High mileage cobra

[doncito]

Hi All,

Been lurking for sometime, came across a cobra being sold by my buddy to free up car space.
3 owners, (first owner was a corporates fleet for the majority of it's mileage. The odometer was rolled back to 133kish but carfax shows around 192k but estimating rougly 210k.
Once I asked him, he genuinely said he didn't know and he checked it himself and sent me a screenshot. As a car owner, i know he takes care of his cares.
That being said, it's currently at $5.3k which to me sounds like a good deal but obviously idk best.
he said engine runs smooth, tranny shifts good, no noises, the bearing is good.

Ima still end up going to check it out, but curious to hear yall opinion

Thank you for your time in advance

 

[I_like_turtlez]

That car is suspiciously clean for 200K+ miles, I'll presume it's been repainted given the top of the cabin..

Highway miles are always best in terms of engine cleanliness(not so much appearance.. stay 100 yards back from truckers..)

If you can get that car for $5,000USD it's a good deal, assuming you have the means to rebuild the engine which I would do sooner than later while you can still do a "refresh". I certainly wouldn't buy it planning to go racing around, yes these engines are well-built but mileage is mileage

Blows my mind how 10 years ago you could buy a 40K mile sn95 Cobra for $5K & now they're booking $15K, the last couple of years people have caught on these things were cheap pocket rockets but our economy is whole other topic..

My advice is get specific info about engine, trans, differential oil change intervals; also take a very good peek at the wiring under the hood, I just spent 2 days running new wires for the headlights/parking because someone wrongly used those cheap crimp-connectors all over the place.. and it's a very clean 70K mileage garage-queen

Shine a light through the large oil cap hole, is there visible carbon/sludge on the head; gives a good indication of it's past oil intervals

Never take someone's word for it when it comes to a used car, not even friends

 

[doncito]

That car is suspiciously clean for 200K+ miles, I'll presume it's been repainted given the top of the cabin..

Highway miles are always best in terms of engine cleanliness(not so much appearance.. stay 100 yards back from truckers..)

If you can get that car for $5,000USD it's a good deal, assuming you have the means to rebuild the engine which I would do sooner than later while you can still do a "refresh". I certainly wouldn't buy it planning to go racing around, yes these engines are well-built but mileage is mileage

Blows my mind how 10 years ago you could buy a 40K mile sn95 Cobra for $5K & now they're booking $15K, the last couple of years people have caught on these things were cheap pocket rockets but our economy is whole other topic..

My advice is get specific info about engine, trans, differential oil change intervals; also take a very good peek at the wiring under the hood, I just spent 2 days running new wires for the headlights/parking because someone wrongly used those cheap crimp-connectors all over the place.. and it's a very clean 70K mileage garage-queen

Shine a light through the large oil cap hole, is there visible carbon/sludge on the head; gives a good indication of it's past oil intervals

Never take someone's word for it when it comes to a used car, not even friends

Thank you for your response.

I will definitely take your advice and tips when checking the car out.

I have also attached a picture of the engine bay! From what I can see, it looks decent considering the age and mileage of the car

 

[Tillerman77]

Thank you for your response.

I will definitely take your advice and tips when checking the car out.

I have also attached a picture of the engine bay! From what I can see, it looks decent considering the age and mileage of the car

That engine bay looks like it has been detailed recently. Not a bad thing, just a lot cleaner and shinier than the miles would indicate.

 

[I_like_turtlez]

Thank you for your response.

I will definitely take your advice and tips when checking the car out.

I have also attached a picture of the engine bay! From what I can see, it looks decent considering the age and mileage of the car

Not to beat said horse(Mustang?) but I see what appears to be a large fuse/cable running back to the cabin, also see some witness marks on wiring looms in the engine bay; take a strong peek into every crevice you can around the header panel(like I should have) and near the wheel wells.

Obviously check every switch inside/outside the car, a lot of these fixes are relatively minor but man are they tedious.. my headlight socket pigtails were held on by tape.. *facepalm* The issue is these cars are at best 25 years old, you go to make a small repair & that brittle plastic inevitably breaks half the time

Forgot to mention to check under the radiator pressure cap, hopefully it's bright green but if it's darker that's alright so long as you don't see large chunks of crud. I'd advise doing a flush regardless if bought but sometimes that can expose pinhole leaks so be aware of this and check

It doesn't look like the car has been lowered so crawl under there and look around for oil leaks front to back(including the steering rack), obviously check the frame rails, the driveshaft is going to have surface rust all over it which is normal since they're raw steel OEM

That engine bay looks like it has been detailed recently. Not a bad thing, just a lot cleaner and shinier than the miles would indicate.

If it were a dealership I would run expeditiously from a spotless engine bay, those snakes(hehe cobra) try to hide leaks..