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[ajsphead]

Not worthless 
look at the many threads about people trying to find cars to replace omega
many involving spending £10k +

Don't delude yourself.

Those people have, largely, used it as an excuse to move up in car. The Omega used to be a £2-3k purchase. It is now a sub £500 way to avoid walking.

Replacing an Omega is now a £3-500 decision. Buying a 5 year old Jag or Merc or Passat is a lifestyle choice pure and simple.

Not entirely so if you get into the "modern classic" market which is waking up to Omegas. The word is that smart people should take advantage of people selling them cheap and treat them as a future smart buy. Because they are still relatively simple bodily and mechanically they can still be done up for peanuts.

They can't be oversold, we're nowhere near that and probably never will be but they can now be undersold.

[Nick W]

Not worthless 
look at the many threads about people trying to find cars to replace omega
many involving spending £10k +

Don't delude yourself.

Those people have, largely, used it as an excuse to move up in car. The Omega used to be a £2-3k purchase. It is now a sub £500 way to avoid walking.

Replacing an Omega is now a £3-500 decision. Buying a 5 year old Jag or Merc or Passat is a lifestyle choice pure and simple.

exactly.
I've just got rid of mine because it wasn't worth spending any more money or time on for a car that I don't need. I paid £1600 for it 8 years ago, so a replacement would be a V70 for about £2.5k.


Any car that is readily available for £500 is essentially worthless. That's a fact, not slagging them off.

[dave the builder]

I've just got rid of mine because it wasn't worth spending any more money or time on for a car that I don't need. I paid £1600 for it 8 years ago, so a replacement would be a V70 for about £2.5k.

so an omega is worthless to you, because you no longer need one and have found a different car that suites your needs and budget , which also needed rust repair ,I assume you sold the unwanted omega  for money ££  so not worthless 

Any car that is readily available for £500 is essentially worthless. That's a fact, not slagging them off.

a car that costs £500 is worth £500 ,unless you buy unwisely 

[Doctor Gollum]

And why I replaced my £350 mot failure omega  for the first interesting sub £450 car with at least 6 months ticket.

And actually, clutch notwithstanding, it has saved me enough fuel to re coup every penny spent on the Omega and clutch

[Doctor Gollum]

Not worthless 
look at the many threads about people trying to find cars to replace omega
many involving spending £10k +

Don't delude yourself.

Those people have, largely, used it as an excuse to move up in car. The Omega used to be a £2-3k purchase. It is now a sub £500 way to avoid walking.

Replacing an Omega is now a £3-500 decision. Buying a 5 year old Jag or Merc or Passat is a lifestyle choice pure and simple.

Not entirely so if you get into the "modern classic" market which is waking up to Omegas. The word is that smart people should take advantage of people selling them cheap and treat them as a future smart buy. Because they are still relatively simple bodily and mechanically they can still be done up for peanuts.

They can't be oversold, we're nowhere near that and probably never will be but they can now be undersold.

You have to have a good car to start with. And like it as not, most are well past the mileage acceptable for true classic status, however nice the owner might wish their car to be.

[cam.in.head]

I think what it seems to come down to with any car (usually older ones) is that there are two types of owner distinctly.
Type 1 who runs an older car (be it omega or whatever)because it is cheap luxury motoring and you can get a lot of features for your money.they are used purely as transport and will be scrapped when any repair costs /mot become financially unrealistic..they will be maintained in a safe roadworthy manner until no longer viable.so extensive welding or engine repairs will write the car off.
Then there is type 2. Someone who runs a car because they want to run that particular car.these are the enthusiasts. They will maintain the car regardless of cost with no intention of ever selling it.any car (with maybee some exceptions ?)can be made to last indefinately.after all if you can take a rusty shell from a field that hasn’t seen the road in years and restore it then maintaining a running car should be a piece of cake.sure it will be doubt need welding as the years go by ,engine work ,paint,etc etc but it’s all doable.
There are most likely owners of both types on here and maybee some in between and there are no laws saying you can’t do either so we will !
I have vehicles,some of which I’ve owned over 30 years and will never part with. My omega will probably be one of them!
Omegas will be the classics of the future just like everyday cars from the past are now. When everyone was driving a new Morris minor they wouldn’t have thought they would become future classics either

[dave the builder]

Well put cam.in.head
I guess I'm an enthusiast
It was the same thing 10+ years ago when ebay was full of Carltons
many people got shot when repairs and rust meant doing work or spending money.
I had a 93 (which i had sat un-used for 2 years as a spare) but lost storage ,so the 93 car became my daily driver, and sadly I let 2 go for scrap. I stocked up on cheap used spares as they got broke and scrapped, plus service parts came down in price.
I also spent many hours each year cleaning and rust proofing the one remaining carlton , just said goodbye to it this year .
now there are very few carltons about , look on ebay
4 x 4 bangers and 1 x LC at only £99,950.00 

[Doctor Gollum]

Scrapping a rotten base Desmond does not define a non believer.

I would possibly have clung onto my ex plod '54 estate, having personally put 185k on it, but it would only be a worthless novelty with 280k and three write offs in in its past.

My long term attention is focused a little further up the pecking order, and I felt that the time had come to move my previous Omegas on to new homes

[ronnyd]

I think what it seems to come down to with any car (usually older ones) is that there are two types of owner distinctly.
Type 1 who runs an older car (be it omega or whatever)because it is cheap luxury motoring and you can get a lot of features for your money.they are used purely as transport and will be scrapped when any repair costs /mot become financially unrealistic..they will be maintained in a safe roadworthy manner until no longer viable.so extensive welding or engine repairs will write the car off.
Then there is type 2. Someone who runs a car because they want to run that particular car.these are the enthusiasts. They will maintain the car regardless of cost with no intention of ever selling it.any car (with maybee some exceptions ?)can be made to last indefinately.after all if you can take a rusty shell from a field that hasn’t seen the road in years and restore it then maintaining a running car should be a piece of cake.sure it will be doubt need welding as the years go by ,engine work ,paint,etc etc but it’s all doable.
There are most likely owners of both types on here and maybee some in between and there are no laws saying you can’t do either so we will !
I have vehicles,some of which I’ve owned over 30 years and will never part with. My omega will probably be one of them!
Omegas will be the classics of the future just like everyday cars from the past are now. When everyone was driving a new Morris minor they wouldn’t have thought they would become future classics either

Puts me firmly into type 1 but am not looking forward to the day when Desmond goes, as the newer cars just won,t be the same for me, but will just service a need to get from A to B. Which is what the Desmond does now i suppose.

[terry paget]

Well put cam.in.head
I guess I'm an enthusiast
It was the same thing 10+ years ago when ebay was full of Carltons
many people got shot when repairs and rust meant doing work or spending money.
I had a 93 (which i had sat un-used for 2 years as a spare) but lost storage ,so the 93 car became my daily driver, and sadly I let 2 go for scrap. I stocked up on cheap used spares as they got broke and scrapped, plus service parts came down in price.
I also spent many hours each year cleaning and rust proofing the one remaining carlton , just said goodbye to it this year .
now there are very few carltons about , look on ebay
4 x 4 bangers and 1 x LC at only £99,950.00 

I wonder if that Lotus Carlton is rust free? L reg and only 37000 miles, sounds good, and comes with a new MOT. I saw another immaculate Carlton recently, in NYPD trim, with a Lexus V8 engine, apparently the car had been a 'barn find'.

 

[BazaJT]

Had a Mk1 Carlton 2L once.On tick over timing chain rattled like a bag of spanners but get some revs on it and it quietened down considerably.It also blew oil out of the air filter despite this it went pretty well and never once let me down,finished up straight swapping it for a MkII Rover P6 2.2.

[terry paget]

This morning I see that £99,500 Carlton is no longer available, e-bay offers me as similar a Vauxhall Rascal tipper truck, not quite the same.

[andyc]

When a chassis leg rots out

[terry paget]

In CAR S.O.S. I have often wondered how Fuzz and the lads restore rusty old wrecks into roadworthy cars. The audience is shown little of the major body rebuilding that must have taken place in every programme. The previous post shows a wreck of a car apparently being restored, sparing no expense. Is that really an Omega?

[Nick W]

That sort of repair isn't particularly difficult, but it is really time-consuming. Which means seriously expensive if you pay someone to do it, or a labour of love if you DIY. And an Omega simply isn't worth it, as that won't be the only job of such magnitude.