Proud new owner of 1984 skoda estelle

[jass]

Hi All,
My name Jas and I live in Epping in Essex. I posted this in the indroductions section but am also doing so here. I have just last week become the proud owner of a SKoda Estelle 120lse. Unfortunately I don't really have any cool rescue story of saving the car from imminent scrapping or rescuing from some rust graveyard.
I bought it from a dealer on eBay. It's in really nice condition and drives superbly.

I have had many classics in the past ranging from BMW 2002tii to porsche 944 to vw camper vans.
I have not been on the scene for many years though and home this skoda will being me many years of classic driving.

I don't really know much about Estelle's but have seen many on my trips to Poland( other half is POlish)
All I know is I am really chuffed with the purchase. My three year old boy and I spend a good half day polishing and waxing last weekend but it's been in the garage since then cos of the rain. Just waitin for a dry day to go out and play.

I am just saying hello and looking forward to making some mates on this forum

Cheers

Jas
 

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[Leeboy]

Really nice Estelle you have there. Welcome and enjoy your new wheels (if it ever stops raining)

Looks like you want have too much to do on the car.

[skodanorman]

I am pleased this car has found an owner at last

[hawkeracing]

Ah ha.....now we know who bought that car. You need to join the Skoda Owners site and the Skoda Owners FB site......you will find Paul 'Skoparts International' Wyatt on there who is the main supply of parts.....I believe yours might need P plates like mine does - he got me a set for about £17 a side. I have followed your car through EBay and dealers for a while now it's great that it's got a real owner at last.

[skodanorman]

Ah ha.....now we know who bought that car. You need to join the Skoda Owners site and the Skoda Owners FB site......you will find Paul 'Skoparts International' Wyatt on there who is the main supply of parts.....I believe yours might need P plates like mine does - he got me a set for about £17 a side. I have followed your car through EBay and dealers for a while now it's great that it's got a real owner at last.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/skodaownersclub/

 

www.skoda-owners-club.org.uk

[jass]

Thanks for the replies everyone. nice to meet you all.

 

At the risk of sounding like a numpty ! what do you mean by it needing P PLATES ?

 

[skodanorman]

P plates are P shaped plates on the inner wings under the front wings. They generally always rot out. To check, stick your hand up inside the wheel arch behind where the side indicators are. Reach as far as you can and see how soft it is. 

[jass]

P plates are P shaped plates on the inner wings under the front wings. They generally always rot out. To check, stick your hand up inside the wheel arch behind where the side indicators are. Reach as far as you can and see how soft it is. 

cheers mate. will have a look tonight .

[hawkeracing]

From what someone else who went to look at your car said they need doing......I can't remember what else they found other than that one of the front wings appeared to have been repaired with fibreglass not metal.....which preumably means hidden rust......all easily enough sorted if it needs it.

[K]

Congrats for the LSE, it looks great! 

[sparky93]

Also saw this on flea-bay, hope its ok, and look after it well :-)

[jass]

From what someone else who went to look at your car said they need doing......I can't remember what else they found other than that one of the front wings appeared to have been repaired with fibreglass not metal.....which preumably means hidden rust......all easily enough sorted if it needs it.

ok cool. i am gonna get it on a ramp this weekend and have a proper look with my friend at his  garage.

the only things that needed attention that i was aware of were a couple of tears in the top of the back seat, the fuel gauge is stuck on full, and the latch for the bonnet needs changing.

 

i actually went to those guys to buy a bmw 2002lux . i had no intention of buying the estelle but we just fell in love with it when we saw it.

 

i dont  suppose you can try and find out from your friend if there was anything else that needed attention.  

 

never bought a car like this from a dealer before. i just assumed (wrongly) that everything would be sorted and if its not they would atleast make you aware of it. for example we only realised on the way home that the fuel gauge was not working. they did not tell us.

 

also do you know if the p plates issue is an MOT failure?

 

cos they put 12 months MOT on the car the day I picked it up?

 

thanks

 

Jas

[hawkeracing]

P plates are not an MOT failure....mine are goosed on my 105 road car which got an MOT no problem (and I replaced them on my race car when I got it because its such a common issue)....a rotting front wing where it meets the A-post is a good sign that the P plates are also going and if you go on the FB site and search you will see someone (with a bit of knowledge of Estelles) went to look at your car and found the wing (drivers side I think) to have been patched and painted and the P plates to be going/gone. The fuel guage is an earthing issue....my 105 had exactly the same issue recently....I have now replaced the tank float because it kept going. You might be able to clean up the earth screw and earth on the float unit and get it to work permanently. I would strongly advise buying a Haynes manual because its not too bad compared to a lot of the others and gives a blow by blow account of most things.

From what the other guy who looked at your car said, the dealership you bought it from was a bit of a shoddy outfit. The car has been on EBay twice in the last year and bought then sold on, but despite all this I think it's probably a sound car from what I've seen, it just has all the classic Estelle problems that can be fixed relatively easily so don't be despondant - they are hilarious to drive, quite rare and easy to fix.  

 

Edit - the guy on FB who tested it is Matthew Concannon...I have no idea who he is, how much knowledge he has or what he's like but the fact he checked the P plates tells me he has at least a basic understanding of the Estelle.

Edited 23 October, 2013 by hawkeracing

[jass]

P plates are not an MOT failure....mine are goosed on my 105 road car which got an MOT no problem (and I replaced them on my race car when I got it because its such a common issue)....a rotting front wing where it meets the A-post is a good sign that the P plates are also going and if you go on the FB site and search you will see someone (with a bit of knowledge of Estelles) went to look at your car and found the wing (drivers side I think) to have been patched and painted and the P plates to be going/gone. The fuel guage is an earthing issue....my 105 had exactly the same issue recently....I have now replaced the tank float because it kept going. You might be able to clean up the earth screw and earth on the float unit and get it to work permanently. I would strongly advise buying a Haynes manual because its not too bad compared to a lot of the others and gives a blow by blow account of most things.

From what the other guy who looked at your car said, the dealership you bought it from was a bit of a shoddy outfit. The car has been on EBay twice in the last year and bought then sold on, but despite all this I think it's probably a sound car from what I've seen, it just has all the classic Estelle problems that can be fixed relatively easily so don't be despondant - they are hilarious to drive, quite rare and easy to fix.

Edit - the guy on FB who tested it is Matthew Concannon...I have no idea who he is, how much knowledge he has or what he's like but the fact he checked the P plates tells me he has at least a basic understanding of the Estelle.

[jass]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I have ordered the Haynes manual and will try get hold of this Matthew fellow.

Went for a good drive today cos the sun was out. You are so right. Hilarious is the only word to describe it So much fun.

I am not despondent whatever needs doing we will get it done one way or another. My mechanic friend is onboard. He loves quirky cars. We gonna get it on a ramp on sat.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks for your help really appreciate it.

[hawkeracing]

You shouldn't need it on a ramp to check the P plates, just stick your arm up under the front arches where it meets the windscreen and see how crusty it is or if there are holes. The P plate is a strengthening plate and if it's rotten it will effect the structural integrity of the car and will lead to the inner wings rusting....which would be an MOT fail.

Edited 23 October, 2013 by hawkeracing

[jass]

You shouldn't need it on a ramp to check the P plates, just stick your arm up under the front arches where it meets the windscreen and see how crusty it is or if there are holes. The P plate is a strengthening plate and if it's rotten it will effect the structural integrity of the car and will lead to the inner wings rusting....which would be an MOT fail.

[jass]

Got hold of Matthew on FB. Really nice and helpful guy. Gave me a comprehensive list of things that he reckons I should have looked at. Although the dealer obviously had work done since he drove it as many of the things were sorted. Had it on the ramp for two hr today with two mechanics. They were not too worried about it at all. There was definitely no fibre glass repair and p plates are solid. There was a bit of filler in a rear arch but nothin too sinister. We got the fuel gauge working which is cool. We gonna give it a massive mechanical pampering anyway. Get it into tiptop running state before we look at bodywork. Happy now as we know what we need to do.

[jass]

It was clear that the dealer had done some shoddy paintwork and there was fresh wax oil caked over certain bits. Overall we not too concerned. Just needs someone to take a bit of care and spend a bit of time on it.

[Zlin]

Lovely car Sir :sun:

[jass]

Lovely car Sir :sun:

Thank you sir

[hawkeracing]

You should re-look at the front wing on the driver's side.....found one of it's listings on Ebay and it has a hole in it - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Estelle-120-LSE-/221226700990?nma=true&si=9Kw7T5vvNrF9gCl1OXyzSViisJo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

From the ad it looks like it has had loads of new parts fitted which can only be a good thing. How did the garage get it so shiney by the way? It is like a mirror finish....surely polish alone hasn't done that?!

[jass]

You should re-look at the front wing on the driver's side.....found one of it's listings on Ebay and it has a hole in it - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Estelle-120-LSE-/221226700990?nma=true&si=9Kw7T5vvNrF9gCl1OXyzSViisJo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

From the ad it looks like it has had loads of new parts fitted which can only be a good thing. How did the garage get it so shiney by the way? It is like a mirror finish....surely polish alone hasn't done that?!

thanks this is really interesting and helpful

the car does look amazing in their pics and too be honest its not as good in the flesh there is some slight paint mismatchbut it looks great for my purposes . its amazing what lighting, a good photographer and some photshop can achieve. lol!

i noticed some swirls on the bonnet when the sun hits it . i reckon they went a bit mad with a machine polisher aswell.

[daverapid]

 Looks lovely, congratulations! Any help needed just say.

[K]

"We got the fuel gauge working"

How did you do it?