Hey guys... Thanks for the heads up.
I actually looked at that car & drove it on two separate occasions.
It did not sell in one day. Last I knew it was still for sale on the 31st.
I was very tempted to buy it, but I didn't. I hope I don't regret that decision for the rest of my life. The car had been in an accident in it's past & had a branded title. As far as I can tell, the seller provided as much information on the car that he knew. The second time I went to see it. He put it up on jack stands & let me use his creeper to crawl under it. I examined the frame & underside of that car as thoroughly as I could & found nothing that looked out of the ordinary. I was actually surprised how nice it looked for the underside of a 20+ year old car that has always been in the northwest. I am not a trained mechanic or frame & body man but I have a good idea of what to look for.
The body was almost straight. Someone had recently leaned into it somehow & popped in the lower panel that is between the door & the rear tire on the passenger side. It could possibly be pulled back out with a suction cup or try from the interior side. There were the typical door dings & chips, but far less than it should have for this area. It had a couple of odd creases on the top, toward the back where the rear pillar joins the top. It reminded me of a torque twist type of crease.
The engine compartment was average dirty for this area. All of the aluminum parts had long ago turned course, gray & coated with the white crust that grows on aluminum parts out here. Usually oven cleaner will temporarily bring much of that back. The master cylinder had been swapped recently to a vacuum assist type. What concerned me the most was the condition of the dipstick. Even though the oil had recently been changed, it was quite dark. The stick itself had a dark-brown stain that would not wipe off or scrape off with my fingernail. I was concerned that it may have been hot a time or two.
The car ran great! I was impressed when I just started to roll into the throttle after making a turn & the back end broke loose real easy.
The interior is where cars from this area suffer the most. Depending on how plush, the interior is &, the amount of electric switches there are. The moisture is not kind. Mold, mildew & corroded switches is very common. Unfortunately this car had its fair share.
The car also had the typical G-Body door, window & weather strip issues that they all have after a while. Again the door sag, window alignment, etc. was not as bad as it probably should've been. I do believe there is a strong chance that the car sat for several years & may not have more than the claimed mileage.
To me, this car would be the perfect candidate to gut if you wanted to build a serious racer. The branded title has most likely killed any collector interest in the car. Now the owner has the freedom to race it or modify it however they choose.
The reason I didn't buy the car was that I'm not able to work on cars as much as I used to & often have to pay others instead. When I started thinking about what, I wanted the car to look like & what the costs would be to get there. I decided to wait & put that money into buying a car that is a bit nicer. Like I said in the beginning. I hope I don't regret making that decision.
