Alright so whats your opinion on this one?

I am by no meens an expert...just going off what he was saying....but the power steering pump says otherwise you are correct

However, no A/C condenser pump (is that the name) is within eyeshot so I think that claim to be accurate....

Further info I have recieved....He payed $1750 when he got it a few years back and claims $500-600 invested. Says bottom dollar (over phone) is $2000 which I believe one of you may have agreed with - mistakenly saying $200.

You think $1700-1800 cash in person will bring it home?

How should I approach

 

Well this is what i do..... Point out minor flaws act like they are big deal and then be like man with this this and this wrong i wasnt expecting that i will give you $1700... Sometimes if you act like your gonna walk they will change their mind or if you Show them the cash they seem to change their mind also.

 

Ok, some people may not like this...but I've always wanted a Stallion. A friend of mine had one in high school and I always thought the flat black and red was cool. If it's not real rusty under the top and you could get it cheaper...it would make a neat Stallion clone.

 

What types of flaws we looking at? Once again this man doesn't know much about these cars. He said he was thinking of dropping a bigger engine in it and I asked him what size? Like a 302 or 351? He was like nooooo, 302's and 351's wont fit in there....enough said..

Heres a flaw list I have come up with:

1. Rust - However bad
2. Trim on Passenger fender indicates replacement most likely
3. Maybe throw in how much it will cost to get A/C in this car lol.
4. WHAT ELSE? Hopefully there isn't any significant trunk/floor pan issues or torque box rust....that wouldn't be a minor in my opinion.


He also claims it origional miles but cannot confirm because he didn't buy directly from 1st owner but a car lot immediately after her grandson sold it to them. He said he believed what that guy told him but you guys are experts....I know the engine bay pic isn't top notch but what do you guys think on this claim?

Also its not that easy to just *walk away* after driving over 130 miles (2 1/2 hours if I follow state speed laws) over a couple hundred dollar difference....Gonna cost me like $40 round trip in my Explorer for gas lol

 

Only 14 hours till I make the roadtrip

 

Well you dont have to walk away just be like man i dont think i can do it for that price. and then get in the truck and then if he doesnt come after you you just go back to him and say you changed your mind.. Kinda like a game of chicken. Just figure the guy out and play games lol Im sure your gonna take it either way i know what you mean i have driven alot farther and its impossible to walk away when you drove eight hours.

 

yes, i did mean 2000. it was a typo. good luck on the car.

 

Exactly, 8 hours is much much worse! There was a comet I was lookin at which was about 6 hours but it turned out to be a scam so that went nowhere.

I will try the game of chicken and hopefully it works in my favor

 

Driving a couple of hours to see a car is no big deal. You can easily offer a much lower price and he will not assume he has you by the .......s because you drove 8 hours and have an attached car trailer behind you.

The main issue here is whether you really want this car or not. Price is secondary. Whether you purchase it for a couple hundred dollars lower or not is going to get lost when you figure the future expenses you will have with this car. Sounds like the guy is adding every dollar he spent on the car into the price. You really can't do that with these cars. Any money spent is usually lost money spent for the enjoyment of owning the car. Expect to repaint the car, possibly put in a 302, change it to either a C4 or 4 or 5 speed in the future. That money is usually not money reclaimed when you get ready to sell it. So, buy the car because you want it, period.

That said, I would offer him $1500 and see what he says.


Jim

 

I dont know if thats all the money you want to spend but there are alot better cars out there for just a bit more... I can see alot of MONEY and TIME being spent on this car just fixing it the way you want ie...V8, trans, disc brakes, etc... all that stuff adds up quick and you will spend hundreds if not thousands to get it where you want it. if its not a big deal drive up there and check it out but walk away, dont buy the first car you see, and dont worry if it sells, there will be others,there are other deals out there if you spend some more money... let someone else do that work for you and spend a little more. my opinion anyway... I spent 4K on this >> http://s698.photobucket.com/albums/vv348/joebug55/

 

Alright gus I have about 2 hours till I get on the road to go check it out. Hopefully its solid and cash in hand will pull it in cheaper.

Thanks for all the input and tips.

 

Went to check it out today as I said I would.

Soft spoken man that I pictured as elderly was actually about 5 ft 8 and ripped - some sort of body builder/wrestling coach?

Anyway everything was going well, minor surface rust as he had said and just a small amount of rust through on passenger rear quarter. Valve cover looked as if it had been leaking and there was also rust through the battery tray area. Floor pans and torque boxes seemed good. Undercarriage looked pretty good - best I have seen in person yet. Trunk had some surface rust but not a big deal from what I saw.

I test drove it, didn't seem to have the same power my blue 76 has and topped out around 70 mph. I didn't want to ride it too hard.

Me and my buddy phil pulled off onto a side road and checked electronics out - turn signals (front/rear), headlights, brake lights - didnt work, reverse lights - 1 worked. Thats where we encountered the problems.

When I through it in reverse I stepped on the gas and nothing. At first I was like - "Oh am I in neutral?" But nope, I was in reverse. I put it back into drive and nothing, just revving the engine. I tried every gear and it wouldn't budge forward to backward. We thought the tranny just went out which is a totally new experience for me.

Shut the car off....waited a few min...turned it on and popped into drive and it worked....started heading back into this small town and pulled off again to test reverse. Same scenario several times. Have to shut the car off and turn back on before any gear would take effect. Sometimes reverse worked, most times not....Then we continued back and as soon as we hit the highway (phil driving) the car stops accelerating and goes into more revving...We are about sick of it at this point so we pull over....

After starting - shutting off - starting - shutting off - for about 5 minutes we finally get drive engaged again and get it back to the guy.

He says " What ya think?"

and Im like: "Ummm, pretty sure the trannys going out..."

and I explain the whole situation...
then he says "Hmmm, that concerns me..." and dabbles off about he wasn't aware of that, hasn't driven it for awhile, etc. etc. Then asks whats the deal with my Maverick so I let him know info on that. And he mentions he doesn't know of any Mavericks between where he is located and Des Moines (where I live 2 1/2 hours away)....perhaps to make me consider the purchase anyhow? Then he starts talking about a 67 thunderbird or cougar or something totally irrellevent....followed by:

"Well, sorry if I wasted your time. See ya later!"

I think he was waiting for some sort of offer on it but a tranny rebuild is expensive around my parts unfortunately. He definately wasn't going to sell it cheap enough to make up the diffs.

Driving in I saw him under the hood and he said he was checking all the fluids and other bs which I thought was cool - who knows if that was honest truth. I was amazed at how good the car looked in person vs. pictures....I definately wanted this car - its too bad.

He also posted on my local craigslist about 4 hours before I made the trip up there for $2500.00 which I thought was kind of decieving since he already told me $2000.00

all in all - fun trip with a buddy and good time driving a Maverick

(Interior was redone but definately Sweeeet!)

 

Did you check the transmission fluid?

 

Did you make an offer at all?
That tranny problem did not have to be a deal breaker. It could have been an opportunity

 

All fluids were checked. He topped them off as we arrived. He still maintained the asking price of 2000