Do any good Daihatsu F50's still exist?

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...or for that matter any variation of that bodystyle?

Purely for nostalgic reasons - I used to live opposite the Burgoynes Daihatsu dealership in Eardisley Herefordshire and saw the cars arriving brand new - I have wanted to buy one of these for years. However, I cannot find a good one and as my experience of buying poor examples of other cars to do up has always led to financial disaster, this would be the only way I would want to buy one of these.

Do good ones exist? Have I just been looking in the wrong places?

Be interested to know.

Thanks.

SB

F50's

Yes they do, there were two basic versions, the F50 which had a 2.5 litre diesel engine, and the F20 which had the 1.6 petrol engine, these came in both hard and soft top variants.

Mine is an F20 which suffered from terminal tinworm, the floors had rusted both sides in the footwells, and the rear floor in the loadbed as well; the engine did not run properly either.

Compression tests led to the removal of the cylinder head, an inlet valve had split, down to my local machine shop to get a head set and a new valve. After reconditioning the head myself, i looked at the engine, no wear in the bores, no wear anywhere come to that, good engines these Toyota engines. Refitted the head, and she started first time and ran perfectly.

Removal of all the floors, or what was left of them, did not fill a bucket, it was that bad, out to the local sheet metal fabricators, saw the M.D. and told him i was raiding his scrap metal skip, which he lets me do as i know him. Nothing usable in there, a few days later i recieved a call from him saying he had a cancelled order, and there were large usable sheets if i cut off the mounting lugs, i collected these and made up the new footwells and fitted them. Took the thing into my local woods and fields to try it out, my workshop opens out into them, and yes i know the landowner and have permission, all went well, 4WD worked perfectly, no overheating, and nothing unusual. Cleaned it all and put it away. Rebuilt the rear floor and incorporated a few mods, and made new rear wheelarches, worked through everything and now it simply needs a new set of front leaf springs, and the front end spraying. Hows that for recycling, now where can i get some paint in a colour i like for free.

As well as mine, in the Notts/Derbys area there are 3 F50's and another F20 which i see regularly, and they are used offroad.

Thanks for the replies. The

Thanks for the replies.

The type of car I am looking for is an original car - no mods - in good nick if not immaculate.

Do any of you know if a car like this has been sold in the last few years?

Thanks

SB

f50.....check this out

sorry this one is in New Zealand.go to www.trademe.co.nz and type the word DAIHATSU,scroll down till you see it and go in to veiw the details.ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!

jon