Finally talked to the seller....77 goldenrod yellow...W72 400/4spd...documents/PHS/buildsheet/original title/95k miles....
car bought from second owner (who never registered it); found original owner listed on title who applied for a lost title. New owner has the original 77 title but car registered in his name (legal 2nd owner). The middle owner was going to make this a drag car. He rebuilt motor (0.030 over) and put a big cam in it and 3" dual exhaust. Current owner replaced cam with something closer to stock, added a smaller dual exhaust with quieter mufflers, but left the Edelbrock hi-rise intake. Has an aftermarket air cleaner that is functional through the shaker. Still has aftermarket headers. Has original 4speed and build sheet shows 3:23 rear. What kind of highway RPM can I expect with this setup? I've heard the 3spd auto with same rear runs pretty high at 70-75.
Body was stripped to metal for the repaint...no filler or rust issues. Bodyman could not get bumper/front fender 100% lined up on driver side. Original dash, non-tilt wheel, original AM radio and 8track. Neither hooked up or working. Bought it with hurst t-handle (uggh) in orginal console. Console has 1/4" tear by driver seat and latch not 100% functional. Steering wheel OEM; little wear at 12:00 from sun and use but non-unpresentable. Interior sail panels redyed, new carpet and seat covers. AC compressor said to come on but not blowing cold (could be $1000 repair here). Trunk totally restored: speckle paint, mat, tire/inflator, and jack.
Front end was rebuilt w/new shocks...has air shocks in rear (leaf spring condition?). All gauges said to work except for water temp, which has new sending unit in box. This owner says the original owner relayed a bit of info that the motor was replaced by Pontiac in the 70s. Not sure if there is a paper trail on it. He did try to find the dealership, but it is closed. He says the motor is a W72, but that it has the matching # stamped on it? I didn't think that was done, but I've been told the block should have "SR" somewhere if it was actually replaced by Pontiac.
Like mentioned above...asking $13500 OBO. He may have been trying to plant the hook when he told me he wants to now keep it but will sell to me since I've been interested......I simply told him to keep it if he wants and I will buy another. In his defense, he did remove teh ad days before I even called him. However, with the new info, I can't see paying over $12k as I see over $1000 worth of work to be done after buying it. Heck, I don't really know what it's actually worth. I know the values go from under $10k to over $30k.
Anyway, that's the lowdown...anything else that might be worthy of asking? Particularly about the engine? Any other issues not seen here that I should dig deeper into that can be proven?
