Seeking advice as a serious buyer

[bigmanjbmopar]

Ok, didn't put this in my wanted ad, as I didn't want that to turn into a discussion thread. I'm looking for honest opinions on my buying situation. No holds barred, I'm wearing my think skin today and I have my flame suit on.

This is not a want to buy or a please help me look thread, this is more of a "What am I doing wrong thread?" Or more of a "Is this just what I have to expect?" kind of thread.

I've been looking to buy a driving project car for a while now, with cash in hand. I want it to have a big block and minimal at most rust. Manual would be great, but if not auto in floor will work for now and I can convert it later. Preferably a '70 - '72, but will consider a '69 or '68. My budget is now $9K.

Now, I've run across a few shady buyers that were being misleading and defenitely hiding things with their cars. One that seemed honest but backed out after arrangements had been made to go pick up the vehicle. I try not to blame him, I'm sure he got more money and the car seemed worth it, whatever. Thankfully no money had exchanged hands.

Most recently I had a scammer contact me about an ebay auction with a deal that was far too good to be true. As in a 1971 Roadrunner 440+6 with four in the floor in impeccable shape, for $9,500 including shipping! Long story short I called him Silly, explained to him what an IP address was and pressed on.

My question to you all is this; Is my price range what is bringing on so much shady dealings, or is this just par for the course? Am I expecting too much for what I'm willing to pay, thus bringing on a plethora of too good to be true situations? Or should I continue to wade through the BS and press on as I am?

As I stated in my welcome thread, I'm a n00b to all of this, with experience being limited to turbo 4 bangers. I look forward to your opinions, advice, personal experiences and criticisms. Thanks!

Oh, BTW, if you want the e-mail traffic for the '71 six pack scam, let me know, it's classy... lol.

I bought my 69 for 10k it is a project but a drivable project and I have been replacing / repairing now a few months even swapped motors to a 440 / 493 I built. Yes looking back the kid I bought it from probably over priced it for what had been done to it, was an a/c car was bronze metallic was saddle tan inside had good glass had the correct front buckets etc...but overall as it stands it would be a #3 on the collector car list meaning good and it has only cost me a few Hun. I now have a 3500 profit so far and will increase as things get fixed but I do not plan on selling. My point is your price range is good you may have to go up a hundred or so to get lucky like me and find that minimal rust straight body great frame running car but I am not sure you will find it on eBay...mine was on craigslist locally and I was searching everyday.

 

[Deleted member 214]

What welder47 said. My brother and I checked out a 340 'cuda last winder for a guy out of state. We got just gas money, but we had the time and nobody has to ask me twice to go look at a cool car! It had more rust than the seller let on so the buyer was glad we went as we saved him from buying a bigger project than he wanted. If you find a car you want checked out, post on this website and maybe one of us will be close enough to look at it and take pics for gas or beer money.

 

[coronet66]

As a couple of the guys have said patience! it is a virtue, "What ever that means"? But it really does pay off. Also alot of hours searching every media outlet you know of. I just talked to this guy who's a friend of a friend he has a 69 rr 440 6pak 4spd dana60 all original. He finally wants to sell and I can get it for 18,000. sometimes the stars align and I'm sure it will happen for you. Good luck with the search.

 

[FridayGt]

The car show is "Mopars in the Park", located in Butler, PA (birthplace of the Jeep!) located just outside of Pittsburgh. All Mopar show, will be my first time attending but I heard nothing but good things about it. No idea if youd be willing to make the trip from Delaware, but if so send me a PM, ill be there bright an early, hopefully the rain holds off. Here's some info below, also listed on www.carcruises.com :

Mopars In The Park ____________________ Sunday, September 4, 2011

Sponsored by Butler Pentastars Car Club; this is Butler’s only all Mopar car show. Mopars from the tri-state area and beyond are coming to Alameda Park. Trophies, fun, food, vendors, D.J., and lots of Mopars are waiting for you in the upper level of Alameda Park. Open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Come out and enjoy the fun! For more information contact Scott Snow at (724) 285-9484.

Damn, that is too far. I was thinking if it was further east and only a few hours, I'd make the drive with cash burning a hole in my pocket (you never know, right? lol). But, Steelers country is a good 5 hours drive on me. Thanks though bud, and if you do see something one of your buds is willing to deal on, send me a PM. The alert will got to my phone and I'll respond with my cell number.

http://youngstown.craigslist.org/cto/2576273397.html

Look in other cities where the collector car market might be better, I did a quick search and found that coronet above in Ohio, just an example.

Wow! Now that is a pretty Coronet! I've been using Autotempest to search all of the craigslists for me around the US. Any other suggestions?

Id just stay away from ebay for sure when buying a used car. Im sure that you would have to travel to get a car, probably not alot available near you. In wi here Ive seen quite a few of the years your looking for recently, did not pay alot of attention to them though. Your best bet might be to have a near by fbbo member go look at the car that interests you. Even if you had to give the guy a few bucks to check it out it would be worth it rather than buy sight unseen. Anyway thats probably what Id do, cant really go by what the seller has to say. Ive been down that road only to discover his idea of near mint is in my opinion very close to junk.

Yeah, ebay hasn't proven itself to be to reliable an option just yet. It brought on a scam, and even the one that seemed like it wasn't a scam, I couldn't get the guy to respond to my questions (Guess he didn't want to sell).

As a couple of the guys have said patience! it is a virtue, "What ever that means"? But it really does pay off. Also alot of hours searching every media outlet you know of. I just talked to this guy who's a friend of a friend he has a 69 rr 440 6pak 4spd dana60 all original. He finally wants to sell and I can get it for 18,000. sometimes the stars align and I'm sure it will happen for you. Good luck with the search.

WOW! Now that is one heck of a deal! Hey, you're not too far away, does he have any non-original non-numbers six packs in my range? lol.

What welder47 said. My brother and I checked out a 340 'cuda last winder for a guy out of state. We got just gas money, but we had the time and nobody has to ask me twice to go look at a cool car! It had more rust than the seller let on so the buyer was glad we went as we saved him from buying a bigger project than he wanted. If you find a car you want checked out, post on this website and maybe one of us will be close enough to look at it and take pics for gas or beer money.

That's awesome, nothing like a road trip to car hunt, and heck you don't blow all of your own money if it's for someone else! lol.

 

[fwi]

I have purchased two cars from out of state through this site:

http://cars-on-line.com/

and the green one in my avatar through B bodies only!

 

[plymouth67]

Car for you!

Go into the b bodies for sale and look at Plymouth bobs post on his 71 Satellite/Road Runner he has for sale may be right up your alley. Looks cool in the pic. and last time he posted it was $9000.00 shipped to your door!

 

[FridayGt]

I have purchased two cars from out of state through this site:

http://cars-on-line.com/

and the green one in my avatar through B bodies only!

I have been prowling that site a little more here lately. I've called two possibilities from it and both didn't pan out. One wanted nearly double his advertised price as he was going to get it painted now and the other refused to show me any pictures before I drove out there. Oh well, I'll keep looking, from your experience, does that site update often? It looks like a lot of the same cars for sale and sold as have been there for a while.

Go into the b bodies for sale and look at Plymouth bobs post on his 71 Satellite/Road Runner he has for sale may be right up your alley. Looks cool in the pic. and last time he posted it was $9000.00 shipped to your door!

I did see that one and have spoken with him about his car. It's defenitely a great car, just not exactly what I'm looking for at the top of my budget, you know? Although, if anyone else is curious, he's a great guy to talk with and defenitely seems like he's worth doing business with.

 

[fwi]

I have been prowling that site a little more here lately. I've called two possibilities from it and both didn't pan out. One wanted nearly double his advertised price as he was going to get it painted now and the other refused to show me any pictures before I drove out there. Oh well, I'll keep looking, from your experience, does that site update often? It looks like a lot of the same cars for sale and sold as have been there for a while.

No, they do not update often..... if at all, that's the one bad part about it. They seem to leave the cars on there forever, I even had to call them about 8 months after I bought one and asked them to remove it.
Seems the sellers should do that after the sale as a courtesy.
The site should also list the prices in the header so one doesn't waste a lot of time looking at stuff outside one's price range.

 

[FridayGt]

I have been prowling that site a little more here lately. I've called two possibilities from it and both didn't pan out. One wanted nearly double his advertised price as he was going to get it painted now and the other refused to show me any pictures before I drove out there. Oh well, I'll keep looking, from your experience, does that site update often? It looks like a lot of the same cars for sale and sold as have been there for a while.

No, they do not update often..... if at all, that's the one bad part about it. They seem to leave the cars on there forever, I even had to call them about 8 months after I bought one and asked them to remove it.
Seems the sellers should do that after the sale as a courtesy.
The site should also list the prices in the header so one doesn't waste a lot of time looking at stuff outside one's price range.

I hear you on listing the price, I clicked through nearly every roadrunner on there when only three were in my price range.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

TRY THIS SITE . I HAVE BOUGHT ALMOST EVERYONE OF MY CARS ON HERE.
www.cars-on-line.com
you'll get the base line of what cars are worth. you need to narrow your search down
i would save a little more money and try to get a car in the $12,000 price range.
$9000.00 you are most certainly going to have to put extra money into your purchase to make it up to your standards,.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

I have purchased two cars from out of state through this site:

http://cars-on-line.com/

and the green one in my avatar through B bodies only!

I have purchased 14 cars from www.cars-on-line.com.
the only one i didnt buy was my black 65 dodge coronet 500.

 

[D Dodge]

Most cars I look at are misrepresented. Be careful out there!

 

[FridayGt]

Most cars I look at are misrepresented. Be careful out there!

Yeah, both the ones I called were very conveniently no where near as advertised and significantly higher in price as well. That alone just leaves me with a nervous feeling, but on top of that the one was unwilling to show anymore pictures before I drive halfway across the coast as well.

It just interests me that there is so much shady stuff going on with this hobby. I suppose I should have, but i just wasn't expecting to have to treat it like a used car dealership. It's a shame that so many unscrupulous people mar the appearance of such a great thing. Oh well, not everyone I've encountered has been all bad, actually a couple have been pretty awesome, it just didn't work out for one reason or another. I may start to focus a little more of my efforts on the local level at car shows and the like in the area.

 

[FridayGt]

TRY THIS SITE . I HAVE BOUGHT ALMOST EVERYONE OF MY CARS ON HERE.
www.cars-on-line.com
you'll get the base line of what cars are worth. you need to narrow your search down
i would save a little more money and try to get a car in the $12,000 price range.
$9000.00 you are most certainly going to have to put extra money into your purchase to make it up to your standards,.

Sorry, hadn't realized I didn't respond to this. I defenitely agree, for $9K I know I'll have to put money and time into it and I'm fine with that within reason. In all reality, how else will I learn if I don't turn the wrench myself? I would be willing to go up to the $12K range +/-, but it wouldn't be very likely, which is why I put $9K as the top of my budget. I didn't want people coming to me with cars that were IMO not worth that amount for me and getting frustrated when I wasn't willing to spend it.

I also kept it at that range as a numbers car isn't important to me at all, to be honest, I'm kind of steering away from it a tad. I'd feel kind of guilty doing a resto-mod to a car that could realistically be kept original. A non-numbers car would afford me the freedom to customize it a tad and the money to do so, without the guilt of ruining a fine example of such a great car.

 

[T2R9]

Like others said be patient, they are out there in this market. I paid $7500 for my 72 Rallye Charger factory 440 car last October and it was turn key. Yes I have had to make many changes to get things correct and the paint is a 20 footer. But I knew what I would get for my budget and I like to tinker and fix/change things while I drive the wheels off it.

 

[FridayGt]

Like others said be patient, they are out there in this market. I paid $7500 for my 72 Rallye Charger factory 440 car last October and it was turn key. Yes I have had to make many changes to get things correct and the paint is a 20 footer. But I knew what I would get for my budget and I like to tinker and fix/change things while I drive the wheels off it.

That's pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Yeah, I'm defenitely taking a step back with this one. We shall see.

 

[T2R9]

Don't rule out Craigslist as that is where the deals are. I use Search Tempest to search nation wide or close to home. Mine was priced at 12k when I first saw it. Prices are ONLY asking prices. Also if you locate a car you are interested in ask here and other forums you might frequent if someone would look at it for you. I know I would if it were in my area.

 

[FridayGt]

Thanks again. Yeah, I've been using auto tempest too. That one's been alright for me, I've had really good luck with oodle cars too. I feel like it finds some more obscure ads as well.