After 14 years of faithful service as a four season daily driver, my 78
is showing some serious rust. In addition, the mechanicals are still
hanging in there, but are definitely getting tired. I've been keeping
it going by welding patches and/or bondo-ing and it's probably good for
another couple of years but at some point it's going to need a
restoration. Frankly I'm not up to it from a time, skill, inclination
or financial standpoint.
A business acquaintance of mine who has an antique car hobby just
contacted me about a 79 spitfire he received in trade and doesn't want.
I looked at the car and the good news is that it only has 62,000 miles,
an OD transmission and the body is totally rust free with completely
straight body panels. The bad news is that the interior was restored
with a cloth interior that looks it came from a used car salesman's
sports coat on the seats and on the door panels (although the fit is
pretty good). The carpet is shot. The car was re-sprayed an
unattractive reddish-brown, looks like with handheld cans of spray-paint
and the top (hood) is in tatters. The car has been sitting for a number
of years and there are some niggling things associated with disuse -
passenger door sticks, tach doesn't work, brakes leak - and I'm sure
others will crop up. Because of the brakes, I couldn't take it for a test
drive, although the engine started immediately and ran and revved
smoothly. All the emissions gear is still in place.
The guy is asking $3500. He may take less later if it doesn't sell, but
at this point the $3500 is firm. Does that sound like a reasonable
price to you guys? At this point of my life (kids in college), that would
be a fairly significant investment for me and I'm torn whether to go
for it or not.
The good news is that I now have a "winter beater" so I should be able
to keep this thing reasonably rust free.
TIA!
Greg Rowe
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