A local bodyman informed my that he is putting his firebird into the crusher tomorrow and for $75 bucks I can take whatever I want off of her. I went up and snapped a few pics to see whats salvageable and noticed that the car itself is not in too terrible of a shape to be crushed in my opinion. That being said, I don't think the car runs or if its even got an engine. That I will figure out tomorrow, look at the pics and let me know what u think. Pics are a little dark, but its the best I could do.

 

3 more...

 

i would take it for 75. I would easily offer him 100 just to make him happy.

Tow it away and enjoy.

You can part it out and make a decent profit i would think.

 

check the undercarriage for rust conditions...but i say definetely save it

 

Save the interior. It don't look too bad. It appears to be a Formula, so that means you''ll want to snag the power steering box, coil springs, antiroll bars, and the attaching brackets. If it's a 1989 model, look to see if there is J65 rear disk brakes in there. If so, try to snag the rear axle assembly. Those are probably aluminum PBR calipers which are a nice upgrade over the iron disc calipers. Other things to grab would be the instrument cluster, the ECM, the yellow VSS buffer box, the dash pad, and the electric hatch hold-down motor.

One thing to note: Junk cars are now bringing in nine cents per pound for their scrap. Thus, a 3000 pound Formula is probably worth $270 to a scrap metal dealer. If you can buy it from your bodyshop guy for $200, you'll probably get your parts, and a little bit of cash for your troubles. Then you can sell the parts that you do not want to keep.

 

NOOOOOOO don't let it get crushed!!!!! Keep it and make it your daily driver. Put a 6 banger in it if you have too. That car is cool and the interior look so nice!! TAKE IT buy a car port or cover or just get it to your home. Don't let the crusher take it. PLEASE KEEP IT!!!

 

I would have said let it go untill I saw the interior. How bad can it be with the inside that clean. It's not my favorite body but it's not that bad.

Phil

 

The rust above the window seems to be just a bit of surface rust to me. Nothing straight through that can't be fixed. I'd vote to keep it.

If you buy it for $75 and get a cheap paint job, you have a great deal, as long as it runs. If it doesn't run/has no engine, buy it and part it out. That way you can provide other 3rd gen owners with parts, AND profit.

That car looks too damn good to crush. You'd make your money back just selling both fenders if they're in as good a shape as they look in the photo's.

Just a suggestion.

 

It doesn't look that bad, I'd inspect the floor pan, if the floorpan isn't rusted to death it's defently salvageable.. if it has no drivetrain buy it and sell it to someone on here for a project car.. don't let it die if its a fairly solid body.. I know I'm not the only one on here that buys cars without engines or trannys to fix em.. I say get more pics in the daytime to determine if its worth saving.. but for 75 you could make a pretty penny parting it out.. Is that just surface rust on the lip of the hood or is it bad? People do like those power bulge hoods if it isn't too bad.. hell if it was around here I'd buy it..

 

Thats what I was thinking. That being said I am not sure if the $75 bucks he wants is for the whole car bc as mentioned above he may be selling the metal by the pound. I think he may mean just to take all parts possible. I will check into it.

FYI: It is indeed a Formula. A 305 engine stock, but I think the 305 was removed. I am not sure if its a 87 or a 89 formie though. I will have to check.

I am also not a big fan of that body type, but I don't really want to see it get squat either. I am not sure if I will try to buy her yet or not, I will just have to see the asking price.

 

meh the formulas were never my favorite 3rd gen bird, that would be the 86-90 style ta's but it's better then the 91-92 style ta gfx, those were the worst of the 3rd gen's IMO, but like any 3rd gen bird you could always unbolt what you don't like and bolt on what you do as far as bumper covers and gfx goes..

 

I didn't get a great look at the hood bc of the oncoming darkness but I will snap a few in the morning. I am not sure when tomorrow she is supposed to be crushed but I will get up first thing to see what I can do to save her.

 

scrap metal can't be worth that much a pound, I'd say buy it for the scrap value, if it isn't worth saving part it out and make some money. Even if the body isn't worth saving there appears to be parts that could live on in another bird.

 

in new jersey usa. cars are junking for around $200. but when you strip it, it'll drop signifigantly.

If there is no bad rust, a maaco paint job will run about 300 and a refurb v6 will run around 1,500 "atleast for an 87' v6" tell him to hold it for you, for a few days. Inspect the hell out of it. take lots of photos of EVERYTHING even if it seems stupid, thoroughly check the underbody and don't fear climbing as far under as you can get, bring a small screwdriver to poke and prod rusty spots to check depth and see if its rot. ask him about the heatercore and check the lines to it, also check the weather stripping. all of this to determin interior rust also check the rear well for any signs of rust through the carpet and the hatch weather seal.

photograph EVERYTHING!!!! I forgot a lot of crap even after inspecting my 84' for 2 hours. had to check it a second time. the screwdriver helps a lot. i prodded a hole through the wheel well behind the left rear, checked size and wether it was important or not. crap steel brake/fuel lines will cost you eventually. $400??

anyway, people correct me, please

Thank you,
Sean H.

Edit: interior is real nice, look for FUBAR panels, they can be expensive. Seats are expensive.

 

you can normally get a used 350 from a yard around here for a few hundred bucks..

 

It'd be good for parting, but the rust might be a HUGE issue. If somehow there isn't any real rust, it's definitely saveable. You'd definitely make your money back if the interior is as nice as those pictures make it look.

 

I couldn't come to an agreement with the Bodyshop on a purchase price. They wanted too much money for a car that I couldn't get the hood up on. The hood was seized down, along with the trunk. The interior is in decent shape, but the floor was gone.

 

well, it was nice... put the pics in the background topic?

 

What a shame... Probably some really nice parts on there that are no longer available...or that are getting hard to find. You should have loaded up a pick up truck for the original $75 offer. Atleast snagged the interior and all.

J.

 

sorry to hear, how much were they askin?

 

It had a leather wrapped steering wheel, shifter and E-brake...

 

So you did the right thing and took the offer of everything you want for $75 right, right?!

There were so many good parts in that interior just from the pictures you would have been stupid not to.

You could have made that back on the seats.. The wheels would have been a good thing to take, if it had a disc rear that would have been a good thing.. dude.. that was an opportunity to make some cash at the least.

 

thats the thing, I didn't have the time to gut the car, the crusher was waiting for it pretty much after I got there. It came down to price and he just wouldn't come down enough to entice me to buy it. I must admit the dash was absolutely mint condition, like I said though, time was not on my side today. I just wish he would of told me a few days ago instead of the day before.

 

And if the floors were gone... Well, they're never the ONLY thing gone, are they? Seems like it was destined to the crusher. It's sad that you couldn't pull any of the primo parts off of it though.

 

For an asing price of $75, I woulda offered him $100, just to hold it for a couple of days, to get a wrecher to come get it, oe me to take a couple of evenings after work, to strip it on site, then let him crush it and keep the crusher money also.

What a shame. Such a waste of a lot of perfectly good parts.

 

:-(

 

Your kidding, right....?

 

from what I read the asking price was not $75. He was offered all the parts he wanted for $75 and the rest of the car was going into the crusher. Around here they get $250 per ton for scrap. That car would have been about a $500 car just in scrap weight. I wouldn't have paied that for it either.

Phil

Phil

 

Yes, $75 bucks was just meant for taking whatever I could take during the time I had. I am a little mad bc I didn't buy her. I really should of. Even @ a little bit of a high price, I still probably could have scraped it for more money. Hard to say though what the engine was like (hood seized shut) to know if it was worth it. To be honest I am kicking myself and would love a do over, lol.
I am going to look into another hurting thirdgen about 40 kms from my town. She is identical to my current bird, with the exception of being a 91', while mine is a 92'. This guy is not actively trying to sell her as far as I know, but the car has been sitting for years and is just wasting away. I am gonna make one final attempt to get her. I will keep you guys posted.

 

If that factory stereo worked that alone would have been worth almost $75 on ebay.

 

Unfortunetly, there are a bunch of thirdgens that never even get the chance to be parted. They just go right to the crusher. I bet some pretty nice looking thirdgens even make it there for whatever reason.

SUCKS....

J.

 

Your telling me, I got my eye on another one, but I am not sure if its for sale.

 

Did the car still have the dash pad on it? The console alone was worth $75. What did he want for the whole car? If the scrap company is giving him $270 or whatever then was he wanting $300?

 

The price was too high. The dash pad seemed to be in good shape.

 

I'd have given $400 for the car from what I can see. But I ain't there lookin and it may have not been worth it. But I want the hood. Rusted sheet metal is easy to fix.

 

By the way what was the price on the car that you let it go for? I would have paid at least 600 for it. Everything from the pictures was worth at least that much.

 

The car wasn't THAT far out of my price range, if I had my time back I would of bought her. The pics don't show all that was wrong, but I definitely should of bought it.