Six chapters, written in the order we actually work: the record, the body shell, the drive, the paperwork, the comfort that matters on long runs, and the cheap research most buyers skip. Read them in any order; chapter four is the one that saves the most money.
01
A service book costs nothing to read and tells you more than a sunny set of photographs. Here is how we read one, what the gaps mean, and the entries that make us put the car back on the forecourt.
02
A car that lived within sight of the sea has aged differently from one that lived inland. This chapter is about where corrosion starts on the coast, how to find it in twenty minutes, and when it is a bargaining point rather than a deal-breaker.
03
A loop around Vincent and back down Oxford Street tells you the engine starts and the radio works. This is the sequence we drive instead, and what each part of it is designed to expose.
04
On a private sale the documents decide whether you own a car or a dispute. This chapter sets out the order we work in: titleholder, settlement, roadworthy, clearance, transfer, and only then payment.
05
Comfort is not a leather option. On these roads it is seat support after two hours, suspension that absorbs a pothole, aircon that works in February humidity and a boot that takes real luggage.
06
Before you look at a single advert, there is cheap research to be done: a show floor, a concours display, a weekend hire and an honest conversation with an independent workshop. Here is how we use each of them.
Every figure in rand on this site is indicative and meant for planning. Workshop rates around Buffalo City vary by a wide margin, and a quote from the workshop that will do the job always beats a number on a web page.
Send the kilometres, the asking price, the body style and where the car has lived, and we will tell you on the phone whether it is worth an inspection. That conversation is free, and it has talked people out of appointments more than once.
