Bit by the bug...again. Need help...or Is there a Doctor in the house?

As some of you may recall I have had a love affair with these cars. I was in hot and heavy with a fellow who ended up selling is car at auction for substantially less than my 'sight un- seen offer" ( I have done smarter things...)

It was a stunning blue car in Philly. A 5 speed no less. Still trying to find my heart. Lost it somewhere back east.

N-E Way, I stumbled across a 400i car that is 64k miles, original paint, doesn't have a panel (except the roof and the trunk) with out dings and small impressions in the metal. And some jack as* drilled an antenna into the trunk for a nifty 'new' mobile phone unit.

Recent "service" for low 5 figures where nothing of any substance was accomplished...yes he left it ALL at the cleaners where it was taken from him, and this car needs lots and lot$ of little things....

Question: What would be the trouble in just buying the old girl and driving it on a daily basis and fixing things as they reared their ugly head?

I am all for originality and pristine cars however this car really needs everything ( cracks here and there, the clock setting shaft missing, dash leather cracked but not massively ugly) but is basically unmolested and runs well (for now)...(example, a mouse made it's way into the back head liner area...the hood insulation sags and has pine needles in it, the hood hinge bolts have NO paint on them, cats are missing when an 'upgraded exhaust was bought and paid for' by an unsuspecting previous owner, who the shop I think turned around then and sold them to someone else...but that's a different story)...the buy in is very reasonable and a good plain vanilla Chevy/Honda---fill in the make of your choice/ could be bought for the same money.

Is it sacrilige to drive a 4xx as a daily which looks rough and NOT worry about parking lot dings, and all the other stuff we normally would be concerned with?

I know a fellow who drove an old Alfa that was oxidixed, lightly dented and has a worn patina, like this car, and he was a principal of a very famous restoration shop, he used to joke that he did so to keep his friends in the body shops salavating that someday, just might get a crack at her...

She's a great 12-15 foot car and it's the shape I love anyway. This car is RIGHT on the edge of being too far gone, however my sense of 'saving' her will, I suspect get me into trouble. I have other cars to drive btw; So transportation is the last issue.

Soliciting opinions...well that was a fast 50 minutes.

thanks
Signed,
Conflicted and falling again.

 

I sincerely thank you all for your advice to go forward.

I kind of expected such encouragement and thusly posted to get the result I wanted (?), maybe.

I will call the owner again. Also until this deal is done or not, I will not post pix as it's still up for grabs and advertising this car at this price seems foolish if I really want it...and I do.

Thanks again fellows.

signed,
Your Co-dependent F Car lover.

 

...true. I have access to a beautiful 400i, low miles, the owner put a stunning black interior in a resprayed black car, making a combo that I don't think was offered factory, cleaned up the extra marker lights before the paint, straight as an arrow body and everything works. That's $30k. A real deal IMHO.

The car I am ruminating over is a bit below 1/2 that and I KNOW I couldn't get her to the condition of the $30k car with 1.5 times the difference. Got it.

However my comfort level at driving that pristine example to the store for groceries or having my dog in the back??? I wouldn't do that to such a fine example even at $30k which is small change to some fchatters. It's irresponsible I think.

Here in lies the rub, a car to collect?...or a car to drive, like reach for the keys First... like the aforementioned Chevy/Honda example. Not tearing my hair out if some uncaring idiot let their shopping cart get carried away by the wind while they were talking on the cell phone. Sure I'd be pissed, but I would go ballistic with the $30k straight as an arrow car.

Any way, I am going to look at it again, in the a.m., with another F Car owner and myself, I'm calling for a 'life-line' here, sadly.

Keep you posted.

And thanks all who weighed in. grazie.

 

Well we kept our appointment as agreed to last night with the seller. A fellow FOG member and Fchatter in tow, nice of him to assist me I might add, it was a fair bit of driving and he chose to help me with my condition.

Anyway, about 30 minutes out I called him to let him know we were indeed on target.

He had the car on battery charger and the block was cold. Drawing 6 amps in this cold, not worried.

So we do the walk around, lift the hood, boot and all the lookie stuff. Then we start it and it starts right up. Idles well and he gently revs the engine and nothing of note except a slightly slipping belt, lower alternator me thinks. My friend lets me know in a covert way that it's not as bad as he expected and I am thinking the slightly older girl who is smiling, with the big hair and the nice rack might go home with me...reserved optimism I think you could call it.

So we giver her a couple of minutes warm up time and he reminds me there's not much gas in it...we agree to take a drive. In our phone conversation(S), he warned me that this car wasn't registered nor insured and he wasn't in a position to be driving all over creation to which I responded that if I couldn't drive it around the neighborhood, and prove that it does what a car should do, go, stop and shift...we were wasting each other's time.

So today in the cockpit he points out the low fuel light is on before we put it into "D", and we back the car out of the drive way straight back into another drive to facilitate a turn around.

The car dies, and no amount of cranking will make it start. ( I am grimacing as the starter was spun and spun...). The prediction of the owner HAS come to fruition. SURPRISE !

All three of us push the car back into the drive and he apologetically says that maybe he should have put ONE gallon of gas in it...I nearly fell over. He actually said 1 gallon. This the fellow with a ZR1 Corvette in the drive, two european motorcycles in his garage...


1. If YOU were selling a car and had a fellow who asked the right questions, was coming with an educated friend for the SECOND time...do you think you could have gotten off your crack and pit some gas in her?

2. The guy knows everything and has been to the factory, Ducati, has this Maser and all that jazz, about 62 years old, but can't put gas in the car...My cars are full, the old fluid displaces moisture routine...

3. Said he's open to offers; but, errr, I can't drive it down the street?

Me thinks he has something to hide.

ArtS.'s advice good, me thinks 2.

I did drive over to a respected shop and discuss a leak down and other stuff I would be interested in, he also suggested to be aware of the brake lines which are in the frame (!) and I knew I was in good hands to get it flat bedded there if I needed to...

However I am kinda piss*ed at this guy for wasting my time and my friends too, it has no cats and is in registration limbo with fees deposited with CA DMV, them requiring a smog check which it won't even pass the visual part let alone the dyno part...however he told me to come back in the afternoon (!), (and stand around waiting for his highness to get gas ???)

I said nothing doing, and then after I told him I might come back in a week to drive it ---he threatens to keep it and register it in Nv. I say, ok. Your car do what you will.

For now I will let him stew in his own juices while his self imposed target date of 02 Jan approaches.

The more people I know, the more I like my dog.

Here endeth this installment, dampened enthusiasm, the girl with the big hair stayed at the bar this day.

 

...pm'd you
M.