Bought a car, almost instant regret.

Your title says you bought a car. All I see is something that looks like a burnt bagel  wrapped in aluminum foil from my toaster oven. 

If the impact pushed in the rear wheel, I'd be concerned about the rear hub, half shaft, and even possibly the entire transaxle assembly. The first two I assume you don't care about, but it would suck to find a cracked transaxle housing.

Any time my spider-sense has tingled about a potential buy, especially in situations where there is something like lots of pics but they ALL somehow miss certain parts of the car, I have saved myself a lot of grief several times by asking the seller if they are willing to do a FaceTime walk around with me.  If they say they don't want to or their phone's camera is broken or they can't for some reason then that's fine.  I either cross it off the list, or sometimes I'll ask if a (fictional) nearby friend or relative can come by and look at it for me.  If their response is positive then I might look into it further, but the moment they start talking about how they're gonna be real busy and it might be difficult to arrange a face-to-face meeting with anyone I thank them for their time and walk away.  Usually it's the latter.  Sometimes I might ask for pics of all the "missing" parts of the car and occasionally sellers will send them, but more often than not they will tell me how they can't because it's stored at their cousin's uncle's place hours away (which they hadn't yet mentioned!?) and at that point they may as well be telling me how their Nigerian uncle will be mailing me a check.  
 

Anywho, just wanted to mention the idea of video chat to get more info than some people are willing to give with initial pics and a few ways to sniff out problems and avoid ragerts.  

A YouTuber called Vehcor has a running series on auto auction scammers. One particular seller in Miami likes to buy destroyed vehicles and fix them up enough to make them look better, to resell at auction - preying on unsuspecting internet bidders who only go off the photos.

He usually finds lots of drywall screws.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Surely it has to be easier to just get a real job.

Aftermarket stuff you need - and if its complete - is probably worth 30% of new.  

Back in the day I always figured if I could get anything reasonably complete and decent condition aftermarket for 20-30% of new price, there was meat on the bone.  50% of new, I better want it for myself and it better be damn nice.  

The Greddy T67 if its complete is a real cool period piece, there are probably cheaper and more effective ways of making big numbers these days though.  

OHSCrifle said:

...One particular seller in Miami...

Somewhat related - are laws in Florida more lax, such that it's easier for sketchy parties to set up fly-by-night businesses? I've seen so many stories of semi-scammy businesses from there that I start guessing that's where they are before even finishing an article. I won't do any "buying from afar" deal with FL in the address. Is this impression true, or just selective bias? I know this sort of thing goes on everywhere, but does FL have more than its share?

kb58 said:

OHSCrifle said:

...One particular seller in Miami...

Somewhat related - are laws in Florida more lax, such that it's easier for sketchy parties to set up fly-by-night businesses? I've seen so many stories of semi-scammy businesses from there that I start guessing that's where they are before even finishing an article. I won't do any "buying from afar" deal with FL in the address. Is this impression true, or just selective bias? I know this sort of thing goes on everywhere, but does FL have more than its share?

vehicle laws here are very lax- FL in particular was one of the original places to get a skyline into the country before MotoRex berkeleyed that up for everyone. There's also the HIGHLY transient nature of the population (ain't nobody from here) and the fact that it's an international shipping port that makes it extremely easy to set up less than scrupulous business practices. If you're selling vehicles you know are never coming back across the border, who gives a berkeley, right? I have PERSONALLY mastered the art of custom paint matching Toyota red in house paint because I had a couple guys that would roller job Tacomas enough to get them across the border into Central American after buying them out of Manhiem Orlando. I even saved the paint code to save myself the trouble later, because I knew these jokers would be back. Always paid cash, and I didn't get paid enough to ask questions. 

There's also the whole degradation of society and people on a rapid decline towards wanting to berkeley each other to death, but that's not really a conversation for here. 

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

I had a friend who wrecked his Saab almost to the same level of this and he was able sell basically every piece of non damaged hardware on the car. When going through it, he kinda thought back to what he would look for in the junk yard during his builds, aka vehicle specific nuts, bolts etc. He was even able to just sell the badge on Facebook marketplace. Also if you ever decided to get another one that isn't in as bad shape you have a mini store of vehicle specific hardware. 

My pics are back, at least on my phone. 

dculberson said:

My pics are back, at least on my phone. 

Not showing on my end, sir.

I think Im 'done' with the interior. Not being able to move that door limits me a bit. Well, a lot. But there isnt much 'usable' stuff I cant access, so whatever.

Tomorrow Im going to the FRUNK and getting what I can from it like headlight components, wiper motor etc

And I'll jack it up and start removing wheels and getting brakes off etc

I'd like to get the car 'done' minus the actual engine within five days. I'll take off the turbo etc, but it'll take a bit to get ready to pull the engine and trans. I need to see if it is a trans from a turbo model (should be) and, if so, if it has a LSD.

Paris Van Gorder said:

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

I had a friend who wrecked his Saab almost to the same level of this and he was able sell basically every piece of non damaged hardware on the car. When going through it, he kinda thought back to what he would look for in the junk yard during his builds, aka vehicle specific nuts, bolts etc. He was even able to just sell the badge on Facebook marketplace. Also if you ever decided to get another one that isn't in as bad shape you have a mini store of vehicle specific hardware. 

Oh yeah, Im saving all the hardware I can and anything that I THINK I can use for a project later.

kb58 said:

Somewhat related - are laws in Florida more lax, such that it's easier for sketchy parties to set up fly-by-night businesses? I've seen so many stories of semi-scammy businesses from there that I start guessing that's where they are before even finishing an article. I won't do any "buying from afar" deal with FL in the address. Is this impression true, or just selective bias? I know this sort of thing goes on everywhere, but does FL have more than its share?

Admittedly, it's not fair to paint everyone with that broad a brush, but I've been picking up the same vibe for a long time now - to the point that other than one niche magazine, it's tainted my impression of the entire state.  At least it's some small comfort to know it's not just bias and paranoia.

Thanks, Mndsm, for the explanation.

hybridmomentspass said:

I think Im 'done' with the interior. Not being able to move that door limits me a bit. Well, a lot. 

Is it just that you can't get the RH door open/off?  There is probably not a lot of value left in that shell, and it looks like you already have easy access to the bolts holding the hinges to the door.  Can you use an angle grinder or jigsaw to hack into the outer skin and peel it open enough to get to the latch and striker?  Or is there more to the situation?

DarkMonohue said:Can you use an angle grinder or jigsaw to hack into the outer skin and peel it open enough to get to the latch and striker?  Or is there more to the situation?

Yes. lol

Could I get to it to access more? Sure.

But the window is busted in it, could get the motor...maybe it's still ok, not sure as it's been exposed to elements

There could be some value there, but I think Im going to leave it as be and let it just add to the weight when they haul it off as scrap.

hybridmomentspass said:

dculberson said:

My pics are back, at least on my phone. 

Not showing on my end, sir.

 

Sorry for cluttering up your regrets post with my ssl travails but I THINK it's actually working now, please check it out and see. It's working on my desktop at work at least.

In reply to dculberson :

They are now loading for me. Thanks for restoring them.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

Yessssssss it's like a splinter removed

The mr2 part out thread is what inspired me to buy a Z32 for a grand to part out a couple years ago and I did very well on that. Hope you get enough to get your turbo drivetrain for free!

Youre not cluttering at all! I appreicate it

Pics work! Yours looks WAY better than mine lol Much more usable stuff.

Rainy day today so nothing going on. But Im at the point where I need to jack the car up and Ive already started in the engine bay. I think I'll get most of the engine stuff off then mess with jacking car up to get to brakes and suspension bits

With it being a rainy day, I'll use the in-doors time to post up some stuff for sale and box things for shipping

How did this one turn out?