Atoms for sale - information thread

[Fastlane]

As we all know, there are quite a few pitfalls to buying an Atom, not least of which is buying one which has been an experience day car or has had a serious off at a track, or have had a poor rebuild etc. To be absolutely clear, if the seller is honest about this and the car is priced accordingly then this maybe no problem. However, we all know not every seller is honest, so I thought I'd start a thread where people can post up cars with a "history" and also ask for/comment on any cars for sale. This will hopefully help potential buyers go in with their eyes open when looking at a potential purchase and if appropriate, avoid or negotiate accordingly. I'll start:

2016 Atom 310, reg no WU16 NLA, £39,990. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified ... IEL&page=1

The dealer showed its registration number until recently, but this has now been hidden. This car is an ex experience day car owned by Carlimits - its photo was on their website until recently, but is still shown up on their Trip Advisor page - look under "All Photos" and it is shown clearly in several photos including here

2016 Atom 245, reg no YN66 LVL, £37,500. This seems to be an ex cup car, actually built in 2013 and has had two offs. Again no mention of this on the advert. This car has already been discussed in this thread:https://www.ariel.club/forum/viewtopic. ... vl#p290607


2007 Atom 300, reg no WA07 MWU £32,995. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ariel-Atom-S ... :rk:2:pf:0
I have already created a thread on this one https://www.ariel.club/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17277
This one is easier to spot, being an absolute dog and contrary to the advert, never having been used by the factory, as confirmed by Henry...

[phil4]

2016 Atom 310, reg no WU16 NLA, £39,990. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified ... IEL&page=1

Ad describes is as a Ariel Atom 3.5R - which as it's got sports rear brakes, and non-adjustable suspension and no side pods, I very much doubt it is.

That said it's not got sky high limits, it appears in a reasonable a state, it is supercharged. Might not be worth quite that much (As a pretty basic spec bar the roll over, not even aero screens.) though. Better spec'd cars for similar money.

[Karl V]

Like the idea of this thread, but why just Atoms? And won't search engines list this thread as a place to buy Atoms?

If the idea is actually 'buyer beware', for any Ariel machine, maybe search bots will do a better job of promoting the cause with a more suitable title.

I don't know the ins and outs of how these forum threads present metadata to search engines, but let's assume that the idea here is to forewarn potential owners of a potential hidden history; and assuming potential new owners won't be savvy users of this forum; then search engines are our friend here.

The ultimate test will be searching for 'Atom for sale' / 'Nomad for sale' / 'Ace for sale' and have this thread returned as a prominent search result.

In fact, this thread could even be expanded to include general 2nd hand buyer's advice on what to expect / check when in the market; including a link to our own private seller's thread.

I'm sure we could easily come up with a top 10 things to check?

1) Call the factory to see if the car / bike is known
2) Ask this forum
3) Does the steering rack feel lumpy
4) Are the track rod ends loose

I made up points 3 and 4, but you get the idea...

Like most of my posts on here - just my late night thoughts, but love the idea of trying to provide public information to potential buyers.

I have a winch on my Nomad. I don't want to use it towing home a broken machine at a club meet ;-)

[Karl V]

Buyer beware...

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C933817

[Steve Gibson]

You have a point, Karl. There's already a few guides on ariel.club and an Atom buyer's guide would be very useful. It would also show well on search engines. Something we should try and write over the winter.

[CAG3D]

This thread is worrying me, I bought mine a couple of weeks ago.
It only had 3000 miles in the clock, looked in lovely condition but I didn’t have an independent check it.
Did anyone know my Atom?
CAG3D.....?
KR


Tony



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[CAG3D]

I didn’t even know about the 3 different engines, red top, silver top and 2.4. I actually thought 2.4 was a typo, as most of the cars for sale, blurb is nonsense.

I should have done more homework.





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[Steve Gibson]

Tony

Check your chassis number (should be on a plate on the rear bulkhead). Run that by Ariel and see what they can tell you about that car.

Steve

[autobackup]

Was at the factory yesterday and while chatting to Steve I noticed a really 'crunched' moderately recent 245 - somehow or other the person who did it managed to bend all 4 corners!!

Steve reckons that it is probably a write off?

Apparently the owner 'lent it to a friend to have a tryout' and who promptly did the 'dirty'!!

That's another Insurance hike for next year!!

[Fastlane]

I agree a buyer's guide on here would be very useful (Evo.co.uk has three guides!) but this thread is purely for people to find out more about specific cars that are for sale. Karl - you could easily create a similar thread for Nomads that are for sale.

Tony - I doubt your car was ever an experience day car as it is far too high a specification. The likelihood is that it has been on track - that's what the 3.5R is designed for - but most Atoms will have been at some point, so that isn't a problem. However like any (very) high performance car, I would expect it be be serviced annually and by someone who knows the model really well - hence why so many people use the factory. What sort of service history does it have? Have you talked to the previous owner(s)? If the car has never been to the factory, then they won't be able to help you much beyond confirming its original spec.
In terms of not knowing about the engines (the factory has used lots of engines over the years, including the Rover k-series), half the fun of owning a fun car for me is learning about the car and the company that makes them. I have lots of books about Porsche, but there don't seem to be any about Ariel, which is surely an opportunity for someone at some point? I have learnt a lot about Atoms over the last 2 months, but I still have an awful lot more to learn!

[Steve Gibson]

I have lots of books about Porsche, but there don't seem to be any about Ariel, which is surely an opportunity for someone at some point?

I've had discussions with Simon about producing a book. Ariel will be 20 in 2020 and it would be a good time to publish. Hoooowever...the market is microscopic when compared to Porsche book buyers, so the production economics for a high quality edition aren't favourable. It really does have the potential to be a loss-making exercise.

[CAG3D]

I own a large printing company....... I’m sure we can sort something out.




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[GraemeW]

[mention]CAG3D[/mention]
Tony, its a good spec car, that was well looked after. I nearly bought it myself. Ben Long on this forum knew the owner of the car, and he could tell you a bit more about it. Send him a PM

[Anon]

I too saw your car for sale and thought it looked very well looked after and a good price at least from what I saw in the pictures.

Advice to newcomers to this section or learning about Atoms and considering a used car not bought from Ariel is in the first instance contact the factory to ask about the cars history. They will know when they last saw it and if anything happened to it if the owner used Ariel to maintain it. If not, then contact the garages that serviced it to learn more about it.

[NigelS]

Any supercharged Atom 2 cars for sale at the moment?