Future purchase

[Blade7764]

School is almost out for the summer and after the fast and the furious movie I will be selling my 240sx. I plan on buying either a 1987 - 1993 mustang or a 1993 - 1997 camaro or firebird. I want to know members' personal experience with buying these cars and things I should look for when going to check cars out. I will need the car for every day driving so I can't have something that will be breaking down. Things I want to know I should look for are specific areas for rust, any mechanical things to look for including any noises to listen for, and also anything electrical. Thanks!

[Ta Jay]

they are older cars, check for everything.

[WishIHadACamaro]

I cannot even begin to explain on how many things you should check when you buy a car, especially one with some age.

1. Electrical
2. Mechanical
3. How does it drive?
4. Body
5. Undercarriage (get that up on a jack and crawl under it if you have to, if the person is honest who is selling it they should oblige and even let you borrow a jack.)

I cant even begin to detail all the things you should look into when buying a new/aged vehicle.

[epyon]

What is your goals for the car in the end ? Milege, speed, or a little racing . The class of engine will need to be known too . The mustang came with a 4 cyl. and a few years befor it had a Turbo 4 . And you can still get parts for it , and the 3.8L V-6 too . The THUNDERBIRD TURBOCOUPE got some of highest milege I'v ever had , 32 to 35 MPG . And with a Mark 7 gas tank , I could drive forever .

[4 cam tbird]

I'm sure he knows to look the car over well, he is asking for any known problematic areas to look for especially with those two particular styles of cars so those areas can be looked at more closely than you might otherwise look.

Like, for example on a car I know, if you were looking at a 94-97 T-bird and it shifted harder than you expected it to. To someone that didn't know they might think it was a more serious problem. To someone that knows the 4R70W they know it's a fairly easy fix as it is a broken accumulator spring that is easily and cheaply upgradable when repairing it.

Some cars have specific areas they rust that without knowing exactly where to feel or look might go unnoticed. Things like that.

Also, if you notice something like that and the current owner isn't aware of the fact that it is a cheap easy fix you can use it as a naegotiating point to get the car cheaper by making it sound like a bigger more expensive thing than you know it to be.

Sorry I can't provide any actual help with late fox body's or LT-1 4th gens but I thought it was pretty obvious what kind of thing you were asking for and I was wrong based ont he previous posts so i thought I'd try and help you out by example.