Don't forget Chris, to synchronize the carbs they have to be synchronizable
Is there an iphone app for this?
Austin: 1974 3.0 CS - $32K
- Thread starter Markos
- Start date
Is there an iphone app for this?
OK, spent over an hour on the car today, here is my take;
First of all, the young man who is selling/consigning the car is a very nice, interesting and enterprising gentleman, I enjoyed meeting him. Second, I truly believe the owner of the car is a caring and conscientious person based on the receipts I saw and the mechanical work that was performed, I think he really cared for the car and that's always a good thing. The car looks really nice, extremely shiny and all the parts are there however our old friend rust got to allot of areas that are tough to get at and repair and for this reason I advised my friend to consider looking elsewhere. Front to back, both sides the floors will need replacing (there was already a rivit-patch on the left rear which has degraded). At first it was tough to see because the undercoating was holding allot of it together, truly- so although the rocker seams looked dry I still think there will be some issues in there.
Front wings were removed at some point and possibly new ones put on, the metal looked clean but there was significant decay around the under-strut mount area and the seams at the top of the fenders were not as they should be- some separation etc. There was also a pretty decent size hole in the firewall behind the fuseblock, the glovebox was locked and I couldn't look back there. The current owner strikes me as someone who probably did not really look there much. Other than that there was some rust repair likely on the roof (It's a sunroof car) and you can see what's lurking behind the Botox.
Make no mistake, this is a great looking car, it's just that there is no getting around the repairs necessary. All my comments hopefully will be taken respectfully but I think there is around 10K worth of rust remediation and that's if it's done with the owner removing everything, so , I guess I mean that's what I think it would cost me to do-have it done- if that makes any sense, and then there would be a bit of re-painting where the wings would have to come off and who knows what else might be found that could put the repair price higher.
If someone were up for the project I would think a high of 20K in the current market would be fair depending on the buyer. I have seen more solid examples for around that but these things are not getting cheaper and they're not reproducing so I guess it depends on how much you enjoy pain
I hope that was helpful and if anyone is interested in the car I would be happy to go over my findings with them.
I am looking into this car too, and just had this car checked out by Terry Sayther Auto. Would say you assessment was spot on, and have a bit more info from the check up. Still talking with the person selling this for the owner as I was looking for a second coupe to use as a driver. Will post an update based on what comes out of it.
My prediction is that our poor coupes are going to fall into 2 categories soon; Pristine ($100,000.0+) cars and those at 40K and below, which will take massive amounts of money to bring to proper status in terms of fit, finish and performance. As people who can actually work on these cars start to become less and less plentiful the prices for restoring them will get higher and higher and I think the middle market (40-90K) are really going to start disappearing. Now, when this will happen exactly is anyone's guess but there may be an advantage for a new owner in this scenario in that a 100K car should be darn near new. And, I have known of more than a few people to spend north of 100K on an e9 restoration project and not have anywhere near a proper car. It's really kind of a messed up situation..... My favorite type of inspection is one where the new owner is knowledgeable enough to either do the work themselves or manage the project correctly, then I can help point them in the direction I think they should go with the car rather than just saying "don't buy it" or "Yep, 90K is allot of money". I know some will say that 60K should work for the immediate future but how many 60K cars look like Sven's or Mike Burgers or Andrew Wilson's?
I think there are still a few 90% rust-free examples out there that can be had under $30k. Will take some time for sure, but with >30k made, there's bound to be some dry, desert cars still hiding in garages from the original or 2nd owner.
Agree Rob, just looking into the future a little, almost every e9 that I have seen in the last 18 months in the 30K area has serious rust issues, I spoke with a shop down here in Austin that had 4 e9's in their facility the other day and they all had major rust requiring a fairly heavy amount of disassembly- unfortunately many of the current owners are not "mechanics" so they're stuck paying a skilled tech to take out carpet and trim at the same rate as a welder to replace the panels. I guess it's the nature of the beast that it will take a very knowledgeable and/or wealthy person to keep these things up and running well into the future- and again, this is just one of my ramblings -my opinion isn't worth any more than someone else's but I continue to act as if it is!
The problem is the driest coupes are probably the US/NA market coupes and there were only 3500 of these made. Yes there are CSis here from Italy and such which are in this category but it isn’t the 30000 number that’s important. I believe only around 30-35% of all coupes made still survive.
Which is the real problem... unlike the P cars, tiny market for parts suppliers and shops that know these cars.
Thanks for checking it out Pete!
Looks like this one is coming home to me. Was able to work out a deal that worked for both of us, finalizing arrangements now and will post a new thread when it arrives.
Congrats!
It is amazing to me how many members end up with 2+ e9's. It's like they are VW bugs or something.
Excellent Charles, If you want any more details of my little inspection please let me know, I would be happy to help if I can.
Peter
Peter
Fantastic, thanks Peter. I will PM you.
It is amazing to me how many members end up with 2+ e9's. It's like they are VW bugs or something.
It's called hoarding Markos.
Hi Chris,
I had not seen that number before, only 3500 E9's made for NA market? I had no idea so few
And just curious how you guess only a third are left
I bought mine 20 years ago and even at that time so many had already gone to rust heaven
I had not seen that number before, only 3500 E9's made for NA market? I had no idea so few
And just curious how you guess only a third are left
I bought mine 20 years ago and even at that time so many had already gone to rust heaven
Mark,
I have a spreadsheet with US/NA VINs. It includes old CSRegister entries, our own registry and every VIN I see on the internet. The one third is just a guess but I think the number could be even less.
I have a spreadsheet with US/NA VINs. It includes old CSRegister entries, our own registry and every VIN I see on the internet. The one third is just a guess but I think the number could be even less.
And we are back. I would say Peter's assessment was pretty good. Car drives great once I fixed the optional Flinstones Power hole that formed under the gas pedal. Quite rusty on the floorboards, some various other less intrusive rust spots, pretty good oil leak, and generally a little worn, but seems like a good starting point and a decent driver for now. Drive beautifully on a 50 mile shakedown. Will attend minimally to the needs for now until we finish the '73, which conveniently has an extra set of chrome bumpers.
