fishy or paranoid?

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gallydif

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I'm looking at this car. It's a 9 hour drive away from me. I have seen pictures and talked to the owner. Mint mint mint. '95 Caprice 5.7l LT1, leather seats, 50k original mileage. They're hard to find like that these days! I ran an autocheck on the vehicle and everything checked out. NO accidents, no flooding, 4 owners, No fleet, clean title, etc.

The owner states there are no mechanical issues except for the back 2 windows not rolling up or down and the radio not working.

What raised the flag for me was when he told me he has only owned the car for 7 months (I'm thinking 'why would you own such a beautiful car like that for such a short period of time unless you found out the tranny is about to fail or something?!') so I asked him. He say's its because he found another car he really likes and wants to purchase it and sell this one.

I'd hate to drive 9 hours to find out there's something wrong with it or even worse purchase it and have it break down on me while driving it back home.

Does this sound fishy to you or am I just being paranoid?
 
Its hard to say, but I think you're being paranoid. 'Found another car I really want' sounds like a perfectly good reason to sell. Some people get bored easily.
 
Some car guys can't help but to constantly swap cars. If everything checks out, I wouldn't worry.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Can you arrange for him to take it to a local shop and have a mechanic that you pay check it out?


This ^ Takes the guesswork out of it somewhat. As said though, people, especially "car guys" often get bored and move on to the next dream car in a short space of time.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Can you arrange for him to take it to a local shop and have a mechanic that you pay check it out?

I asked if he minds me doing that. He says no. So that'll be the plan now. Now to find a respectable mechanic in a small town..
 
Originally Posted By: gallydif
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Can you arrange for him to take it to a local shop and have a mechanic that you pay check it out?

I asked if he minds me doing that. He says no. So that'll be the plan now. Now to find a respectable mechanic in a small town..


+2

I've been that guy. I had a satisfied customer. The guy checking out the car. Go for it.
 
A car like that was probably owned by an old person who gave it to their kid, who wanted something cooler, who then sold it to someone else. Some people just get the itch, and I guess it's much cheaper than doing it with new cars.

Perhaps the owner was sold a bill of goods by the folks who think that driving some old boat with a body on frame design is safer and better than a new design, only to find that it isn't, a v8 sucks gas for marginally more low end torque, and it lacks some conveniences that they wanted.

Rear windows will stick if not used for a long time. I once had a car that did that. The radio? Check fuses. I guess it could just be age...

If it's your thing, try it. Price in the risk of the trip. I've always sort of desired one of the late 90s Impala SS, I did like the older caprice, the more boxy one with the 4.3L V8. You won't find these getting any younger. So long as you price in any issues, I wouldn't be terribly concerned.

Sometimes people on forums who are nearby would be willing to have a look for you. I've done that before.
 
Look for evidence of "donking" (putting on 22" rims) like frame notching, fender mods, etc.

I assume this gem is priced high enough to avoid you donking it, but it could have been pre-donked.

That all said, if you keep interviewing the seller like he's got something to hide you're going to annoy him and he might just get sick of you. OTOH the 9 hour thing makes it hard to do in person. When I sell a car I hate phone chit-chat so I write an honest, thorough description, but it still isn't enough for some people.
 
Lots of people buy and sell cars when they get tired of them. Drive a different car every 6 months or so. Best advice is to take it to a local guy and spend $100 for a good looking over.
 
Having been a classic collector car guy for 15 years, my opinion is that the owner found things they didn't like with that car, enough of them to just bail out on it. That coupled with the 9 hr trip to see it (and even worse if you don't see it and just have it shipped), makes that a high probability loser to me. I've been on too many 6-9 hour drives to know they almost always don't work out, no matter how many questions you ask up front. Have them take a detailed video of it. If it's still ok, hire someone in the area to check it out in person. That might cost you $50-$100. Even then, if the car gets shipped, you have no guarantee about what parts they might remove, swap out, or damage it while it's waiting to be picked up. I've done 2 long distance ships through top carriers and both times was unhappy with both the shipping and the condition of the car when it arrived. I've yet to buy a car where I traveled more than 2-3 hours to see it. For some reason those 4-9 hour trips always seem to be boondoggles. The one time I hired a pro out of Hemmings for $250 to check out a car for me 3,000 miles away....the seller jacked up the price on the car from $12,500 to $14,500 after the appraiser looked at it.

It's good that nothing comes up on CarFax, autocheck, etc. But that doesn't mean the car wasn't flooded or had accident damage repaired. You might also check with your local GM dealer and run that car through their maintenance history program. Sometimes I've found a number of additional problems that didn't show up on any other documents.
 
Originally Posted By: gallydif
I asked if he minds me doing that. He says no. So that'll be the plan now. Now to find a respectable mechanic in a small town..


In my opinion, the fact that he's willing to tote it to a mechanic for a checkup means that he's likely not hiding anything. Knowing that, I'd personally just make the drive down there and do it. Life's short and a road trip is fun. Enjoy the journey!
 
The window regulators on those cars have a really bad design for the nylon silders that allow them to operate. They fracture right in the middle and allow the arms to jump straight out of the slider. Dorman makes a different style of slider that replaces the original. It's a pain in the rear, but not expensive to fix yourself. I've had to do all 4 windows in both of my B-Body wagons.

The situation with this car is a very common-sense situation.

It has been a very long time since this car was a top choice for a daily driver. After leaving the original owner, who was likely old and didn't put many miles on, it became the target of people looking for the "perfect example". What this means is that the successive owners were likely not inclined to put a load of miles on it, and likely had a regular cars (or cars) that absorbed their regular road miles.

A car like this is about 97% likely to be acquired by a B-Body aficionado, and B-Body aficionados are about 97% likely to have at least 3 B-Body cars in regular rotation. Not likely to have the miles racked up, or stay with an owner for a very long time.
 
A car that old with low miles sat for extended periods of time. I'd pass on it. And 9 hrs away. Also a pass situation. Just my $.02
 
The radio and windows not working could signify electrical problems. We usually only worry about mechanical defects, but electrical issues can be a nightmare problem too.
 
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