My son is now 17 and taking driving lessons so I have been keeping an eye out for a cheap but decent little car for him for when he passes his test. A neighbour has had this sad little Corsa for the past 10 years and was going to part ex it against another car. Red paint faded so badly at first glance it looked white. But it's solid as a rock,no rust at all, 1.2 engine smooth and quiet, gearbox etc spot on. Has been well looked after mechanically but neglected in the TLC department although the interior is mint, never been smoked in etc. Part ex offer was £100 so I asked can I have  it for same £100. OK she said.

So I brought it home and off we went with Mr Porter cable

Faded paintwork and faded grey bumpers and trim. Wheel have seen better days too.

So out comes all the gear and after a few hours hard graft and some cheap vauxhall alloys off ebay not a bad little motor at all. Very proud of the end result and my lads as pleased as punch. 

Here are some before and after pics.  Cheers   Steve.

PS. last pic shows 1 of only 2 tiny scabs on the door but only a little bubble, soon be sorted.

After

sound as a pound for that money      job well done    nice one

Well done Steve.  Getting the young lad involved in sprucing it up is a great way of developing a sense of ownership and rsponsibility for the car, and his driving as his skills develop.

Great results, it shows how much can be achieved with a few products and lots of elbow grease.

Nice one Steven. You should have kept the purchase a secret, cleaned it up then told him it cost you a grand! that'd keep him in your pocket for a while!!

Seriously though I bet he's well chuffed. ?I know I would have been if my dad did that for me when I was 17. I ended up paying £300 for an old T reg fiesta with a nice bit of rust, no lights and gold paintwork, one blue door and one red door. I fixed it up myself then I had no money for driving lessons so it sat, the brakes siezed up then eventually I paid someone £50 to take it away!!!

Highly commendable Simon!

By the way, did you know there was some strange man standing behind you when you took the first pic?

Mike

Very nice (except the wheels lol).

I shall be going down this route very soon, my eldest is 17 in a week or so ( I'll have to have her mom for the actual date)

540 V8 wrote: I ended up paying £300 for an old T reg fiesta with a nice bit of rust, no lights and gold paintwork, one blue door and one red door.     My first car was a 1955 morris minor with a split windscreen. Cost £25. fantastic little car, wish I had it now, should never have sold it.     By the way, did you know there was some strange man standing behind you when you took the first pic?   He's often there when I take pics of the car, the nosy git.

[/QUOTE Nigel]Very nice (except the wheels lol).got to be better than the original ones though.

I shall be going down this route very soon, my eldest is 17 in a week or so[/QUOTE] best of luck then mate, its all in the name of love.

Nice work Steven

What a transformation!

What products did you use to get it looking like that?

Well impressed.  Now that I've got a PC I'm looking for cars to transform, that would have been ideal on to see such a huge transformation on.

What's the insurance like on a 1.2?  When I was 17 a 1.0 was bad enough, 1.2s being a lot more.

Andrew

Andrew Rolland wrote: Nice work Steven What a transformation! What products did you use to get it looking like that? Well impressed.  Now that I've got a PC I'm looking for cars to transform, that would have been ideal on to see such a huge transformation on. What's the insurance like on a 1.2?  When I was 17 a 1.0 was bad enough, 1.2s being a lot more. Andrew

Cheers Andrew, I used Meguiars paint cleaner with the PC to get rid of the fading then went over it again with Zymol cleaner polish. When I'm off work later this week, weather permitting I will wash it then give it a couple of coats of Zymol carbon wax. I cleaned up the bumpers and wheel arch trims with the Turtle wax black trim restorer. At the moment I have not insured it for my son, I'll not do that till he has actually passed his test but I have insured it in my name with SAGA for £105 T.P.F and T but I can't claim my full no claims discount on it as it is a new policy and I have another car insurance. I plan on using it occasionally to go to work to keep it running nicely.

Cheers  Steve.

I think the insurance may come as a shock. I have heard some horrible quotes at the moment well in excess of a grand and that's for Ka's, Fiesta's Corsa's etc.

It may do him well to take a pass plus course, this can reduce the insurance by a large sum so I've heard.

Mike