AMC PackRat
Kind of a mopar guy. ;-)
I'm beginning to think the term "rust free" has absolutely no meaning at all to most people any more. I took a road trip yesterday to look at 2 possible cars for my next project. The first one was a 72 Plymouth Scamp 318/auto car and the second one was an 83 AMC Spirit. When I heard about the first car (Scamp) it was a 39k rust free car with original paint and light front end damage for $2000. After talking to the guy he did admit it had some surface rust in spots and one of the torsion bars was broken along with the front end damage. I got him to take some pics of it and he did admit it had a little rust through over the rear fenderwell on one side and some light surface rust under the vinyl top in a couple spots but said the hood was barely damaged at all when I asked. The pics didn't look that great but I still wanted to see it. When I got there it was sitting on three flats and had rust just about everywhere. To me, surface rust is just that - surface rust - if it's to the point where chunks of metal flake off and you can probably poke your finger through with a little effort - that's not surface rust - it's surface rot. It was rusted through (although not much) over both rear wheel wells, the lower drops on both sides were rusted through and bubbling, and the inner drops were also rusted through. It looked like the lower half of the rear quarters had already been spot painted before so there goes the original paint theory. The left side rocker was also rotted throught and both front inner fender wells had surface rot bad enough I could have probably poked my finger through in a couple spots (but didn't). The trunk was full of junk but the floor actually looked halfway decent - I doubt if the floorpans were, though - I didn't even bother to look. The light body damage was worse than expected - I knew the fender, bumper, valance, and grill were toast but the radiator support area was bent and the fan had eaten the radiator a bit. The hood was junk, too, as far as I was concerned - the front was bent up the back left corner was tucked down, and the right side was bent, too. It looks like it sat the whole winter with the air cleaner off it, too . . . .
There's no way this car is worth $2000 to me - I will admit it's probably a 39k mile car, though. I'd be hard pressed to pay $500 for it but I doubt if he'd take it and I didn't insult him with an offer. It'd be a gold mine if it was in a junk yard, though. :wink: It did have a nice off-white interior, all the glass was good, and the doors, one fender, trunk lid, and rear bumper were in pretty good shape. I think I'll give him a call today and let him know if he wants to part it out to give me a call but I don't really want the whole car for that kind of a price. Just wondering, is this what you guys think a rust free car is or am I missing something? I have a Shelby Dakota that is rust free and an AMX and a Donohue Javelin from Arizona that are nearly rust free I'm working on now but I'd never make a "rust free" claim on either one of them, myself.
There's no way this car is worth $2000 to me - I will admit it's probably a 39k mile car, though. I'd be hard pressed to pay $500 for it but I doubt if he'd take it and I didn't insult him with an offer. It'd be a gold mine if it was in a junk yard, though. :wink: It did have a nice off-white interior, all the glass was good, and the doors, one fender, trunk lid, and rear bumper were in pretty good shape. I think I'll give him a call today and let him know if he wants to part it out to give me a call but I don't really want the whole car for that kind of a price. Just wondering, is this what you guys think a rust free car is or am I missing something? I have a Shelby Dakota that is rust free and an AMX and a Donohue Javelin from Arizona that are nearly rust free I'm working on now but I'd never make a "rust free" claim on either one of them, myself.
