Dutton Melos For Sale

[OBR]

Dutton Melos sale.  Sadly the time has come to sell my Dutton Melos, I thought i'd test the water here before listing on eBay.

The car has MOT until late june and has been a pleasure to own.  I replaced a number of items on it last year for the MOT including both front brake callipers, front Disks and Pad, battery, speedo cable and track rod ends.
It is fitted with a 1300 Crossflow engine mated to a 5 speed gearbox (Type 9 I believe).  This is very spritely and certainly goes as fast as you need in a chassis which weighs so little.  It is also a very easy swap for any of the modern Ford engines such as a Zetec unit found in the Mondeo or focus.  The weber carburettor which is fitted could do with a tune up.  It works fine and I drove it from work back home which is roughly 40 miles without issue, however under harsh acceleration the engine hesitates and then picks up.  I was told by a colleague that this could be the accelerator pump, but when I removed the air filter and opened the throttle it was obvious that there was a jet of fuel being sprayed so didn't investigate any further.  The exhaust has one small silencer fitted which has a hole in it, I'd planned to replace box although as this is welded in I just haven't got round to it. 

As I said previously I replaced the front callipers, replaced the seals in the master cylinder and checked/cleaned the rear drum brake assemblies.  This provided a nice firm brake pedal, however I believe there is still a little air in the system as it can at times feel a little spongy so will need bleeding.
The seats are partially covered in brown leather (very high quality) and again with more time I would strip this off and recover, although this is very simple to do with a staple gun.

The wiper linkage/motor was taken out by the previous owner and I have not fitted as yet.  This will no doubt be due to the general wiring which I personally would have a good go at if I had the time.  At the moment I've just ensured that the legally required parts work, with the wipers not being an issue when the car was MOT'd as the previous owner didn't run a screen.  As you can see I've refitted the screen to avoid the flies in the teeth look!  Paintwork wise it probably looks better in the pictures than in real life, having been home painted a few years back.

I had planned to finish this remedial work over the winter but a house move means I will be losing my garage and I'm not prepared to store it outside as I can imagine it will quickly deteriorate and have always stored it in the garage.  As there is no tax currently I would be happy to tax it as I still have insurance running, however this would be at the buyers expense.
Obviously I'm sad to see the car go, but I can only hope that somebody will have as much fun as I have had in the car.  It really isn't much of a project and there's so much you can do with these cars although they are great fun.

Here are some recent pics:











I'm after £1000 or nearest offer for the car, please PM me for details/to discuss an offer.

[Edited on 22/2/12 by obr_technology]