1979, Is it a deal??

S

soonerx1/9

Matt DeSpain
Hello fellow forum members. I found a neighbor with a 79' X, light blue, tan / brown interior, with 45,000 on the odometer. The claim is it has been sitting in storage since 1986. I looked at it, some cracking on the seats, needs new weatherstripping for the doors, very very slight rust at the base of the windshield, a bit more rust on the rear panels, but not too bad at all, and chewed up a bit on lower right and middle portions of the front spoiler. The engine does turn over but needs a tune up bad. Steel wheels, but very recent rubber to get it rolling. It looks pretty solid and straight. I think I can get it for just under $2000. Is that a good deal from your perspectives out there? I just have no real measure on values these days. Any input would be grand
 
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Well, in Oregon...

I would consider it for about 1k. 2k should get you a good running car which would serve you for some time.

Just my .02

Eric.
 
Depends

What do you want out of the car? If you plan to just tune it and drive it and enjoy it, and have no desire to re-sell at any point in time, then perhaps its not a bad deal -- for you. After all, what would you spend if you had to buy another car to fulfill your criteria?

OTOH, if you are buying to restore, fix and flip, or have a concours car, you would probably be better off finding a better car with which to start. Even well under $2k you may end up spending far more that you will ever get back from the car on resale. All the little bits that go to make a car "like new" add up. Ask me how I know.

Again, unless you are going to try to sell it in the very near term, I wouldn't worry too much about what others say concerning the price. Ultimately what a car will bring is what someone is willing to spend and until cash changes hands it's all just speculation.

Now, that said, if you are going to buy this particular car and you want negotiate a lower price, the items you describe would all be good negotiating points. As far as whether the price is "market correct" I tend to agree based upon description alone that it sounds a bit high at $2k. But it's hard to really know from a description. You also have to account for availability. Xs might be plentiful in Oregon, so finding one for $2k that's a nice runner might be easier than in Oklahoma. While you could choose to go to Oregon to buy one, you have to factor in the cost of getting it back home into your equation. If it's another $1k and you have the mechanical skills and desire to do your own work, I expect that the difference between the two cars may be negligible.

Too much information, right? Remember, you asked. :)


EDIT: I had another thought...
In England they have a program called "Wheeler Dealers." You can find episodes on YouTube. I recommend watching that program, as they give some good advice about what to look for and how to negotiate when buying, fixing and selling a car. As you will see, they factor in things like travel costs and such when figuring out whether they "profited" on their deal. Of course, the advantage they have is an expert mechanic whose labor is not counted in the price. But the premise behind the show is that you can do the mechanical work as a DIY and not as a business.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.
 
81 X

Or, you could drive up to Tulsa and take a look at my 81 X1/9. 63K miles as the original owner. Garage kept all of its life. Paint looks good from 15 feet. All original, except for the brown wire mod. Runs great. New brakes, clutch master and slave cylinder. Email me at
m
a
n
d
l
e
b
a
u
m
at sbcglobal dot net
or call me at nineoneeight 698 seventhousand. With summer coming on, you can own a running X that you do not have to do any work on, except for those improvements that you want to make. You could drive it home and have no shipping costs. Let me hear from you.

Allen Mandlebaum
 
Get the '81, it's Fuel Injected.
The '79, sounds like a $1500 car to me. Not driven since '86 is not good. "new" tires in '86? So they're junk now likely. Which ever toots your horn, just be sure to get at LEAST one of them. I had so much fun driving my car AGAIN today. Make a driver outta it and drive it into the ground.
 
In no running condition and taking in consideration what you described I would not go over $600-800.You are gonna end putting more $$ into it than just buying a nice running car like Allens.That's a car that its probably gonna be full of surprises down the road so you need to buy it right.....just my. 02¢.
 
Thanks for the advice!!

Too everyone that has chipped in their two-cents-worth I appreciate it!! I am in the middle of a rolling restoration + performance enhancements + customizations on my current 86' x1/9, so I am experiencing the costs of restoration and have Matthew's Midwest and Vick's on speed dial..LOL. Until I get all that done I was looking for another possible X for getting around, if the price is right. * Karfrik & CandB = great suggestions all around, and I am a "Wheeler Dealer" addict!!! * Allen (TulsaX1/9), I'll email you tonight. I'd love to look and talk.
 
79 x19 bertone

hey were is the post to put my car on here------
1979 bertone x-19 coupe with removable top, it has a 4 cylinder motor with a 5 speed in car and ran when it was parked several years ago, car has some surface rust but not bad for its age, i also have a extra motor that goes ith it that runs perfect that has around 70,000 original miles and it ran perfect, i will update the ad with the price soon and post some pics, well this little car would be a perfect little car for a first time driver teenage kid, id love to keep the car but i have too many other projects. if you have any more questions feel free to message me, anyways this car is very rare and very cool looking car. it will need paint and restoring but will not be very expensive too restore cause parts are available and not expensive

Location: abbeville,greenville south carolina
 
Hey Matt,

Just for a comparison. Like you, I recently considered a '79 that I saw locally. It was in worse shape than the one you describe, but after listening to the "X"-perts on this forum I passed it up at $1000 (and glad I did). For me it came down to how much work it needed (and I was willing to do) vs how much I would pay for a better one requiring less work. If you already have another restoration project going on, you might want something that does not require any work to enjoy (like Allen's). I guess I'm saying the $2000 price you mention seems high to me, from what I read into your description of it. Hope this helps a little.
 
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