Local SoCal #2

I went and checked out the yellow one in Murrieta, California. It was very intact, had fresh paint, felt solid, had a strong engine, all the interior lights worked, but the interior just had a worn feel about it. The stock steering wheel felt sticky. The air conditioning needs a recharge or so says the owner. When I saw it, the lower portion of the doors were painted black with a 1" yellow stripe running down the middle of it. It looks as if the owner had the doors repainted to remove the stripes. The car just didn't excite me at the asking price, but at $35,000 I could be swayed....

Would it be a good first P car? I'm looking for a solid platform that I can build on. I can deal with everything except rust (can but don't want too). I can fix anything mechanical. Looking for a car that is a good compromize between price and perfection.

Bottom line...could you drive this car for a season or two until you've had your fun then get peeved and then have things to work on to keep you interest?


Also you said $35k but the buy it now price is $46k (reserve is probably close). So deal at 35 look elsewhere at 46?

TIA

Miles

quote:

Originally posted by Fahrenheit351:
Would it be a good first P car? I'm looking for a solid platform that I can build on. I can deal with everything except rust (can but don't want too). I can fix anything mechanical. Looking for a car that is a good compromize between price and perfection.

Bottom line...could you drive this car for a season or two until you've had your fun then get peeved and then have things to work on to keep you interest?


Also you said $35k but the buy it now price is $46k (reserve is probably close). So deal at 35 look elsewhere at 46?

TIA

Miles

I'm looking for a car that needs nothing. Like I said, it feels very solid. It has a roll bar in it so it probably means its seen some track time and driven hard. You could probably drive the car a couple of seasons before you needed to do anything, mechanically at least. Put a set of polished Campys and it would look pretty sharp. The car is in great shape for being 35 years old, and is very original, too original for me. But that's me. I feel he wants too much money for what he's offering. At $35k I'd do it, but not at $46K.

Bakersfield isn't too far away, you could make a day trip to Murrietta and stop off at Tom's Farm in Temecula, have lunch on the way back, and be home in time for dinner.

Thanks

To my eye, the yellow car looks great. The list of work done and the price to GET that work appears significant.

The racing harness and roll bar seem to add up to track time, so I guess that might be why the interior seems a little tired. Plus, could they vacuum the mats???

Track time doesn't exactly indicate a pampered car, but it does show an intense interest in getting it to run right and safely.

All in all, that car appears to not need much in "heavy" work done. Seems if you bought a $30grand car needing the work, you'd be at $50grand well before you finished.

If unrusted, at low $40s, that car seems to be a good buy. Just my opinion.

A two point roll bar would not qualify for any significant track tech inspection so I don't imagine it has seen too much 'real' track time, maybe some 'bench racing' .

Personally in looking for a driver I don't see track time as a negative, in fact for me the opposite. Most tech inspections require a fairly high degree of mechanical maintenance to pass, plus if it has been driven hard then all the weaknesses that are going to surface should already have done so e.g. cracking at stress points etc.

For what a photo is worth it looks a nice car and I'd guess in the current market should fetch $40K, personally I think $35K is a 'low ball' figure.

Julian

quote:

For what a photo is worth it looks a nice car and I'd guess in the current market should fetch $40K, personally I think $35K is a 'low ball' figure.

Yeah, $35K is a low ball figure, but at almost $50K, no way. $40K is where this car should be priced at. I don't own a P-car, so maybe my judgement is clouded, but in my search I have checked out and driven much nicer cars for the same asking price.

If it sounds like I am trying to dissuade anyone from buying this car, I'm not. I just feel the asking price is kind of high.

What I might cast off as not my cup of tea may be just someone elses dream car.