LTDScott
03-10-2006, 12:22 PM
Saw this car on eBay and it looked really appealing, especially for the price:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4619795390&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT
My plan was to pick it up, give it a good tune up and some other parts and maybe a new cat to get it passing smog, detail it, and sell it for a small profit, mainly to save a cool rare car from going to the crusher.
So I drove up to Anaheim yesterday and checked it out. This is what I found (copy/paste from an email to someone about it):
Apparently my eyes are better than I give them credit for. When I first saw the photos of the car online, I noticed that the back bumper rub strip and taillight/license plate surrounds were pretty dark looking.... too dark to be grey. And the pinstripes on the rear quarter panels didn't look to be the same darkness as the rest.
Well I was right. And the reason is because this car has been hit in the rear. The left rear quarter panel and trunk lid have been replaced, and the right rear has at least been repainted. The repair was obviously done quite a while ago, as there is some rust on the bottom of the rear quarters. And it wasn't a great repair job.
The picture of the rust on the edge of the front passenger's door is because the rear door rubs on the front when you open it... probably because the car is tweaked. The taillights/license/bumper strips are all standard black LTD affair, although someone did go to the trouble of putting a red stripe over the white/silver stripe on the bumper strips.
In addition to that, the driver's seat frame is broken, and there is no power steering fluid in the car. There was another p/s pump in the trunk which leads me to believe that the pump on the car is either leaking or bad. There is horrible window tint on the back windows. And there was "Gross polluter" written on the windshield, meaning it won't pass smog by a long shot.
That's it for the bad news. The good? The rest of the car seems to be in solid, original shape.
The interior is complete and in fairly good condition. The seat is worn/broken, the console armrest is worn and broken underneath, the visors need recovering, and the driver's door panel has wear from where someone's elbow had been. But all LX-specific parts in the interior are there except for the horn button bezel. All windows/locks worked, and the radio works.
Apart from the obvious rear damage, the rest of the exterior is straight, and the white paint is salvagable. The charcoal trim on the windows/doors/headlight bezels is bad though. Suspension could use new shocks/struts at least, but of course I couldn't inspect anything else.
Mechanically, I wasn't able to check much except to fire up the engine and see if the car went into gear, which it did. The car idled a bit high at first, but then the idle came back down and was pretty smooth... I think the idle control speed motor on this car actually works like it's supposed to! (unlike all the other CFI cars I've owned). When I first fired up the car, it had a bit of a stumble while revving, but after it warmed up a bit, it revved freely and smoothly. I'm sure it needs good tune up. Sounds pretty damn wimpy compared to my car, but that's the way it's supposed to be, heh.
All the functions of the car seem to work... including the A/C! The auction said it was non operational, but it practically shot ice cubes out the vents for me. Under the hood is completely all original but all there. Oil and trans fluid seem clean, coolant level was pretty low.
So there we go. If it wasn't for the rear end repair, I'd be all over it. But now I'm not so sure. The only thing that will give this car any more value than a standard LTD is its rarity and collectability, and some of that is lost since the car has been wrecked. I think if it sells for $200 or less, I'll still pick it up, but I'm not quite as enthusiastic as I once was. What do you think?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4619795390&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT
My plan was to pick it up, give it a good tune up and some other parts and maybe a new cat to get it passing smog, detail it, and sell it for a small profit, mainly to save a cool rare car from going to the crusher.
So I drove up to Anaheim yesterday and checked it out. This is what I found (copy/paste from an email to someone about it):
Apparently my eyes are better than I give them credit for. When I first saw the photos of the car online, I noticed that the back bumper rub strip and taillight/license plate surrounds were pretty dark looking.... too dark to be grey. And the pinstripes on the rear quarter panels didn't look to be the same darkness as the rest.
Well I was right. And the reason is because this car has been hit in the rear. The left rear quarter panel and trunk lid have been replaced, and the right rear has at least been repainted. The repair was obviously done quite a while ago, as there is some rust on the bottom of the rear quarters. And it wasn't a great repair job.
The picture of the rust on the edge of the front passenger's door is because the rear door rubs on the front when you open it... probably because the car is tweaked. The taillights/license/bumper strips are all standard black LTD affair, although someone did go to the trouble of putting a red stripe over the white/silver stripe on the bumper strips.
In addition to that, the driver's seat frame is broken, and there is no power steering fluid in the car. There was another p/s pump in the trunk which leads me to believe that the pump on the car is either leaking or bad. There is horrible window tint on the back windows. And there was "Gross polluter" written on the windshield, meaning it won't pass smog by a long shot.
That's it for the bad news. The good? The rest of the car seems to be in solid, original shape.
The interior is complete and in fairly good condition. The seat is worn/broken, the console armrest is worn and broken underneath, the visors need recovering, and the driver's door panel has wear from where someone's elbow had been. But all LX-specific parts in the interior are there except for the horn button bezel. All windows/locks worked, and the radio works.
Apart from the obvious rear damage, the rest of the exterior is straight, and the white paint is salvagable. The charcoal trim on the windows/doors/headlight bezels is bad though. Suspension could use new shocks/struts at least, but of course I couldn't inspect anything else.
Mechanically, I wasn't able to check much except to fire up the engine and see if the car went into gear, which it did. The car idled a bit high at first, but then the idle came back down and was pretty smooth... I think the idle control speed motor on this car actually works like it's supposed to! (unlike all the other CFI cars I've owned). When I first fired up the car, it had a bit of a stumble while revving, but after it warmed up a bit, it revved freely and smoothly. I'm sure it needs good tune up. Sounds pretty damn wimpy compared to my car, but that's the way it's supposed to be, heh.
All the functions of the car seem to work... including the A/C! The auction said it was non operational, but it practically shot ice cubes out the vents for me. Under the hood is completely all original but all there. Oil and trans fluid seem clean, coolant level was pretty low.
So there we go. If it wasn't for the rear end repair, I'd be all over it. But now I'm not so sure. The only thing that will give this car any more value than a standard LTD is its rarity and collectability, and some of that is lost since the car has been wrecked. I think if it sells for $200 or less, I'll still pick it up, but I'm not quite as enthusiastic as I once was. What do you think?