Is this bad? Would you buy it?

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I wouldn't, you have the chance its not perfectly straight and could have alignment issues. Plus you don't know how well it was welded and how strong it is at that point. I would wait till you find something else down the road if you want a coupe that bad.
 
walk away, that car is a hazard to anyone on the road unless it gets torn back apart and the repair is done correctly. You should NEVER section a fender apron like that. Always go from a factory seam. In an accident, that car is going to buckle and do more damage. Definatly not worth 500 bucks.
 
If all the body panels line up and the weld job looks quality, I wouldn't shy away from it. My '87 LX has the front end wiped out too before I owned it. I ended up finding a pristine example from a late '80's Lincoln Mark VII, brought it to the dealership that I worked for's body shop, the lined it up on the frame machine with the laser guides and had it lined up within 1/64". Welded it back into place, and it was good to go.

No problems, no issues for the entire 6-years I owned the car.

If you're really worried about it, insist that the seller pay for a trip the the algnment rack to make sure it all lines up. If it does, you're golden. If now....he's out $75 and the sale of the car. :shrug:
 
That must have been a nice wreck. He claims it drives straight - the only way to ever know is to drive it and its no where near ready and it'll be too late after you did all the work then find out its fubar. If your 1st instinct is to post it up here and ask then every one (almost) says to stay away then head for zee hills.
 
That must have been a nice wreck. He claims it drives straight - the only way to ever know is to drive it and its no where near ready and it'll be too late after you did all the work then find out its fubar. If your 1st instinct is to post it up here and ask then every one (almost) says to stay away then head for zee hills.

....or he could bring it to an alignment rack and confirm its straightness like I said he should, instead of listening to blanketed statements from skeptics over the internet who’ve never actually seen the car in person, but are more than willing to damn it on the spot. :scratch:

Some of you guys make it sound as though these cars were put together with something more than rubber bands, duct tape and best guess intentions to begin with? This isn’t' a Ferrari we're talking about here fellas, it’s a Fox Mustang. A car that has had so many different mix and match parts, from so many models put into it over so many years, that you'd be hard pressed to find anything original about it.

Fact….as long as it’s not punched beyond the shock towers, that entire front clip is completely replaceable with very little work, or worry involved. If the body panels line up and everything checks out on the rack, it would only be a matter of haggling the price, or sheer ignorance holding him back.
 
I did almost this same repair on my girlfriends 85 Vert.It took a lot of time to make sure it was square and everything was the right height before we started to weld.When i did this Job i had an 83 vert,91 hatchback and a 79 fairmont wagon on hand to compare my numbers to.I know that those 3 cars have not been hit in the front and they all measured different.No car was the same on either left or right hand side the numbers were off from a 1/4 inch to 1/2 an inch.I guess that is mass production for you.These cars are made like pepsi cans anyway so if the welding is done right it might be a little stronger than factory.I know some of the original spot welds i drilled out were pretty weak.