I'm after a tidy, solid pick up that hasn't been mucked about - no rotted out ex farm hacks please. Something like the tidy red one that went through on Ebay recently would be ideal (was outbid). At the moment I've about two grand but might be able to come up with a little more for the right one. If it's T&Ted I'll travel up to about a 150mile round trip for it - I'm in North Wiltshire.
Been looking for a pick up for a while now, I keep an eye on Ebay, Pistonheads, CCFS etc. so tend to spot most of the ones going through "normal" channels.
If you know of anything else please let me know, many thanks, John.

Jaydub@talk21.com

Jaydub , I reckon you should get something decent for that sort of money.There has been a glut of "rotted out hacks" of late and if like me you watch ebay you will have noticed that some of them dont hang around in the new home too long and are stuck straight back on . You may have to travel a bit more than than your stated milage though (although I heard nortrh Wiltshire was an MV hotbed :D Please pm me a mobile number , "MO" :ph43r:

A message for Mo really - sorry I've not let you know how I got on with those nos. you passed on - seems like bad manners not to keep you up to date. Still unable to talk at the moment so no progress unfortunately - makes 'phone calls difficult to say the least - but at least it's quiet 'round here...(as the missus would say)

No problem :D I just forwarded those numbers in case you wanted to check them out ? It wasnt compulsory :lol: Good luck with your search and pay a little bit more for a good un ;) , you wont regret it "MO"

I'm only thinking about it but my MV may be up for sale, lots of money spent on it recently because its clean and tidy, and the carb decides to give up (sods law) :rolleyes: so ill get some piccys and info and put it in the for sale section.

Hmm. I may be interested in this too.

No longer required - thanks.

Sooo have you got one ? or have you given up on that idea :lol: "MO"

Let's just say I've stopped looking - have travelled many hundreds of miles chasing up Ebay trucks usually to find that they are not as described (if I can manage to describe something accurately and honestly why can't others?), or they are well worth a bid only to be outbid by folk who haven't seen them or even rung up the seller for more info'. The latter usually end up being relisted due to no show buyers...and I can't be bothered to go through the process again.
I did look at the red truck over Chepstow way which looked like a damn good solid truck, and came with some spares and a whole spare truck (although that would have taken some moving) - would have been a good buy for someone but went for more than I was prepared to pay. Maybe I'm just too stingy! Did anybody on the forum buy it?
I also chased up the red one in Evesham where the seller told me that no way was he letting it go for less than advertised (£4950), I note it's now being listed at a grand less...
Considered a solid "project" truck (the orange first gen was definitely in contention) but I've still got loads to do on the cottage, I need to throw some time and money at the Austin hot rod, and we've got two Harleys and a couple of sixties Triumphs as daily drivers...
What I have learnt is that there are far more out there for sale than you might first imagine. Most of them have only been owned by the seller for a very short time - "selling due to change of plans" can be taken as rotten old truck bought recently from a field and "I reckon (mistakenly) that it's worth a lot more than I paid cuz they're collectable innit". The others are mainly the "I was gonna drop a WRX lump in it but me girlies preggers - wouldn't take much to do "!
There are also some very nice low miles/few owner trucks out there but these are becoming more rare and should go for decent money. Having said that all the top end trucks that were for sale when I was looking are still for sale, as far as I know.
I think at the moment the cheap trucks are sought after by young lads with not a lot of cash, the top end stuff isn't valued highly enough by the wider motoring world (but probably will be), and the good solid, unabused, honest truck is a rare item indeed.
In the end I figured a change of tack was necessary...

I hope you don`t loose interest in them, maybe one will turn up out of the blue at some point. ;) Good luck with all the other projects,it sounds like you`ve got a lot going on there.

Oh don't worry I won't be losing interest - it's just that a change of tactics was necessary. Currently making a space on the drive for when the new truck arrives, hopefully before the snow sets in!

well hopfully you do find one, i was lucky in that i bought mine in 2007 before the price soar, as it was i would say it would probably of been a £2.5k truck in todays market, i.e one that was very good but needed a little money spent to make concours, in those days it fetched from memory £700 odd on ebay.
Re the girlies preggers, in my case this is true, and i thought i was going to have to sell her(the truck, not the girlie) however by selling a few other things and keeping the truck on a sorn I should be able to hang on to her for ever. There are good ones out there but most as you say are bulled up ex farm hacks.