Not sure if I am in the right spot but does anyone know this car?

Does the gauge that holds the speedometer and idiot lights look right as all I can see is one pointer with an orange tip and that is pointing to the 3 O'clock position with no pointer that I can see between the empty and full part of the fuel gauge. Thank you.

 

In order to fix the bad ground in the sending unit in the gas tank would the entire gas tank have to be dropped or is there an easier solution? When viewing the walkaround video the seller (Louis Lamb at Re-tired Klassics in Edmonds/Lynnwood Washington) posted with his eBay auction of this car I noticed the back up lights were on when the car was in neutral and running (no one was in the car when video was taken).

 

Would this tan wire's connector location be under the dash where it plugs into the back of the speedometer? From your advise it appears I should leave the tan wire in it's place and splice into the tan wire with another wire then ground the spliced wire to the car.

 

I am going to assume that the gas gauge needle is going to remain in the 3 O'clock position whether the car is running or not until it is properly grounded. This is of course that the sending unit in the gas tank doesn't need replacing.

 

The fuel gauge might just be straight up broken and the needle is just stuck or hanging out. Testing the wire should happen where the fuel level sender plugs into the harness underneath the rear of the car.

The whole dash cluster looks like it's in rough condition for a car that is that much money. Sorry to say.

 

Going by pictures isn't the best way to purchase a car however I was having no luck in finding my #1 choice a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet 4 speed #2 a 1970 Cuda 440 6 pac 4 speed. Buying a Buick GS was sort of a 3rd option and wouldn't have even considered buying one however when I looked at this particular car as a whole the body and interior looks in extremely good condition (again going by pictures) but the decision to buy this particular one was it is a convertible. I see what you mean about the dash cluster looking rough with the chipped up edging around all of the gauges. One of my conditions of purchase was the car be taken to a licensed mechanic in Lynndale Washington and being checked over to see if the car passes their safety check list and be road worthy however also e mailed the mechanic a copy of a Manitoba Canada safety inspection form asking him to follow that as a template. The car did pass but with some notations of other things on the car that should be addressed (water pump and valve covers leaking, was told the differential fluid was very dirty and should be changed as well the car needing a full tune up). The mechanic stated the brakes are close to needing new pad/shoes. If I can address all of these issues for between $1,000 to $1,500 I really don't have an issue with that just as long as the car gets a very positive report on the Lemon Squad inspection I have booked for next week which is another condition of purchase. I'm not sure if you will be able to access all of the pictures of the car that were posted on the eBay auction but the eBay item # for this car is 403785818274. If I could ask you to go on the eBay Motors site and look over all of the posted pictures and give me your opinion it would be greatly appreciated. So far I have only put down a $1000.00 deposit through eBay which is refundable under eBay member protection clause. Thank you.

 

O.K. looks like you were able to access the eBay listing of this car. What is your opinion after reviewing all of the pictures? Thank you.

 

I think that one of the coolest things about this car is that it is a 3-speed manual, and also has AC.

The only negative thing that jumped out at me from the photos is, it looks like the front to rear brake line had a section replaced and has compression fittings on each end of that section. It is just me or is that what others see too? That wouldn't be a deal breaker for me though. There are aftermarket replacements available and in the scheme of things, not that expensive.

 

I can't understand why someone would splice in a piece of brake hose which means purchasing a piece of brake hose as well as the compression fitting rather than just buying a brand new brake hose. You would also have to pay someone to install the compression fittings or would one just put the fittings on each end of the hose and tighten the fitting.

 

Some of the aftermarket replacement brake line kits make the front to rear piece in two pieces to ease the shipping process. Not sure if that's the case here, or they just were doing a hack job. Many of us have the tubing on a roll and the fitting on the bench to make our own...

Not sure about the car, other then to say, your right, it's not ideal to buy a car based only on photos online.

Also, we are spoiled here and see MANY cars that are in nicer condition than this one. The undercarriage is quite dirty, which is fine for a driver, but unusual for a high end dealer selling a rare irreplaceable Muscle car.

There are many people here with better eye's than mine, who can probably see a bunch of defects with the car if that's what you are looking for...

 

I know I somehow lucked out by being able to communicate with you however with being a newbie on this site not sure how
I would post a question so others can see the pictures and offer their opinion. I did purchase the car as a driver and not a show car however as you said for the amount of money I am spending I would want an extremely straight bondo free very nice paint car where everything works. I just got the results of the safety inspection done in Lynnwood Washington where the mechanic did tell me it would pass a safety in my province (I sent him a copy of a safety inspection form from my Province to use as a template) however there were a number of advisements that needed attention. The seller told me the AC blew cold however the mechanic said the AC is not working. This deal isn't done yet and would try to get out of it if you knew of a 70 GS455 convertible for sale in the higher 50K range, could be a 4 speed even though the 3 speed is supposed to make the car more rare, that was in superior condition to this one.

 

Well, the car is 52 years old. No matter how much we look things over, there is going to be something that isn't perfect. It looks like a beautiful car that is in good shape, that just needs a few things addressed, to be what you really want.

Oh, and I think you'll be hard pressed to find a car like this with no body filler (Bondo) in it somewhere. Just so long as it wasn't used to fill rust holes.

 

I agree that this old of a car is going to have some issues just as long as the issues aren't large and costly. I don't expect the car to have no body filler and am hoping when Lemon Squad runs their paint scanner over the car it will show minimal amounts of filler. I would hope that the body scanner will be able to detect if rust holes have been filled using Bondo . If there was rust repairs that were done poorly say just using Bondo wouldn't they be bubbling through the paint by now? When you looked at the pictures of the car on the eBay site and hovered the mouse over a picture to greatly enlarge it wouldn't you be able to see rust bubbles as well as any cracking in the paint if the body wasn't properly prepped before being painted black.

 

What I don't understand: if you buy a US$ 57,000 car, why don't you take a short trip to Lynnwood, WA to take a good look at the car yourself?
It's not that you are on another continent..... you could even drive there if flying is no option.
I would fly from Europe to the US to inspect a car with a price tag like that.

 

It's going to need new tires. They look to me a little dry rotted and in need of a alignment also in the pictures on the lift the better shape tires have been switched to the side they are showing.
I also don't believe it has front disc's as I think I see drum fins. The passenger door panel has some weird placement of the screws which makes me wonder what's behind it.
This is all fixable and a nice detailing will even make it alot nicer. It's a 52 year old car but pretty solid but your paying real good money..
One thing that bothers me is it looks like the the lower front fenders might have some rust issues.

Please do not take this as a knock. I hope your inspection shops looks behind the little issues..

 

Not taken as knock at all. I very much appreciate all those that have offered their observations and opinions. I don't consider myself to an expert in any way with cars and this is one of the main reasons I joined this forum to get into a resource community so I can ask questions to those in the know and learn.

 

Congratulations!

I think (I'm biased) you'll be happier w/a Buick than your 1st 2 choices.

Looks like the front seats were redone but not the back (colors don't match). I wouldn't be too worried about the dash. Either get an orig. re-chromed or they're reproduced and we now have excellent repro woodgrain dash appliques. I'd probably upgrade to gauges & either tach or 24 hr. rallye clock. Either was avail as a package. The clock in this car was a stand alone option.

I guess my biggest concern would be rust &/or repairs. Have someone look under the battery & see what if any repairs have been done & check out the feont fenders/quarters. Certainly possible someone put a new core support in at some point as well.

The orig. (I realize it's not a show car) master cylinder had bleeders. I see a red wire behind it that shouldn't be there. Radiator looks to be the orig. style & fan shroud looks good (not an inexpensive part so have someone look at it mlre closely). Oddly, the rubber cushions that hold the radiator in place don't look right or the rubber tips that stick up through the cover & hold them in place were cut off.

 

I looked over some of the 40+ extra pictures the seller recently sent and see what you mean. The driver side door panel has 4 screws at the bottom where the passenger side door panel has 6 screws and I do see fins up front that would only be on drums. I may be missing it however do not see any rust per say on the bottom of the front fenders unless you are referring to bubbling but I myself cannot see any so may be missing something there. The mechanic is going to start getting sick of me e mailing with question but should ask if the car has disc brakes up front as he would have had the wheels off when checking the brakes.

 

Just a small spot around this area and maby the other side.

Ask the mechanic what ever you want.. It's his job and your hard earned money!

 

Driver's door panel also has an extra screw up to the right of the window crank. It was probably warped a little. Obviously they aren't correct on a 70 convert, but it looks like the side mirrors might be placed too far back?

I can't tell if there is a posi tag on the rear? Dealer ad says Positraction, but they also said disc brakes which was incorrect. Have your mechanic check that.

Ask if it comes with the convertible top boot.

Under the hood it looks like the inner fenders have been painted black instead of body color?

Liberal use of black paint as a "detailing tool", brake master cylinder, gas tank, etc.