I haven't heard it run yet (the owner says he's still looking for the keys).
I have just crawled over, under & through it.
And to sum up: oh, boy!
This is what I first saw:
- A UV-rotted plastic tarp tied over the roof
- 3 or 4 different hues of faded red paint; a couple of panels
may be original
- The tires at least have decent tread (they'd pass inspection)
- Brake rotors are rusty, but not as bad as I expected - may be salvageable. They're not seized, anyway.
The top...
Looks like it keeps
most of the rain out!
- The plastic rear window (already a replacement) is opaque and it's coming away from the top of the window "frame"/opening
- Various cracks in the vinyl top/side where it creases when folded down
Paint / body:
- Oopsie dent on the left rear quarter panel
- Both rear quarters have been repaired & resprayed, possibly for wheel arch rust repairs (common). The rear rocker panels seem OK (also a common rust area).
- Very faded original (?) paint on the hood/trunk
- The rest of the panels look like they've been resprayed at various times, with the nose being done most recently (it's the shiniest part!)
Front end:
I jacked up the front end to check for worn ball joints / tie rods; it seemed fine.
Interior: Natty!
- Passenger side packed FULL of miscellaneous stuff.
- No tears in the seat, but bolster is worn
- Missing sun visor
- Door cards have seen better days
- Giant subwoofer/bass tube strapped to the parcel shelf
- dead battery in the trunk (0.6 volts - think that'll come back? )
Hello rust, my old friend.
The hole is in the driver's side footwell, about 15 cm / 6 in wide. (Figure making it 50% bigger to find good metal.) That blue patch showing is a tarp, underneath the car.
I suspected I would find this when I saw the condition of the top. Considering the car wasn't winter driven, the carpets must have been regularly wet to cause that amount of rust.
The passenger side has no holes (yet), but there's rust in the boxed reinforcing "rail" that runs beneath the footwell floor:
But the brake & fuel lines and the rest of the underbody look fine.
Nevertheless, some quality time with a welder is in this car's future. The asking price now seems a bit high.
Next up: waiting on the keys to see how it runs...
And I'm OK with that.
Today
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It might throw 40MPG out the window, but 35 would probably be doable while being able to smoke most cars. It would be like a gas powered Tesla.
