Is it worth putting more $$ into a car to sell it?

[TType85]

Just like the title says.

I'm really thinking of selling my 85 T-Type with 86 drivetrain to get somthing I can drive daily that easier.

The chassis has ~73K miles on it, rides nice, one pass door window squeak I need to find.

The drivetrain on the car is great. ~10K miles on a .030 over J&E Pistoned steel capped 109 motor, ~15K on rebuilt tranny, ~3K on 9" AC N.L converter, recent posi, JC rear lower control arms.

Even with the stock turbo/injectors/IC on it, the car flys.

This car was supposed to be my W/E car, mostly for racing. The AC/Heater box was taken out of the car.

I figure I could sell it as is and get maybe $3500 for the car. The body is straight, no rust, but the paint is laquer checked BAD. The interior is ok, no tears in the seats, dash craks, etc. It does need a headliner and carpet (Hawiian punch stain on the carpet in the back, hole in the front where the previous owners heel was), it also needs window felts.

Would it be worth it for me to do the following:

a) Headliner ~$120 done locally
b) Carpet ~$140 from year one, which is local
c) Window felts ~$150 Kirban, if there still available
d) Cheap paint job ~$500 +/-

To sell it I defenatly need to get a 3" cat so it will pass smog. do thats more $$.

I don't know if i'd see an extra $1000 out of doing that though...

Any suggestions?

Edit: heres some pics.
http://24.30.188.70

motor pics are before I swapped back to stock turbo/etc

 

[Little6pack]

Who says you need to get a paint job? that has nothing to do with the way the car runs.

Seems like your a few hunderd away from fixing the little problems.

Getting another car means laying out way more money or payments.

Stop driving with your foot to the floor & maybe you will get better milage.

 

[TType85]

Originally posted by littlesixsteve
Who says you need to get a paint job? that has nothing to do with the way the car runs.

Seems like your a few hunderd away from fixing the little problems.

Getting another car means laying out way more money or payments.

Stop driving with your foot to the floor & maybe you will get better milage.

Take a look at the pics, that will tell you I need paint

I've been driving nice, ~220 miles/tank at 1.73/gal

Thats the other problem with another car, who knows what will be wrong with a used car.

 

[Little6pack]

Wow That Paint be UGLY on that Turbo Caravan

Really I see lots of sun cracks.
So it looks like a raisin. AT least it
is not rust.
$500 is not gonna fix that even at earl scwibe or Macco.

Better off to have a tech school do the paint.
I think they do work for supply cost $ & maybe a $chool donation.
Problem is they could have you car for a semister.

 

[DKREDT]

I think you are better off selling it as is, than putting more $$ into it.

my $.02

 

[Buick From Hell]

good topic, as I'm facing the same problem, as I'm selling my '84 Corvette!

pic 1 (176k)
pic 2 (163k)

I bought it 2-1/2 years ago for a good price (wife's ex needed fast money) but it had a million little things wrong with it!

I've driven it daily with no breakdowns, and done a little (not much) tinkering with it, so now there's only 1/2-million things wrong with it!


The water pump was making a hellacious racket, so I changed that (a whopping $11 at pep boys). It was smoking some on startup, so I changed all the valve seals while I was at it. ($30) No visible smoke now!

The major thing wrong with this car, is the interior is in fairly sad shape. Otherwise, most of the problems are low-cost fixes that will mostly eat up time! Such as:

passenger door won't lock (rod is missing)
power door locks don't work
no interior lights (never bothered to look into why)
cruise don't work
AC compressor won't kick (haven't checked voltages or freon)
rear hatch solenoid has a bad ground (I fix, works about 5 times, then quits again)
needs a wiper switch
power seat track is toast
horn don't work
emergency brake needs tightening

--that pretty much covers everything (I can think of)

It runs very good (x-fire be damned), tranny shifts great, and drives nice! Oh, the rear tie-rod ends need replacing ($100) and probably could stand other bushings...

Right now there's 325 1984 Vette's for sale on AutoTrader, average price is $7640. I'm asking $6200 or offer. Honestly, I don't have the time that this car needs spent on it fixing all these little things! And would it make much difference anyway?

 

[dhauser]

Sell it as is. Just trust me on this. The best you're going to do is get your expenses back, and will always be out the time and hassle it took.

If the car were a rare or desirable breed, that's different. This one is not.

 

[John Larkin]

Do the headliner yourself. $30 including the glue. Buy the fabric at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Perfect match. There are instructions on how to do this on here with a search (possibly from me).

Check your Yellow Pages for a Dent Wizard and see if they offer Chip Wizard service. They can squeegee specially formulated paint onto your car, wipe off the excess, and lightly buff it out until the chips are nearly invisible. Not perfect but alot more presentable. Probably cost $100 to do the car if you're nice to 'em.

You're on your own with the rest. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Gary Wells]

Generally speaking, you will never get the money out of a vehicle you spend to fix it. I would sell as is, count your blessings, and avoid the headache.
And someone would have to hold a gun to my head to get me to try and do a headliner.
I watched a guy do a hedliner for me about 3 years ago, quoted me about $ 145, told me that it would be $ 125 when I went in to get it done, and gave me back $ 20 out of the $ 125 when he could not get everything exactly perfect.
Watching him trying to remove the old glue off of whatever it was by scraping it with a razor blade damn near killed me, and I was only watching.
Very tedious work.
Not for me.

 

[TType85]

After doing some thinking, i'm going to keep the car..... I think i'll save up some cash and get a beater so the buick can go in the garage and I can make it a nice car again