I love that place. It's on the route I take friends from out of town on their motorcycles. We go up the Mississippi on the IL side, and ferry across to MO, then 94 in the flatlands to FastLane, then Old St. Charles for food..
Great place to visit, walk around, and check out old cars.. I know the guy and his wife, and have a picture on his wall because Ive bought from him before (2000 Trans Am, Ram Air WS-6 Hurst 6 Speed, T-Tops, Triple Black).
He is a consignor... he doesn't own most of the cars there in his 3 warehouse facility.. I will say this, tho.. He doesn't just consign anything. Hes turned down tons of cars..
The actual owner probably wants 10 for it, and his 6 is a tack-on for his profit and negotiation room.
Having said that, the T-Tops and Salvage Record are the booger in the cookie dough here. Someone mentioned above, it seemed like something Fell on it, and they replaced the roof with a T-Top car's roof... could also account for the steering column miscolor (say, a tree fell above the steering column... broke it, and obviously the roof. Easily enough replaced, and since its a 1-off year make and model, he probably (at the time) figured it was worth saving for value purposes down the road.
Salvage Title in '88 could be a lot of things, but you never will know for sure since CarFax didn't exist back then, they only flag it as salvage (and sometimes incorrectly, but I don't think that's the case here) Stolen, insurance paid out, and then it was recovered can also cause a salvage title as well. Some states do allow an inspection process, but all in all, I wouldn't say its worth $16k. $10k at best. Hell, I've been offered $9k for mine... Prolly shoulda took it, but...
-Gonz