old guy, new car, 81 malibu coupe

[Larryg]

Hello everyone. I'm a mid forties bike guy who has never had a "play" car. I wanted something light, fun, and good on gas. At least thats what I told my wife. I found an 81 malibu with a good body on ebay, and took delivery yesterday. I think I got screwed..... bad.

I wont go into details just yet because pics will do the talking when I post them. My plan was to drive it around with the 6 while I was "saving gas", and build a little small block fund. Now it looks like I'll have to dump lots of dollars to make it stop leaking ALL its fluids whenever I start it, and every bit of weather stripping is completely cracked and corroded. Lots of water makes its way to the insides when it rains.

There is no headliner, just steel, and the carpets are being held down with packing tape. Shoot, most of the interior is being held together with packing tape. While theres LOTs of surface rust, there are no holes that I could see. There are also a few good size dents but those I knew about. Well... so much for waiting for pictures.

I'm excited but wondering if I made a BIG mistake. On the upside, It didnt cost all that much so far. On the downside, if I put four grand in to it, it might be worth 2 grand. Kinda like bikes too! Good to meet you all. Your cars look FANTASTIC! Larryg

 

[78mali350]

well i am interested to see some pictures of this before i make a good buy/bad buy call. but none the less welcome to the site!

 

[Uncletruck]

Welcome!

E-bay can be a crapshoot, as unless you go to see the car you are buying basically sight unseen, short of the seller's phots on the ad, which can be maipulated to make the car look much better than it really is. I always say when buying an old car try to find the one you want in as good of condition as possible to begin with, even if it means spending more money. Because as you well know if you buy a WIP, you'll end up putting more money in to the thing than what will be the actual value of the car. Even if you get one in really good shape, if you drive it you'll still end up having to put time and money in to it, that's just the labor of love with an old car hobby.

I bought my LeMans off E-Bay in 2000 for $2800. It was bought from the original elderly owner with 45k original miles, and it never saw a winter. It was in as excellent original condition as I believe one would be able to find one of these cars. Still, here is what I have done over the years, and the approximate costs, all labor (except paint) done by myself:

Front engine oil seal, cover gaskets, timing chain, oil pump, cam and lifters, water pump (These items were damaged due to the car sitting for many years without running) $500

Rear main seal, oil pan gasket, heat riser, assoc parts $150

Radiator and hoses $200

Headliner and visors $100

4 new tires, front brakes and rotors $500

New paint done professionally in original color to factory specs (original paint started checking) $1350

Battery $70

External seals for transmission, filter and gasket $30

New exhaust system from cat back $180

Tune up items (Plugs, cap+rotor, plug wires, fuel filters, etc) $100

So, I have put $3180 over the past 8 years in to a $2800 car, and I know there is no way it would fetch near $6000 if I went to sell it tomorrow. It's just something you have to do out of enjoyment, because if every old car owner thought only in terms of money, there would be more of us getting burned than those making money off of old cars. Myself, I have never regretted buying the LeMans, and just enjoy having it around to drive and tinker with.

-UT-

 

[Derision]

Welcome to the site!

How much did you buy her for? I'd love to see pics.

I've known people who've spent thousands on cars that I wouldn't look twice at. Rusted out, terrible abominations and they've made them into something fantastic. With enough motivation, ability and money, anything is possible.

Me, I've never worried about how much a car is "worth"... over the years I've put probably more money than I'm really comfortable with into my Grand Prix and in the end, the only person it's worth anything to is me. So no worries there... if it's fun to drive, runs okay and you like it, who cares how it looks or what others think.

This site is fantastic for advice and information on how to get everything you can out of it. Some of the people on here are like PhD's in G-Body. So you've come to the right place!

Good luck with it!

AJ

 

[Larryg]

Yep, I broke all my own rules about buying online. 1. Talk to the seller and go see the car. If its too far away, oh well, another will show up soon enough.

Same rule I have for my bikes. I have about 3K into a bike I paid 3 hundred for. The biggest difference is the bike is a sought after classic Freddie Spencer rep and probably worth 3K now. Thats why I was wondering if this is really dumb or not. If this car were a dart, nova or falcon, it might retain some of the money I put into it. Those three cars along with this model malibu is what I found I liked looking at. Light, boxy and if prodded, could go really fast at a track.

I now know why I ended up with the malibu, the cost of admission to those other clubs were much much higher. I'll work on those pics. :wink:

 

[megaladon6]

welcome to the site.
well the weatherstripping and headliner aren't that hard to fix. and you can probably find a decent interior at a junkyard for cheap. i'd get under the car and inspect the body mount points, drivers floor pan, and rockers for rust through. if they're good, at least the car has a solid body.
a junkyard engine may be your best bet too, but i'd determine exactly what is leaking. if it's a bad hose and ancient valve cover gaskets, it's not too bad.

who've spent thousands on cars that I wouldn't look twice at. Rusted out, terrible abominations

hey, i resemble that remark! :lol:

 

[gs dewd]

One thing I can say is if you like the car (body lines and such) then it was a good deal. Most of the problems your talking about such as the engine/transmission leaking will be solved when you go forth with the sb swap. Hey it gives you a reason to start early on it. And as you said this is a car to play around with. You can replace the weather stripping a such and customize the interior to your liking and be happier about it. I have found that no matter what car you get you always end up putting more in it then "book value". It comes down to what the car means to you. I have a 94' Eclipse GSX that I have about 9k into. If I went to sell it I would never recoupe that as book value is around $3500 for it. Another option for you would be keep looking for another car like the one you found and have this one as a parts car. But if the body is sound I would just start building this one. Those find a car in good running condition and body in good shape for next to no money days are over. When a car gets some age on it now and it is a car that can be fixed up nice people tend to sell them at a higher price then we think we should pay. I got very lucky and kinda fell into the deal on my cutlass (I picked it up for a mear $100 because it belonged to a elderly couple that wanted to get it out of there name so they could get there full ss benefits. They where going to junk if I didn't buy it.) . So basically it boils down to what the car will mean to you when it's "done" do got buy what a book says it's worth.