The not quite S

[BruceH]

Great story! For $1000, it should make a great platform for a track car or other experiments. I'm looking forward to the end result, good luck

[Luv2Box]

Great story confirming the need for a professional PPI.

[MARTHA]

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Two thoughts, questions really...
How does the blades get broken off the water pump? Could it be from trying to start it while water/coolant is frozen? Or is this a crazy thought?
And did it come with the hardtop? If it come with the hardtop, you can sell it and break even any time you want, you did ok.

[Giller]

Originally Posted by BruceH

Great story! For $1000, it should make a great platform for a track car or other experiments. I'm looking forward to the end result, good luck

He paid more than $1000 for it - he only talked the seller down $1000. I'm guessing he paid somewhere around $3500?? Said it was the price of a roller.

[MARTHA]

Originally Posted by Giller

He paid more than $1000 for it - he only talked the seller down $1000. I'm guessing he paid somewhere around $3500?? Said it was the price of a roller.

Thanks for setting me straight!

[78F350]

I understand the confusion. Let me clear it up. It was not an awesome $1000 deal. The car was listed on Craigslist for $4,500 and when I responded to the ad, I told the seller that the absolute most that I'd be interested paying for it was $3,500. He said that sounded good to him. I think that the seller was fair and reasonably honest. He just didn't know anything about these cars. At that point having rebuilt two salvage cars, I should have known better. If I had done a proper inspection I probably would have offered $2,000 - $2,500 max. On this one, I was my own sucker. I actually did quite a bit of work on it immediately after I bought it. It is a roadworthy car now (for Oklahoma), but not a good specimen to bring to Cars and Coffee.

...blades get broken off the water pump?

I can only guess about the water pump. I think that it was an original 1997 pump and judging by the corrosion, it was not running a proper coolant. Brittle with age, when one started to give out, it probably cascaded. I bet JFP in PA can give a better answer.

... did it come with the hardtop?

No, I have two '99s that came with hardtops. I installed the extra spin-locks (from Woody), so I can pass them around between cars.

A few more notes:
The headlights that came with it were trash. I replaced them along with one of the mounting trays.
It came with the original S style front bumper. I gave that to Redtele58 for his spec car. I plan to cut the one that is currently on it when I connect the center radiator back up.
The wheels that came with it were cheap, heavy, knock-offs with curb rash and bad paint.
Cleaning up and finding out what I had just bought, the morning after:

[itsnotanova]

Did you verify that it still has the other S parts (brakes, transmission, cooling tubes)?

[78F350]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

Did you verify that it still has the other S parts (brakes, transmission, cooling tubes)?

Yes to all three. I had seen enough fake S models on Craigslist, that before I even went to see it I verified that it had a correct VIN number. I suppose that I am lucky that the transmission and brakes didn't get swapped along with the engine. One thing I didn't notice until about a week ago is that the rear shocks don't match and the right side sits a little higher than the left.

Rear shocks and springs are one of the few parts I have left on my '01 parts car. I'll probably put them on soon and upgrade later next year.


I'm putting a shopping list together including left and right radiator shrouds and a few other things. I'll text you by Friday.

Also looking over your rear bumper and manual top as upcoming projects.