How to catagorize this 328

Ricer
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6212&item=2459113126

 

Lose the wing & change the shift knob = good car. Price is reasonable also - No reserve....

PPI a must!

 

What's with the wing and the huge shifter? And the cheapo sticker on the center console? Oh, the rear plate is from New Jersey...that explains it....

 

I am fairly certain that this is the same car that I test drove in northern Cincinnati during late spring 2002. The year, model, color combination, wing, shifter knob, CD player model, side & rear shields, telephone antenna (rear driver's fender, just outboard of the wing) all are identical to the car I test drove, and the odometer reads only about 1000 miles higher. I don't recall the logo on the center console or the replacement mats. I was in the market for a 328, and, being a local vehicle, I checked into it. At the time, the asking price was $45,000 in the local paper, and around $49,000 on various internet sites.

For a variety of reasons, I chose to keep looking, and, instead, selected a lower mileage 1989 red / tan 328 GTS out of San Jose (which I also test drove before buying).

Anyway, my recollections of the black vehicle I test drove are as follows:

* The wing was a Koenig wing, Countach-style according to the owner, custom color matched. I didn't like it, but its installation was very well done and the color matched very, very well.

* The car was very clean, both inside and out, with very little road rash.

* I don't believe the phone antenna was functional anymore, but was still installed, basically, as a hole plug.

* There was no curtain for the targa top.

* The mechanic who serviced it said that the owner was very particular, and would promptly correct even very minor deficiencies, having the vehicle flatbedded to and from the shop, which was only about 25 miles away.

* At the time I saw it, the passenger mirror wasn't working correctly, but the owner was going to have it fixed.

* The owner claimed to have all records, but the records offered for my inspection only went back about a year or two.

* There seemed to be some discrepancy (possibly just confusion on my part) as to how many owners the car had had. I believe the car had been in Florida prior to this owner.

* The CarFax report identified a "Potential Odometer Rollback" issue, wherein one of the service or registration records had been entered as exactly 50,000 miles higher than it should have been. I assessed this as an error, but something the owner should have corrected rather than allow it to remain as a blemish.

Some of the things I considered were how best to remove the wing and telephone antenna. I spoke with several body shops, some of which expressed a concern with trying to patch drill holes in a permanent manner, particularly where the antenna is. One even suggested replacing the rear deck lid. In any event, even at what I assessed was a lower-than-average price, the remedial work, hassle factor, missing curtain, CarFax blemish, and (lest I forget) shifter knob more than offset the price advantage. As several of the body shops mentioned, that wing makes that a "one-man-car," and I wasn't the man for it.

 

Yeah. That wing's a bit too big for the car's proportions. It can go with the shift knob back to the integra where they belong.

 

29.000 $ for an accident free (?) 328 GTS would be a good starter kit
Remove the wing and sell it to a countach driver at ebay.
Remove the shifter and apply an apple or anything elese ...

REM: no ABS on this early modell, no test drive, no compression test yet ...

forza

cinquevalvole

 

I can buy it - I even have my old shift knob to put on it (I replaced mine with the metal knob).

 

Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound! LOL!

 

lol, settle down Bon Jovi.

 

Actually, if you scroll all the way down it mentions that if the buyer wants the wing removed, they'll do it for free. Wonder what that would look like? I defer to Andreas on all things "wings".

 

When I looked at the car, the seller kept assuring me that the wing could easily be removed and all that would be left were the four mounting holes that had been drilled through for wing installation. That's when I started calling body shops and getting a wide range of recommendations, from "putty will fall out of a flush-mounted hole," to "you'd probably want to replace the entire deck lid." Probably the most reasonable recommendation was from a shop that discussed welding the hole closed; he said this could probably be done even if the deck is aluminum, just with different materials and equipment. He thought that doing the same on the fender to close the telephone antenna hole would be a bit more problematic, and would require a repaint of the quarter panel to get it right.

I forgot to mention before, the car also had extenders on the rear wheels for a wider wheel base. And, the seller said that he'd had the suspension raised about an inch so as to improve his ground clearance.

 

Wait so what is the box in the center of the cabin? Under the radio?

 

This car has been on ebay before, hasn't it?

 

Now THAT was funny...gotta love it when people goof on Jersey.

 

oh my. now that is a good question.

 

No comment...

 

It's too easy though!

 

Anyone know if the seller also owns a red Testarossa with a nearly-identical wing...?

 

LOL!

 

Can i assume your little interjection of admitted laughter concedes that you remember what i'm referring to...?

 

How could I forget? The only other thing that that guy needed to make his look perfect was a Lambo!


I hope I'm not starting a new series of F-Chat violence and unrest with that last comment.

 

This car has also been for sale for some time at a $ 500 per month lease offer......with no takers it seems.

 

LOL... That guy had the Carrozzeria Maddog options on his car with the special carbon fiber door sills and a steering wheel spoiler for interior aerodynamic purposes... The wing on the back was actually a satellite cell phone receiver...

 

It's not modified too bad. Make the wing into a coffee table, as for the shift knob. EBAY it!