- Joined
- Jul 21, 2012
- Messages
- 3,240
- Reaction score
- 16
- Location
- South Florida
- My Car
- '71 Mustang Mach 1 M-code "Soylent Green"
'69 Plymouth Valiant 100
'68 Plymouth Satellite
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/4242892198.html
Looks nice on first glance - though I'm sure more than half of us can put together a laundry list of red flags without seeing anything more than this ad - but the history of it isn't one to inspire confidence.
I've been following this car on Craigslist since late 2011.
It first showed up as a pretty rough project car: Half yellow, half in homespun primer, and the back end held in the air with cinderblocks under the rear jack stands. Real quality mechanic work. Along with it was a rusted-out, purple (yes, repainted deep purple) '73 being torn apart for parts. I think the pair was available for somewhere in the $4-5k range.
The car disappeared until showing up 6 or 7 months later in full primer - that primer included a coat directly over the marker lights. Yet, someone had gone through the trouble of painting a crude TuTone hood on it with black primer. Price was now $8k.
The price dropped and dropped until it sold to a new owner farther south. He held onto it for another couple of months until posting it back up on Craigslist, mostly unchanged.
From this seller, I learned that the cinderblock-oriented restoration experts had found the forward gas tank strap mount and trunk floor rotted. Their solution was to hit the rust with a hammer and fiberglass the bejabers out of what remained. Nothing else had changed. Price went from $8k to $5k over the coming months.
Now it returns as you see it above, in its Grabber Blue glory and hidden Bondo. I contacted the owner out of curiosity to see if the fiberglass fix was still there - no word yet.
Thankfully, its questionable history still remains quite evident:
Ah, yes - the ugly truth of most junk muscle car sales: The sellers rely solely on the idea that there is a rich sucker out there with too much money, too little knowledge, and enough testosterone to throw money at a classic car as a spur-of-the-moment toy.
All it does is spread a bad image over the community, the sellers, and the owners.
Would be nice if sellers of lesser restorations could be forthcoming about their vehicles, but they won't - lest they lose out on that rich sucker.
-Kurt
Looks nice on first glance - though I'm sure more than half of us can put together a laundry list of red flags without seeing anything more than this ad - but the history of it isn't one to inspire confidence.
I've been following this car on Craigslist since late 2011.
It first showed up as a pretty rough project car: Half yellow, half in homespun primer, and the back end held in the air with cinderblocks under the rear jack stands. Real quality mechanic work. Along with it was a rusted-out, purple (yes, repainted deep purple) '73 being torn apart for parts. I think the pair was available for somewhere in the $4-5k range.
The car disappeared until showing up 6 or 7 months later in full primer - that primer included a coat directly over the marker lights. Yet, someone had gone through the trouble of painting a crude TuTone hood on it with black primer. Price was now $8k.
The price dropped and dropped until it sold to a new owner farther south. He held onto it for another couple of months until posting it back up on Craigslist, mostly unchanged.
From this seller, I learned that the cinderblock-oriented restoration experts had found the forward gas tank strap mount and trunk floor rotted. Their solution was to hit the rust with a hammer and fiberglass the bejabers out of what remained. Nothing else had changed. Price went from $8k to $5k over the coming months.
Now it returns as you see it above, in its Grabber Blue glory and hidden Bondo. I contacted the owner out of curiosity to see if the fiberglass fix was still there - no word yet.
Thankfully, its questionable history still remains quite evident:
- No shock tower struts
- Taillamps off the donor '73
- Non-original hood pins - if you can call them pins...because I don't see the pins.
- Black spraybombed base grill
- Funky hood adjustment and wonky RH fender - old problems left over from primer days that still ain't fixed.
- LH fender "MUSTANG" lettering riding high and centered on the fender
- Incorrect "MUSTANG" placement on the trunk - courtesy the "interesting" bodywork done on the purple '73 donor
- Plated out cowl vents rofl
- Cheap front window tinting - possibly a replacement window?
- The last ad it had claimed a 351W; same owner. Now that fire plug of an engine has become a Cleveland. Sorry, that won't wash.
Ah, yes - the ugly truth of most junk muscle car sales: The sellers rely solely on the idea that there is a rich sucker out there with too much money, too little knowledge, and enough testosterone to throw money at a classic car as a spur-of-the-moment toy.
All it does is spread a bad image over the community, the sellers, and the owners.
Would be nice if sellers of lesser restorations could be forthcoming about their vehicles, but they won't - lest they lose out on that rich sucker.
-Kurt
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