PARTS CAR???? TO BUY, OR NOT TO BUY!!!

[infinitinut2]

90 Q, w/ 238K miles, for $600 on ebay. Some of the important verbiage:

THE ENGINE NOISE. THE NOISE SEEMS TO COME FROM THE TOP OF THE MOTOR AND SOUNDS LIKE SEVERAL LIFTERS ARE STUCK, BUT THE CAR STARTS AND RUNS SMOOTHLY. BECAUSE OF THE NOISE AND THE MILES, WE ARE SELLING IT FOR PARTS. THE CAR HAD SOLD FOR $3350. IT IS VERY CLEAN AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE PIX AND EVERYTHING WORKS, INCLUDING THE A/C, AND THE BOSE SOUND SYSTEM W/SONY 10 DISC PLAYER.

My thoughts:

Car not too far off and, once I get back east, I would haul the car back to acreage in southern South Carolina, where I have plenty of room to park/hide it on the plantation, and use it for parts, as needed. I do not know how hard it is going to get to find parts for the early Qs, but I know that there are already serious issues with finding parts for my 92 M30 vert, having to recently hunt and hunt for a junked speedo cluster, there not being any new ones available, even from Joe! I did manage to find one, and all functions worked, but obviously it had seen better days!

I immediately thought of chain guide issues when I read about the engine noise, but, having had mine done at T3 before they broke, I have no idea what a failed guide issue sounds like!

Any thoughts from you guys who have bought a parts car???

(Hey! In some of the watering holes I have been in around this world, some guys pay $600 to see a monkey ****!!!!!)

Thanks!

[96Qowner]

$600 is just the opening bid, so it will go higher, but I think your logic makes some sense. You're relatively close to Spartanburg and you have a place to store the parts car. There are certainly more than $600 worth of parts in the car that you will someday use.

If it were me, I'd only be eager if the colors are the same as yours, and I wouldn't go higher than $1000 (as a parts car).