Steve -
You might be in for the deal of a lifetime, or you might be
in for a huge pile of grief. It's up to you to determine
which.
First off: Where are you and where is the car? You would do
well to contact the list with that info, so we can see if a
lister is available to go with you to take a look at it.
Things to watch for:
1) Rust
2) Rust
3) Rust
4) Hidden Rust
5) New paint jobs hiding bondo and rust.
Everything else is easily fixed. Parts are plentiful, as is
knowledge and information. Talk to the owner about the
problems and report back to the list. Categories of
problems (other than rust):
1) Electrical. Plan on spending a long weekend cleaning
connections before trying to diagnose anything. Odds are
that cleaning connections followed by some dielectric grease
will fix 95% of the problems.
2) Ignition. If it has a Lucs Opus unit, it will probably
be dying. Replace it with a Pertronix Ignitor or go to a
points distributor.
3) Emmissions controls including carbs. Ick. If at all
possible in your area, remove them (but talk to someone who
has done it properly first). If not, be prepared to fix
them right.
4) Steering and suspension. This is frustrating, as getting
it fixed right would be easy if previous owners had just
paid attention to regular maintainance. Odds are they
didn't, so it will be a bit of work.
There are folks on this list who will tell you to avoid the
'77 and get an earlier model (pre-75). If you like the '77,
ignore them. My brother said the same sort of stuff about
my '77 (he has a '59 Frogeye), until the drove my car for a
week. After that he commented that it was very different
from his Sprite, but was a worthwhile car in it's own right.
I agree.
Chris K.
> Hello All!
>
> I've been reading some of the list over the last two days
> (new subscriber) and am contemplating buying a Midget.
> I've found a '77 that an owner wants to be rid of his
> "problem". Does anyone have any buying advice? I've
> searched the online archives (the search doesn't work)
> with no results.
> I'm sure this question has been asked and answered before.
> Can anyone patiently help?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve Kirks
>
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