[groovydude]

When I started shopping, I felt I would only deal with someone privately. But I saw this car somewhere on line, and I felt the dealer was reputable. For one, he only sells classics so he should be used to discriminating buyers. And when I called about the car he told me I had to wait a couple of days because a foreign buyer had just sent someone out to inspect it. He could have just started dealing with me. Regardless, he's a dealer, and I never took his word on the condition of the car. He had too much to gain in exaggerating. But the mechanic has no excuse.

I agree about the color, that's one of the reasons I pulled the plug. And the paint is very decent, only a couple of small chips and some minor orange peel. Once I get the mechanical issues fixed I'll see about buffing or sanding that out, and I'll have a go at the Fuchs this winter. I will sort all this out eventually, and I'm counting on having a sweet ride by next spring.

As to value, I thought it was worth what I paid at the time, given the current market, although now I think I paid about 3K too much. I've been watching this board and eBay auctions for 80-83 SCs since early spring. I've seen several + or - 100k mile cars sell in the mid to high 20s and although some or most of them might have had nicer leather & carpet, few had documentation and almost none had rebuilt engines and transmissions (I think many people are way overselling the term "unmolested"), and many were white (no thanks).