Hello all and thank-you in advance for your advice.
I am actually a renewing member. When i first bought my car 4 years ago, i joined the site and was rewarded with some incredible advice and help so I am back again after a bit of a hiatus......seems to happen when you have triplets and 1 other in the span of 4 years.
My car is a 1970 280SL that was mothballed for about 10 years up until 2007 when I bought it from a local shop who had just in their words, rebuilt the engine, serviced the transmission added new brakes and tires.....worth about "$9,000". They had done so for the owner who wanted to get the car back on the road after the long storage. That owner became ill and the car became a liability for the family so they asked the shop to sell it on their behalf.
Being 2007, pre-kids and 35 with no end in sight to the value of my home and investment accounts, i made the impulse buy and bought the car for $14K. I knew nothing really about buying this type of car nor what might entail a restoration....only what the shop told me (i am in sales and i was sold!)
The body looked to be in respectable shape and after reading a bit here, felt the rust in the footwells, rocker panels and wheels wells along with the trunk floor was typical for a New England car. The strut towers and surrounding areas were solid and the body had no major dents, just really flaky paint in some areas.
The only really concerning areas were the 4-5" seems that ran from the top corners of the hood area back to the bottom outer corners of the windshield and mirror-like seems that ran from the top corners of the trunk area up to the rear windshield corners.
Oh, and the top did not sit fully on its shelf without basically sitting on it and when pulled back up, to get it to snap straight the last bit over your head before seating it for latching, you had to basically put a rag there and apply pressure to get the joint to straighten without pinching your hand horribly.
Now, again. I of the carefree life at this point with a skys the limit future and having watched way to many car resto shows on Discovery or Speed, etc thought "wow, not bad compared to some of the projects Ive seen pulled from the depths of hell on those shows" how bad can this be? To say I wore rose colored glasses at this point in my life is an understatement
The intention was to buy the car, drive it for a few summers and then start to work on it slowly.... as long as the car was dry, I had patience and funds, things couldn't get worse..
Well a year goes by, the world falls apart and the kids start coming so the car sits in dry storage. Come 2009, my wife who loved the car says, we should sell it because its not be used, we need the space and I am basically foolish. So before I sell, I am going to have it looked at for a minor resto to hopefully increase its value..... My rationale being that 2009 was a year when people were likely not spending big on cars and shops were looking for work which did turn out to be true. So i take it to a local shop that focuses on English classics and the guy their is very knowledgeable but known to be VERY expensive. Plus his manner is one where he doesn't really pull punches when he gives you the diagnosis. Good and bad i guess if the news is going to be bad.
So first he says the work on the engine and car never could have been valued at $9K. Next, the car obviously had been hit likely from the rear which would have required those seems to have been repaired at some point (which turned out to be filled with a mix of brass braising and bondo) plus the top not sitting correctly is because the pan/shelf in which it sat was not deep enough and the tops almost impossible operation itself would indicate it having been bent. It may have even been hit in front to since those other seems had popped and been filled/repaired.
Basically kid, you've bought a car that is worth $5K for its parts and I wouldn't do anything with it.
So faced with the reality of having lost some money plus my wife being pissed and my ego being hurt for being taken which no one feels good about, i decide to hide from my problem rather than face it. I keep the car and stick it back in storage thinking maybe it will get better on its own, the markets will come back and I can find some person to work on the car and make it right, not perfect but presentable.
Hang in there, you all are almost out of your misery.
So its 2011 and life is returning somewhat to normal. I've built the courage to face the embarrassment of a HORRIBLE purchasing decision, my wife's disdain for throwing away some of the kids education money and maybe even taking on the project. I just cant see giving the car away for $5K after having spent over $15K on it to this point. Its not like its unsafe or doesn't run mechanically. The interior is clean and it drove well. Why not spend $8K to have it stripped, cleaned, bondo-ed, welded, buffed, manicured, etc to just hold and drive for the near future?
I'm not looking for Pebble Beach here, just a cool, clean and fun car.
I have access to a trailer and can move the car around if the distance is to far to drive.
More rose colored glasses?
Putting aside the issues of the financial viability of my potential decision to keep it, 2 early questions:
- how should i go about restarting a car that has sat for 2 years? (it ran great just prior and had the battery removed)
- is it possible to have the frame worked or if i go forward, would it be best to buy a new one?
So here I am...start firing away.
Thanks in advance and go easy. Chris
