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Nice car, only 465 miles

I thought it was nice (except the ridiculous price) until I looked at the full size pics.


That car is NOT 465 miles. The odometer was either disconnected (a 5 minute job I have heard) or rolled back. It has at least 20-30k miles. Look at the tires. There are parts of the motor that have enough filth for 20,000 miles. Tires are wrong, wheels are shot, and everything under the hood is rusty. Look at the wheels. Rust on the gold parts between the spokes. Rust on entire inside of rim. (the silver flange behind the gold spokes). Those rims need to be blasted and repainted. interior looks nice but it could have 20 or 30k on it. Headliner is loose too.

If this car had none of these problems, 25 grand might be right. But everything under the hood has to be taken apart and refinished to get the corrosion off of it. $3,000 would have to be spent to get some proper tires, another $600 to do over the wheels. So you are already down into the teens in value, and that is not taking into account that all these problems even if repaired still devalue the car. It will be a restored car. Plus the unknown mileage and the fraud involved should be enough to just forget about it. It is not rare. I have seen nicer hardtops for $20k in the last year.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

I posted some photos. The underside of the hood has the marks from many greasy mechanics hands opening it. The door jambs are filthy, at least 30k miles of filth. the steering wheel is damaged (not nearly as bad as the other stuff but still, a new car has a perfect wheel and this one does not). Door handle whites are missing. (I have 30 sets of those if anyone needs) The emblems are SHOT. Not only are the emblems rusted, but the indy wings are falling down and leaving the double sided tape exposed on the edge. And the PAS sticker on the door is stained. These are all signs of a well used car, and also of a car that was stored in a salt water air environment, or maybe worse, damp garage. Salt water would be preferable, because at least then the interior would not be moldy. And I for one have bought new ta's just for the new leather smell, and it is a tragedy when it gets ruined by mold because it has to be done over. Every bit of cloth, headliner, carpet, padding leather and foam has to be removed. and replaced or maybe drycleaned. Plus the seat frames and all the unpainted metal has to be blasted.

This is totally fraudulent. A tta with 500 miles on it looks exactly the same as it does with 0 miles. And exactly the same as it did in 1989. No rust. No funny tires. No filth. This car is a fake. I know of people who drove around for years with their odometers unhooked. This is what happens when those people don't cover their tracks.
 

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I thought it was nice (except the ridiculous price) until I looked at the full size pics.


That car is NOT 465 miles. The odometer was either disconnected (a 5 minute job I have heard) or rolled back. It has at least 20-30k miles. Look at the tires. There are parts of the motor that have enough filth for 20,000 miles. Tires are wrong, wheels are shot, and everything under the hood is rusty. Look at the wheels. Rust on the gold parts between the spokes. Rust on entire inside of rim. (the silver flange behind the gold spokes). Those rims need to be blasted and repainted. interior looks nice but it could have 20 or 30k on it. Headliner is loose too.

If this car had none of these problems, 25 grand might be right. But everything under the hood has to be taken apart and refinished to get the corrosion off of it. $3,000 would have to be spent to get some proper tires, another $600 to do over the wheels. So you are already down into the teens in value, and that is not taking into account that all these problems even if repaired still devalue the car. It will be a restored car. Plus the unknown mileage and the fraud involved should be enough to just forget about it. It is not rare. I have seen nicer hardtops for $20k in the last year.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

I posted some photos. The underside of the hood has the marks from many greasy mechanics hands opening it. The door jambs are filthy, at least 30k miles of filth. the steering wheel is damaged (not nearly as bad as the other stuff but still, a new car has a perfect wheel and this one does not). Door handle whites are missing. (I have 30 sets of those if anyone needs) The emblems are SHOT. Not only are the emblems rusted, but the indy wings are falling down and leaving the double sided tape exposed on the edge. And the PAS sticker on the door is stained. These are all signs of a well used car, and also of a car that was stored in a salt water air environment, or maybe worse, damp garage. Salt water would be preferable, because at least then the interior would not be moldy. And I for one have bought new ta's just for the new leather smell, and it is a tragedy when it gets ruined by mold because it has to be done over. Every bit of cloth, headliner, carpet, padding leather and foam has to be removed. and replaced or maybe drycleaned. Plus the seat frames and all the unpainted metal has to be blasted.

This is totally fraudulent. A tta with 500 miles on it looks exactly the same as it does with 0 miles. And exactly the same as it did in 1989. No rust. No funny tires. No filth. This car is a fake. I know of people who drove around for years with their odometers unhooked. This is what happens when those people don't cover their tracks.


You are right, when buying a low mile car. Is it really what they say it is.
 
One of the main problems with low mile cars is people don't know how to properly store and maintain a low mile car and wind up destroying it! I've seen actual low mile cars look horrible because of poor storage and poor over the years maintenance. I looked at a 87 GN a few years back. It had 6K original miles. It looked like 100K. The poor car was stored in a car size barn. Like the kind you buy and drop in your back yard for lawn equipment. It was on the side of a mountain in heavy tree coverage. Damp, moldy, mossy, moist, no sun shine almost all year long, and in a cold upstate NY area. The car had mold and everything aluminum was a mess. But you could tell in some areas that it was a low mile car. Felt so bad for that thing but I wasn't dealing with that project. It really needed a frame off.

Looking at this TTA I almost get the same feeling. The miles may be true and it was just stored and maintained incorrectly over the years. If I didn't see the odometer I would think around 30K or so on it for sure. The doors handles are also missing the white inserts strange and most low miles cars sub 1K typically still wear the Gatorback tires either way. Looking at that dirt in the jams this entire car most likely looked that way at one time. The interior stayed nice because it was closed up but that dirt in the jams looks like typical stored in a dusty garage for years with no cover. The oxidation under the hood shows the same almost. Many people bought cars they figured would be collectible one day and just tossed it in a garage for years and years not even thinking about it. A change in life or a bug up their ass and off it goes. Would be nice to get the real story on it either way!
 
One of the main problems with low mile cars is people don't know how to properly store and maintain a low mile car and wind up destroying it! I've seen actual low mile cars look horrible because of poor storage and poor over the years maintenance. I looked at a 87 GN a few years back. It had 6K original miles. It looked like 100K. The poor car was stored in a car size barn. Like the kind you buy and drop in your back yard for lawn equipment. It was on the side of a mountain in heavy tree coverage. Damp, moldy, mossy, moist, no sun shine almost all year long, and in a cold upstate NY area. The car had mold and everything aluminum was a mess. But you could tell in some areas that it was a low mile car. Felt so bad for that thing but I wasn't dealing with that project. It really needed a frame off.

Looking at this TTA I almost get the same feeling. The miles may be true and it was just stored and maintained incorrectly over the years. If I didn't see the odometer I would think around 30K or so on it for sure. The doors handles are also missing the white inserts strange and most low miles cars sub 1K typically still wear the Gatorback tires either way. Looking at that dirt in the jams this entire car most likely looked that way at one time. The interior stayed nice because it was closed up but that dirt in the jams looks like typical stored in a dusty garage for years with no cover. The oxidation under the hood shows the same almost. Many people bought cars they figured would be collectible one day and just tossed it in a garage for years and years not even thinking about it. A change in life or a bug up their ass and off it goes. Would be nice to get the real story on it either way!

I agree with Philly, BAD STORAGE!
 
Yep, it appears it has had a bad shelflife. It appears it spent most of its life in Georgia, bought new in Valdosta and then going to Milledgeville which is north of Macon. Probably stored in a damp mildew enviroment. I googled the location where it is now in Maitland Fl, which is in the Orlando area. I know exactly where it is located. It is on hwy 17 on the east side of town, at a car lot. If I get a chance to go down and check it out I will. I know at the asking price people are not waiting in line to buy it. It would be interesting to talk to the original owner.
 
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Yep, it appears it has had a bad shelflife. It appears it spent most of its life in Georgia, bought new in Valdosta and then going to Milledgeville which is north of Macon. Probably stored in a damp mildew enviroment. I googled the location where it is now in Maitland Fl, which is in the Orlando area. I know exactly where it is located. It is on hwy 17 on the east side of town, at a car lot. If I get a chance to go down and check it out I will. I know at the asking price people are not waiting in line to buy it. It would be interesting to talk to the original owner.

Mike print out a flier for the reunion and drop that off as well! Maybe they will bring it up or at least they can pass it on to the new owner to bring it! :)
 
What do you want to know about this dealer? I bought my 06 Mazdaspeed from them. It's a basic run of the mill used car dealer but the owner likes unique cars so he buys and sells them. My 6 wasn't in the best shape but they tried to make it look like it. This TTA wasn't the "under fresh water" one was it?
 
I dunno how the door jams would get that dirty without driving it . I just checked mine and even the cars I do drive have nicer looking jams.
 
Is it me or does it look like this car has had some paint work? The whole front end and ground effects look like they are whiter than the doors and quarters.DontKnow:
 
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