Bought Another PArts Car Tonight

[goody90q45]

Well the bug has hit me again. (It's your fault Wes) A deal too good to pass up was on Craigslist tonight and I happened to see it within 15 minutes of it being posted. I was the first to call and six other people called in the 40 minutes it took me to drive to the owner's home. She told them all they would have to wait until morning to look at it.

This one is a pearl white 90Q, tan/brown interior, with 175k miles. I offered $350 and was able to drive it home. The engine has a miss, PS fluid is drained, CEL, ABS and security lights are on, seats are torn and it's in otherwise poor condition. Despite all this there's plenty of good parts that I'll be able to glean before getting rid of the carcass in a couple of months.

I can't touch the car until I get the pink slip in a couple of days and I won't be driving it any more since it hasn't been registered in two years and probably wouldn't pass smog anyways. I'll get some pics posted in the next day or two.

[3Q Jay]

no pink?what the lady still had a loan on a $350 car?it always amazes me when people offer an (older) car for sale and they don't have the title readily available.

good find---the undertaker is back in business!

[elwesso]

Maybe you could just hang onto this one for a little bit, fix it up and resell???

Hell, maybe itd need a few hundred in parts, then you could resell for under a grand... Maybe not worth it if the car is overall trashed... Im waiting for one of these days that your wife will post up and say "mike is no longer with us thanks to you guys"....

Its too bad you dont have the resources to pull motors, with the ones you've had and thrown away you probably could have had an extra $300-400 just by scrapping the blocks and heads.

[silver2k2]

Pulling the motor is a bad idea. Get a cheap cherry picker. Heck I would come over and help just for the experience. Nice find

[goody90q45]

no pink?.....It always amazes me when people offer an (older) car for sale and they don't have the title readily available.

I looked at her in disbelief when she told me she couldn't find the pink slip after telling me over the phone that all paperwork was in order.

good find---the undertaker is back in business!

I have to continue buying junker Q's Jay. Where else are you going to get all the obscure parts you're always searching for for your experiments.

Maybe you could just hang onto this one for a little bit, fix it up and resell??? Hell, maybe itd need a few hundred in parts, then you could resell for under a grand... Maybe not worth it if the car is overall trashed.

Even though it runs this one is pretty trashed. I did the numbers and it wouldn't be worth my effort to fix it up when I could only sell it for $1200-$1500. Two years overdue registration is about $200 alone. Now that I've looked at it in the daylight I'm glad no one I know saw me driving it home last night. They would have thought I'd hit rock bottom.

Pulling the motor is a bad idea. Get a cheap cherry picker. Heck I would come over and help just for the experience. Nice find

Thanks Jared. Where were you last night? I rely on you to email me and let me in on the hot Craigslist deals in town. It hurts me to let this one go with such a nice transmission. It shifted like new. I think I'm going to have to leave the engine and transmission on the car but your welcome to come over and "experience" removing the alternator (it's new), starter, PS pump, AC compressor and plenum. Let me know if you need anything!

[Haitian_King]

Wait Mike.

How good was that transmission? You sure you don't want to pull it out?

Lucky. I found a 91 on eBay and they wanted $800. It was located in Miami. I aked if it was able to be driven to NJ, and the guy said he wouldn't recommend it. He offered to ship for $450, but at that point, I felt that the price needed to go down. I would offer $3-400 and spend 450 shipping since I can't drive it back.

Thinking on finding a Q in good condition to be a daily driver while my first one is in the shop.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/....html

What do you guys think?

[goody90q45]

The flake owner that I bought this Q from couldn't come up with the pink slip and kept giving me a bunch of excuses. I ended up having it towed back to their house since it wouldn't stay running even though I'd driven it home 2 nights earlier when I bought it. I paid 1/2 the purchase price ($175) at that time and took the car while I waited on the pink. It's all in the written contract I wrote out and we both signed. When they tried to extort me for the other $175 saying I'd broken the contract (where's the pink?) I decided to cut my losses and have the car towed back for $100 and let the tow truck driver deal with them.

This was a very poor family and I'm sure they'll put my $175 to good use for Christmas presents and not some evil vice. An additional $175 from me would have really made their holiday bright but maybe they'll sell it to someone else in the next week. I should have known better. Lesson learned: Never pay money for a parts car unless the owner has the pink slip in hand.

[Q45denver]

Maybe dumb question but why do you need pick slip to part it out?

[Fridge]

I dont know about your state laws but in texas you can not get rid of the carcas without a title. Also whats to keep the original owner from showing up and claiming hey you stole my car..

[goody90q45]

I dont know about your state laws but in texas you can not get rid of the carcass without a title. Also whats to keep the original owner from showing up and claiming hey you stole my car..

Agreed. Same in CA. When I call the Infiniti salvage yard to come get the carcass in a month or two the tow truck driver won't touch it until he verifies the VIN from the pink slip.

Unfortunately I don't have a yard big enough to dig a hole and bury it and I won't contribute to blight by abandoning it on the side of the road so I need to follow my own rules next time one comes up for sale.

[Haitian_King]

Damn. Sorry to hear that Mike. So they kept their car and your $175? At least you did some good in the world.

[Q45tech]

Happens alot, people bring car in we do $1,000 worth of work and they never come back. We end up spending $400 to get a judges order and a replacement title so we can strip and junk the carcus.

If they don't succeed in stealing it when we get tired of locking it up................we usually remove ecu to make it tougher.

Sometimes Q are just left in driveway forever.

You see this at BMW and Volvo also where their rear lots are full of rejects from society.

Down the street there was a 240x specialist that had 30+ cars in the rear noticed new for lease sign and the junkyard wreckers lined up to clear the property...............they just disappeared into the night.

[AlabamaDan]

Sorry to hear that Mike. I've had a similar experience, but I got my money back, plus interest. A strongly worded letter from implying that you will sue seems to go a long way. Have it delivered registered mail return receipt. But in my case it was $750 for $175 maybe lesson learned is enough.

[Q45denver]

No state law here that I'm aware of but probably a good idea as it might slow down the chop shops.

[mxr662]

Sorry to hear about it. I was going to hit you up for tension rods

[silver2k2]

I will keep my eye out for another one. Didnt know you wanted me to keep feeding your addiction

[silver2k2]

Plus I am more interesting in you getting a 94+ so I can get some specific interior parts

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/513355398.html

[AlabamaDan]

I thought about Mike when I saw that one too! It might be worth saving!

[goody90q45]

I will keep my eye out for another one. Didnt know you wanted me to keep feeding your addiction

Keep it coming. Your email got me to thinking about the black on gray 94 which turned out to be the best of the parts cars.

I'm a little leery of owners who claim their car is driveable after getting burned this week. The Craigslist car does look like a good deal though so I emailed the poster. Thanks for the heads up.

[goody90q45]

The Craigslist car does look like a good deal though so I emailed the poster. Thanks for the heads up.

Craigslist posting was deleted 2 minutes after I sent the email. It must have sold.