Thanks for confirming my suspicions that these are pretty bullet proof cars, even at higher mileage.
I stopped by briefly to check it out yesterday, and it's a Cali car that he's only had for 3 years and has put less than 10k mile total on it. So previous owner(s) were putting 20k+ (presumably highway) miles per year on it. Included in his receipt for the last 3 years is new timing chains and belts and whatnot. He also had the cats replaced, but I don't think with anything high performance. He has no knowledge of a tune, but its not throwing any codes either. I thought I read somewhere that the K&N was one of the few that don't require a tune, at least on the S197?
In addition to the K&N CAI it has a Magnaflow Street exhaust (not sure if axle back or cat back), non-stock 18" polished/chrome 'Bullitt style' (claims they're 'factory') wheels, drives fine, shifts fine, no tears on the leather interior. No idea on shock or clutch age, although neither seem problematic on a brief drive. The brakes work well enough in regular stopping, but definitely aren't as grabby as most cars I've driven and required more effort than I was expecting. Is that a 'Mustang thing' or do I need to get that investigated further? The "Shaker 500" head unit is going out, but he is including a replacement. Hopefully there aren't any 'theft prevention' measures that would prevent this from being swapped out?
It does have some more interior shakes and rattles over bumps than I'm accustomed to relative to pretty much anything I've owned. I'm not sure how 'typical' that is or not in S197's resulting from some combination of age/mileage/convertibleness? Although that doesn't seem like as much of an issue as the metallic squeaking sound I was hearing over bumps for the first half or the drive, but either the bumps were smaller or it got better as the drive went on. Seemed more so from the rear. Maybe something in the exhaust that tightened as it warmed up, the trunk, the top frame, or is there something else known for making this kind of noise in these?
It also obviously has the expected minor chips and scratches, 2 small dings (driver door and passenger fender), mildly hazing headlight covers, etc that one would expect from a car that has spent that much time out on the road...But no readily apparent rust concerns. Are there any places it likes to hide on these cars?
The main issues of most immediate concern though are that the (Chinese) tires are pretty much aged out (2012) and starting to crack, and the soft top appears to be original and is actively beginning to fail with a small tear forming at the end of the bow over the passenger side door. So there's at least $1200 (assuming DIY top replacement, more if shop performed) of immediate needs, which would be strong negotiating points too.
All in all, I think it still might be worth taking a closer look at it again next weekend. As I read up on these cars, any further thoughts on the noted concerns would certainly be appreciated.
