The Hunt

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FRUNKenstein
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Re: The Hunt

Post by FRUNKenstein » Fri Jul 17, 2020 12:35 pm

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 3:24 pm I almost scored the biggest jackpot of my life and went for a 99 Guards Red Cab with the hardtop...
FIFY
www.kansascityautomuseum.com
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red

2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver

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JohnIreland
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Re: The Hunt

Post by JohnIreland » Sat Jul 18, 2020 12:15 am

There are no new 99/2000 cars out there on any of the websites. Logic tells me to not go back and reconsider cars I walked away from. Logic also tells me to hold my price point. Logic also tells me not to try and talk myself into going back to a Tiptronic. Until then its play find the pope in the pizza.
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JohnIreland
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Re: The Hunt

Post by JohnIreland » Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:39 pm

Saw two cars today...drove one of them. Not bad, but the wrong color (metallic blue). And it was a Tiptronic, though it drove well. But a 2001 means the single row bearing, which means around four grand replacing it. And I'm gun shy of tips transmissions with 90+ thousand on them and no record of service. I'd rather put the money into more car. The one I didn't drive is an overpriced disaster on a disaster of a car lot. The seller has been sitting on the car for at least a year...leaves it parked out doors, hoses his lot off every other day or so. The battery is dead, the drivers door window isn't lining up correctly, the carpets are damp, the paint is worn thin all over the car, the rotors are shot, no history of when any fluids or belts were changed, etc, etc., etc., plus the wheels need replacing. I'd say eight thousand in stuff to do, not counting the paint. At ten thousand dollars, with eight thousand more in work, and you'd have an acceptable but not much more, car. Makes me wonder whatever will happen to what once must have been a nice Porsche...LSD on the code sheet.

I'm in no rush...yet tomorrow I may make a high offer on a car I haven't seen in person or driven.

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Dr_Strangelove
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Re: The Hunt

Post by Dr_Strangelove » Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:11 pm

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 3:24 pm What's also amazing is that when I try to contact some of the sellers on sites like Carsguru and KBB and Cars.com, they never reply, and yet the car is still posted for sale on multiple websites.

I had forgotten all about this but you just reminded me that I went through two car salesmen at the consignment dealer before the third actually tried to help me buy my green car. To his credit the third sales man was incredulous when he heard my story and really went out of his way to make my experience pleasant. My car was listed for almost an entire year before I bought it. It had suspension issues and those issues were disclosed. I think this coupled with the fact that my 996 was the second-cheapest car they were selling is why they were not able to move it. But hey, they were selling it, not me! Not may fault they wanted to junk up their lot of 6-figure classics with a 996. They said they took it because they had never seen the color before and that was also why I was obsessed with it despite the fact that the steering wheel pointed at 10 o'clock in a straight line during my test drive.

I remember when he answered the phone I said "Yeah, so I've been begging you guys to sell me this car..." he told me the sales man I was dealing with right before him had been let go. Not sure what the first guy's excuse was.

So the point of my story is - I'm bad at buying cars, too. :lol:
2003 Carrera: Dark Teal Metallic

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gnat
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Re: The Hunt

Post by gnat » Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:23 pm

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:39 pm Saw two cars today...drove one of them. Not bad, but the wrong color (metallic blue). And it was a Tiptronic, though it drove well. But a 2001 means the single row bearing, which means around four grand replacing it. And I'm gun shy of tips transmissions with 90+ thousand on them and no record of service. I'd rather put the money into more car. The one I didn't drive is an overpriced disaster on a disaster of a car lot. The seller has been sitting on the car for at least a year...leaves it parked out doors, hoses his lot off every other day or so. The battery is dead, the drivers door window isn't lining up correctly, the carpets are damp, the paint is worn thin all over the car, the rotors are shot, no history of when any fluids or belts were changed, etc, etc., etc., plus the wheels need replacing. I'd say eight thousand in stuff to do, not counting the paint. At ten thousand dollars, with eight thousand more in work, and you'd have an acceptable but not much more, car. Makes me wonder whatever will happen to what once must have been a nice Porsche...LSD on the code sheet.

I'm in no rush...yet tomorrow I may make a high offer on a car I haven't seen in person or driven.
Johnny, we have a 2001. That is it's IMSB in my avatar pic. That is not a single row.

Anything other than a 99 is a gamble on which bearing you have, but any MkI has at least moderate odds of having the dual row bearing. The 99 is only a sure thing if you are 100% sure that it has not had an engine swap (easy to tell for a factory swap, not so much otherwise).

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JohnIreland
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Re: The Hunt

Post by JohnIreland » Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:58 pm

So I was watching a nice 01 on BaT...local to me in Long Beach...and for a few days the price stayed low but this morning it quickly went passed what I seem to have set as my price point. The car I drove yesterday I could have for $16797 out the door...but I don't love it enough to do it even at $14000. A nice car but just not doing it for me. Then a 99 came up in San Diego for under $15000 and was quickly bought up. Then a speed yellow coupe, an 01 has shown up down that way...tiptronic and no service history...149000 miles. Doing a bearing on a tip is just so much more expensive than on a manual...and repairing a tip is so much more expensive than working on a manual...and at 5k miles a year, this car has almost eight to ten more years worth of miles on it than the other cars I've been looking at. And the price, with taxes and dmv fees is almost $3k more than the car I drove yesterday and with probably even more deferred maintenance due on it.

And still this other silver car sits out in Hemet with lots of recent work that actually justifies the listing price...but I'm for some reason not willing to move on it. I guess because it would be over $22k out the door...$5,300 more than the one for $16,797. So all these numbers are telling me that I want to be at around $19,500 including tax & lic., and any needed deferred maintenance (serpentine belt, oil & filter, brake flush and pads, spark plugs and coils, shocks, links, whatever...and IMS depending on the year). So a low of $12k (which I almost had) and a tops of $16k if it doesn't need much work.

All this makes a 99 model year the premium (if the car has been well driven and cared for) since I'm more willing to drive it and not worry about the IMS. With all the other years, the IMS becomes like dating a girl and worrying about her turning out to be a psycho with STD. On top of all this my wife and I have decided it is time to move and get out of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. And on life goes.

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5chn3ll
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Re: The Hunt

Post by 5chn3ll » Thu Jul 23, 2020 8:10 pm

If you can find the secret compartment where all the drugs are stashed, the Hemet 996 will probably pay for itself...

Understeer: You will hit the wall with the front end.
Oversteer: You will hit the wall with the rear end.
Horsepower: How hard you will hit the wall.
Torque: How far you will move the wall.

Gone hunting with Alec Baldwin and Dick Cheney. Back soon.

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JohnIreland
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Re: The Hunt

Post by JohnIreland » Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:10 am

Yeah you're right about the Hemet car. But I'm still trying to squeeze blood from a stone. I just emailed the seller of this yellow car...they're asking $17987. I sent them a long email with all the reasons their car isn't worth it...and I then offered to drive down and look at it...and if I really like it, to pay them $15000 cash...and if I didn't really really like, to turn around and drive home. It would be swell if the car was really something...even with 149k miles. I like the wheels, too.
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32wildbilly
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Re: The Hunt

Post by 32wildbilly » Fri Jul 24, 2020 4:52 am

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:10 am Yeah you're right about the Hemet car. But I'm still trying to squeeze blood from a stone. I just emailed the seller of this yellow car...they're asking $17987. I sent them a long email with all the reasons their car isn't worth it...and I then offered to drive down and look at it...and if I really like it, to pay them $15000 cash...and if I didn't really really like, to turn around and drive home. It would be swell if the car was really something...even with 149k miles. I like the wheels, too.yellow 3.jpg
Speed yellow is a nice color. Loud but a nice color.

Having never used electronic communications while trying a car deal I have an observation/question. Is prefacing your visit with a list of reasons why the car is not worth what it is listed for the best opening salvo? My only experience with this technique was when selling my 300ZX last year and I found it amazing. I had people text things likes "what is your bottom price?" type questions when the car was priced at the low end of value for the car because the wife just wanted it out of the driveway. My response was always "It is listed for $$$$. Come see the car...". None of these people came to see the car and there were many of these contacts. It got so bad I quit responding to them. I prefer the old way i.e. go see the car, drive the car, ask a shit ton of questions, have the car inspected and then have the "this is what I would like to offer and here's why." conversation.

Kinda like when you need to have a "discussion" with a child and you forewarn them of the topic then have the talk in the future. Gives them time to come up with excuses/reasons.

Maybe it's just me and I'm old...

BTW the Z sold to the second person to actually come out to see the car. He loved it!
Never gonna make you cry...

Kalashnikov
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Re: The Hunt

Post by Kalashnikov » Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:50 am

JI,

I am with Bill on this. Busting someone's balls about price and all things wrong with the car (that you think) via email or phone is not a working option.

I ask the basic mechanical questions and maintenance questions, if they satisfy me I order a CARFAX. If it passes my review I go and see inspect the car. Email negotiation and making any offers based on pictures is worthless.

Car can stink on inside, have mechanical issues while driving, have body work (paint depth meter time), owner can immediately look shady in person etc.

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