Bonehead
Skull Master
I just got back from a two hour drive, to look at a 1975 olds. The Craigs list ad said,
"1975 Olds Ninety-Eight for sale-$1000. 455 engine. Green interior, white exterior with green top. Interior in great condition besides front door armrests. Exterior has some chipping, a little cracking on top piece. Only 131,000 miles. Something is draining the battery, other than that runs like a charm. My guess is an easy fix. Great car, extremely smooth ride."
I called the guy, and among other things, he tells me to bring a battery so I can drive it, when I get there.
My son is looking for a donor car for a rat, and a 455 would be a cool motor.
So we load up and head that way. When we get there we were surprised to see it sitting on four very low tires, and water marks on the lower side of the white walls. Even more surprised to see the June of 2008 tags on the car.
So I asked how long since it has been driven, and they say, "last year".
I pointed out the tags and they say "well, maybe it has been a little longer since it was started, probably sometime before the tags expired."
The battery was a side post, and I brought a top post, but it didn't matter. I checked the oil, and it was like tar, and was at 1.5 qts low on the stick. The tires had wires sticking out, and the radiator was sitting about 1/2 full. When I pulled off the air cleaner, and worked the throttle, it was obvious, that the gas had turned to varnish. All the hoses were cracked, and the gaskets througout the motor were leaking. They told me it had just been serviced before it was parked. ( so where did all the fluids go?)
In my dissapointment, I offered $500.00 They said no way, they could get more than that from scrapping it out. They then told me the 455 was worth $1200 alone. They hung tight to the $1000.00, and I walked away. At 500 it was a toss up, but I would have to come back with a trailer, and then the real work would start.
"1975 Olds Ninety-Eight for sale-$1000. 455 engine. Green interior, white exterior with green top. Interior in great condition besides front door armrests. Exterior has some chipping, a little cracking on top piece. Only 131,000 miles. Something is draining the battery, other than that runs like a charm. My guess is an easy fix. Great car, extremely smooth ride."
I called the guy, and among other things, he tells me to bring a battery so I can drive it, when I get there.
My son is looking for a donor car for a rat, and a 455 would be a cool motor.
So we load up and head that way. When we get there we were surprised to see it sitting on four very low tires, and water marks on the lower side of the white walls. Even more surprised to see the June of 2008 tags on the car.
So I asked how long since it has been driven, and they say, "last year".
I pointed out the tags and they say "well, maybe it has been a little longer since it was started, probably sometime before the tags expired."
The battery was a side post, and I brought a top post, but it didn't matter. I checked the oil, and it was like tar, and was at 1.5 qts low on the stick. The tires had wires sticking out, and the radiator was sitting about 1/2 full. When I pulled off the air cleaner, and worked the throttle, it was obvious, that the gas had turned to varnish. All the hoses were cracked, and the gaskets througout the motor were leaking. They told me it had just been serviced before it was parked. ( so where did all the fluids go?)
In my dissapointment, I offered $500.00 They said no way, they could get more than that from scrapping it out. They then told me the 455 was worth $1200 alone. They hung tight to the $1000.00, and I walked away. At 500 it was a toss up, but I would have to come back with a trailer, and then the real work would start.
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