looking at a '69 1600

[jvandyke]

First off, hi all, my name is Jeff and I have a problem.....so does my kid apparently. We love little two seaters. I drive an x1/9 daily, he just sold his '81 RX7, previous car for me was a '63 Midget, a '70 Opel GT, a '75 Midget and '63 Corvair.
My 17 year old son wants http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/cto/3083770276.html
We went to check it out today. Nice paint over poor prep. Frame has some rot, some pretty serious. Seats are out of a Honda, top is supposed to be decent. "Ran when parked". He did some work on it then it wouldn't fire, he lost interest. I'm not too scared of the mechanical, I am a former MG guy. The frame I think some welded in reinforcement should get us by while we tinker with it.
Bumpers were painted silver as they were pretty rusty.
So I guess I'm asking for opinions and advice. We're planning on heading back with some cash and closer inspection then see if we can work out a deal.

[dbrick]

Personal opinion, anyone who paints a car with a rusted frame makes me wonder what's under the paint and what were they thinking. For a bit more, around $3500.00 you can find a much better car, and you would probably be into this one for as much to get it going.

[spl310]

Welcome! A few folks have spare frames (I do!) but I don't know who is nearby. Neat looking car - but those seats do look oddly out of place.

[68DSU]

You might look at some of the other posts on this forum for the last few months and see what is out there and at what price. There is some pretty good "reporting" when a car comes up for sale.

[Garm]

I like the wheels. And the dice.

[notoptoy]

I'd keep looking, the rusted frame is probably only the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps at a lower price it would be a good candidate for a swap with another car with a bad drivetrain and body - but for not a lot more money there are much better examples.

[jvandyke]

I think what happened is the owner got it cheap, "knew a guy" who sprayed it cheap. It's never been fully reassembled after paint (at least he took some stuff off the car first). I guess I'm asking is it plausible to simply reinforce the frame as is and drive it a few summers. I agree it would be better to buy a nicer one, that's always the case eh? Much cheaper to buy "nicer" than to make one nicer. He "should" hold out, save up more money and buy something a little better but how many of us always do what we should?

[Terry Z]

I think the price is right if it doesn't take much to get it running. What are your intentions with the car? Cheap beater or restoration? Parts are not cheap for these cars. Most everything you need is available though. I would get it running and drive the Heck out of it! They are a blast to drive. To be seventeen again. I never had a car more than a couple months and it was on to the next one. What fun!!

[jvandyke]

What are your intentions with the car? Cheap beater or restoration?

put back together, get running decently and drive it, restoration probably never happen, might flip it eventually

[jamesw]

Get some photos of the frame rot. If it's not bad then it's a pretty good deal. Even if you can't get the R16 running, you can get a replacement from someone pretty cheaply.

Cheers
James

[jvandyke]

Pictures Pretty nasty looking to me.
compression test: 1-130, 2-125, 3-90, 4-40

[notoptoy]

There's a much better candidate on E-bay, buy it now for $2395......just saying, there is more out there for not much more money.

[jvandyke]

The one we're looking at is WAY better shape than that one, other than the "soft" frame. It's full of new parts too, new exhaust, new struts...all of which doesn't mean much when it breaks in two crossing railroad tracks.

[Terry Z]

Bad frame, Bad compression numbers... Run Forest Run!!

[jamesw]

I would pass on that car.