nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 2, 2015 23:45:38 GMT -5
Hi folks. Apparently I registered in 2013 but whatever Bradley GT I was probably looking at then fell through as a GT has yet to grace the list of cars I've owned.
So fast forward a couple years, and I'm going to look at another one tomorrow. I'm no stranger at all to air cooled VW's, having owned a couple Bugs, a Bus, and a Ghia. VW mechanics aside, is there anything particular I should look for when evaluating the car?
I've only seen one picture of it so far. Paint looks good, body looks straight, looks like original style bumpers, wheels are clean. First impression is that it appears to be fairly well taken care of. Titled as a `73. He says he has doors but they are in rough shape. I saw in another post that SunRay is/was making these, but they appear to be a bookface only company with no website, and the most recent post is from March of 2013. Are they still in operation?
Asking price is a bit north of the $3k mark, which from what I've seen looking through the classifieds could be a bit steep if the pan, mechanics, and rest of the car aren't as solid as the picture gives the impression of. Is there any pricing vs. condition rule of thumb?
My main goal for the car would be a fun runaround/daily driver to use while I'm doing some resto/mod work to others. Any drivers here over 6ft tall who can comment on leg room? I believe the GT is on a shortened pan no?
Thanks in advance for any input.
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Post by jspbtown on Aug 3, 2015 8:32:35 GMT -5
I would go under the assumption that you will be unable to get doors. SunRay is currently unreliable (at the VERY best) for getting doors so the secondary market (finding NOS doors) is really your only option and that's one TOUGH option. So it you want a Bradley GT with doors your best bet is to buy one with doors.
The GT is on a stock length pan.
Depending on where you live make sure the title is available.
When inspecting the car try to get under the dash and look at the wiring. Most of these cars are wired so poorly its scary. A rewire is best done with the body off so take that into consideration.
legroom is tolerable for a 6 footer...its more about the headroom. A body lift and/or pan drop helps significantly but can require a body off.
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 3, 2015 13:58:44 GMT -5
Thanks. I believe I found a short video of a previous owner. Paint, wheels, tires, missing windshield wipers, seats, what you can see of the interior, exhaust, etc.. all match. Being kits, I can't imagine there are two of them that look this much alike. Vid I found last night: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOVeNcVakt4Pic current owner txt'd me:  Just got off the phone with the current owner, and he confirms it is the same car. Naturally there's holes under the battery, paint is a bit faded. One of the doors is cracked, but I'm pretty good at coming up with novel ways to fabricate or repair odd things. Been looking for an excuse to build a larger 3D printer anyway  I figure it's worth a look, so I'm going to head down there a bit later today. |
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Post by horen2tas on Aug 3, 2015 18:05:06 GMT -5
UH-OH!
Smitten like a deer between the headlights!
That does not look like a $3000+ ride
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 3, 2015 20:27:02 GMT -5
After seeing it in person, it doesn't even look like a $1000 ride. The floor pans were small groups of rust flakes held together by hopes and dreams, the nose had a nice big crack and wasn't mounted to the frame on one corner, the fiberglass section of the top wasn't even bolted to the rest of the body in the rear, it had no brakes at all (literally none). Needless to say, that picture was not recently taken.
All in all, a very disappointing and wasted afternoon. Makes me wish I had snatched up the Sterling that was somewhat local not long ago.
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Post by smyrnaguy on Aug 3, 2015 20:40:19 GMT -5
Where are you located? There's always another GT down the road.
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 3, 2015 20:58:32 GMT -5
St. Louis area, but I'm done taking road trips on the words of optimistic sellers. I've been all over the place in the past several months looking at air cooled VW's, Porsche 944's, random Triumph/MG/Healey, and now kit cars, just to find that small rust spots are roughly equivalent to being able to Flintstone-brake the car or that "needs a tune up" means a timing belt broke and the pistons have valve shaped holes in them.
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Post by horen2tas on Aug 3, 2015 21:04:01 GMT -5
Depending on where you live, you can dial-in any number of Brads listed on CraigsList raleigh.craigslist.org/search/cto?query=bradleySome are crud boxes like the above listed by dreamers. Then again if you stay on top of it sooner or later the right buy will surface. Type in Bradley on Cars & Trucks, select BY Owner, & then start pulling down the regional tab and have a look around. |
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 3, 2015 21:18:37 GMT -5
Yeah, I've written programs that crawl craigslist, fleabay, hemmings, bringatrailer, germancarsforsale, half a dozen sites that sell old race cars, etc... all searching a group of terms that describe my interests. And I frequent multiple forums to dig through the classifieds. Finding an interesting car is not difficult, but finding the interesting car I'm going to take home is always a challenge. I shopped around for years before I found my W460 G-Wagen as a replacement for my Jeep TJ. I was actually looking for Pinzgauer 712k radio trucks when I came across the G. It's just annoying that more and more lately, the types of cars I like are getting harder and harder to find, and when you do find them, the owners are likely to be daydreaming optimists who want a restored premium price for rusted out junkers. Edit: A more suitable generic browser craigslist search for a Bradley would be something like: www.google.com/#safe=off&q=Bradley+GT+%2Bsite:craigslist.orgGoogle indexes craigslist regularly, and that search covers all locales without having to visit each one individually. |
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 3, 2015 22:50:25 GMT -5
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Post by cocacoladodge on Aug 16, 2015 12:37:01 GMT -5
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 19, 2015 21:13:40 GMT -5
I browse thesamba occasionally, but couldn't remember my credentials and had to create a new account. I emailed the guy with the one on the first link, but no response yet. Not like I have anyone in FL to check it out anyway. Edit: Looks like the seller was initially a bit optimistic on the price. priceofhistoys.com/someone-must-have-watched-barrett-jackson/ |
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Post by smyrnaguy on Aug 20, 2015 8:50:32 GMT -5
I'd sell mine for $4000 firm. It has all the whistles and bells including: alternator, air conditioning, inverter, backup cam, bluetooth, gps, electric bearclaw door latches, custom burled walnut dash with glove box, Dakota Digital gauges, irs, front disks brakes with dual MC, drilled drums and rotors (no adapters needed), 12 gauge steel floor with 3" drop, custom seats with tilt for easy access to rear storage compartments, anti-tailgating device, flip down fuse panel, power antenna, built in satellite antenna, padded roll bar, shoulder harness seat belts, cruise control, 1600 dual port engine, all LED lighting, Corvette C5 headlights, trigger shifter, built in cup holders, chrome tilt steering column, key-less ignition with starter button and remote start, 12 gallon tank. I'm sure I've left out a few features. The car does need a new paint job and the engine needs a rear oil seal. Located in coastal NC.
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 20, 2015 20:07:06 GMT -5
That's a fair amount of bells and whistles to cram into such a tiny car. GT1 or GT2? Any rust on the pan? How fresh is the engine? Is it reasonably water tight in the rain? Is it titled as a VW or special construction? Do you have pics of it posted somewhere?
And I have to ask, what's an anti-tailgating device? I'm picturing a Bond style smoke screen.
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 27, 2015 15:37:23 GMT -5
Changed your mind?
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Post by smyrnaguy on Aug 27, 2015 21:49:19 GMT -5
Sorry don't check here that often anymore. Its a GT1. Its fairly watertight in the rain but will drown you when you open the door. Any water sitting on the door top dumps when you open it. It also has gas door lifts and metal tubing door frames. The car has a special NC DMV number and is listed as a 1970 Bradley GT convertible. The anti-tailgating device is simple; the car has dual windshield washers with individual controls. One nozzle is mounted on the rear deck and points behind. You'd be surprised how quickly people back off when you start wetting their windshield. They expect nails or oil next. Oh yeah I also put in intermittent wipers. There's a 7inch touch screen in dash that plays anything, nice triaxles up front and twin 12's with tweeters in a box in the back. I have no idea how fresh the engine is. The car had 1300 miles on the old odometer when I got it. I've put about 18k on it but when I switched to the alternator the stand I got had no road draft tube. This has caused pressure to build in the crankcase and it leaks oil around the crank behind the pulley. I have a new stand with tube but I'm not in a hurry to install it until I can replace the seal too.
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Aug 28, 2015 17:49:30 GMT -5
Glad it's a GT1, I prefer them to the 2 just for windshield availability if nothing else. I don't mind getting a bit damp opening doors in the rain, and I can probably mitigate it in some fashion.
Do you have recent pictures and pics taken during the build? I'm mostly interested in mechanical solidarity and lack of rust on the pan. Gadgets will eventually get replaced by my own kit at some point (carputers that tie into my local network via wifi/GSM/ax.25, depending on range and type of comms). It may end up with a mild street motor at some point, but will need to pull daily driver duty at least until spring/summer 2016 while I work on other projects. Both A/C and heat work well?
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Post by smyrnaguy on Sept 9, 2015 21:41:22 GMT -5
The air works great. The heat works well but the left exchanger needs to be replaced. It leaks a bit of exhaust. I have another pair of exchangers to put on when I drop the engine. I also have a custom waterproof car cover for it. I'll try to take some pics this weekend. If it doesn't rain I'll pull it out of the garage. It hasn't seen sunshine in months.
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nihil
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Posts: 45
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Post by nihil on Oct 3, 2015 3:29:57 GMT -5
Sooo, seen any sunlight yet?
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Post by kitcarguy on Oct 3, 2015 15:48:49 GMT -5
I didnt not know you where in coastal NC . I moved to Jacksonville Recently
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Post by smyrnaguy on Oct 4, 2015 19:21:41 GMT -5
We haven't had a sunny day in 2 weeks. 21 Inches of rain last weekend and we'll be close to 10 more this weekend. Yeah I'm about 55 miles from J'ville. Right now you can't get there from here without driving through salt water. Hwy 70 east of Beaufort has been under water in several places for the last 2 days.
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Post by kitcarguy on Oct 4, 2015 20:33:54 GMT -5
Yeah Man . I was over at North Topsail yesterday and there was roads under water . Surprisingly we have not gotten nearly the amount of rain I thought we would today.
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Jun 14, 2016 23:52:08 GMT -5
Looks like he has done some work on this one and put it back on the market for a somewhat more realistic price. When I first looked at it, the price was $3500, had no brakes, the front right corner of the body wasn't attached to anything, and was very rough all around. Edit (I pasted the wrong link): stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/5633321982.htmlI'm rolling around in a 944 these days, but still keeping an eye out for a well sorted Bradley GT or Sterling Nova. |
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Post by jspbtown on Jun 15, 2016 8:56:50 GMT -5
The seating position is very very poor in the Sterling.
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nihil
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Post by nihil on Jun 15, 2016 10:55:57 GMT -5
In all fairness, have you ever sat in a comfortable kit car?
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Post by jspbtown on Jun 15, 2016 12:11:52 GMT -5
Actually my Porsche Speedster kit wasn't bad. My Manx & Deserter buggies were comfy.
And my comment was more about seating position. Some kits are a LOT better than others in regards to seating position.
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