When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hi all. Sorry, another "What's it worth" post, but questioning the asking price.
My wife has an interest in a 1979. We went to look at it yesterday. Pictures are below (if I have remembered how to post pics). Anyway, the car is an L-82, auto. 78000 miles. Painted once sometime in the late '90s or early 2000's. Current owner has had it since 2005.
Body appears to be solid. It's red with an oyster interior. Interior has typical wear for a 39 year old car. passenger's side arm rest needs replaced.
Gauges all appear to work. Lights, wipers, and A/C(not extremely cold) all work.
Car drives nice for the short drive we had. Engine seems to be over carbureted. Doesn't have the push back in the seat that I was expecting. Has an Edelbrock intak
Questioning the transmission. I gave it extra throttle on starting and it chirped the tires going into second. Seemed odd to me. He did say that it leaks transmission fluid and I did notice that the transmission fluid was practically brand new looking.
Underside looks good. I'm a C-2 guy and looked at it as I would have a C-2 seeing how the chassis is pretty much the same. Has an oil leak. Appears to need an oil pan gasket replacement.
Tires/rims nice.
Door locks don't work
Owner dropped one of the roof panels so need to replace one. Was thinking that both would need replaced for them to match in appearance, correct?
It is licensed and inspected until November of this year.
He's asking $10,300. I'm thinking that I might go with an offer of $9K and work from there.
Did I miss anything on my inspection?
Am I pricing it low.
There's nothing of concern about the transmission chirping the tires shifting into second (assuming you were at or near full throttle). The car may have a shift kit in it which firms up the transmission shifts and makes such chirps more likely.
Car looks pretty nice in the pictures, but no pictures of the interior makes it hard to judge. Also, cars usually look better in pictures than they are.
Does look nice. The engine compartment has certainly been cleaned and "freshened". The often missing ignition shielding over the distributor is present. I see no A.I.R. (smog) pump or rest of the system that was used on ALL '79 L82s. While likely intentionally removed you should verify that the fifth digit of the VIN is "4". If it is an "8" it came with a base engine and the L-82 badging was added.
The glass tops are $,$$$$ and most say that they need to be replaced in pairs to get a match.
Non-working power locks often point to a problem in the ACC circuit. Do the horn, interior lights and power antenna work? If not the fuse has probably been removed due to battery rundown or short circuit. Problems in this circuit can be a pain.
"Not so cold" A/C may be a problem with the hot water cut-off system. If you take another test drive, set the HVAC selector to "VENT" and the temp to "COLD". You should get ambient temperature air with a hot engine--if not hot coolant is still circulating through the heater core..
Seats show normal wear, no tears.
5th position of the VIN is a 4
Thought about a shift kit being installed. Has headers and the Edelbrock intake as I stated earlier, so it wouldn't be a bad assumption
The locks "click" but don't engage.
The owner did say he needs to keep a trickle charger on it, so an electrical drain is present
The birdcage is similar on a C-2 around the door fronts and firewall area. Mine's a convertible therefore the overhead frame isn't there.
It is a pretty car. The wife (who's buying it) loves the color combination. It's similar to my '64. She liked the test drive and felt comfortable in it. Her waiver on it is that she doesn't want to cause more work for me. I bought a '56 Chevy pickup last year to rebuild and she doesn't want to take time from it for me to work on her car. I said you don't need to worry about that. She talked about when she had extra money, doing things like changing carpet and such and said she'd do it. I said that's no problem, I'd pull the seats for you to have at it
My power door locks did the same thing on the passenger side, the driver's side worked. We pulled off the door panel and my husband and his buddy played with the linkage and then it worked for a while but stopped working again, just clicks but doesn't open. I don't know what exactly they did but I think the linkage probably is lubricated and the lube has gotten stiff with time making it too stiff for the solenoid to overcome. I haven't had the motivation to open it back up again and try to figure it out.
The interior looks pretty nice from those pictures - I sure can't see any wear on the seats.
You're never going to find an old car that doesn't have minor things wrong with it. If that's holding you back you'll either never buy a car, or buy one where the owner has lied to you and told you everything is working. If your wife likes it a lot, think about what are your odds of finding another car she likes this much for a reasonable price that everything works on - not very good I'd say.
My power door locks did the same thing on the passenger side, the driver's side worked. We pulled off the door panel and my husband and his buddy played with the linkage and then it worked for a while but stopped working again, just clicks but doesn't open. I don't know what exactly they did but I think the linkage probably is lubricated and the lube has gotten stiff with time making it too stiff for the solenoid to overcome. I haven't had the motivation to open it back up again and try to figure it out.
The interior looks pretty nice from those pictures - I sure can't see any wear on the seats.
You're never going to find an old car that doesn't have minor things wrong with it. If that's holding you back you'll either never buy a car, or buy one where the owner has lied to you and told you everything is working. If your wife likes it a lot, think about what are your odds of finding another car she likes this much for a reasonable price that everything works on - not very good I'd say.
Understand the old car philosophy Priya. When I bought my '64 it was in two pieces. Been down the road with it and now have the truck I previously mentioned. The things that are wrong are not show stoppers. She does really like it. I priced out the T-tops and going to haggle with him. I really appreciate everyone's input
Understand the old car philosophy Priya. When I bought my '64 it was in two pieces. Been down the road with it and now have the truck I previously mentioned. The things that are wrong are not show stoppers. She does really like it. I priced out the T-tops and going to haggle with him. I really appreciate everyone's input
Looks quite good. I wouldn't be surprised if the seller is reluctant to take much less than asking.
A very common cause of the battery rundown issue is a failed alarm system. Test it by putting down the driver window, closing the doors and hood, installing the T-tops (try a pencil in the rear hole of the missing top) and locking the driver door from the outside with the key. Then reach in, unlock the door by hand and open it. The alarm should sound. Cancel the alarm by unlocking the driver door with the key. If the alarm system doesn't work it's very likely that the horn was simply removed due to a defective switch installed on the key cylinder. Doing this stops the horn but the alarm relay (in the center console and easy to access merely by removing the driver side carpet trim) will stay constantly energized. Just unplug the relay. If that's not the problem the courtesy lamp delay module (again easy to access by removing the glove box) may be to blame.
You may have already done this but test the headlamp door operation. With the engine running they should come up rapidly and in near unison. If you listen closely you'll hear an audible "click" as they lock into position. Make certain they lock by trying to press the doors down when they're fully up. With headlamps off shut down the engine. Wait a minute or two. Use the override switch below the steering wheel to open the doors. Both doors should open and lock. If the system is perfect there will be enough vacuum to close them again. If you don't get enough vacuum to open the doors you definitely have vacuum leaks to trace down.
Hi all. Sorry, another "What's it worth" post, but questioning the asking price.
My wife has an interest in a 1979. We went to look at it yesterday. Pictures are below (if I have remembered how to post pics). Anyway, the car is an L-82, auto. 78000 miles. Painted once sometime in the late '90s or early 2000's. Current owner has had it since 2005.
Body appears to be solid. It's red with an oyster interior. Interior has typical wear for a 39 year old car. passenger's side arm rest needs replaced.
Gauges all appear to work. Lights, wipers, and A/C(not extremely cold) all work.
Car drives nice for the short drive we had. Engine seems to be over carbureted. Doesn't have the push back in the seat that I was expecting. Has an Edelbrock intak
Questioning the transmission. I gave it extra throttle on starting and it chirped the tires going into second. Seemed odd to me. He did say that it leaks transmission fluid and I did notice that the transmission fluid was practically brand new looking.
Underside looks good. I'm a C-2 guy and looked at it as I would have a C-2 seeing how the chassis is pretty much the same. Has an oil leak. Appears to need an oil pan gasket replacement.
Tires/rims nice.
Door locks don't work
Owner dropped one of the roof panels so need to replace one. Was thinking that both would need replaced for them to match in appearance, correct?
It is licensed and inspected until November of this year.
He's asking $10,300. I'm thinking that I might go with an offer of $9K and work from there.
Did I miss anything on my inspection?
Am I pricing it low.
Owners of L82s will find this comment controversial but.....I'd tell you NOT to up" for an L82. These cars aren't worth a penny over an L48. Anyone who tries to tell you other-wise is leading you down a pointless road. What you really want to prioritize in your search is a rust free good example. As I'm sure you already know..... Paint condition is probably the most important priority. Unless you are capable of doing the body work yourself......it can be shocking to learn the cost of a GOOD paint job.
But really if you can use the L48 angle vs L82 to work the seller down on price.......GREAT but don't YOU be so foolish as to believe an L82 car is worth more. It won't be. It'll take all of 10 seconds behind the wheel of any car with either engine option to realize the L48 is a Total DOG and the L82 is simply a MUTT of similar breeding by modern power standards. Neither will be enough power to satisfy over time. No point to paying up for a motor that eventually going to see either massive change and rebuild or total replacement. Far better to just buy a clean rust free car with decent paint regardless of the engine between the fenders if it's still got it's original smog motor..
08-12-2018, 08:05 AM
1979 Value
