EL XR8, save or wreck decision

GTENVY · 09-04-2014, 10:28 PM

Hi all,

I thought it was more appropriate to put this in here rather than the Tickford section.

Recently I got hold of a EL XR8 which is in a bit of a bad way. I got it for an ok price, probably could of got it a bit cheaper but. Its a 97 model, auto with high kms (288,000 there abouts) with no rego. It appears to be an ex police car, and was converted to dual fuel at some stage in its life. Looks by one of the stickers on the rear window it was once owned by a FPV/Tickford club of WA member at some stage as well.
The condition of the interior isn't too bad, the seats are great with no tears or stains. The rest needs a good scrub and the centre console needs replacing were it appears a UHF or CB radio has been screwed into the side of it.
Engine wise it runs well on gas and has a slight miss on petrol, the auto is a bit dodgy I think, takes a second to move when in reverse but appears better once its warmed up. It has no leaks at all, anywhere, which surprised me.
Now for the bad bit, the body. Firstly it has an EF grille/headlight surround, not sure what the go is just yet but there doesn't appear to be any structural repairs to the front of the car. Paint wise it's not too bad, once I gave it a quick wash I think the chalky paint can be brought back with some elbow grease using the Auto Glym range. The sills however are stuffed, rusted out badly on the passenger side, appears someone in the past has done a really bad bog job and its fallen out, drivers side looks like its on the way out too. Under the car though is mint, I got it up on stands and pressure cleaned it with the karcher, the underside is very clean.

Here's some pics.

Got a couple of bonus' with the car that I found while cleaning it out today.
Front Koni fully adjustable shocks, not sure what the rear red ones are yet, will have to look up the part number that's stamped on them. Some what looks to be Lovells front and rear springs and a couple of spare mirrors.

The um 'person' I brought it off had these fitted to the rear and the other two in the boot. They are the right stud pattern but don't clear the brake calipers so they have carved a groove into them

This is some of the crap I cleaned out of the car, not much in the way of coin under the back seat this time.

It's a bit hard to see but this is the crap that I got off from underneath the car, surprising how much mud and grime was under there.

So to the point of this long winded post, do I restore this poor thing, wreck it or.. do I maybe use this as my track car. Alright fellas, fire away.

Rich

zabatron · 10-04-2014, 03:57 AM

Looks like its had a very hard life.Large panel gaps between front doors and front quarter panels on both sides of car plus mismatched paint suggest car has sustained front damage/repairs at some stage..would also explain the EF front panels. Make sure it is a genuine EL XR8 before restoring it.Plenty of fakes around..Model code on vin plate should be 18735,engine code should be "Z",will also have "option 20" stamped on plate if it was a police car.

LTDHO · 11-04-2014, 08:07 AM

Don't ask me, I'd buy a burnt out e-series to save it!

Comes down to the time and money you want to put into it.
Don't consider sale price as you will not make a profit!

edsprint · 11-04-2014, 02:18 PM

Oh my god, you paid money for this..? This looks very rough, I would not spend time trying to save this one Rich.

Hopefully you didn't pay too much for this and you can make money on it from parting it out.

Grippy · 11-04-2014, 02:28 PM

I'd be parting it out. It's gonna take a whole lot of time and money to put it back on the road in a decent state. What's the driveline like? Even converting it into a decent track car is going to take a lot of effort.

GTENVY · 11-04-2014, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zabatron

Looks like its had a very hard life.Large panel gaps between front doors and front quarter panels on both sides of car plus mismatched paint suggest car has sustained front damage/repairs at some stage..would also explain the EF front panels. Make sure it is a genuine EL XR8 before restoring it.Plenty of fakes around..Model code on vin plate should be 18735,engine code should be "Z",will also have "option 20" stamped on plate if it was a police car.

Yeah it certainly has had a hard life by the look of it. I had to pull the passenger front guard out so I could open the passenger front door. It's definitely a genuine XR8 and yes it has option 20 stamped on the compliance plate. I decided considering the condition and how much EF/EL XR8's sell for with around 200k kms it's not worth restoring - parting this one out unfortunatley.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LTDHO

Don't ask me, I'd buy a burnt out e-series to save it!

Comes down to the time and money you want to put into it.
Don't consider sale price as you will not make a profit!

Yeah unfortunately the $$'s aren't going to be worth it. Replacing both sills and the rest of the bits and pieces is definitely going to add up fast. Will certainly add up to a lot more than the car is worth unfortunately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by edsprint

Oh my god, you paid money for this..? This looks very rough, I would not spend time trying to save this one Rich.

Hopefully you didn't pay too much for this and you can make money on it from parting it out.

Yes Matt I did but I didn't pay too much for it, hence why I was looking at the option - had the possibility of being a good daily. Have got it up on gumtree and have already got offers on all the good stuff, bonnet, headlights, grille, engine etc. Should be able to make some good profit on this one.

Rich

edsprint · 11-04-2014, 04:22 PM

Sweet, if you can make profit from parting it out, i would definitely do that mate!!
Repairing rusty e series falcon is never gonna be a good decision financially i reckon. Rust repairs are so expensive, and e series never hold much value.

The interior should clean up well and is a great upgrade from a standard falcon interior.