Is it worth buying??

[Bambikiller240]

Greg (Smokey):

I'd be curious too. Of course I'm a pessimist. Could be he's run out of $, or financial situation has changed, or maybe he's decided Z's aren't for him. On the other hand, maybe he's found something he doesn't want to deal with on the car.

Any extra time you spend examining the car will not be wasted, so take your time.

What I did when I was looking for a car was to make a list "as detailed as possible" of things to check. I mean EVERYTHING I could think of, down to the smallest detail, then I used that as a check list while inspecting. Physically checked off each item and wrote brief notes on anything out of the ordinary. The looked the list over after I got away from the car and the seller. It helped me to really know what I was getting myself into.

Just a thought.

Carl

[Daniel]

Smokey,Your post read something like I wanted a 240 But,now I'm looking at a 260.Don't get caught up in the moment and buy something other than exactly what you want.It does appear nice,but give serious thought as to why you changed your mind or you could be the next guy witha Z for sale after only 6 months.What you want is out there.Just keep fishing.

[Smokey]

Daniel, you make an excellent point, and one that I came to terms with last night. I expanded to the 260's cause the early ones are basically '73 240's will stroked motors and bigger exhaust valves. Since I am in this for the long haul, I think you are right, and I should hold out for what I started looking for. Problem is, it is just so dang expensive to find a 240 in great shape.

Found another local Z for sale. This one is an all original '70 240 #4804. It has less than 77K miles on it. It was painted last summer. The owner even has an original radio and center console to go with the car. Asking price is [OUCH]ELEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS[/OUCH]. It has rust under the battery, but I doubt that would give me enough bargaining leverage. Oh well, better talk to the wife about getting that first born on the way so I can trade out.

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Smokey

Found another local Z for sale. This one is an all original '70 240 #4804. It has less than 77K miles on it. It was painted last summer. The owner even has an original radio and center console to go with the car. Asking price is [OUCH]ELEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS[/OUCH]. It has rust under the battery, but I doubt that would give me enough bargaining leverage. Oh well, better talk to the wife about getting that first born on the way so I can trade out.

Smokey:

Rust under the battery tray unless VERY minor (just getting started) will be difficult to eliminate (read EXPENSIVE ). The battery acid that causes it tends to seep down into the frame rail where it will eventually destroy the rail (and probably part of the firewall, and inner fender) from the inside out.

If you are seriously thinking of aquiring this car, have it looked at by the best body shop you can find and listen to their advice. I had a 71 Z car with rust in this area and the only way it finally got stopped was to have the entire right side of the car from the firewall forward removed, treated, rewelded to the car while on a frame jig. Keep your .......

open! May need to talk to the wife about twins if the car's gonna need significant body work after paying $11K for it.

[Smokey]

I agree, the way he was talking is there is just a slight bit of surface rust under the battery from where he left the battery cooking too long one day. I have only briefly talked with the owner because I really wanted to see a Z that was worth 11K. Man, that has to be a nice one, I thought. The more I talked to him the more I was not too sure it was worth the money.

He only drives it about a hundred miles a month, and from '99 to '02 it was not registered. The suspension is all original and needs to be redone to make it a "road" car. Same with the hoses under the hood. The cooling system is newly serviced, but fuel, and vaccuum lines are all original. Seems like to get the car dependable for a weekend cruiser, I would need to outlay some money on the mechanicals. And then there is the inner fender under the battery. I may wait and see if the price starts to drop. I doubt he will get his asking price.

He says that 5K of it was what he has done to it over the last 5 years. I would be willing to bet he payed 5-6K for it originally. I am sure he is trying to get 100% of his investment back, which is unlikely.

Carl, thank you--and everyone on this board who has contributed for keeping me thinking with my head and not my heart. I have never had the trouble before the Z. It is just an emotional car.

BTW, I love the eye:love:

[Smokey]

OK, here is the rundown on the '74. Looks pretty good at first. The motor is from Jasper, but was a little different than factory specs. It is running a P90 head, with a hot cam in it. The carbs are 32/36 redline webers. Runs great. Same original 4 speed tranny. Interior is almost complete with new carpet and shift boot. All new seals either installed, or in a bag.

The bad stuff--All exterior chips which developed rust have been POR15'ed and painted black. The floor pans have have been POR-15'ed and covered with rubberizing paint. The passenger side is already splitting open. The driver's door is rusting from the inside out. Two blisters showing, and inside the drain hole you can see a large amount of rust. All that is acceptable, but here is the REAL BAD STUFF.

The rear quarter panel that I spoke of is a real bad repair. The seam where the quarter meets the rocker is unsealed. They did not weld it, or put any kind of seam sealer on it. It just lays there with a hairline opening. Behind that, you can see the original quater where the metal butts togeter. It, of course, is rusted. Externally that is the worse part of the repair, the rest looks good. However, inside the trunk shows the history of the damage. Once you pull the carpet back you can see the waves in the floor to the right of the spare well. The inner quarter, behind the finish panel, has been fixed with a BFH, and is rusted pretty bad. Looks like the back righ was hit HARD. This car has been hurt, and the repair is questionable in my opinion. That was the breaking factor in my decision not to purchase the car. :disappoin

[Bambikiller240]

Hi Smokey:

Sorry to hear that the car didn't turn out to be as good at it originally sounded. My feeling is that you are doing right by walking away from it. Putting the bad repair right would be a very expensive task. Also it sounds like that "protective" material used on Salt trucks wasn't such a good idea to put on the car.

Keep shopping and you'll find the right car. It may take time, but this kind of time is IMHO far easier to deal with than the time and $ necessary to fix a car that is already in bad shape in one area or another.

Patience Grasshopper!

Regards,

Carl