Is it a good deal or walk away?

[slick61]

OK, y'all, help me out here. Am looking at an '86 GT 'vert. Has approx. 120k-145k miles. (the owner upsized the wheels/tires without having the speedo recalibrated- odo reads 145k) Feels tight, runs strong, fluids are clean. Has a K&N filtercharger kit & a shift kit in the tranny. Shifts hard, but positive. I believe there's a slight oil leak from the bottom end, as I can smell it when the cats get hot & the pan looks pretty caked up. Doesn't seem to burn any oil though. The top is decent, though not great. The seats have had covers on them & are in VERY good shape- no rips, tears, or dash cracks. Everything works inside, though I'm not sure about the A/C (was too cool out to tell). Was hit front end a few years ago- no frame damage. The repaint is decent except for some overspray due to poor masking job & some cracking on lower front bumper cover due to lack of flex agent. Some light rust along the bottoms of the doors & a few bubbles in the paint on the lower rear quarter (drivers side). Nothing major. It's white, so could touch up fairly easy. Suspension feels OK, though could probably use springs. Struts & shocks feel OK. Brake pedal was stiff, could probably use a new booster.

Owner is asking $2900. I think I can get him down to around $2300-$2500.

Whaddya think? Pass it up or make a play?

Remember, this is southern california...
reasonably priced transportation isn't exactly de rigeur...

Have looked at several '89s & '90s in same or worse shape with maybe 20-30k less miles & they're all asking $4000-$6000 or better. I'm looking for cheap, fun, & relatively reliable. I'll have to put money into anything I buy in this price range anyway, so I'm prepared for that. Would be nice to have mass air equipped, but I don't know that I'd mod it that much & could always retrofit later if need be. With an '86 I at least get EFI, and no headlight covers to yellow! Would welcome any input...

[Bill_Laird's86gt]

Jump all over it! Sounds like a good car, if unsure about the leak ask if a mechanic can go over the car and let you and the seller know if anything major is wrong. Parts for a 86 are a little hard to come by but there are a lot of people selling parts on E-bay (that's where i always look first for my stuff). Mods can come later (mass air etc..) you can always do a search on this web site for anything related to 86 gt's. I know one of the major upgrade problems is with after market head but nothing really disappointing. Good Luck and let us know if you get it http://64.21.184.154/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Chris-90LX]

Just really check it out good! These cars usually have hard lives. I've looked at 2 dozen of them over the years, and learn more about where they get weak every time.

The pricing doesn't sound too far fetched. I got $2,500 for my '86 GT last year. It was a Hatchback AOD car with about 125K on it. it was very straight, tight, and never saw winter.

Out where I'm from the AOD cars aren't in the high demand that the stick cars are. A good stick car in the shape my '86 was in should have sold for about $3,500.

The oil leak could be the rear main oil seal or the valve cover gaskets could be getting tired. Look out for bad heater cores too.

If you would like I'll email you out the list of stuff to check out when buying these stangs that I've gathered.

[bigbob]

Chris-90LX can u send me stuff on what to look for . Will it be the same for the years 89,90,91,92, and 93 lx 5.0 .My email is bigbobreese@msn.com thank you.

[ghost123]

For the location and the price of the vehicle, I think you should go for it. You are really not talking about that much of an investment, resign yourself to the fact that you will sink some money into the vehicle. I would check out the title prior to purchasing, making sure that it is not a "salvage" title. I think that speaks for itself. Good Luck!

------------------