I BOUGHT A CHEAP FORD STREETKA FOR £500!

All right guys, how's it going? Welcome back. Well, today we're going to pick up a car that I've never actually owned before, which without wishing to brag, rarely happens. I'm really not trying to show off now, but you name any humdrum hatchback or dull crossover and I guarantee I'll have owned one. There's a lot of repetition really with my job. I buy a Kia Rio, sell a Kia Rio, buy a Ford Focus, sell a Ford Focus, so you do have lots of repeats. So very rarely do I buy a car that I've never actually owned before, but today is one of those days. What we've bought today, ladies and gents, for the princely sum of £500, is a Ford Ka, or Ka, depending how you pronounce it. But it's not any old Ka, this is a Street Ka. Interesting. For a limited period of time, Ford sold a little teapot-shaped Ka as a convertible and they named it the Street Ka. Let me tell you how I came by this car then. A couple of weeks ago, a YouTube viewer called Steve and his wife Marina got in touch and offered me their Street Ka. Street Ka? Street Ka? I still haven't decided how I'm going to say it yet. A quick thank you guys for getting in touch and very nice L322. But anyway, they got in touch to say they'd be interested in their little Ford Ka or Street Ka for just £500. So I thought, yeah, why not? They'd actually nicknamed this car Desire. Do you get it? Street car named Desire? No? It's a bit of a thespian joke. Anyway, I thought it was funny. Now, I haven't actually seen this car yet. I've only seen a couple of photographs from it and from what I've seen, it looks quite good. It's got a long MOT until November sometime, so I don't think there's an awful lot to do to it. These Ford Ka's though, and I have had an awful lot of them, I really cut my teeth buying and selling Ford Ka's. I used to really like them. They were quite reliable cars. They rarely went wrong, they were cheap to buy, cheap to fix, and they always sold well. This car really is too big for these narrow streets. I won't have that problem in the Street Ka, will I? The Achilles heel though of the Ford Ka was four ways rust. It was always an issue. I'm just hoping this one's not too far gone. It doesn't look it on the pictures. Looks alright. Anyway, we're not far away now. It's a beautiful day to buy a little convertible, so I thought today we'd have a look around the car together, see what it needs, see if there's any profit in it. Right, I shall see you there. Right, well we're just pulling up now. It's been dropped off for me on my car park. Let's go and have a look. I've just remembered, by the way, Wayne Rooney was given one of these when he was like 16 or 17 from Ford as some sort of like promotional piece. His was like that blue colour, imperial blue or something. I've just spotted it. What a funny looking car, how peculiar. So it's dark grey, got a beige interior, bigger wheels. Now I think this is like the, so they did the Street Ka and the Sport Ka. I think the Sport Ka, I think this is, they both had a 1.6. Now the ordinary Ka came with a 1.3, but the sporty ones came with a 1.6, which is quite a big engine and something that weighs as much as one of my shoes. That actually looks all right, you know. A couple of dents in the door, I mean it was £500 this, so I'm only saying what I see. Looks all right though. It's a bit, it reminds me a bit of the Daihatsu Kopen, like a little Kei car almost. I quite like that. I'm not going to keep it, but I do quite like it. It's got the hard top as well, which must have been quite a costly option. Okay, right, I'm quite pleased then. Paint looks pretty good, doesn't look too scabby or rusty. That's always a good sign, just looking around at the sill and stuff. Tyres look good. Okay, then before we look around it, let me do a quick vehicle history check using CarVertical. Now it's really important that you do one of these checks before you hand over any cash for a used car or motorbike. It's really easy to use, all you do is go to carvertical.com and type in the reg or the VIN. Now in this case, we know the reg is Delta November 05 Echo Charlie Charlie, and then check vehicle. And what this does is it checks database in like 35 different countries, so it'll tell you if it's ever been stolen, written off, had a mileage rollback, or has it was done in finance on it. In addition to that, it shows the MOT history, the ownership changes, reg plate changes. Sometimes it'll show you photographs from the last time the car was advertised, so you can compare. Sometimes as well, if it has been involved in an accident, it shows you photographs of the recorded damage, which is a really handy tool. It doesn't take too long either. My report is currently loading. It's just checking databases in various countries. Sorry, let me just back up, back up someone's way. This is why I tend to do my filming on a weekend when I've got the car back to myself. By the way, if you want to do one of these checks for yourself, and I urge you to do so, then you can save yourself 20% off each and every check that you do if you use my promo code HYPEAK. That's HYPEAK, all one word, H-I-G-H-P-E-A-K. And like I say, yeah, 20% off each and every check that you do. It isn't just a one-off thing. So the report's ready. So if we view reports, okay, there's an amber warning here for the odometer, so it could have been tampered with. So we need to investigate that a little bit further. There's no outstanding finance, no recorded accident damage. The ownership, it's found three owners. It's never been stolen. Surprise. Beware, this vehicle may have a fake mileage. So if we have a look, this is often, okay, I was just about to say, this is often a lazy MOT tester where they just input the wrong mileage on one occasion, it just sends the whole thing off. But on this occasion, it does look a bit iffy. So it had done, 2005 it was registered, then it'd done 40,000 miles by 2008. Then it's fairly steady. It's been increasing every year to 2012 when it did 82, then 85, then 91, then 93, then 96, then 97, then 97 and a half. So that's fine. But then in 2020, it dropped down to 81. Then every year since then, it's increased. That doesn't, that doesn't make sense. Right. We'll have a look through the service history then and see if, see if that explains it. It could have had a new odometer or something. I'm not straight away like accusing somebody of clocking a car because on something like that, it wouldn't have made much difference to, to take 20,000 miles off a Ford cat. Wouldn't have really made much difference. When crooks and criminals clock a car, they'll take 50,000 miles off a car because then it's suddenly worth five grand more. But on a street car like that, taking 20,000 miles off or 17,000 miles off would have increased its value by like 500 quid maybe. So you got to ask yourself, what is the point? So I don't think it's been, been whizzed. So the last owner's had it since 2019. So if we go down to its most recent MOT, let's see if there's anything here about rust. There was a rust advisory item in 2018. 2023, it was just tyres. 2024, it passed. So it passed in November last year with no advisory items. That's positive, isn't it? Right. Enough of that then. Let's park up and we're going to have a look around it. The other good bit of news is, rolling in, uh, the other good bit of news, the other good bit of news, should I say, is we've got two keys. Not just the, uh, not just the one. Okay then, right. Let's have a look at my little street car. So, I mean, it's a tiny car. Really tiny. We've got, um, Ling Long tyres. It's a new one on me. They're 16-inch wheels though. Those are quite new actually. They're on about six mil of tread. Body wheel looks okay. The sill looks okay. There's a little bit of scabbiness here on the bottom of the door. Quite a common KA problem, that. Someone's daubed in that area there with some, um, spray paint. But, I mean, it looks quite tidy, that. It's not an eyesore. The normal KA is the teapot-shaped one. Always rusts around the fuel filler, but they must be slightly different on this model. A few little touch-ins there, but again, it's quite tidy. We've got a Delinte on the back on about six mil of tread. It's a good colour. I guess, I guess that's a reverse light, is it? Not sure. Like a Cyclops right in the middle. Oh, and interesting little thing. We've got a matching Delinte on this side on about six mil again. Now, rust. Again, the outer sill looks alright. Got a little bit of snottiness there on the bottom of the door. But generally, that's not too bad. A couple of little dent masters there that'll pop out. I'll get the lads next door at Collision Craft to do that. Dents. We've got another Ling Long. Long Ling on the front there. The wheels could do with being refurbished, but don't think I shall. I mean, this is the thing with this car. I paid £500 for it. If I were to refurbish the wheels, that'd cost me £220. The annual road tax on this is £395, which is ridiculous, really, isn't it, on a £500 car? Now, this is the luxury model, so... Hang on. Works. Yeah, it's the luxury model. So, we've got a leather interior. Look at this. Electric windows. Leather interior. Oh, look at that. Pininfarina. I didn't know this was a Pininfarina design thing. They don't always make hits at Pininfarina, do they? Straight away, I'm thinking of, like, the Hyundai Matrix and the Shogun Pinin. That was a bit of a flop, wasn't it? We've got the glovebox. That was an optional extra. Look at that. Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester. That's what I like to see. Someone's cared for it when you see things like that. We've got a CD player. Six disc, front-loaded. Fogs. Aircon. That's a big one. This is all right, this. Right, let me just move the logbook out of the way so you can't see that. So, we've got a streetcar winter edition. She didn't come with it, I don't suppose. Looks very cool. She's quite inappropriately dressed, isn't she, for the weather, don't you reckon? Put some pants on, love. Right, that's the last thing I'd see. Here, then, we've got coil packs, spark plugs. That was done at 80,000 miles in 2020. Loads of receipts, loads of OTs. So, key features of the winter edition. Hard-top at colour-coded with a heated rear glass window. Fabric-covered manual folding roof. Heated leather seats. They heated these buggers. Yeah, look at that. Wow. Did not expect that. Right. This is quite a, you know what, if I had the space, I'd just keep this in a barn or something with a sheet over it, because this is going to be a future classic. It's an 82,998, we think. It sounds all right. We've got a nice metal gear knob. Sounds quite throaty, actually. Whack this aircon on, see if that works. Is that lit up? I can't see. No light. Hmm. I would say not, then. We'll leave it a minute. Don't know whether it's on or off. I'll tell you what, we'll turn it off. Let's have a look at the boot. I've no idea how you get in the boot on a street car. Hmm. I know that to open the bonnet on a Ford K8, the bonnet release is on the steering column. There, that red lever there. It's that. Product knowledge, you see. That's how you lift off the hard top, then. OK. How do we open the boot? Does anyone know? Oh, there we go. Is it? Hmm, maybe not. Maybe not. You'd have thought there'd been a keyhole somewhere, wouldn't you? Am I being thick again, like I was with that CLK roof? Hmm. Well, we don't need to see what's in the boot, anyway, do we? Oh, I just remembered it's got a button on the key fob to get in the boot. There we go. Look at this. Haynes manual there. Some sort of car cover or tonneau cover, possibly. Someone's really looked after this, you know. It's exactly what you want to see. I think with a service MOT, we can get this looking quite smart. Service MOT, sort the dents out, because that door's peppered with them as well. One there, one there, one there, one there, one there. Give it a good old clean, get it in the showroom and try and find a new home for it. So we've got a 1.6 litre petrol engine, but don't be fooled, I don't think these were particularly quick. I think they had a 0-60 time of like 12 seconds, but it's not all rotten, is it? It's in quite good nick, really. Top mounts and everything aren't all rusty. That crossmember there, or that sort of bar or whatever you call it, has been painted, I can tell. But yeah, it's all quite clean. I think we should take this for a spin then, don't you? Right then, let's get this little street car on the road. I have had, although I haven't had a street car, I've had a couple of sport cars. I'm not comfortable with that name. I've had a couple of sport cars, which I've always been quite impressed with. You just don't see many of these on the road. I mean, if you go to a warm country like Spain, or the south of France, or Italy, you still see loads of them knocking about. But here, of course, they've all been scrapped. The very best of all women, 2003. Avril Lavigne, All Saints, Macy Gray. It's a pity, isn't it? Getting all excited, they never kept that. I wonder if it's in. Please be in. I don't know how you turn the radio on. I've got a problem here. I think I might have to go on eBay and have a look. I've got no power. It's also very hot in here. It feels like I'm in a teapot. She feels all right. Steering feels good. I know it's got a terrible 0-60 time, but it actually feels quite peppy, quite nippy. Right, I need to buy a new stereo then, don't I? I'm sure I'll get one on eBay for about 20 quid. That won't be a big deal. I'm not sure what this is worth. Ew. I mean, I know I've given just 500 quid for it, but what is it worth? What I should have done, really, was have a look on Australia first and see what they were fetching. My guess is they're quite a rare car. I can't imagine there'd be many left. Oh, we've got electric mirrors as well. Look at that. You know what? Sometimes I get bored with this job because I just buy the same sort of cars every single day and it's not that fun for me because I've kind of done it all before. But to get in something that I haven't bought before, I haven't driven for, well, ever, makes me feel like I'm 17 again. I feel like wearing a t-shirt with Crowded House written on it. Brake's pretty good. Wow, it's hot. I've just pressed the air conditioning button because maybe the little LED's gone. Maybe it does work, but it just doesn't light up. Or maybe I'm just being naively optimistic. I like this. I think then, ladies and gents, we're going to go straight down to my mechanics for a few stray dog hairs. It'll need a good valet. I think we'll go straight down to my mechanics, leave it there for a service, MOT. In the meantime, I'll order a stereo from eBay. Once it's done there, we can sort the dents out, can't we? Clutch feels good. It's not high. You've got a good biting point. Gearbox feels strong. It's a far sportier car than you would believe. Saying that, I don't really know why I've said that because we haven't done more than 12 miles an hour, but it just feels like it is. I wonder what the story is with this odometer then. Has it been replaced, maybe? Has it had new clocks? Like I said to you, I don't think anyone would clock a KA for 17,000 miles, do you? There'd be no benefit to that at all. The heated rear screen buttons there, look. Let me just get through this traffic then, and then we can hopefully, once we've got past this wagon, we can open her up a bit, see how it performs. Now we're going for it. We're in second gear. Oh yes. What a fun little car. Oh yeah, she flies. I can't imagine being involved in a crash in this would be very pleasant. I don't think there'd be much left of you. Quite good fun, though. I mean, it's not an MX-5, but it does feel quite fun. You see, my odometer is working. We were at 82,998 a second ago, and it's just ticked over to 999. This gearbox is really good, you know. Quite precise. It's just not sloppy in the slices. This is... I'm quite pleased with this. Right, anyway, then let's get this down to our mechanics, and I'll have an update for you very soon. Hopefully this is quite a straightforward process. I'm hoping there are no nasty hidden surprises. Right, I'll see you soon. And we're back in my little street car, which has now been serviced, MOT-ed, cleaned, and it's all ready for sale. I always thought it was a decent example, so after we last spoke, I took it straight to my mechanic for a service and MOT, thinking that'll be it. It'll sail through. Anyway, two days later, I was down there picking up something else, and I saw the little KA up on the ramp, and one of the mechanics said to the other mechanic, just as I was walking away, this KA, it needs a bit of welding. So I thought, oh no, I bought another lemon, haven't I? So I just carried on walking, got in my car, and just pretended I didn't hear. Anyway, a couple of days later, my mechanic called me to say, your little street car's ready. So I said, well, I thought it needed welding. She said, yeah, it did, but it didn't need an awful lot, to be honest. It was just a couple of little patches. So we've sorted that for you, given it a service, given it a clean MOT, and it's all ready to go. So it wasn't the end of the world, really. And bear in mind, this is a 20-year-old car that's prone to rust. I should have always expected a little bit of welding, shouldn't I? After that, I took it over to Tameside Detailing for a full valet, and it's come up looking really good. It was always in decent condition, but now it's had a proper clean, it just looks a whole lot better. I even found some original mats for it, so they've been cleaned and put back in it. I hate going through puddles once I've had it cleaned. It always seems like a terrible waste of money. But yeah, now it's got its original mats as well, the whole thing just looks nice and, I know I keep saying this word, but original. I know I shouldn't keep everything, because I am a car hoarder, but this is the exact kind of car that I could just keep in a garage somewhere, under a sheet, and in 20 years' time sell it for probably quite a lot of money. These are the kinds of cars that people always forget to save. No one's bothered about saving a little Ford Ka, but they should. I should. I might. There are a couple more jobs to do, but that should only take me a couple of minutes. So the first thing is a new radio. I found one on eBay for, guess how much this was, and I've bought and sold millions of, I say millions, dozens of KAs in my life. And whenever I've needed a radio, you can get one on eBay for about 20 quid. Not anymore you can't though, I paid £85 for a replacement radio. Anyway, it's necessary because this one does not work. The next thing I need to do then is run it to Dent's, D3NTS, which are based near me actually, and get some of the little Dent's popped out. Then it's fully ready. Then I can get it back to work, photograph it, and advertise it. Unless of course I decide to keep it. I don't know when I'd ever use it, I just quite like the idea of keeping hold of things. It's surprisingly good fun to drive you know. The little 1.6 litre engine sounds good, and I love the gearbox. When you're driving it and you're giving it some, you actually forget that you're in the car from Noddy and Big Ears. It's great fun this. If I do decide to advertise it, I've got no idea what to advertise it for. I really don't know. Now in terms of my spend, I paid £500 for it, and I've spent... well, I've spent that again. Slightly more than that. What we're going to do next then is park up somewhere scenic on this beautiful day, and then I'll talk you through my costs. So when I built up my mechanics was about £360 or something, then I've got a valet, then I've got the cost of the radio, then I've got the cost of the paintless dent removal. So it wasn't a huge spend, but it's more than my initial purchase price, which is often the way with this job sadly. But still, if this car owes me, I don't know, let's say £1,200 maybe, it's quite a good example for £1,200. It's got 12 months of OT now, we're not a single advisor item. It's had its welding done, it's got loads of history, it's a nice spec, we've got the hardtop, so yeah, I think this should be quite desirable. Anyone who's in the market for this kind of car, you know, like a little Daihatsu Copen or a, I don't know, even like an MX-5 or a, I don't know, anything like that, you could do far worse than buying a little street car. Right then, here we go. Might as well lock the engine off. You know what I might do as well? While it's at dents, I'm going to get the air conditioning regassed. They do do that there, so I might do that as well. Calculators at the ready then. So £500 plus the Billetman Mechanics was oil filter, oil, various bulbs, welding repairs, labour and an MOT test fee. That was £353.80. Then we've got the cost of the valet, that was £70. We've got the cost of the replacement radio, that was £85. What else did I say? Honestly, I've got memories like a sieve. The dent removal is going to cost me about £80. The air con regass is going to cost me about £60. So there we go, yeah. This car currently owes me about £1,150. I think I could get two and a half grand for it, don't you reckon? And of course, as I mentioned previously, if I keep the advert under two and a half grand, then it's a free advert. With my current Autotrader package, I get some free adverts under £2,500, which is very good of them, isn't it? You know, I pay them £75,000 a year and they give me half a dozen free adverts for £2,495 or less. How generous. Anyway, I'm going to get this down to dents then, get the dents popped out, and I shall see you in a bit. This would have been a good day to have the roof off, wouldn't it really? Should have done that. The trouble with hardtops though is that they're quite unwieldy for a start-up. Then you've got to find somewhere to put the bugger. They're not the most practical, are they? Anyway, so yeah, that's about it. I'm going to get some photos of it, and I shall see you next time. Cheers guys, thanks for watching. I've lost my rhythm now, but you know where to follow me. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. I'll leave the links below. Don't forget to use my promo code HYPEEK on CarVertical for 20% off. I think that's it. See you next time.