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Most of us aren't sayin' what he wants to hear , cos we been there done that and gotten the bloody T Shirt many moons ago Which is exactly why most of us wouldn't have touched that with someone else's bloody bargepole

Welding at 13,what a star.You must have been inundated with work.We used loads of under seal to cover Mary Bakers on sills,wheel arches and inner wings,it was normal practice.

I always laugh when people say they used old duckhams cans,i found them too thin to weld I preferred old washing machine sides or roofs from scrappers just like you weirdly I needed a sheet of steel this week and my usual supplier has turned off my business account because I haven't used them enough this last 6 weeks so I went to the nearest large town to buy one this factor was shut too ,so I went on ebay the prices for steel on there tell me I need to cut a roof out again,i found a car door and cut this up instead

Ha, bet you remember old Paddy Plod he was good with newspaper, chicken wire and Mary Bakers;) I was a dab hand with Oxy Acetylene torch and metal plate, welding sills and floors and inner sills etc etc etc on Minis Mk2 Cortinas and Mk1 Escorts when I was 13 I was in with JC Autobreakers at that time used to cut sides out of Vans they were breaking, good source of Steel Plate to make repair sections from, long before the days of Brent Auto Panels ....................... Remember them ? ......................... Trade counter full of grease monkeys buying panels and all you got from the god Squad was "Please don't blaspheme in our premises"

Ha Ha 124,saloons ,estates and coupes,when we started we did well with those ,they were so cheap.You just had to fill the wings with Mary Bakers.

Well that's exactly what I was getting at, you do at least have the right track record. I speak to many guys who start trading and are struggling, and they have never made a profit on anything, so my theory seems to be that if you can make a profit before you start Trading, then you are very likely gonna make a success and I wish you good luck. I first bought a Car at age 16 an old MOT Failer, a Twin Cam Fiat 124 Sport Coupe ...................... I paid peanuts, was gonna keep it as my first road Legal Car, so I welded it up, got it into nice condition, tested it and then some guy wanted it so I sold it .............. Made a few hundred, and that was back in 1978, been doing that ever since, and I can honestly say that it isn't very often I make a loss, and if it is it's minimal, even the most seasoned pro's get them every now and again

All my cars go on FB marketplace, I would say we sell 1-3 max proper retail cars a month, but who cares, it's free and I answer every enquiry. It's amazing for selling the sub £1k bangers SUPER QUICKLY. I mean if you stuck a 200k passat or octavia on you would get about 25 enquires within an hour. So yes personally I like it, yesterday I retailed a £3990 Ibiza through on FB marketplace, sold within 24 hours to a lovely local couple. So why would I ever pull the ads?

Midnight Drive Aways I think we called them.We would loiter at the main dealers from 11 pm waiting for the swappers we had been promised to turn up.We would also try and capture the swappers promised to others,those were the days of the ‘ bung ‘ of course .When you see the cost of auction buyers fees now and vehicle collection problems it is probably worth trawling main dealers and trying to corrupt ( sorry I mean negotiate ) with a sales manager.£200 per time ‘buyers fee ‘ might do the trick .. But can anyone tell me how you would cover your tracks because I don’t know .Replies in the private lounge thank you.

I remember doing the same as a kid. I recall a lot of the big dealers stayed open late, so the punters could drive their new cars away at midnight in the 31st.