Kelly Blue Book puts trade in at $738 and selling to private party at $1350. That is with everything in working order. Paying $500 for this thing is silly and planning to put used engine in it. You should only pay to have delivered to your house.
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Iâve been working on cars for a while now too. And I know that a classic car from the 70âs or 60âs can have a mint frame and no rust and definatly no creature features but are still loved and driven to this day. I have a 72 Jaguar XJ with the 328 small block chevy motor great conversion and is in great working order and no rust. 44 years old and still a great classic. I know that the Acura is far from a classic, but I believe that I can turn it into something great and fun to drive. Cars in my opinion were much safer back then because the bodyâs werenât made with such cheap and light materials. They were heavy and they lasted. Iâm not a perfect driver, but I do drive commercially and know the hazards that are the other drivers on the road. I already have a car payment on my town and country and Iâm not trying to acquire a new one, Iâm trying to be approved for a home loan. And as for parts goes this car is a pretty common car so parts are easy to come by. Motor wise Iâm able to get parts for my jag, body wise not so much. And the Acura is half the age. I just hate newer cars nowadays. Such a pain to work on, all the computer stuff and special tools, hard for the average mechanic to work on. I can get all that fancy stuff in the Acura if I decide too.
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Look, you can do what you want, but donât do it because of this-you couldnât be more wrong. Cars today are about ten times safer, in deaths per mile, than in 1960.
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Agree! Uninformed persons don.t realize that car safety is partly based on letting the outer panels and structure absorb the energy of an impact while keeping the passenger cage intact to protect the driver.
In racing car crashes there is usually a spectacular show of debris while the driver walks away from the crash afterwards. All that flying debris has absorbed the energy of the impact.
There are many video clips to prove this; one of a 1959 Chevy 4 door hardtop with the infamous X frame colliding with a much smaller Chevy of recent vintage.
To understand crash safety you need to understand a little physics. We are sacrificing the car to save the driver, not the other way around!
Thereâs lots of legitimate staged car crash videos on the internet . . . old car built like a tank, versus new car, built out of pot metal and recycled aluminum cans
Iâm exaggerating, to some degree, but you get the idea
Guess which one fares better, MUCH better, in fact
Iâll give you a hint . . . the guy in the car built like a tank would be DEAD
Iâll pile on. Skip it. BIL is not being realistic. At some point heâll give it away.
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Boy am I GLAD I was alerted to this Acura discussion via email, as I am one of those sentimental fools who is/was thinking of fixing my car (1990 Integra, some of you know who I am and gave me sage advice on this matter!) but after reading all of the posts âmayâ reconsider. Especially what @Caddyman said about engine swapping, assuming thatâs the same thing as putting in a used motor?
A shop owner I spoke with said if I decide to scrap her he would give me 300 for her, but I was still considering still fixing her (ânewâ used engine, etc due to blown head gasket among other things),
Obviously the shop owner can do the work without the labor costs, where as I would have to pay for that as wellâŠouch!
That being said, if the OP here can do his own work, saving on labor costs then maybe itâs a good thing? His potential car is 4 years newer than mine. However, I know all of the work thatâs been done on my car, and what things are due to be fixedâŠdoes he know the same regarding his BILâs car? Can/will the BIL supply all maintenance records on the car?
By the way, OP, mine is a manual, is a VTEC, ALWAYS ran great and has ALWAYS been fun to drive (probably why Iâm the sentimental fool here)âŠI think itâs the manual tranny that enticed my shop owner to want my car.
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Chevy made a 328?? I donât think so.
Perhaps OP meant to say a 327 Chevy small block . . . ?!
Yes thanks for the correction on the engine size. It was pretty sweet ride but I just couldnât hold onto it any longer. A car club down from my house really wanted it and had some pretty sweet ideas for it. Yes #MichelleZ I will be putting in the motor myself. The current motor has knock and blown head gasket. The motor Iâm getting has under 50k so itâs going to run like new. And ever since I drove my buddyâs gsr 5speed I always wanted to own one of my own. And so here I am with this opportunity to own one, so you can see why itâs hard to walk away.
In the southwest people are asking $500 to $1000 for Integra coupes that need an engine. I donât see the same interest in sedans but condition of the body and interior determines the value of this car.
Most of the cars that I have purchased have been project cars and criticized by some who believed it was a poor value, the same people who donât mind $2000 to $5000 depreciation per year on their own car.
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This is what I call a âproject carâ. Expect to have it in âbeing repairedâ condition for an extended period of time and expect to dig deeply into your bank account.
You said you expect to replace the engine anyway⊠know that if you use a boneyard motor itâll be a crap shoot, and a rebuilt will cost you thousands. If you were planning to (and had the tools, skills, and facility to) tear the motor open and rebuild it yourself, this MIGHT make sense, but if youâre just thinking of replacing it youâre headed for a very risky and potentially expensive experience. And then once you do get that sorted out, you might be in for a surprise in the drivetrain and/or chassis. A car that cannot be test driven is fraught with risk.
In short, if this is a hobby car and you have the cash, I wish you the best. If youâre looking for a dirt-cheap daily driver, I think youâre making a mistake.
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This.
This.
A thousand times this.