Matt300ZXT

Ok guys it's been a looooooooooong time since I've posted, if I ever even did. Years ago I had a 95 LT1 Trans Am Firebird so I may have posted some basic questions or looked through parts for sale. Anyways, my 02 Silverado is dying. It needs a new trans/torque converter so looking at options of other cars to spend that money on instead...I'm kinda tired of this thing $400 and $500'ing (or more) me to death because the miles are so high.

The shop I have my work done at if I don't have the time or knowledge to do it has a 2000 black Trans Am out front they're selling for a lady. The shop manager's mom grew up with this lady, so he's trying to sell it for her. It's been mostly sitting for 6 or 7 years with the occasional moving in the driveway/yard to keep the fluids circulated and such. It was her husband's car and he drove it to work every day until he started having to do even more driving up a local mountain to see his father while he was dying and helping him run around town, so he just bought a Toyota Camry or whatever to keep the miles and wear and tear off the Trans Am, and because it was hard for his father to get in and out of the car. After he passed, he just never got back in to driving the Trans Am really, and then eventually he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that took him in like 8 months...so the car has been sitting for quite a while. She has never driven it and even sold off his motorcycle because she doesn't want to see his toys around to remind her of him.

Anyways, I'm going to post all the pictures I took. The car definitely needs paint, the clear is failing in several spots. The body looks straight, except for one small dent in the rear quarter panel. The hood also has paint chips from rocks and several crow's feet spots so the entire car needs paint to look its best. The headlight motors need new gears. They raise up and down, but man do they scream at you when they're going back down. It started up just fine and my 2 friends that were there said the car sounded good. The car has 227k on it and the interior could use some recovering on the front seats, a good cleaning/vacuuming and both door panels are cracked in the same place. There are several dash lights on it that the shop manager said was the abs sensor or something to do with the abs, I forget the exact part name. They replaced the fuel pump for her as it was dead so they could at least get it running. He said it needs new tires (flat spotted) and new brakes, as it's been sitting so long that the rotors have some rust pitting in them. He said he drove it and they stopped the car, but they felt weak, like they were glazed over. I asked him if he ever noticed any oil drips underneath it, or anything obvious like that showing it needed some maintenance or whatever. I told him the top of the engine at least looked pretty clean for being high mileage. He said he sprayed cleaner on the top side due to it having dirt dauber's nests, stuff like that. He said the only thing he really noticed was a light oil/gunk glaze over the engine, like maybe it had leaking valve cover gaskets at one point and were changed but the engine never cleaned up afterward.

Anyways, I figure it'd probably need at least a few hundred in some good used tires and new rotors/pads/lines/fluid to make it roadworthy, and that abs sensor. I know it needs quite a bit of money to "restore" it, but you also don't run across LS1 Trans Ams too often, so I know that in 10-12 years they're going to go for even more. I have a 300ZX Twin Turbo I've sunk a bunch of money into that I may never even get it back together and on the road and have considered parting it out to put money towards other projects (like my Jaguar XJS), so I may be able to part out the 300ZX and sink some money into something like this...but at this point it's all speculation. I may even just buy a clean Mercedes turbo diesel to drive around as a daily.

If you could could check out the pictures and read my description and tell me what you guys think it's worth or might take to get back on the road. He said she's asking $2000 for it.

Matt300ZXT

Here are the interior and engine shots since, even though it's 30 pics total, the site kept saying I was trying to upload 60 which is over the limit.

p.s. that old dude walking in the background is a guy that's having them put a 6.0 LS in his mint 87 BMW 325E coupe, slammed with BBS wheels and big brake upgrade. It sounds soooooooo nasty.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

2000 is a decent price for it.....considering ALL the little things it needs....I would buy it in a heartbeat

Matt300ZXT

Should i go in with a lower offer considering it probably needs $1000 or so in new parts to even be road worthy? The only abs sensor i found on rock auto that wasnt a wheel sensor was a $300ish part. Brake pads, lines, and rotors will be a few hundred I'm guesstimating. Then, if I even find good used tires, thats a couple hundred out the door, triple that probably for new ones.

I know there arent many trans ams around, but this one does need some work along the way.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

At $2k (or possibly less), sounds like the car could be a good deal as a basic driver if you don't mind doing some work to it. My biggest concern, though, is the fact that you're specifically trying to get away from age/high mileage related reliability problems with your current car; at 227k miles and 19 years old, I don't see this Trans Am being any better in that regard.

And, having said that....

....I would not go into this deal with the mindset of this car being a worthy "investment" based on potential market values 10-12 years out. It's a garden variety, common color base LS1 A4 Trans Am with lots of cosmetic issues and 227,000 miles. Barring a complete nut-and-bolt restoration, this is not a car which will ever be particularly valuable or highly desirable to collectors on any level (and even if you spent the money to *completely* restore the car it's value still wouldn't exceed the cost to do so).

This car would be a good candidate for a street/strip build, weekend toy that you work on as a hobby, secondary car, etc. I personally wouldn't want to count on something with so many miles and years as primary daily transportation.

Matt300ZXT

That's some good advice. I've always had older cars, but the truck that finally died is an 02 Silverado with 350k so the trans decided to give up the ghost. If it didn't have 227k on this I would have already trailered it home; what's keeping me interested is that with parts everywhere, it shouldn't be hard to find something if I needed it...and I loooooove ttops. The other vehicle I'm looking at strongly is a 99 Mercedes E300 turbo diesel, even though it's a diesel it has 276k. I'm going to keep looking around but just wanted to make a thread like this for people to give their opinions while I look.

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

I think the car is worth $2,000 and priced fairly for the condition. 4th Gen LS cars that are rollers seem to bring $1,500 or so.

I think the car will clean up better than expected. It may take a lot of effort and a lot of Meguiares.

​​Sitting basically for 6-7 years is bad news and in my experience more worse than an additional 100,000 miles on the odometer. If your seriously interested, I would ask to see all the maintenance records for the car. At 20 years of age and 227,000 miles - that's key to evaluating the cars condition.

As for future value - that Trans Am is exactly like my 02 Z28, it has no future value other than as a parts car for a FireHawk or WS6. Collectors hate miles. Collectors generally don't like basic Trans Am 's or Z28's. They want something special and less common. That TA has 227,000 reasons for a collector to hate on it. My Z28 about 250,000 reasons. The general public is terrified of cars with 150,000 miles. That translates into no future value other than the enjoyment you get from the car.

I picked up an 02 Z28 last year for $4500 with 239,000 miles on the odometer that was in excellent condition perfect seats, dash & door panels, decent paint, very well maintained with 13.5 years of detailed maintenance records. The car has been a reliable daily driver and has 247,000 miles now. However, I've spent another $800 on fluid changes, filters, alignment, rebalancing tires, rear shocks, wipers, getting the maintenance. $450 more getting new headlights housings & a new grill with Z28 emblem. $300 for tint. That's a drop in the bucket to what this Trans Am will require to properly sort into a reliable driver.

I wouldn't be surprised if that TA will need at least one of the following fairly soon: new cooling motors, new radiator, new water pump or new water pump seals, random new sensor, set of intake manifold gaskets, new rear axle bearings or a set of cheater bearings for the rear axle, pinion seal, alternator, heater core, AC compressor, front spindles/wheel bearings assembly, power antenna motor, heater fan, AC compressor, new 02 sensor or other sensors, window motor(s), transmission repair/rebuild.

If you can buy the car for $2,000 and can keep $3,000 available in cash after paying for the car as rainy day repair funds go for it.

Nothing will burn through your car money like large projects for multiple cars at the same time - pick one to focus on and others need find new homes - otherwise plan on it taking about six months to three years to fully sort each car out.

​​​​​​

2kSilverSS

Listen to rpm and blackbird they have great advice then make decision

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Some great advice from 99 Black Bird T/A above, as usual. However, there is one area where my personal experience has been a bit different:

This could certainly be true for certain types of storage conditions, poor prep and/or neglected maintenance when the car was initially parked. But, as a general rule, storage of such a term hasn't ever equated to the typical wear and tear of ~100k miles of driving in my experience. Myself and close friends/family have owned many collector/special interest/seldom used cars, some of which have sat for periods of 7-8 years, some even longer, with only minimal side effects if any. A couple of examples off the top of my head:

- I had a 1976 Eldorado that sat untouched from 2000 until 2007, I was actually able to get it fired up on the 7+ year old gas that was still sitting in it! This car was stored indoors the entire period and the only problem it experienced when put back into service was a leaking base gasket on the Q-jet. It was otherwise just fine until going back into storage a couple years later and then eventually being sold.

- A very good local friend of mine bought a brand new 1996 Camaro SS and drove it only ~3,000 miles. It went into storage (indoor) when it was about a year old and was rarely touched between then and 2007. It was then moved to even deeper storage (after a full fluid service and gas refresh), untouched until 2015 when it was pulled out to be sold. The only issue the car had when being brought back into service in 2015 was the old gas needing to be removed and replaced; it didn't even need a new fuel pump, just fresh fuel and the car ran like brand new.

The better the storage conditions, the better the prep and condition of the car when it went into storage, the less likely you'll see issues when bringing it back into service. On the other hand, cars that have been neglected prior to storage, seen no prep and then stored in poor conditions tend to be much more prone to becoming someone's horror story when they first get back on the road.

Most general engine/drivetrain related parts should be readily available, but some vehicle specific items and interior/exterior pieces have in fact become hard to locate. Many such items have been discontinued by GM, and the reproduction aftermarket is not yet comprehensive for these cars. Used items are always a possibility, but some of the more common failure/wear prone parts can be hard to come by due to relative high demand/low supply.

Just something to keep in mind if you're planning to embark on any sort of cosmetic/functional restoration beyond the basic drivetrain/mechanical stuff.

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

RPM makes a well said excellent point with

"The better the storage conditions, the better the prep and condition of the car when it went into storage, the less likely you'll see issues when bringing it back into service. On the other hand, cars that have been neglected prior to storage, seen no prep and then stored in poor conditions tend to be much more prone to becoming someone's horror story when they first get back on the road."

I should have said cars sitting 6-7 years with little or no prep in poor conditions end up in worse condition than a maintained daily driver that stays on the road and avoids salted roads. An extra well maintained 100,000 miles is less damaging than a long term improper storage.

Unsecured short term storage can be bad too...a friend left his FireHawk at his parents house for a few months. In the spring discover the squirrels had a block party feasting on FireHawk's wiring for the fuel pump & relays.

I agree with RPM on parts availability. Interior part's are a real pain. Finding a working power mirror switch last year for my 99 Trans Am proved difficult. It took several false leads, one mislabeled Camaro power mirror switch and a pilgrimage to Hawk's Motorsports to get a working Firebird power mirror switch.