Hey guys,
I almost bought an '03 Convertible (Terminator of course). (Mike, that's what I was calling you about)
Red Fire with Parchment seats. One of 196 in that color combo. Only 2600 miles. It was all stock except for Borla cat back exhaust.
It was a screaming deal at $19,500. The car was supposedly part of a collection in California until the guy was found to have cancer and ended up in hospice. The collection was auctioned off and this car ended up at a broker in Oregon. The broker/dealer told me that he no one even looked at the car at the auction. He admitted he got a good deal but wouldn't say what. He said after the auction another guy said he was surprised it only had 2600 miles, he assumed it must have been 26,000.
It was missing the convertible boot and the owner's manual. It also had aftermarket center caps. I don't know if the wheels were aftermarket or not, but they looked stock otherwise. Having sat for who knows how long, there was some mouse damage. The driver's side cam cover had a small area where the paint had peeled (they thought the mouse pee damaged the paint) and was repainted but didn't match. There were a few wires in the fuel injector harness that were chewed on but not chewed through. The wires were taped up and reportedly fine.
My plan was to buy the car, put the correct center caps on it, get the boot (found one in excellent condition on craigslist for $50), replace the cam cover (craigslist $150 for a pair of them), get the owner's manual, svt certificate, window sticker, brochures, etc. Once I had everything back to the way it should be and all of the paperwork, I figured I'd have something worth $26-$28k. Maybe keep it, maybe sell it.
I had the car inspected and everything seemed to be fine. Everything worked, the car drove fine. It was in excellent condition except for some surface corrosion on unpainted items from sitting. The only problem he found was an odor in the interior. The inspector rated the odor at 4/10. He said it wasn't bad but it was there. The dealer said he didn't smell anything like that. He said the only thing he smelled in the car was the suede.
The dealer wanted the car sold by the end of the year. If I didn't buy it, he had another guy who wanted it bad and if that didn't work out, he was going to sell it to a local dealer to get it off his books. Unfortunately there was no way for me to go see the car myself. So I had to decide sight unseen, smell un-smelled.
I agonized over the decision. I even looked up the original owner on Google maps. I used the satellite view, expecting to see a big garage or barn. I zoomed in and see a house with no extra outbuilding. There were about 9 cars in his back yard. Five of them were covered. It looked like there was some junk around some of the cars. This didn't make me feel any better. This thing may have been sitting outside. Probably covered, but the mice could have had a field day in there.
I finally had to make the decision, but I couldn't bring myself to take the chance. I didn't want to end up with a car that smelled bad and I might be stuck with.
Of course, it would be sweet to have a collection of Terminators: a red '03 convertible stock with low miles and my black 04 coupe that I would drive and do a few mods. Unfortunately, my wife may not have seen the value of having two Terminators in the garage, especially if one of them smelled bad.
I'm bummed it didn't work out, but it was too much money to risk. If I could have seen the car, it might have been a different story. It would have been cool to have two Terminators in the garage, but oh well.
Just wanted to share my story... and get some activity on the board.:sleeping:
Happy New Year!
:beer:
I almost bought an '03 Convertible (Terminator of course). (Mike, that's what I was calling you about)
Red Fire with Parchment seats. One of 196 in that color combo. Only 2600 miles. It was all stock except for Borla cat back exhaust.
It was a screaming deal at $19,500. The car was supposedly part of a collection in California until the guy was found to have cancer and ended up in hospice. The collection was auctioned off and this car ended up at a broker in Oregon. The broker/dealer told me that he no one even looked at the car at the auction. He admitted he got a good deal but wouldn't say what. He said after the auction another guy said he was surprised it only had 2600 miles, he assumed it must have been 26,000.
It was missing the convertible boot and the owner's manual. It also had aftermarket center caps. I don't know if the wheels were aftermarket or not, but they looked stock otherwise. Having sat for who knows how long, there was some mouse damage. The driver's side cam cover had a small area where the paint had peeled (they thought the mouse pee damaged the paint) and was repainted but didn't match. There were a few wires in the fuel injector harness that were chewed on but not chewed through. The wires were taped up and reportedly fine.
My plan was to buy the car, put the correct center caps on it, get the boot (found one in excellent condition on craigslist for $50), replace the cam cover (craigslist $150 for a pair of them), get the owner's manual, svt certificate, window sticker, brochures, etc. Once I had everything back to the way it should be and all of the paperwork, I figured I'd have something worth $26-$28k. Maybe keep it, maybe sell it.
I had the car inspected and everything seemed to be fine. Everything worked, the car drove fine. It was in excellent condition except for some surface corrosion on unpainted items from sitting. The only problem he found was an odor in the interior. The inspector rated the odor at 4/10. He said it wasn't bad but it was there. The dealer said he didn't smell anything like that. He said the only thing he smelled in the car was the suede.
The dealer wanted the car sold by the end of the year. If I didn't buy it, he had another guy who wanted it bad and if that didn't work out, he was going to sell it to a local dealer to get it off his books. Unfortunately there was no way for me to go see the car myself. So I had to decide sight unseen, smell un-smelled.
I agonized over the decision. I even looked up the original owner on Google maps. I used the satellite view, expecting to see a big garage or barn. I zoomed in and see a house with no extra outbuilding. There were about 9 cars in his back yard. Five of them were covered. It looked like there was some junk around some of the cars. This didn't make me feel any better. This thing may have been sitting outside. Probably covered, but the mice could have had a field day in there.
I finally had to make the decision, but I couldn't bring myself to take the chance. I didn't want to end up with a car that smelled bad and I might be stuck with.
Of course, it would be sweet to have a collection of Terminators: a red '03 convertible stock with low miles and my black 04 coupe that I would drive and do a few mods. Unfortunately, my wife may not have seen the value of having two Terminators in the garage, especially if one of them smelled bad.
I'm bummed it didn't work out, but it was too much money to risk. If I could have seen the car, it might have been a different story. It would have been cool to have two Terminators in the garage, but oh well.
Just wanted to share my story... and get some activity on the board.:sleeping:
Happy New Year!
:beer:
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