32wildbilly wrote: ↑Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:05 am
FRUNKenstein wrote: ↑Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:06 am
Argh, so now you tell me!
I get it - I was looking at the differences between a '73/'74 and the '75/'76. They don't bother me that much. So, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the deal. Asking was $11,900, and I paid $10,750. I met the seller this morning at 9:00 am to look the car over and go for a test drive. Long story short, he's done a lot of work to it over the past year or so (see pic of his notes). It is a Florida car and has only minor surface rust. He has repaired a small amount of rust in the longs - that's why he had the rocker panel covers off. The biggest remaining issue is an occasional backfire through the dual Weber carbs - he thinks the venturis are too large. It's not a huge problem, but something I'll take care of one way (venturis) or another (take it back to fuel injection). There are a lot of other little issues, like any 45 year old car. But, it reminds me of the 928 when I bought it - the bones are good and the "to do" list is just tweaks. He comes by tomorrow to sign over the title and my son and I will pick the car up tomorrow night. Overall, I feel really good about the deal. My wife does not share the sentiment, but this car kind of fills out my wish list of cars. This is a car that I tried to buy when I was a high school kid and the seller wouldn't come down to the most I could pay. After this car, there's really no other car out there that "I've always wanted." I'm sure there will be other collector cars at some point in the future, but this brings the hooptie fleet up to 6 cars, and I think that's going to keep me fully busy.
Yea! Are you going to leave it blue?
Definitely. Blue was my 3rd choice behind Ravenna green then orange. This one is Laguna Blue, and I also like the Olympic Blue. I'm happy with the color. Maybe someday I'll fall bass ackwards into a Ravenna green car, basically like what happened with this car: pops up at a car show right across the aisle from me, reasonable asking price from a reputable collector that supports the museum - what more can you ask for?
There is nothing major I'm planning to do with it - just little tweaks. For example, the Florida owner installed these mini-blind things on the insides of the A-pillars, so it's sort of a built-in windshield shade. That's got to go. So does the sun shade along along the top of the windshield. I'll replace the crappy looking stereo with an all-black Bluetooth unit. Just things like that. It has headers instead of heat exchangers, so that's a negative and I may find some heat exchangers to swap in. Also, I will probably change the wheels - they at least need to be repainted. The seller said that the wheels are actually pretty expensive - he said he didn't like them either, but when he went to replace them, he realized that they were actually an expensive set of wheels that are very sought after. I'm kind of skeptical on that claim, though.
The engine was rebuilt a few years ago, although not many miles have been put on the car since the rebuild. It pulled strong during the test drive - I was surprised at how much power it has. Like the X1/9, it's not a fast car, but given that it is so lightweight and low to the ground, it feels faster than it is. I'm really looking forward to digging into it and getting to know the car.