Picked up a beater to flip

[Nick1994]

Saw Ramblejam's post about him buying that Saturn. I hadn't heard of Copart.com before. I created an account and bid and won on a car.

It's a 2001 Buick LeSabre with just shy of 250k miles

. It was listed as a running and driving car, clean title, was a donated vehicle. Won the auction for $225 but after all of their fees it came out to $478. My brother went with me and we waited for the forklift to carry it out. The 5-1/2 year old battery was completely dead, but thanks to my handy-dandy Walmart lithium jump box it fired right up, I think it'll even hold a charge. Runs great, smooth as glass. No CEL or other warning lights. Tires are going on 9 years old

. Windshield is cracked pretty bad and it's missing a hubcap. Pretty dirty inside and out. Also, A/C doesn't currently work. I noticed it clunked when stepping on the brakes. Had my brother pull it forward while I watched and hit the brakes. Both front wheels move back and forth about 1-2 inches, yikes. I'm guessing control arm bushings. All power windows worked which surprised me being it's a 16 year old Buick.

My plans are to flip the car. Looks like $40 for control arm bushings, $100 for a windshield, $15 for a hubcap, and around $50 to have the A/C recharged. Hopefully it holds refrigerant for a while. And also a good deep cleaning. Ive got a pressure washer so I'll probably degrease the engine too. Hopefully I'll have $700-$750 into it and can sell for $1500+

I figured I'd give it a try to keep busy and earn a few bucks on the side. So, anybody out there needing a cheap car to get around or wanting to flip a car, copart.com is a good auction website to try out. Be careful, I accidentally bid $600 on a truck I meant to type $300. Thankfully I was outbid on that one.

 

[AZjeff]

Explain the forklift part again. Not too worried about underbody damage?

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Explain the forklift part again.


He did say he wanted to flip it.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Explain the forklift part again. Not too worried about underbody damage?
That's how they move all cars. Even new ones that have been in a wreck.

It was a front end loader but without the bucket, it had 20+ foot long forks on it and they picked up the cars from front to rear, not sideways. I'll look underneath. They move hundreds of cars a day this way.

Here it was but with 20'+ long forks

 

[cpayne5]

Lol, already added it to your signature.

 

[dishdude]

 

[Boczech]

Good Luck with the flip and let us know how it goes.


Cheers,
Bo

 

[dishdude]

Sounds like a good deal for $500. I too have been watching all of Ramblejam's Copart posts. I like that idea!

 

[jacky]

looks better than what i drive, probaly more dependable too.

 

[Michael_P]

That era of LeSabre is awesome. Mechanically simple, smooth, quiet, decent power and good gas mileage. Not to mention tons of room and reliable. A new long block for that probably cost less than cylinder heads for many modern cars.

 

[carviewsonic]

You can probably tell from my signature, I like these Buicks. Just got back from a day of skiing with my family, took the 2003 Park Avenue and put 350 miles (560 km) on it today. These cars are great highway cruisers, smooth and quiet. Really nice ones with low mileage are getting hard to find around here though. It took me two years to find the "garage queen". I suppose I'll have to move on to something else someday.

 

[daves87rs]

Hmmm..like this idea too...

 

[01rangerxl]

Nice! Looks like a good flip project.

Many interesting things go through Copart, and there are many gems to be found. My friend's dad buys a bunch of light wrecks from Copart and fixes them up. Some he keeps for a while if they end up being nice.

Thankfully most things I want on there are too big of a logistical hassle or I'd go nuts.
For example

Do not bid..do not bid..do not bid...

 

[Nick1994]

Crawled underneath, no damage from forklift.

Looks like the control arm bushings are toast. Dorman control arms come with new bushings and ball joints. $58 each and Prime shipping on Amazon.

Looked under the hood, new intake manifold gasket too!

 

[JTK]

Looks good Nick. A lot of miles, but the 3.8L and 4T65E trans is a great long lasting combo.

 

[Alex_V]

Very nice! I maintain an '04 with 261K on it, still runs like a swiss watch. It was his parents' car that he's driving through college - it's had plugs, rear shocks, and one wheel bearing so far, and the only other thing it really needs aside from moderate cosmetic repair (headliner, stuff like that) is the in-op gauge cluster fixed. My BIL has a '98 with 215K+ and a friend now owns my grandpa's with 181K, and they both run and drive exceptionally well for their age and mileage.

Just when I thought CL was the only vice for guys like me...

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Looks good Nick. A lot of miles, but the 3.8L and 4T65E trans is a great long lasting combo.
Intake manifold gasket fiasco? Is the oil milky white or is there water on the underside of the oil fill cap?

 

[pandus13]

congrats Nick.

now don't live us hangin'.... what oil you want to use inside?
atf? trans shifts OK?

any plans for new year cookies windshield bake party?

 

[supton]

Lemme guess, cheapest oil for a change, and call it a day...

Sounds like a fun project.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Originally Posted By: JTK
Looks good Nick. A lot of miles, but the 3.8L and 4T65E trans is a great long lasting combo.
Intake manifold gasket fiasco? Is the oil milky white or is there water on the underside of the oil fill cap?


I know the 3.1/3.4L had IMG issues, but I'm not aware of the 3.8L having issues with this. *Assuming* this Buick has the 3.8 that is.