Need some advice on 71 Challenger purchase
Well finally got a chance to go view this car and it was a weird experience indeed. First off the car WAS the same one from Cuda-Challenger.com which apparently sold in late September. Thanks again moparclown.
The owner had the car listed on Craigslist but only had it listed in a city that is about an hour and a half away. Why wouldn't he list it locally?
The guy who was selling it was apparently home but sent his young son out to show us the car which seemed kind of odd. Do you really send a young kid out to sell a $19000 car?
The car was outside in front of the shop but the door to the shop was closed.
I played dumb to the fact that I knew the car was purchased just a few weeks earlier. I asked the kid how long they had it and he said they purchased it in February. When I asked why they were selling he said they had too many toys. Quads, motorbikes, etc. So give up a classic car for a motorbike?
The father told me the car had a 440 motorhome engine in it. The kid said no it wasn't a motor home engine at all. They did have the motorhome engine, but it was in the shop for rebuilding. The kid didn't know much about the engine in the car except it ran good.
The father told me the car had been painted by the previous owner but it was very obvious that the paint was super fresh. Sitting inside you could actually smell the fresh paint. Also the car was originally red something the father never revealed. Looking closely at the body it did look pretty good. My buddy said he thought he could see where there was some bondo on one of the rear quarters and there might have been a few other areas barely perceptible. If it was a bondo car they did a pretty good job hiding it. At least to my eyes. :)
The kid fired up the engine and it did sound pretty decent. He said "they drove it around a fair bit this summer and it ran good. Didn't overheat or anything." ??? He also mentioned that it gets pretty hot inside the car due to the heat of the engine coming through the firewall. Hmm....?
While the engine was running I was looking underneath and listening. I went around the back to listen to the exhaust and the kid had already closed the hood and shut the engine off! He only let it run for about a minute or two tops. Hmm......???
He showed us the inside of the trunk which didn't look too bad but there was some obvious bondo in the upper corners where the rubber trunk seals go. The trunk wouldn't close so the kid just left it resting a little bit open.
The interior was really clean but the headliner looked like it wasn't installed correctly at all.
The passenger window wouldn't close and it seemed like there was some trim missing too. The rear window trim didn't seem like it was installed correctly either.
The car also looked like it was recently undercoated. The father told me specifically that the car didn't have undercoating and it was only painted underneath.
So anyway it was obvious that there were some mixed up stories going on here. I don't why people think they can pull fast ones like this? I don't care how great a car is, if the guy selling it tells me a lie I'm not buying it.
Once again thank you all for your advice!!
P.S. As we were driving away we watched the kid open the door to the shop and it looked a lot like a paint booth inside. Hmmm.... :-D