So a few weeks ago, a fellow TCE member sent me a picture message of a vert he saw for sale on Autotrader.com. I thought to myself, “Bill, why are you sending this to me? You know I can’t afford another car right now!”I quickly thought nothing of it.
I got home later that day and my wife asked, “Did you get that picture message from Bill?”
“Yes… why?” I said.
“My dad wants you to call the guy.”
“WHAT?! For real?”
“Yup.”
There’s a funny back-story.
That morning, Michelle was helping her dad do some work and out of the blue, he told her that he wanted me to start looking for a vert because he wanted to buy one. Ever since Michelle and I got the first vert, her dad really liked the car. It wasn’t more than an hour later and Michelle got the picture message from Bill too. Michelle showed her dad and they couldn’t believe it.
The following day, I found the ad on Autotrader and gave the guy a call. I asked some questions about the car like where it came from and how long they’ve owned it and what kind of service it’s had. Everything sounded good and I reported back to my father-in-law. When I told him it was about two hours away, he asked me to set up a time to go look at it.
Saturday we (Michelle, her parents, and myself) all went to go look at the car. When we got there, I was amazed at how clean and unmolested this car was. I looked over all the trouble spots where corrosion usually occurs, looked for missing trim pieces, and thoroughly inspected the engine bay and underbody. We took it for a test drive and everything was great. The top works perfectly (which makes my wife super jealous), the air blows cold, and there isn’t even a dent in the body.
My only concern at this point was that there was no boot. I asked the guy if he was sure he didn’t have a boot. He said, “You know, I’ve got something in the pole barn that I’m not really sure what it is and it’s been out there for a long time. Let me go check.”
He returned with this long black bag with a confused look on his face. “I don’t know if this is what you’re looking for.”
“That’s exactly what I was looking for!”
I opened the bag and we pulled out a pristine boot. It’s been sitting in the bag in this guy’s pole barn for the last ten years.
That sealed the deal. I told my father-in-law, “You’re not going to find a nicer convertible around here for this kind of price. I think it’s a great deal. If I had the money, I’d buy this car right now.”
My father-in-law took my advice and we drove the car home that day.
He loves this car. Future plans include regular maintenance and storing it in the winter. My father-in-law doesn’t want to change anything on the car. He wants to keep it completely stock and just enjoy driving it. I need to find a rear window switch button and figure out why the high beams aren’t working. Other than that, this car just needs to have the top dropped and some open road.
Wow, that is clean!!
