Hi! Im looking into buying this celica! opinions ?

[bochorongo]

This would be first nostalgic car and first time posting on this site!! So whats up everyone, im looking to buy this Celica St. Its listed as a 1973 celica st for 3800$ , anything you guys can spot that i can use as a negotiation tool? is it a good deal ? It supposedly only has 47000 orginal miles and has been parked for the last 15 years

[skeptic]

Step 1: Check for rust in all the usual places - rocker panels (look underneath), trunk, etc.
Step 2: Check for rust again - all the usual and unusual places.
Step 3: Check it out. Test drive it. Make sure everything works as it should, runs good, drives good, etc. Pop the hood. If you are still interested, have a mechanic go over it for you (unless you know what you are doing).
Step 4: If you make it this far and still want to buy it, offer $1,500. Come up to maybe $2,000. It appears to be bone stock, automatic, and needs a fair bit of work. It's not a $3,800 car - I'd put it at half that as long as it runs and drives well and doesn't have any rust issues (light surface rust is ok and to be expected).

[bochorongo]

wow thanks for the thorough instructions !! will make a list to take with me ! yeah i wasn't to excited about the auto transmission. Might keep waiting for the perfect celica to come along

[dymihail]

Ask him to provide documentation on mileage (i.e., service reports/receipts) and proof of storage (registration and insurance). Otherwise assume he's full of crap. You would be at how many of these cars have just 50K miles and have been stored for the last 10 years...

[cervasa]

im willing to bet there is a reason that ugly dash cover is on there to, it also looks primered im willing to bet the milage has at least a 1 in front of it. you can also negotiate on the missing lenses since you will probly need them to make it through inspection

[skeptic]

Ask him to provide documentation on mileage (i.e., service reports/receipts) and proof of storage (registration and insurance). Otherwise assume he's full of crap. You would be at how many of these cars have just 50K miles and have been stored for the last 10 years...

Look at the brake pedal - even in the photos I can tell you that car has 147k miles, or 247k miles....

[dymihail]

Ask him to provide documentation on mileage (i.e., service reports/receipts) and proof of storage (registration and insurance). Otherwise assume he's full of crap. You would be at how many of these cars have just 50K miles and have been stored for the last 10 years...

Look at the brake pedal - even in the photos I can tell you that car has 147k miles, or 247k miles....

That works, too, as does the general condition of the car. My point was more that 1) if you're concerned with mileage on a 35+ year old car then find a different car and 2) you simply cannot believe these people with their ridiculous claims. To be blunt, the guy is clearly lying about a great many things regarding this car and I would walk away. I guarantee you that you will start finding other problems within a week of getting it home and his price is just absurd. If I knew where you were (say, if you were to update your locale in your profile, which would then be shown on the sidebar of your posts) then I could find and post a few alternatives for you.

Decide on your budget for a car like this. Half of that goes towards its purchase. The rest goes to repairing whatever the previous owner lied about.

[skeptic]

his price is just absurd

This

Decide on your budget for a car like this. Half of that goes towards its purchase. The rest goes to repairing whatever the previous owner lied about.

And this.

[neil reid]

The door jamb looks a bit wrong color wise the moldings are rotted off the mirrors are wrong the wheels have been sprayed on the car log nuts and all it may be a salvageable car but not $3800 worth have you seen under the hood? driven it?

Be Careful Good luck

Neil

[Eusto]

If you can get your hands on a small magnet, bring it with you. See if it sticks to places where we usually find rust. If it doesn't stick, you'll know there is lots of bog covering a rusty hole or whatever and has been painted over.

[skeptic]

The door jamb looks a bit wrong color wise

You mean the over spray where someone didn't even bother to tape it off? Looks like they just closed the door and went at it with a wagner and some left over wall paint. Satin finish beige maybe?

[neil reid]

The door jamb looks a bit wrong color wise

You mean the over spray where someone didn't even bother to tape it off? Looks like they just closed the door and went at it with a wagner and some left over wall paint. Satin finish beige maybe?

No, looks like eggshell to me. But seriously if were finding signs that this car is a beater by looking at pics on a computer there must be hundreds more clues in real life. If this car is worth thousands it's thousands of hours in labor and parts. You can find a MUCH better example for this kind of money bochorongo, be patient!

Neil

[skeptic]

Just to be fair - I'm not claiming it's a clunker. It may be an ok car (clearly in need of some fixing up), and the previous owner may have tried to spruce it up a bit on the cheap before trying to sell it. It may be a paintjob, signal lenses, dash and a bit of TLC away from being a nice little '73. The body looks straight (need to check for big areas of bondo), I'm not seeing any rust (which you'd need to look carefully for), and most of the interior looks like it's there.

If it does run good, there really isn't any rust or big areas of bondo, and you can get it for a good price it does appear to be worth fixing up. Well, if you are ok with an auto or have the skills and $$ to convert it to a manual.

Or it might be a junker held together with rust and interior house paint.