Suggestion Required - SS80 To Buy or Not


Thread Starter #1
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Got a call from my mechanic regarding a running condition ss80 available for sale, details below
Make : Suzuki
Model : ss80 DX
Year : 1985
Color : Red
No. of owners : 3 (as per RC, but no clue in actuals)

Yet to see the car in person. Got the below info from my mechanic
- RC expired a couple of years back
- Traces of rust at doors, boot and engine bay
- Condition of engine is not bad either.
- AC not working (compressor missing)
- Tyres & Rims need replacement
- Interiors are 'OK' (neither good nor bad)
- Exteriors with few scratches and dents, nothing major.
- Reason for sale: current owner got the car 6 months back for his wife and dad to learn driving. Mission accomplished and hence selling the car.

Price quoted:
He wanted us to quote the price. He is not ready to share the price what he paid during purchase.

Need your suggestions,
1) Should I go for this car?
- Reason for purchase: same as the current owner + one of my favorite car from childhood. May be (stress the word MAY BE) restoring in future
2) If the answer for above question is "YES", what is the best price for a car of this condition?
3) How much should I spend to get the documents Live (don't want to take risk driving a car without valid documents)
 
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Hi,

I was thinking of a SS80 project a year back but nothing happened. But I think it would not be the correct car to buy for teaching driving. However its the perfect car to buy if you want to restore and keep it.

You have not shared any picture of the vehicle, but 1985 is a good year and deluxe is the model to go. I expect there would be some rust, but from your description it does not seem to be a cause for concern. Parts are still widely available but not having a valid RC is a issue.

Talk with agents and see whats the cost/fines of getting papers updated. Why did the current owner not get the RC done? May be there is some hint there. If there is a issue with registration, say due to accident or anything, then it should get only scrap value.

A badly maintained just running SS80 (with papers) should not go for more than Rs. 20-25K however since these are becoming classics now.. a well maintained one will fetch upto Rs.80K to 1 lakh.

If you really like a challenge.. offer them Rs.5K over scrap value (any scrap dealer can give you an estimate) and see what happens. Then try to get the papers sorted. If that is not possible or too costly, then depose it off as scrap (or a donor car). That way you only have Rs.5K to loose.

Also remember even if you restore it by spending money, it will still not be as good (or efficient) as modern cars of today. It will have its charm but many will think you :stupid: for spending hard earned money on a 30 year old vehicle. Majority of Indians are still earning to live.. we are still not good at being passionate on hobbies which make us dirty our hands.

Hope I have been able to help.
 
Thread Starter #3
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^^^
Thanks for the suggestion buddy.
I understand ss80 is one of the collectors choice and not a learner car, but it should serve my purpose as well before restoring.
Regarding the FC, I doubt past n-number of owners must have used the car for learning purpose and they are least bothered to keep the documents live.

Yet to see the car in person (may be tomorrow) and I will offer the scrap rate, let us see if I'm lucky.
 
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If you see the car post some pictures, then it can be ascertained how much it might be required for restoration. IMO you cannot pay anything more than 25K for this in "as is where is" condition.
 
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My bad.
Before I could see the car in person, someone already picked the car for 17k[frustration] (happened a couple of days back)
 

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