In The Market for a Caprice Wagon, I would like some opinions and guidance..

Sorry guys that was a typo, he did in fact tell me that the engine and transmission were replaced at 150,000 miles not 50,000.

But if he took such good care of the car and was the original owner, I would think most Chevy engines last atleast 200,000 miles from what I've heard, so that still sort of puzzles me... could it be that it had a coolant or oil leak that wasn't discovered until it was too late?

I welcome any and all opinions, I called the guy with the Cruiser again who still hasn't called me back but no answer.
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There's also this other pretty nice Caprice in New Jersey as well which doesn't look too bad and supposedly the rust is minimal:

`88 Caprice Wagon Maroon, original owner only 60,000 miles, minor rust on rear panel, but no framerot...add says $1500 but the guy said he would negotiate with me, I assume I could get it down to $1200 or lower the way he sounded... but the headliner is falling down and the a/c might not work (owner is out of state so I talked to his brother who wasn't sure but said he would take a bunch of pictures of the minor rust and also the undercarriage and send me them as well as test the a/c, and would let me hear the engine over the phone heh)

http://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/1856201357.html

1988 Chevy Caprice Classic 9 passenger station wagon. 307-V8, automatic, power steering, power brakes, maroon cloth interior. Has around 60,000 miles on it if I remember correctly.
Selling as it is no longer needed. Runs good, some minor body rust, original owner since purchased new in 1988. $1500 price is firm.

 

decisions, decisions...

 

Minimum rust means that it does have rust, no? I will tell you....people tell you the mileage that is SHOWING on the car....that does not mean that is the total miles the car has traveled. Might have been spun over one or two or three times. But they don't mention that. Think about it......you see all these 20 & 30 year old cars with 50 & 60 thousand miles on them. Then you look at the car and go....oops. That's why Carfax helps. Says it's a one owner....Carfax would verify that too. It is certainly worth a look...don't misunderstand me. But....don't believe everything you hear. The car will tell you more than the owner most times. The more of them you look at the better off you will be in learning what to look for. If I were closer to you I would go along with you. But I am way far from you.

 

Silverfox is right. People will tell you anything when they are trying to sell something. I've went to look at many cars that were supposed to be in perfect condition with no rust, only to find that the motor was knocking and smoking and the floorpans were rusted through. They said "well you can't expect perfect for a 30 year old car." (Well why did you tell me it was perfect then?) Everyone has thier own idea of what minimal rust is, and those stainless trim panels at the bottom of the doors and quarters hide ALOT! I personally would never buy a car without first looking it over completely myself, and taking it for a drive at least to 75mph on the highway.

 

Good point. I'd ask the guy if he ever did body work. If the answer was yes, assume the worst and ask more questions.

 

Yup...drive it away real nice....get it out on the highway and drive it like you stole it! Just for a bit....see how it acts.

 

Haha, throwing the hammer down is the real test to see if there are any problems. Cars like to stretch thier legs every once and a while too!

 

Yeah I've checked a couple out already and I bring my flashlight and slide right underneath the car as much as I can to look to see the condition of the frame and floor panel or whatever, that's the reason why I didn't buy one, they were asking too much considering there was rust in spots.


How easy is it to roll the odometer back? and How reliable is Carfax on verifying the mileage? isn't that something that's hard to verify?

The one owner thing I could see though, but I think you can get a sense sometimes if someone is telling the truth, but in cases where you weren't sure it would be a good option perhaps I should consider it just seems like a bit of change.

 

thanks, I appreciate the insight. But one thought I had is that this will be my daily driver, so I almost don't want to buy a really nice one and then ruin it driving on the salt covered streets of massachusetts in the winter time. I would like to get 2 eventually one for winter one for summer but I probably don't have enough space at this time. I probably will look more at the nicer ones without rust I'm just having a little trouble deciding what I need for right now maybe I should just get a cheaper one and fix the rust best I can learn some bodywork or something.

 

Some pics of the only problem areas of the Maroon Caprice, as well as a couple pics of the frame which is not rusted. Btw, I believe this guy about it only having 60,000 miles sounds legit to me.













it only lets me upload 5 so I guess I have to find a site to upload the rest.

 

OK...that car is ready to blossom with serious rust. That is NOT minimal and, while you believe the guy about the 60K miles, I do not. Not trying to be negative here, back seat, and not trying to make things difficult. Just giving you my experienced opinion. The final decision, of course, is yours anyway.

 

Thank You, I agree, the rust is getting bad but I bought my current caprice like that and it lasted about 7 years (last 1 without inspection heh) some cool bodyshop guy put some black goop on it way back and it really did slow down the rust.

But yea, with the headliner and the rust I'm definetly goin in another direction, just thought I could have got that one under 1k that's why I even considered.

I talked to the guy with the Cruiser today, he sounds like a good guy, but he did mention that the Cruiser has a 2 ft long rust area on the underneath of the rear bumper but said that is the only rust.

But it must be hard to come by these cars in the north with literally NO rust, isnt' it? they all must have some surface rust unless from florida no??... either that or they were never driven in the winter because that salt is a killer even if you wash it off every other day, it eats right through anything, even an oil undercoating will only slow it down I believe, if you drive regularly in the winter after saltings.

 

I think the limit is just per posting. You can put another five in another message.



As far as the rust, I don't know. It looks a little scary to me. When you see rust like that around the wheel wells and down low along the body, it's usually the case that there's more rust that you can't see that hasn't gotten through the paint yet. I think that you would be looking at having to spend some money to get all of that fixed or fix it yourself if you don't want to end up having the body rust away on you. If it were me, I think I'd keep looking.

 

Yes, back seat, it's hard to find rust free older cars. I punched up a site of mine and typed in Chevy Caprice wagon, 85-90 and came up with 42 hits. I have to say that there were several nice, rust free cars available from $600 to $1500. Some for a little more money. BUT....most of the really nice one's were Arizona cars or Texas cars etc. Trying to find a rust free car in your area will be tough. And...if you do find one it will probably be expensive. Many of us car guys suffer the same problem...trying to get to a nice car to inspect it. They are, most of the time, too far away. On a couple of occasions I have asked members here to look at a car for me if it was near them. I always have the disclaimer that they certainly are not required to look for me and can bow out with no problem. Krash Kadillac just looked at a little car I liked in Oregon....2200 miles from me. He saved me the money and the trip by finding that it had mechanical problems. Ampypants looked at the wagon I now have before I bought it down in Kentucky. BUT...it's STILL hard to find people in the area of the car you may want and some of them simply do not have the time or ability to inspect a car. You are pretty much on your own. You don't want to be traveling all over to look at cars. You will very soon be out of money. Take your time and look at what's available in your area and online. Develop a list of questions and talk at length to the sellers by phone. Sometimes, you will get a sense whether the seller is a straight shooter or not. Then make a list of cars in the same general area and take a day or two and go look at each of them carefully and drive each of them. I don't know what else to tell you. This is a common problem for all of us. Keep posting what you find here if you like and we will give you our opinions. Sometimes, when people fall in love with a car, they don't like my opinions. Point is...don't fall in love with a car that may have problems thinking that the problems are no problem.

 

What we need is a Rust Doctor franchise system. A lot of us are fighting the good fight, trying to clean and purge and fill and replace rusty parts, knowing that in 3 to 10 years, we'll have to do it again, or find a southern body or a repro part.

How can it be stopped, if even the factories are shipping unprotected parts and even complete vehicles without even primer or oil on them by sea (humid salty air) and stuck in seaports for weeks, then in factory warehouses for a couple months? Once the Rust mushroom starts, that's it! The beginning of the end.

Now there's a company in Alberta with an innovative solution, which is kind of conflicting. They banned all the Cheech and Chong movies in Alberta, including on Cable TV, but they're funding this experimental car, made from Hemp. The Hemp. The Maryjane hemp!

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/08/23/cannabis-hemp-electric-car-kestrel-motive.html