Fox Guys, Interested In This Car. Please Nitpick And Give Me Your Estimation Of Its Value.

FastDriver

FastDriver

My dad had a bra
SN Certified Technician
Sep 5, 2001
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Fort Knox, KY
#1
I would like your nit-picky eyes on a car in another forums classifieds that I might be interested in:

http://forums.corral.net/forums/mustangs-sale-wanted-1987-1993/1428461-1992-mustang-lx-hatch.html

Here's what I see:

- highly doubt it's a 74k mile car that needed a motor rebuild, has a worn steering wheel, and worn driver's arm pad
- No A/C (big problem to average market buyers)
- Driver's side hood hinge to firewall mount looks wrong... rust maybe?
- Paint job looks good, but resolution is bad and it could be a cheap repaint
- bent strut tower brace? doesn't look right to me
- What throttle body and MAF? They both look small and stockish.
- Is something wrong with the passenger door? There's a close up of it on the bottom for some reason.

Assuming this is a 174k car in good condition, what's the value? $6k?
 

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#3
Jeebus I hate having to click attached pictures. But I did it for you... Siiiiigh. ;)

Is it a $6k car? I say no, its a $4500 car. Why?

-It's not a coupe
-It doesn't have A/C
-Just because it has a nice pile of parts doesn't mean that you won't have to drop another grand into it to get it to run right. And it's pretty widely accepted that mods don't really increase value anyway.
-There really isn't anything special about it to make me want to pay more.

*edit - I priced it low because I haven't seen it in person or driven it. There's no mention in the ad about how it runs. If it is for sale long enough, he'll consider any offer I bet.


The strut tower looks like it was made that way and the hood hinge looks like it has silicone around it for whatever reason.
 
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#4
GroverDill said:
that car is worth 7k, if you offer 6k the seller is gonna tell you to f off.

I would pay 7k for that hell he has 2500 in suspension
Click to expand...
Where is the dislike button? j/k of course, I actually really appreciate the opinion. I like the suspension mods. BUT, I think a street fox, without A/C, with a handling oriented suspension appeals to a very small segment of the market.
 
#8
That's an outstanding Fox. The reason he took a picture of the bottom of the door is to show that there is no rust on the bottom of it. It is very typical for a foxbody window seal to leak which causes water to build up in the bottom of the door leaving rust holes. The shape of the strut tower brace is immaterial. It's just the way it is designed. The panel gaps are all symetrical, which tells me the body is all straight and never been wrecked. The steering wheel is a small issue. Of all the things that could be wrong with a car, that one is easy to fix. I think it is a great car. It is worth exactly what you are willing to pay for it.

Kurt
 
#11
i would pay 6,500 for it, NO AC is the reason its not 7K in my book

a 306 is nice but not worth big bucks, and its not a coupe, the miles dont matter IMO when the car rolls over 50K its kind of not relevant to me.
I would add A/C and get the interior back to stock by removing the gauges.

but what do i know
 
#12
I'm pretty critical of Mustangs for sale...but thats a damn clean car.

Why do you suspect it has 174K miles and not 74K miles? Because of an engine rebuild? Back in the late 90's I had friends rebuild their sub-100K mile Foxes just because they were putting a bunch of mods into the car and wanted a "fresh" engine. To me that doesn't scream out possible mileage issue. I'd do the homework and at least check carfax. WHile not always correct, it does give you clues to if the mileage is right, or if it's wrong.

The driver's hinge looks fine. There's a sealant that ford applied to the joint that tends to bubble like that. Looks normal.

STB looks fine

I don't like the way he deleted the A/C, but that can be fixed. The lack of A/C is a negative to me. Granted MOST Mustangs these days don't have working A/C, i'd at least like the parts to be there so i can fix it. Finding a Mustang with working A/C is a bonus.

The mods don't add value to the car really. Except in this case i'll make an exception because of the exceptional condition of the car. That car is CLEAN. I'd really need to get under the car and look around for rust and damage, but I would honestly not expect to see any. In this situation, with a clean car like this, and quality mods, i'd look at them as a bonus. Read disk swap, Max motorsports suspension. 3.55's. All good choices.

I always say buy the car, not the mods. And in this case..that's a clean Mustang. I'd buy it.

I'd float $6500 at first, expect to get a no, and would work up to $7K. If it came down to it though, i'd pay $7500 for it. I would be VERY picky on buying another Fox...but that one I'd seriously consider for myself.

Of course, all that would be contingent on first-hand inspection and assuming it's a strong, well-running engine
 
#13
Mustang5L5 said:
I'm pretty critical of Mustangs for sale...but thats a damn clean car.

Why do you suspect it has 174K miles and not 74K miles? Because of an engine rebuild? Back in the late 90's I had friends rebuild their sub-100K mile Foxes just because they were putting a bunch of mods into the car and wanted a "fresh" engine. To me that doesn't scream out possible mileage issue. I'd do the homework and at least check carfax. WHile not always correct, it does give you clues to if the mileage is right, or if it's wrong.

The driver's hinge looks fine. There's a sealant that ford applied to the joint that tends to bubble like that. Looks normal.

STB looks fine

I don't like the way he deleted the A/C, but that can be fixed. The lack of A/C is a negative to me. Granted MOST Mustangs these days don't have working A/C, i'd at least like the parts to be there so i can fix it. Finding a Mustang with working A/C is a bonus.

The mods don't add value to the car really. Except in this case i'll make an exception because of the exceptional condition of the car. That car is CLEAN. I'd really need to get under the car and look around for rust and damage, but I would honestly not expect to see any. In this situation, with a clean car like this, and quality mods, i'd look at them as a bonus. Read disk swap, Max motorsports suspension. 3.55's. All good choices.

I always say buy the car, not the mods. And in this case..that's a clean Mustang. I'd buy it.

I'd float $6500 at first, expect to get a no, and would work up to $7K. If it came down to it though, i'd pay $7500 for it. I would be VERY picky on buying another Fox...but that one I'd seriously consider for myself.

Of course, all that would be contingent on first-hand inspection and assuming it's a strong, well-running engine
Click to expand...
Agree 1000%
 
#14
+1. But that's considering that we don't do any body work; only mechanical. We send all body work out. It's hard to find a foxbody that is as clean and straight as that one is these days. That one looks flat out awesome. Little mechanical problems like no AC are hard to fix. Other than rust, I would check the torque boxes. If they are straight then you are good to go. Foxbodies are very fragile, and tend to bend up a lot.

Kurt
 
#16
hoopty5.0 said:
Jeebus I hate having to click attached pictures. But I did it for you... Siiiiigh. ;)

Is it a $6k car? I say no, its a $4500 car. Why?

-It's not a coupe
-It doesn't have A/C
-Just because it has a nice pile of parts doesn't mean that you won't have to drop another grand into it to get it to run right. And it's pretty widely accepted that mods don't really increase value anyway.
-There really isn't anything special about it to make me want to pay more.

*edit - I priced it low because I haven't seen it in person or driven it. There's no mention in the ad about how it runs. If it is for sale long enough, he'll consider any offer I bet.


The strut tower looks like it was made that way and the hood hinge looks like it has silicone around it for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

You were right. It's a $4,500 car, though I'm sure he won't take it. It is a 174k mile car according to carfax, as suspected. The car doesn't have a headliner. I asked why he only took a pic of the passenger door and found out that it's because there's 4" of rust on driver's side door with apparently bubbling paint.

The motor was rebuilt by him in his garage because 3 cylinders had broken rings. Says he did it himself in his garage, and I asked several times about this expecting to hear about a machine shop. Mentioned the parts he used and did not include pistons... 306, really?

Stock throttle body. No idea what fuel pump is in it. Was confused about the headers saying they were hooker, but the ad listed them as macs. I'm just not getting a warm and fuzzy here. Before I called, I was going to offer $6,500 and work up if needed. After all of this, I don't even want the car.

Have any of you guys actually seen a fox body that looks like this one did in the ad, but actually is this?
 
#18
FastDriver said:
You were right. It's a $4,500 car, though I'm sure he won't take it. It is a 174k mile car according to carfax, as suspected. The car doesn't have a headliner. I asked why he only took a pic of the passenger door and found out that it's because there's 4" of rust on driver's side door with apparently bubbling paint.

The motor was rebuilt by him in his garage because 3 cylinders had broken rings. Says he did it himself in his garage, and I asked several times about this expecting to hear about a machine shop. Mentioned the parts he used and did not include pistons... 306, really?

Stock throttle body. No idea what fuel pump is in it. Was confused about the headers saying they were hooker, but the ad listed them as macs. I'm just not getting a warm and fuzzy here. Before I called, I was going to offer $6,500 and work up if needed. After all of this, I don't even want the car.

Have any of you guys actually seen a fox body that looks like this one did in the ad, but actually is this?
Click to expand...

Fast, glad you did some more research and found out the truth. Once you know someone has lied about one thing, then assume he is lying about everything. Trouble is people think they can BS their way with most people, and hope one of them bites.

Next....................
 
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#20
Well that changes things now. It looked very promising based on the pictures and info provided. But to find out those issues, plus an additional 100K of miles on top of what was stated.

Now we are probably talking a $4-4.5K car.

This is a perfect example as to why you never buy a car you haven't looked at in person.
 
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