[V8] Purchasing a V8

[NicolCS at aol.com]

I've been thinking about what was espressed in the "snip" below.  I don't 
agree that it makes sense to purposely purchase a cosmetically good but otherwise 
"fixer-upper" for a rock bottom purchase price based on the notion that ALL 
available V8 cars these days will need major work anyway.  I have some 
experience in purchasing cars - I've purchased over 700 cars (I had a dealership a 
while back).  In my experience it makes much more sense to purchase the BEST car 
you can find and pay a reasonable price up to and including something 
approaching top dollar.  Every $1000 more you spend will result in many times more 
than that in value received.  Knock off $500 for bad brakes and spend $1000 
making them right.  Knock off $500 for bad leather and spend $1500 making it right. 
 In the Porsche world, a $12,000 911 is far cheaper than taking a $5000 911 
and trying to make it "nice".  In the end, you will have $20,000 in the 
"cheaper" car. 

When I purchase a used car I start with market value than start taking 
realistic deductions for repairs needed.  (plus  $500 for contingencies).  When my 
deductions blow by the asking price and keep on going south, it's time to walk. 
 OTOH, if the deductions don't get down to the asking price (or what I think 
it will sell for), then it starts looking like a good deal.  Then ask 
yourself: Is it really worth the grief to buy low and end-up investing up to "retail" 
when I could just go and buy "retail" and save the grief? Food for thought.

Other factors to consider: "Why is this car being sold?"; who is selling; and 
what's the environment.  A "quicky" paint-job car sold by a nefarious 
character in a back alley vs. a nice car being sold by an executive from his home 
where the car was replaced by an RS-6. It's normal for someone to lose interest 
and get back a few notches on maintenance. Worry about the college student who 
bought the car on a whim, can't afford to do anything at all, and had run it 
out.

Rather than concluding that "All of them out there are fixer-uppers" I'd say 
sit back and wait for one of the good ones to come on the market. They are out 
there and they are well worth the money.
Craig Nicol
90 V8Q 96k


<big snip> 
Seems like there have been a few V8s from listers go by these pages in
recent
days - some basket cases and some only "well worn". They all were going for
cheap - so why not pick up a fixer upper, and bring it up to whatever spec
you
want?

***********************************

Yes, I think that is precisely the point.  Almost ANY V8 purchased now will
be a "fixer upper". 

Let's look at what seems to be on the market for the most part:

    1.  VERY few V8's of any age have fewer than 100,000 miles.  There
are some that appear from time to time, but I would be VERY wary of an early
car...a '90 or '91 that had very low miles as in the first three years Audi
had quite a lot of trouble with instrument clusters and many were replaced.
True mileage may be unknown.  At 100,000 miles, there will be a LOT of
little bitty rubber grommets, hoses, connectors and other stuff that will be
really brittle or just plain worn out.  Easy to fix, but time consuming:
figure the rear suspension, for example, and all of those other things that
lie in wait beneath the hood on top of the engine.
I think that the bottom line to the bottom line is to buy the BEST cosmetic
example that you can find and buy it as cheaply as possible, and then plan
to spend the long dollar on the mechanical makeover.  

Also, with the amount of galvanization used in these cars' bodies, rust
won't be an issue, unless the car had been smacked and aftermarket parts
used to repair it, or the repair job was botched.  But a smacked car is to
be avoided at all cost...as I found out the hard way with my '90 3.6 car.

Roger
<unsnip>