Exposing a '99 Civic Si to Detroit salt and rust - a sin?

I'm looking for a new car and saw this one on Craigslist.

http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/cto/5904607614.html

It's a first-year, numbers matching car, whose body has a couple of rough spots (hood dented, quarterpanel dented, rust spot below the right door mirror), but is mechanically intact.

The car would be my 360 days per year daily driver. If I put snow tires on it, run it though the salt all winter, and it rots to the point of scrapping in 5 years, will enthusiasts 20 years from now curse me for ruining one? Are there enough kept in bubblewrap between Texas and California to not worry about it?

If you buy it and keep it in bubble wrap, in 20 years you will curse yourself for not enjoying it.

I'd take a good look at it, probably not the virgin you think it is. Face it, it has a better chance of survival with you than the kids who's calling the dude up right now with visions of v-tech yo!....

In reply to Gearheadotaku:

I clearly wouldn't be the first driver to enjoy this car, and its body isn't perfect to begin with. I'm just wondering whether there are enough creampuff examples left that ruining a decent car is OK.

It's not a sin, it's a death sentence.

Do it.

It's just a car.

It's just a civic...

It's already got enough miles on it to never be a cream puff so just drive it into the ground.

Yeah. While that gen SI is a pretty nice package, it's still just a civic and won't exactly ever command a huge premium as a collector's item. We're not talkin ITR or Supra or NSX here. I think it's worth it to drive it, enjoy it, take care of it for as long as possible, and to keep it out of the hands of boiracers.

This is the kind of thread that should start with 'Hey check out the Civic Si I just bought! '

Just buy it, wash/wax , and hose the bejeezus out of it with FluidFilm, and enjoy.

I think I'm also in the buy it and enjoy it camp.

If you are confronted by an anthusiast in the future, simply deny all knowledge of the car ever having existed.

If you dont drive and enjoy a berkeleying car, whats the point of ownership?

It looks clean enough that I would want to park it over winter.

There is another thread on this forum asking how many cars we have owned. Most of the responders just bought what they liked, drove them and sold them with little worry about what ifs. If you are starting a collection, find a better example and park it. (NO FUN THERE)

Drive it.

Buy it and drive it. After all, the odds it will be stolen within the first year are about 10 to 1.

Once it rusts out, it would make a great donor for the shell of your choice. Clean EX shell of the same year would be super easy. Earlier cars would be faster. 1st gen Integra- funky. DelSol for convertible appeal. Hot rod engines have to come from somewhere, and the car in question doesn't sound like a museum piece.

IMHO that is not clean or stock enough to bother to put on a shelf. It is young enough and priced to offer a great deal of inexpensive fun for a long time reliably and economically. A bit buzzy at 70 plus- the theft thing has abated along with youth employment, youth car interest generally, and the fading 'sport compact scene'.

chaparral wrote: I'm looking for a new car and saw this one on Craigslist. http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/cto/5904607614.html It's a first-year, numbers matching car, whose body has a couple of rough spots (hood dented, quarterpanel dented, rust spot below the right door mirror), but is mechanically intact. The car would be my 360 days per year daily driver. If I put snow tires on it, run it though the salt all winter, and it rots to the point of scrapping in 5 years, will enthusiasts 20 years from now curse me for ruining one? Are there enough kept in bubblewrap between Texas and California to not worry about it?

That looks like a damn fine winter beater.

Lets be honest, best case scenario in 20 years what is that car worth? I don't see it appreciating too much--enough that it will appreciate, but not enough that the same money wouldn't do better in an index fund.

Buy it and drive it. Take care of it--wash, wash, etc., but drive it.

I don't have to look at it to know it's nice enough to be worth moving the hell out of Detroit.

Depends how long you want it to last, I'd guess 5 or 6 winters before structural problems start showing up. They really lay it down heavy in SE Michigan, being built on top of a salt mine and all.

kazoospec wrote: Buy it and drive it. After all, the odds it will be stolen within the first year are about 10 to 1.

Step 1) buy it. Step 2) install a hidden fuel cutoff switch. Step 3) install hidden battery cutoff switch. Step 4) get a civic automatic transmission shift selector and turn it into your new shift knob when you park it.

Actually now that I really think about number 4 that might be the most effective theft deterrent. No one wants to steal an automatic civic.

I had a 1997 Civic EX that lived its whole life in the Chicago area. It was surprisingly rust free. Sure most bolts underneath were rusty, but the body was spotless.

In reply to Tyler H:

They pay me many dollars, and up here each dollar coin is the size of a manhole cover and solid metal, to do work that I would otherwise be playing around in my garage with.

I think I'll buy it. I have a good theft deterrent: vinyl Takata badges for both airbags.