Should I buy it?

[videobob]

I found a guy with an early '81, grooved hood, manual, gray.
The interior is in great shape, no cracks, (headliner is a little loose).
Body is in great shape maybe one or two tiny dings.
Low miles.
Here's the catch... it's been sitting in a garage since 1999 and hasn't been run since.
All the fluids are gone and everything is bone dry (except the engine oil).
The clutch is dry, water, gas, A/C is empty, everything.
It needs tires and all the hoses, belts, etc.
So as far as I can tell it needs a complete fuel system, brake system, clutch fluids, A/C recharge (seals), etc.
I estimated about $5K-$6K in repairs.
soooo.... he want's $11,000 for it.
Is it worth it?
Am I biting off more than I can chew?
Is this a fair price or what?
Let me know your thoughts.
-VB

[DMC3165]

How many miles are on it? How's the Frame? If they are both in reasonable condition offer him $9K and see if he bites. At worst if the motor is toast. You could probably find another one. My car sat from 03-10 and it fired right up after freeing up the fuel pump and cleaning out the tank.

Not really crazy about the fact that this guy drained out the cooling system. But maybe you'll get lucky.

[stevedmc]

If you don't buy it Josh will.

[mluder]

My car sat for 10 years before the previous owner resurected it to sell it. He had work done by DMCNW to repaire/replace the entire cooling system, brake system, and fuel systems. No clutch work. He spent nearly$10,000 and he was really conservative in what he had done... i.e. new fuel pump assembly but not injectors, new radiator but only some of the hoses. You get the idea. I then spent annother $1000 or so getting it to pass emissions.

If you do the work yourself you'll obviously save labor but I think you might be underestimating the cost to get it up and going. Of course if time is not an issue then it might be a good project car but I wouldn't go above $10,000.

Cheers.
Steve


I found a guy with an early '81, grooved hood, manual, gray.
The interior is in great shape, no cracks, (headliner is a little loose).
Body is in great shape maybe one or two tiny dings.
Low miles.
Here's the catch... it's been sitting in a garage since 1999 and hasn't been run since.
All the fluids are gone and everything is bone dry (except the engine oil).
The clutch is dry, water, gas, A/C is empty, everything.
It needs tires and all the hoses, belts, etc.
So as far as I can tell it needs a complete fuel system, brake system, clutch fluids, A/C recharge (seals), etc.
I estimated about $5K-$6K in repairs.
soooo.... he want's $11,000 for it.
Is it worth it?
Am I biting off more than I can chew?
Is this a fair price or what?
Let me know your thoughts.
-VB

[thirdmanj]

I think it's a bit much. If you can get him down to 9 that might be more worth your time (no pun intended). Are your estimations including labor costs or will you be dong the work yourself? Its hard to tell without seeing it of course, but going off what you describe I think 9 would be fair, 7 would be worth it. Best of luck!

[82DMC12]

I'm currently resurrecting a car much like this. It sat since 1990. I'm doing a full job including tank clean out, new pump, filters, accumulator, all new cooling system hoses, new clutch hydraulics, tires, remove intake and clean valley out, all new o-rings, water pump, intake gaskets, clean injectors, belts, change all fluids. Going to do brakes too I think.

I'm ready to put everything back together now. I'm into it about 40 hrs labor and over $2000 in parts. Probably 50 - 60 hours by the times I'm done, and I actually know what I'm doing :-)

I'd be willing to take on another car when this one is done in a couple weeks. I charge very reasonable labor! PM me for details.

Andy

[videobob]

Frame is good, miles are low...
It's in decent shape.
I offered him $10K and he turned it down wants $11,500 firm.
I don't want to spend that much.
I wanted to offer him $8K and start from there but we won't budge.

I do know that he might put it on the market on his own and plans not to disclose all the issues that I mentioned to him,
so if that happens I will make sure to post the VIN and etc. so that anyone looking into it will know what they are getting into.
If he will take $10K then I will do it.

[Delorean Industries]

If you don't buy it Josh will.

Where's it at?!?!?!?!?! I think I can squeeze one more in the warehouse.

[stevedmc]

Where's it at?!?!?!?!?! I think I can squeeze one more in the warehouse.

Awesome.

[thirdmanj]

You could try this: Buy it, take off that sought after hood and sell it for 2 grand or a little more if you could get it, then buy a regular flat one from DMCH for a grand and pocket the rest. Call it a delayed refund for the price you paid.

[Jeffu]

My car sat for 10 years before the previous owner resurected it to sell it. He had work done by DMCNW to repaire/replace the entire cooling system, brake system, and fuel systems. No clutch work. He spent nearly$10,000 and he was really conservative in what he had done... i.e. new fuel pump assembly but not injectors, new radiator but only some of the hoses. You get the idea. I then spent annother $1000 or so getting it to pass emissions.

If you do the work yourself you'll obviously save labor but I think you might be underestimating the cost to get it up and going. Of course if time is not an issue then it might be a good project car but I wouldn't go above $10,000.

Cheers.
Steve

What he said!
Let's just say I purchased my car from an original owner back in '09 for "near" the same price. The car was running and recently had the whole fuel system gone through but it still needed ALOT of TLC to bring it back up to road worthiness IMO. I have done the entire restoration myself (VOD, full Brakes, entire coolant, massive electrical upgrade/overhaul, full interior, full suspension, full A/C) on and on and on. Now, with close to 175 man hours of my own time and with the blink of an eye, I am well over another $10k spent.

The fun and excitement doesn't end there, no sir my friends!!! This Spring & Summer was to be my season to really have the car out driving and participating in club events. I was soooooo looking forward to it....but oh no! A few weeks back found out I have a head gasket that has decided it wants to weep coolant into my nice new shiny VOD...UGH!!! And here I really thought my engine was mechanically sound. :what_the: Ultimately, I have decided to pull both heads and have them re-worked. But...in order to do this I have to tackle the project of trying to remove the lower piping that is going to my BAE turbo unit. The piping now resembles something close to the rusted Titanic pictures.
Loose translation = more $$$ to spend:yesss:

I guess my point is these little cars can suck it out of you if you let them. My feeling is they should be enjoyed and need to be enjoyed even though they can throw you unforeseen setbacks. It boils down to how much you really want to spend and how far you want to go with fixing things or upgrading them.

My limit would be closer to $9k on the above mentioned car. Just my 2 cents

[videobob]

Looks like we are restoring it for the customer.
Let me just tell you that after 12 years almost everything in the fuel system or anything else that touched fluid is completely shot.
The tank is full of something that looks like maple syrup.
The sending unit, pump, distributor, anything that was part of the fuel system is just ruined.
The clutch system was also ruined as well as the brakes.
It's going to be about a $7000 repair all together.

[stevedmc]

Looks like we are restoring it for the customer.
Let me just tell you that after 12 years almost everything in the fuel system or anything else that touched fluid is completely shot.
The tank is full of something that looks like maple syrup.
The sending unit, pump, distributor, anything that was part of the fuel system is just ruined.
The clutch system was also ruined as well as the brakes.
It's going to be about a $7000 repair all together.

I've got a nice looking Peugot 604 manifold (with Motorcraft 2100 already installed) if they want to go the carburetor route.

[82DMC12]

It will need all new tank parts, but the distributor is probably still good once you get the pin out. DO NOT push down on the meter plate until the distributor is off the housing! You will push a sticky pin all the way inside and never get it out! Take it off with the pin in rest position and you can get it out with a bench vise.

[Mike Z]

You could try this: Buy it, take off that sought after hood and sell it for 2 grand or a little more if you could get it, then buy a regular flat one from DMCH for a grand and pocket the rest. Call it a delayed refund for the price you paid.

Why is the grooved hood sought after??

[thirdmanj]

Why is the grooved hood sought after??

Rarity so far as I know. Also, some people find the asymmetrics more appealing. But personally? I enjoy not having to open the friggen trunk every time I want to fill up. That gas flap is great to have.

Edit: I just re-read that a bit more carefully, I read it first as though it was a grooved "gas flap" hood. My mistake. But so far as I understand the order: Grooved with GF(most rare) Grooved no GF(second most rare) Flat no groove or GF (most common)

[Dangermouse]

That was certainly the production order but I am not sure about the rarity rankings. All DMCH have in stock is the last one, do I suppose over time it will become the most common, if it isnt already.

[Tillsy]

That was certainly the production order but I am not sure about the rarity rankings.
I can vouch for that - when I was shopping around it frustrated me no end the number of gas-flap models I would come across. Cosmetically I hate the look of it.