Increasing the fleet

[4tecdog]

Thinking of purchasing a frog eye to pair up with my BJ8 looking around prices seem to be holding up and it seems a restored example is probably a better buy at the moment, restoration projects seem quite expensive considering the price of body pannels. Could anyone point me in the right direction as to what to look for and what to avoid, I have mechanical experience (not too much with cars mainly boats) also had a lot of fun with the BJ8 and now know what to look for with the sprites bigger brother.

 

[Brinkerhoff]

You want to buy the car that had the nicest body BEFORE it was restored , that's the challenge. Prior collision and rust damage not repaired properly. Any rust or paint bubbling or flaking mean it probably wasn't repaired correctly and you'll be stripping it to a bare tub. Check for plastic filler with a refrigerator magnet .

 

[4tecdog]

Thanks for that advice what to look for if its up on a ramp and during a test drive ?

 

[histerical]

Loose steering and front suspension. The boxes the rear springs are mounted in ( one of the worst designs ever). Rust uder the fronts of the floors.

 

[JPSmit]

also, A pillar rust - look in the door jamb around the lower hinge

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Spring boxes and rust at floor and read bulkhead. A Challenge to fix. Trust me I know. My Solution, find a Unicorn, a '60 BE CA Car original owner since 1960 when it was purchased new. Rust Free to boot, truly a Unicorn. Yes you will pay more and harder to find but they are out there. Just need to look under lots of rocks. Bugsy IV is coming back to life and Bugsy II my aforementioned Project Car has an offer on him to purchase as is.