Good news/bad news: I've located my 1st car (!)...

[camarojoe]

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...unless the car is a LOT nicer than he led me to believe it is over the phone.


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I seriously doubt its alot nicer than the dealer described it... if it is it would be a history making event.

I'd still consider buying it back... I hope you didn't tell this dealer about it being your first car....if you did, you probably shot yourself in the foot and won't have too much leverage in negotiating... I'm sorta torn on what advice i would give you...while it would be cool to have your first car back, if its a rotted out, poorly running, falling apart and overpriced P.O.S., It may be something you can be GLAD isn't your car anymore. I know I've seen a car I sold only a several years prior, and after seeing it in its current state, any desire to own it again quickly diminished.

[Jeff H]

I'd go in and give him your price and leave him your contact information. After he doesn't sell it for weeks he'll dig out your contact information and probably come closer to your number than you think. If the car is as rough as it sounds with no original parts left it can't be worth as much as a more complete, original car. He'll learn that the hard way. Either that or go get a Honda Accord with a carbon fiber hood, big wheels, big rear wing, big fart pipe and trade it for the Chevelle. He'd probably have an easier time selling the Honda.

[djunod]

He'll probably gouge you for even more when he reads this thread...

[jg95z28]

A similar thing happend to me two years ago. I had already purchased my Gold 67 RS, thanks in part to my stepson helping to get me the bug to get back into 1st gen Camaros. He was still bugging me that he wanted a 67-69 Camaro, and he was willing to give up his supercharged 96 Mustang to get it. Well it was a slow day, in fact it was my birthday, and I was trolling ebay during my lunch hour looking at 1st gen Camaros and seeing what I might be able to get for under $10k and what is close to me in northern California. I then stumbled upon this ad for a powder blue 68 RS Camaro with medium blue stripes. I look at the license plate and low and behold the plate matches the plates on my first Camaro! I e-mail the guy to ask about the car, and after a few e-mails we determine it was my old RS. He had purchased it from a friend but was now selling it to buy a both. The friend had bought it as a parts car for the restoration of his 68 RS convertible but then changed his mind because he thought it was in too good of condition to part out. I had bought it in my freshman year of college for $3900 after my first car (A 67 Chevelle Malibu) had been totalled in a wreck. (Rearended by uninsured driver.) At the time it was all original, 327 2bbl PG with deluxe parchment interior. It was originally a British Green car, but the guy had painted it hugger orange. I had owned it through college which included replacing the original 327 with a rebuilt motor after it went south. (We did that in those days.) I also added headers (exhaust manifolds cracked), a 4bbl, dual exhaust, and fiberglass mono-leafs in the rear. I started to restore it after college and had plans to return it to British Green. After about 18 months and after finding countless amounts of bondo covering rust and body rot, I decided enough was enough. I didn't have the room or time to finish the restoration and my little brother was about to turn 16 and bugging me to sell it to him. I fixed the bad bodywork left from the previous owner, who by this time I deduced had bought it slapped bondo on it and painted it for a quick resale to me, and put it back together so my brother could use it as a daily driver and sold it to him for $1500. Within a year he had blown up the 327 and replaced it with a 355 along with pulling the PG and swapping in a TH350. He later sold it for $1100 when he couldn't get it to pass smog.

So here I was looking at my 1st Camaro online. The center console was now gone, but it still had the motor my brother built (it was painted lime green) and the stereo and Grant steering wheel I had installed when I owned it. The Parchment interior was now black and the center console was missing. The guy wanted $13K for it and knowing the condition of the body underneath the paint, I was skeptical it was worth that much. However, if it wasn't for that God awful paint job, I may have bought it back.

A week later I called the guy who had sold me the Gold 67 RS and he put me in touch with a guy selling a clean 67 coupe that had been sitting in storage for 25 years. That car ended up being the little blue 67 coupe I own today.

Things happen for a reason... but if it had been painted any color other than powder blue, I'd probably own my first Camaro again today.

Anyway, nice to see someone get the potential to purchase their first car back.

[VintageMusclecar]

The more I think about this, the more I doubt I'll try to buy it back. I don't want to quote the exact price he gave me, but let's just say for comparison's sake that last year there was a beautiful, original survivor `67 SS396 Chevelle for sale here on sYc, and (I believe) it was numbers-matching and unmolested. That one was avertised for roughly $2K more than what this guy wants for my old car...a car that's not #'s matching, and definitely not unmolested.

(FWIW, if I would have had the funds when that car was advertised here, I would now own that car)

The dealers "reasoning"...

"With a little bodywork and paint, I can get $30K+ out of that (my old) car."

Remember, this isn't a numbers-matching car.

If it's anything like he described it, it'll need 2 full quarters at roughly $600 a pop, labor to install them properly--I'll guess around $2-3K for that, re-chromed bumpers at around $750+ to re-do the originals, plus whatever peripheral issues need to be addressed, and if he intends on getting serious $$$ like he's talking, a $2K paint job ain't gonna cut it. Better make that $5000-$7500 minimum.

There's $10K + that I can pick off right off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more to do than that.

And it's still not a #'s matching car.

While it is my first car, and the sentimental attachment is HUGE, I'm just not willing to get screwed like that to get the car back. I've almost always gotten the short end of the stick on deals like this, and it's just not worth it anymore.

I don't mind someone making a fair profit at my expense, but I strongly advise against insulting me, and even moreso, trying to screw me.

At any rate...I have a pretty good idea of what to expect when/IF he sends me pics, and I might make the 8 hour road trip (round-trip) to go see it in person if the pics are even remotely promising. I'll take "X" amount of $$$ with me, and if my initial assessment is accurate, I'll consider making him an offer. A realistic one that's NOT an insult to either one of us. I know exactly what these cars are (and aren't!) worth. I won't bother leaving my contact info. It'll be a one-time offer on my part. If he bites, I've realized a dream. If not, I guess it was never meant to be and I'll just have to move on.

I'm already beginning to regret finding this car.

[jg95z28]

Take a few days and really think it through. That's what it took for me to get it out of my head about buying back my first Camaro. You're already ahead of the game, because you are using logic to determine what it will take and cost to make it the way you want it and compare that to what similar cars are going for.

You can always make another more suitable Chevelle look just like what you always wanted your first car to be had you been able to afford to build it when you originally owned it. (Did that make sense? )

[Donutblue]

Eric, drag a good looking bar-maid from one of the local pubs making google eyes at him all the time. --- you'll get your car, and at your price.

[COPO427]

How long did you own it for. The less the better for letting it go, if it's not what you expected.

[VintageMusclecar]

Well, I recieved pics last night. The car is definitely saveable, but not worth anything even remotely close to what he's asking in it's current condition.

e(vil)Bay pricing strikes again. Guess it's to be expected anymore.

I'm not even going to bother with a counter-offer on the car. We're not even in the same ballpark.

Just from the pics I can see about $6-8K worth of work that needs to be done to make the car "right" and un-do the half-assed repairs that have been done to this point, and $10K + to make it "nice". It's an "OK" driver at the moment. And this is in the mindset of something one would want to keep, not roll over to try and make a profit on.

No sense wasting anymore time on it.

Here's wishing you a better life, old friend.

*sigh*