Just an SC story
I looked all over N. Calif. and the internet for an '82-'83 SC daily driver/commute car. Criteria: sunroof coupe, clean, mileage around 100K, some documentation, original equipment, AC, no tails and around $15K. It didn't seem to be that difficult of a list given all the cars for sale.
Here is what I found and I'm sure most of you know this. People love to modify these cars, especially upgrade or swap out the motor and add on an assorted style of tails. So a clean stock looking car is not easy to find. There also seems to be a ratio of about 7:1 Targa's to coupes for sale. So there must be a premium on coupes because they just don't seem to be on the market, at least with out tails.
I found that the easiest criterion to match was the low mileage; there are an amazing number of SC's on the market with 50-100K miles on them. What was scary was the number that had already had "rebuilds" with that low mileage, yea head studs. I quickly got over the issue of low mileage cars with 915 rebuilds, which is just what it is for what ever reasons you want to assign. Clean is always hard to find, we know about the AC on these cars and documentation is also sketchy, especially on lower priced cars. I saw SC's priced from as low as $8K to as high as $23K, a considerable range in value.
Long story short, I found one after 6 months of looking, in the local paper and about 10 minutes away. It fit all the criteria but is far from a perfect car. It had 10 years of receipts from the local one-man-shop highly regarded P-mechanic. I paid my price knowing that it needed struts/shocks, ball joints, tie rods, alternator and has a bad 1st gear syncro. And I will want to upgrade the oil cooler for commute traffic.
Frankly, I feel like I over paid by the cost of the suspension work. Actually the SC's seem to be getting soft on the market. Just my opinion. Having said that, stick to your price and prove me wrong, please!
Am I sorry, look at my grin.
