theseoldcars

Yea, my thoughts. A solid car and not outrageous money, by any stretch, but I didn't want to pick something up and then have to start throwing money at it to make it look the part. If it had more history, I'd have been a little more willing.

Oh yea, as an aside, just a decent deep clean, a polish and some TLC would work wonders for its appearance!

Sure, by all means! I tend to crawl over cars from nose to tail, so some of the following may seem critical - but if there is anyone here considering viewing it, the info may be useful. All of the following are just my observations and opinions, mind. First, a few general things: - Yes, it's filthy. Not just dusty and dirty, but 'been parked under trees for a while' filthy. All the rubbers, channels and the like have plenty of debris in them. No huge issue, mind. - A lot of the exterior seals/trim pieces are tired. Both lower window trim pieces are lifting away, while the window rubber on the hatch is similarly looking very tired. The rear hatch itself has plenty of rust butting up against the lower edge of the glass; it all needs to come apart, be rubbed down and repainted - The paint on the roof has several marks in it, so to be perfect it'd need painting - There are some minor dings and dents to both flanks - The paint on the nearside rear is extremely thin over the body's lines (rubbed through in places). That corner also appears to have received paint at some point, without the glass being removed, although it could just be that the lacquer is giving up the ghost and flaking away from edge slightly. - There are other areas of thin paint on the car, but otherwise it is sound and solid - Underneath, it's all relatively clean - although there is much light surface rust, as you'd expect - The glass is all in good order - The headlights are cloudy and slightly UV damaged, but a kit would probably sort 'em out, but the rubber seals around them look misaligned - The wheels have been refurbished and are all shod in quality tyres with plenty of tread - All four discs are heavily lipped - The exhaust system is in good order and is a very quiet aftermarket system - The interior is very worn in places; the gear knob is ruined, the handbrake tired, the steering wheel quite worn, and many of the dash panels are damaged (i.e. flaking top coat, or chips). Also smells quite old and well used... - Doors open and shut easily, as does the tail gate - but it needs new gas struts The good (outside of some of the points above): - The engine was warm when I arrived (not ominously so, I think he'd just gone over to make sure it would still start), but it starts and runs extremely well. It's quiet, the fluids are clean, and there are zero ominous noises. The turbochargers whistle in quite a pronounced fashion when spooled up, which may be common, but it pulled very well and didn't stumble or stutter under load. Idled perfectly, even when hot, and restarted easily. - The gear change is pretty awful, but I understand that's par for the course for an older V160 that's not been titivated. No odd noises, apart from a very light, almost inaudible chatter from the clutch release bearing or input shaft (I think). It has had a recent clutch and more, however - It is very quiet on the move, with only an intermittent light knock from the underside during initial acceleration. Probably just something slightly adrift. No other rattles or odd noises. - It rides very firmly over bumps and hits 'em hard, which made me wonder whether the suspension was OEM or (alternatively) all four dampers need renewing. - Stops okay, seemingly tracks straight (I didn't drive it, just rode in it). - The A/C and everything else works - windows, electric mirrors, radio, instrumentation, etc. - No whines from the diff or the rest of the underside - It's a black twin-turbo Supra with a manual! What more could you wish for... The question marks: - It's claimed to have an odometer that reads in KM. However, our test run was about 4.6 miles - during which the odo racked up five units. This suggests, to me, that it's in fact reading in miles - and that the car's current mileage is higher than the claimed 91,000 (currently indicating 149,693). This would correlate with the seemingly excessive interior wear in places. I may be incorrect in this respect, though. - Adding to the above question mark is the fact that there is very little history with the car - just a few invoices for parts, some MOTs (all in miles) and... that's about it. It is clear on all history check fronts in the UK, but I cannot find out any more about the car prior to its importation - as it was brought over in '99, IIRC (Car VX drew a blank for this reason). Consequently, establishing whether its indicated mileage bears any resemblance to its true mileage is very difficult. - The VIN all appears to tally with the car's specification, and Car VX could tell me that it was a black manual Supra, but some UK sites list it as an N/A manual - although I'm pretty sure it is an original TT manual car. Just a heads-up, though, for anyone who spots an NA-style listing somewhere for it and panics. - The seller bought the car off a friend for a low price, and didn't update the V5C for ages, and seemingly their plan was to flip the car - but they ended up using it and doing a few odd jobs to it. It's since been moved into their name so sits present and correct. - It also needs a cam belt and water pump, but that is included. No real biggie. I did like the car, and it seemed pretty honest and straight otherwise, and it's certainly a good candidate for someone who's looking for a Supra that they can improve and fettle (although I understand getting some of the trim and exterior bits can now be quite tricky), provided they're not too fussed about its mileage or history. Certainly doesn't seem excessively expensive for what it is, but I was just looking for something with a bit more history and a verifiable mileage - and, more prominently, a car without many cosmetic issues. Been through too many restoration projects recently to want to start messing around with paint and rust again, especially when it's a black car... Also, as a footnote, riding in it did make me wonder whether I'd prefer an auto or a Tiptronic version. Yet to try one of those, that said. Any questions? Just shout!

Bit of a lurker, so apologies for materialising out of thin air for this - been nosing around Supras for a while, and this one was local so went and had a gander. Not the example for me, alas, but an interesting car. If anyone would like to know more, feel free to DM me.

Evening Alex - apologies if I've missed it elsewhere, but whereabouts (roughly) are you? Cheers!

Got my car done at Rust Busters. Wasn't too impressed. Just looked like it'd been driven through a vat of tar. Lots of peeling afterwards - perhaps because they rushed it, and I drove it home in the rain, but still - looks a bit of a mess.

Thanks for the welcome. I'll have a proper read of those!

Looks like fun!

That is absolutely stunning!

No help, but it's becoming an increasing problems for a lot of '80s and '90s stuff - people simply aren't making anything to support the cars. Nissan's getting back into the action soon, perhaps Toyota will follow suit.

Afternoon all. Been mulling buying a Supra for a long time now (must be the best part of four years) and, after several other cars have come and gone since, I think the time has finally come. Not entirely sure what my plan is yet - buy a clean NA and turbocharge it, or spend a little more on a sorted car - but time will tell. Whatever I buy, however, has to be immaculate - all too tired of dealing with heavy corrosion! Hope you're all well.