450slc for sale in Pt Pirie SA.

[CraigB]

A mate is looking for a 'nothing to do' slc in SA so we made the 7 hr round trip to look at this car:

http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/pri ... &silo=1011

I had a good chat to the guy by phone and thought it had real promise. Was a 'car club' car. $20k spent on paint and interior - kits from US etc and full genuine rubber replacement. And while i don't have a recording of the conversation i know i asked the question 'does the a/c work' and got a positive response. The key factor for my mate is that this is his first classic. His wifes dad was a car nut, so she is quite fine with spending money on a car, but also has the view that they are a money pit. So the aim is to get a nothing to do car. Doesn't matter if it is a bargain with just a few dollars to be spent here and there, because that will just support the case of spending money on it.

This car has its merits but I thought i would pass on my examination in case somebody else is looking for one.

First thing was the colour. It is not original but what you don't pick up in the photo is that is is a very metallic, almost metal flake sort of thing. If you like a bit of 'bling' then perfect for you. I think if you asked the guy to take a close up of say the roof in full sunlight then you might get the idea. Non original colour and don't know how hard it is to match that sort of metallic finish. Boot lid has the start of rust bubbles along the bottom of it and the front RHS guard has bee repaired and bogged and as you often see, it has pulled down into those orbital scratches and in the right light it stands out. Rust is starting to bubble by that front indicator.

Seats and everything look great and original looking material carpets. Its a djet motor with solid lifters, all seemed to work right and trans felt good. I haven't driven these cars much but what i have done they don't have the most direct feeling to steering, but this one wouldn't surprise me if it needed the odd tierod end etc, but nothing too much to worry about. Rear muffler a bit crooked and middle mount was hanging off. While under it all the floors and everything looked good, couldn't see signs of firewall rust. Was a bit in the boot on RHS and was a bit moist - my guess would be a leaking tail-light. Not a hole and i think you could clean it up and fix the leak and it would be fine.

Dash is pretty badly cracked and needs to be done. I knew that and we were working that into the price that this would be the one thing that would be fixed.

And of course the A/C didn't work.... 'just needs a regas' . I didn't make a fuss because we were there and we already decided against it based on paint. But it still eats at me a bit because 7hrs of driving etc is a reasonable investment. Honestly, if it didn't work then you know how much trouble and expense that can be and i think says something about the seller and the car - and we just wouldn't have gone and looked.

But if you can live with the paint, if you feel confident you can match in that boot rust and front panel, factor in $1k for dash repair plus the labour to pull and fit and feel like rolling the dice on fixing the A/C and factor in all this, the it could be the car for you. It is certainly not a sad old rust bucket that is often out there.

It was the longest one on one chat I have had with my mate for probably 30 years or more and my 12yo came along for the ride, so all was not lost and it was an enjoyable day!

My mate is prepared to wait and doesn't want to bring a car from interstate, but if anyone knows of anything let me know. There is no strict budget on this, just looking for a known car with known work, preferably with no work needed.