a shiny, flat surface. So they're not diamond cut

A friend had a Mariner blue mk1, with a supercharger and BBS RMs when I was around 18. I've wanted one ever since. And almost bought one several times.

Aha, basically like all modern cars then! So not diamond cut but buying and fitting a new wheel is easy.

Bumper is more complicated - they seem to go for about £100 on eBay in good condition. Not really sure it's worth the bother as the marks aren't that bad - pic of other side attached.

But should I ask for this plus the cost of fitting (I don't know how much that would cost)?

Basically I feel bad asking people for money but she did ding my car and it would cost a lot more if I insisted on taking it to a body shop.

Maybe my question should be if you did that damage what do you think would be reasonable?!

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but I'd have to take the wheels off and store the car without wheels which I can't really do (on street parking)

I took mine to a place in Ealing (I think), I could dig it out if you're West. They gave me some temporary wheels while they fixed all four of mine up so I rolled around on some massive steel things for a few days.

I think it was somewhere around £300 - 350 for all four to be refurbished and powder coated.

Yeah wheels not to my taste but is pretty colour. This is his second MX-5 and was good fun to drive as i never got to rag his last one

I would leave car as is. Tell her what it would cost and ask her to make the donation to your chosen charity.

Then keep the car forever. Or longer

Yeah I can’t say I’d bother fixing it personally - considering how expensive good cosmetic repair can be. If you get some cash off her I’d just put it aside for the next service or whatever.

Been here before.

If it were me as she's done the right thing i'd tell her i was willing to forget about the bumper but that the alloy is significantly damaged and that you'll need to redo all of them. Find out how much it'll cost you then think about how much of that she should have to pay (could be all, could be 50%...) and have that conversation with her. If she is happy/willing to pay for the lot get it booked in so you can send her actual proof of cost (there are some wheel places where you can leave the car). If you both agree a partial contribution would be fairer then get the cash, buy some T-cut, have a nice day out with the money and forget about it!

Yes, this.

Karma is better than clean bodywork.

Take the money for the alloy refurbs and buy some nicer wheels 😎

My wife saw a note blow away from under the wiper when she set off once, she told me it must have been something snotty about her parking (posh village). Next day she spotted the scrape and the cracked tail light that the note was most likely owning up to (posh village).

Your comment reminded me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAZ9u9oxJTI

The cheap ones have been scrapped and what is left at the lower end show some terrible repairs.

But it was satisfying drilling out the spot welds while the previous repairs were badly welded and filler on two different cars but replacing the inner, middle and outer cils. Weekend a side including patching the floors.

Funny how people's views are shaped by the car.

£10 says if Fox was driving two grands worth of E30 rather than a beige Civic everyone would be jizzing over his dedication to restoring a period vehicle and asking for a CP.

Well, yes, but he's driving a vehicle that in these modern eco-friendly times should be biodegradable so that its owner and their pet terrier can be buried in it when they pass away in shock at what Sandra Has Done Now.

Personally I'm in Fox's camp when it comes to the design significance of that era of Civic.

Compare it with any modern German car - or even say your old C-Class which was from a similar period right?

There's also an irony to people making fun, in part, of the Civic because of it's excellent build quality and reliability. The sorts of attributes that gave German cars the brand value that they're still dinning out on today.

You're suggesting that that era of Civic was iconic? I thought it was best known for going backwards - the double wishbone suspension of the previous generation was binned for cost saving reasons and instead of focusing on excelling there, they made it look both beige and sci-fi at the same time.

I'll take a two grand E30 please... Actually, make that two... Cheers!

Yeah definitely. That age Japanese cars and especially imports just didn't cope with British climate and salt roads.
But that's why I'd like it as a long term project, I'd strip it to the shell and repair or replace from the ground up. My dream would be to fully restore one to factory level. 92 because it's the year I was born and I'd keep it until ICE becomes unfeasible and strip it down again in 10/15 years and electric convert it when parts are cheaper.
Anyway just a pipe dream