New Project Car

[CarMichael Angelo]

Look at me,......asking what something should cost like a newb.

Have an opportunity to buy from the lot a 91 GT.
Car is in pretty rough shape, but the body seems solid. Glass is good. Interior is beat, but all there. hinges are trash, door panels are shot. Drivers seat looks like it's sporting the gangsta lean, and is worn through on the bottom seat bolster. It has a carb'd, iron headed 5.0 that will not start, but will turn over. 5 speed trans, 8.8 " rear, rolling on god awful 14" draglites.Has a "too big" 3" cowl hinged fiberglass hood.

Will cost me 1246.00. For my 19 yr old.


Thoughts?

 

[jsw81]

stopped reading at carb'd. fck carbs.

 

[Boosted92LX]

Don't do it Mike. It's cheaper to buy a nice car than to fix everything on a trash one...

...and I just remembered who I'm talking to..

 

[madspeed]

Id pass on that beat up beast, but it is carbed!! lol


Sent from my rooted, rommed Galaxy Nexus....

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I would probably pass as well Mike. Not sure if I would want to put my son in something as beat as that car sounds. I would personally rather spend twice as much on something that at least runs and has a half an interior.

 

[LilBerx]

It's your decision to make..

On the other hand

Whatever project you begin, I will be following your build thread.

 

[chgovfk]

Is this a father son project or something he's going to drive daily? - if it's a DD I would pass - spend some extra $$ and get something decent - when my younger brother turned 16 our old man went cheap on a 89 GT for him - my brother blew through (3) transmissions / top end motor rebuild / painted it etc etc ....in the end, at that time, he could of bought him a near new 92/93 for the $$ he spent - like I told him in the first place....

 

[darthcual]

Yeah my current project is kind of a beater. I should have spent a little more to get something a bit nicer. The cool thing is I'm still under budget and I've got to watch my project transform.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Sounds like a $500 car to me at max.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

He's 19....buy him a Focus with a big wing on the back and a chrome fart tip. He'd probably appreciate it more.

 

[jsw81]

Ok, here is my serious reply. I picked up my running and driving fox for 1100. It needed a lot of restoration and I didn't have 6K all at once to buy a nice one. So I got this one and gradually put money into it. It's still not done, as most of these cars are never finished. But it was a fun project and I know the ins and outs of this car and was a good learning experience.

So this car you're looking at buying may be a fun project for you and your son. And it won't hurt your wallet so much if you have self control and gradually buy and fix stuff on it.

Here is what mine transformed from:

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Ok, here is my serious reply. I picked up my running and driving fox for 1100. It needed a lot of restoration and I didn't have 6K all at once to buy a nice one. So I got this one and gradually put money into it. It's still not done, as most of these cars are never finished. But it was a fun project and I know the ins and outs of this car and was a good learning experience.

So this car you're looking at buying may be a fun project for you and your son. And it won't hurt your wallet so much if you have self control and gradually buy and fix stuff on it.

Here is what mine transformed from

What did you do with your A/C?

 

[jsw81]

^didn't work so I got rid of it...just a weekend car, not a daily

 

[Gearbanger 101]

^didn't work so I got rid of it...just a weekend car, not a daily

Got rid of it as in threw it away, or as in took it off and it's sitting in the corner of your garage somewhere?

 

[jsw81]

Got rid of it as in threw it away, or as in took it off and it's sitting in the corner of your garage somewhere?

I still have the AC compressor and bracket. All other parts were trashed.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Bummer.....I'm looking for a complete A/C set up to replace the one that the last owner removed from my car (much like yourself) because it has stopped working.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

He's 19....buy him a Focus with a big wing on the back and a chrome fart tip. He'd probably appreciate it more.

I bet with how Mike has a nice fox, his son would absolutely love to have a fox as well.

 

[91TwighlightGT]

From experience, you will have a lot of money in that car to get it back into shape. Interior restoration will run between 800-2000 if it is really ratty. Needs to be EFI for sure if it is DD. The miscellaneous stuff will cost you as well. The braking system was totally wasted on my 93 LX and even doing it myself it still cost me around 500 in parts for new hoses, calipers, wheel cylinders, discs and drums, etc.

Really, it is whatever you want to do and feel comfortable spending. I just wouldn't go into it thinking it will be a cheap DD for your kid.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Wow,....appreciate all of the replies,...but clearly there is a propensity here that "don't know me very well" do they?

I'd be willing to bet, that the car could be reliable w/ 2 k more added to the base price. (provided that the mechanicals aren't broke)
I realize that it'll be no sweetie, but what 3500.00 91 GT is?

For the record:

jsw81; 91TwighlightGT;@Gearbanger 101;
A carb makes it all the better, given it's obvious condition. This way I wont be plagued w/ a never ending stream of sensor based EFI issues. Put a carb, and an H.E.I. on a 5.0,...and it'll be running in an hour. If it was a non=running E.F.I car, it'd sit unrunning for a week, ( but more probably forever) and a buttload of cash.
It will be a DD,...as is mine with a carb (imagine that?) and,...BTW,..I'd consider a Focus only as an alternative to walking.

I paid a similar amount of money for my current car,...w/ the only difference to this one being it was a smoking 4cyl LX car, and all of the same conditions as described above existed here,....so as far as whether or not there is anything that lurks under the skin that can't be fixed,.....I'm not too worried about it.
I do hear you all though, ...........and given that we all dump a bunch of money into these cars only to unload them for half the investment when we decide to sell doesn't fall on deaf ears.
If it was for me,...and I was starting another one of my "projects" I wouldn't have asked,....I'd just do it. But it's not.
It has to be decent, reliable, and safe and complete in a very short time.

I'll probably let it go,...depends on what it looks like Monday after I get it up on a rack.

 

[gearheadboy]

What's wrong with a carb?? Would I take my EFI Fox from EFI to carb? NO. But imagine this, almost every car built before 1986 had one. You can make them start on a cold day, run, and drive nice. It's nice in fact to have a tach actually drop in between shifts!