New to the site. Today, I finally got my 1986 T-Top Cutlass Salon. It's been a longtime dream of mine to get a 80s G-body cutlass and after having my Mustang basically totaled, I found myself with no carnote and few extra dollars in my hand. Against my wife's wishes, I started looking for old school rides to get me back and forth to work. I already have a project car that's taking up the garage, so I didn't want to get anything that I couldn't drive. I hit the Internet and a few weeks ago, I found what looked like a 86 Salon that needed a lot of interior work, but after exchanging emails with the seller, the mechanics were solid. Solid mechanics basically was my sticking point. Looking at the body on the pictures, I figured it didn't need painting which was a plus. After 2 years of blocksanding and swimming in Bondo, I wanted something that didn't need as much work as my 68 impala. As long as the body was good and the mechanics were good I felt confident I could get the car and get it up to my standards. Well, I bid. Unfortunately, my final bid lifted the price about $400 higher than I expected considering the condition but being the honest guy I try to be, I paid for the car. You know... your word is your bond.
WELL, Today the car arrives. He drops the car off, gets his payment for delivering and leaves.
"No Keys?" I ask.
"Nope. The seller didn't give me keys or anything else to deliver. The steering colum is broken. It drives"
I'm slightly shocked, but it's not the fault of the delivery guy so I sign the paperwork and he vanishes. I knew about the broken steering column before I bid, so no big deal. No keys though... not expected. Ready to see what I need to do to get her running I started looking the car over. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach. The paint looked like it had had one of those $99 Maco jobs back in 95 when they were using super cheap paint. Needless to say, I was dissapointed.
Well, I open the car door and, as expected, bad interior. Not just bad, but REALLY bad (IMO). No passenger seat, which I knew about. No carpet AT ALL, which I didn't know about. No center console AT ALL which I didn't expect. The driver seat was so bad that I almost wish it was gone too. Although the tilt steering wheel looked decent, it had been broken on the typical side and that's how the car was being started. I looked up at the T-Tops (Which were a selling point for me) and noticed a long streak of masking tape.
"Leaks, Leaks and more leaks", I thought to myself.
Just about all of the dash pieces were missing and uslessly cracked. To cut this long list of bad down, I'll just list the bad.
1. 2 or 3 bad patches where the paint was flaking
2. Probably leaking T-Tops.
3. No door panels
4. No Carpet
5. None of the lights work. All need to be replaced.
6. Speedometer looks like it doesn't work
7. Cheap tint all the way around (except for winshield). Looked like walmart tint from 1992 with bubles everywhere.
8. No break light
9. Non-matching rims. 2 factory mags on one side. 2 Craigers on the other side. None of the tires the same.
10. None of the headlights work.
11. Headlight assembly is missing on one side and the one good headlight bezzel is cracked.
12. Needs revers lights as well as right side light on the back.
13. Small dent on the driver side fender. Not a hard fix if I paint.
14. Couple of Lower chrome pieces missing.
15. Trunk has no lock. Had to open with screwdriver.
16. No radiator fluid AT ALL in the car? Maybe just enough to barely see when I look into the radiator. None in reserve, so I didn't warm the car up.
17. Tacked up headliner that would have to be replaced immediately.
18. No trim around the t-tops (interior).
19. 45 Min. "I told you so" with my wife who slightly enjoyed my displeasure.
Now, not to be totally negative, Here's the positives.
1. Engine looks great. No smoke. Good idle. Slight stall when started, but that could be from sitting for a second. Carb cleaning / adjustment should straighten things out. Looks like a recent tunup was done, but I need to check the plugs. Otherwise, motor (307) sounds solid. Underneath the hood looked clean and well taken care of.
2. transmission shifted fine.
3. Dash, though there were a few bad areas, would clean up nice. No broken glove box (Which I expected).
4. No rust. Not even in the usual places. The few specs of rust I did find I could easily fix. Floorboards and trunk appear good.
5. Straight body. Could probably prep and paint the car in 1/10th the time its taking me to do my impala.
6. Back seat is good. Should clean up perfect. Just dusty. Won't need to be replaced.
Well... I'm not doing anything to the car until I get the title in hand and the car registered. No title by next friday then I begin the process of getting my money back. But should the title come (Which I expect) I have two choices. Hit the junkyards next week and start fixing the car up to my standards and roll with it OR get the title in my name and sell it at a loss.
If anyone is interested in seeing this car, I'll post some pictures once I figure out what my password is for my image account. But the point of the post is... Be careful what you buy on the internet (Which most already know). If you buy on ebay, go see the car first or drill the seller with every possible question you can think of. Also, never talk to your wife about your car purchases. Tell her afterwards so that if you get suckered (Or make a suspect choice) you can always lie about how much you paid.
Thanks for reading. Please don't drill me about my bad purchase. I get it enough around the house. If the title situation goes bad, it could actutally get worse for me so also keep your fingers crossed. Hell, knowing me Im going to take my wife's smirks personal and dump too much money into making the car a killer.
WELL, Today the car arrives. He drops the car off, gets his payment for delivering and leaves.
"No Keys?" I ask.
"Nope. The seller didn't give me keys or anything else to deliver. The steering colum is broken. It drives"
I'm slightly shocked, but it's not the fault of the delivery guy so I sign the paperwork and he vanishes. I knew about the broken steering column before I bid, so no big deal. No keys though... not expected. Ready to see what I need to do to get her running I started looking the car over. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach. The paint looked like it had had one of those $99 Maco jobs back in 95 when they were using super cheap paint. Needless to say, I was dissapointed.
Well, I open the car door and, as expected, bad interior. Not just bad, but REALLY bad (IMO). No passenger seat, which I knew about. No carpet AT ALL, which I didn't know about. No center console AT ALL which I didn't expect. The driver seat was so bad that I almost wish it was gone too. Although the tilt steering wheel looked decent, it had been broken on the typical side and that's how the car was being started. I looked up at the T-Tops (Which were a selling point for me) and noticed a long streak of masking tape.
"Leaks, Leaks and more leaks", I thought to myself.
Just about all of the dash pieces were missing and uslessly cracked. To cut this long list of bad down, I'll just list the bad.
1. 2 or 3 bad patches where the paint was flaking
2. Probably leaking T-Tops.
3. No door panels
4. No Carpet
5. None of the lights work. All need to be replaced.
6. Speedometer looks like it doesn't work
7. Cheap tint all the way around (except for winshield). Looked like walmart tint from 1992 with bubles everywhere.
8. No break light
9. Non-matching rims. 2 factory mags on one side. 2 Craigers on the other side. None of the tires the same.
10. None of the headlights work.
11. Headlight assembly is missing on one side and the one good headlight bezzel is cracked.
12. Needs revers lights as well as right side light on the back.
13. Small dent on the driver side fender. Not a hard fix if I paint.
14. Couple of Lower chrome pieces missing.
15. Trunk has no lock. Had to open with screwdriver.
16. No radiator fluid AT ALL in the car? Maybe just enough to barely see when I look into the radiator. None in reserve, so I didn't warm the car up.
17. Tacked up headliner that would have to be replaced immediately.
18. No trim around the t-tops (interior).
19. 45 Min. "I told you so" with my wife who slightly enjoyed my displeasure.
Now, not to be totally negative, Here's the positives.
1. Engine looks great. No smoke. Good idle. Slight stall when started, but that could be from sitting for a second. Carb cleaning / adjustment should straighten things out. Looks like a recent tunup was done, but I need to check the plugs. Otherwise, motor (307) sounds solid. Underneath the hood looked clean and well taken care of.
2. transmission shifted fine.
3. Dash, though there were a few bad areas, would clean up nice. No broken glove box (Which I expected).
4. No rust. Not even in the usual places. The few specs of rust I did find I could easily fix. Floorboards and trunk appear good.
5. Straight body. Could probably prep and paint the car in 1/10th the time its taking me to do my impala.
6. Back seat is good. Should clean up perfect. Just dusty. Won't need to be replaced.
Well... I'm not doing anything to the car until I get the title in hand and the car registered. No title by next friday then I begin the process of getting my money back. But should the title come (Which I expect) I have two choices. Hit the junkyards next week and start fixing the car up to my standards and roll with it OR get the title in my name and sell it at a loss.
If anyone is interested in seeing this car, I'll post some pictures once I figure out what my password is for my image account. But the point of the post is... Be careful what you buy on the internet (Which most already know). If you buy on ebay, go see the car first or drill the seller with every possible question you can think of. Also, never talk to your wife about your car purchases. Tell her afterwards so that if you get suckered (Or make a suspect choice) you can always lie about how much you paid.
Thanks for reading. Please don't drill me about my bad purchase. I get it enough around the house. If the title situation goes bad, it could actutally get worse for me so also keep your fingers crossed. Hell, knowing me Im going to take my wife's smirks personal and dump too much money into making the car a killer.
