View Single Post
  #12  
Old 08-04-2022, 02:59 PM
poncho-mike poncho-mike is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 2,082
Default

I agree with 61-63, but there are exceptions. I have bought a number of cars I didn't really need (and in some cases didn't want) just by being there with money.

Here is a common scenario that I have run into several times. Somebody has something for sale, I hear about it through word of mouth. I go look at it, it's not something I necessarily want, but the car is a good deal. A good example was a 79 Formula 403 I ran into several years back. One owner car, loaded to the gills, fairly low miles, excellent body and interior, but smoked like a crop duster. The guy who told me about it said he thought it was a 4-spd, so I'm thinking a 301 car at worst, a W72 at best. When I get there, it is an automatic, not even a WS6. The owner said he thought the intake manifold was leaking and it was sucking in oil through the gasket. I drove it, ran great but had a skip (turned out to be a fouled plug). I said thanks, but no thanks, I have nowhere to put it. He pressed me to make him an offer, so I made him a low offer and told him he could beat that with a little effort. A couple of weeks later, he called and told me to come and get it. I made the offer, so I followed through. I took it to a friend's house, where it sat for a year. I toyed with the idea of converting to a Pontiac motor, but at the time we had to deal with emissions inspections on older cars. Eventually I had some time, checked the car out, and found it had very low compression on one cylinder. I sold it to another friend a few years later.

This happened back during the financial crisis (2007-2008). There weren't a lot of buyers back then. I asked the guy why he sold it so cheap, he said his work dried up and he was moving back to western VA. If I hadn't bought it, he would have sold it for scrap.