“Trusting someone” who knows little or nothing about cars is a foolish activity! This car maght be OK to run around town with, and fixed as you went along, but it is a real crap shoot on a long trip.
The Blue Book value is likely a whole lot less than the asking price. If I owned such a car and a friend could use it I would ask $750 or so at most.
Adding the cost of 4 new tires, radiator service, oil change, brake ckeck, changing all hoses and belts would come to as much as the car is worth. All these are necessary for a cross country trip.
My brother has had a 1987 Accord in stage for over 12 years. It will cost him about $1500 to get it safe to drive on city streets, more than it’s worth.
Thanks guys, I appreciate all the feedback. Based on all the responses, I don’t think I will go for it, but a buddy and I are going to look at it tomorrow just for fun anyways.
My next question is what sort of questions should I be asking for when I’m looking for a car? What sort of answers should I be looking to get? I’m going to check a couple out tomorrow. I’m really ignorant on the whole subject, unfortunately for me. I’ve been a public transit and bicycle commuter for the past 6 years.
For your budget, you’ll be dealing with private sales only. No dealer lot will keep anything around at that price. So you want to know history and current condition. History is any accidents, oil change and service frequency etc. and if they have service records. How it was driven-town, highway. Current condition is the condition of the tires, belt, hoses, fluids-rusty radiator fluid, brakes, interior worn, paint condition, rust, etc. Having a mechanic do a pre purchase inspection will tell you all of this and what needs to be done to make it road worthy. My first car was a piece of junk but a learning experience. Buying a car is not like a heart transplant so if you screw it up you can always move on and get another one.
Oh, it might make it or it might not, but when you get here you’ll own a car nobody values that will be miserable to drive on hot summer days. A car that old is going to be somewhat unreliable and fixing it will take some time and money and you’ll still have an old car with few creature comforts. If I were you I’d be figuring out what sort of car you need in the long term instead of paying that much to get you and a little stuff across the country. You won’t see a lot of Fairmonts on your trip, I guarantee.
When I was sitting in the waiting area while my tires were being balanced yesterday, the guy was calling all the junk yards looking for a part for an 85 Camero. Didn’t hear what the part was but he came up short without doing a nation-wide search. Maybe ok if you’ve got plenty of time but if you are broken down in Montana, not a position you want to be in.
I’d be more worried about finding some oddball part on the car if it broke. The car is as old as I am, and I doubt parts are readily available for it OR even made anymore
depends on the engine. advanced auto had every part I needed for my 1990 Cherokee these past few weeks in stock.
same with my 75 ford pickup, they all still have the parts in stock for that too.
that’s how you can tell if you have a good vehicle in my opinion. if you still see a lot of an older vehicle on the road and the parts places have the parts in stock…, you have a winner!
also if they made a certain model basically the same for many years, its a good bet that its a solid design
The Fairmont itself doesn’t meet those conditions, though its ‘Fox’ platform was used for several other early eighties Ford and Lincoln/Mercury products. Most significantly, it was used for the Mustang introduced in 1980, and for subsequent Mustangs for many more years. That Mustang connection should make more parts available than would be needed by the handful of extant Fairmonts. I haven’t seen one of those in a few years, but Mustangs built on that platform up to a decade ago are still very common. The later ones mostly. Kind of a shame, as I quite liked the angular Mustang of the early eighties. It didn’t look much like any earlier Mustang, but it looked good, certainly better than the rather bulbous redesigned models of the nineties.
I believe you mean 1979 @MarkM, my first real car was a 79 5.0 that my uncle gave me after the Honda I bought was condemned for rust upon inspection. I was so dejected that I blew all my money, then he just gave it to me! I was sooo happy! I later had a 1980 with a str 6 cyl. the 79 was the first year of that body style, pretty much the same as a mercury capri, some of them had the 5.0 also.
the 79 I had was plain jane except for the little 5.0 insignia. I really liked it too. the 1980 with the str 6 was good too. just not as zippy.
Could be. I was in high school either way and not able to afford anything like that. The Capri had a more vertical grille intead of the sharp angle on the Mustang. I believe the Capri didn’t come in the notchback body you could get on a Mustang. At the time I thought it a great looking car, and it still looks pretty good to me, if dated in its details.
It’s funny how some cars look good to me for years, then I see one on the street after not having seen one for some time, and suddenly it looks old and not at all interesting. I think I was seeing my original impressions for all those years instead of seeing the actual cars. It’s the rare cars that still delight me after 20 or 30 years that I cherish. A very few cars actually look better to me now, but that’s very rare.
Today was a beautiful day and we went on an outing. At one point we found ourselves following a gorgeous mid-sixties Corvette convertible (burgundy, surprisingly) with the top down and a young woman driver with a scarf over her hair. Such a lovely image.
That car will always look great to me, as it did when new and I was a little kid who knew every car on the block. It was a surprisingly interesting block for the mid-sixties in a middle class neighborhood of postwar tract houses. A Pontiac GTO, an MGB, a 911, an old Saab (European family), big Chrysler station wagon, even a Pantera a few years later. They valued their cars. Then again my grandfather, not especially wealthy, had a 1961 Lincoln Continental as his company car. Wish I still had it (who wouldn’t?). Funny how much I remember about them. I was only ten when we moved away.
Now, refer to the maintenance schedule to see exactly when the timing belt is supposed to be replaced. It will be expressed in terms of both odometer mileage and elapsed time, with a “whichever comes first” proviso.
I believe that you will be due very soon for a new timing belt on the basis of elapsed time.
The absolute only way you can tell if any car is ready for a long trip is if it already has been running daily and has a history of providing transportation reliably for about a year. Even then, you have it checked out by a competent mechanic before you buy it. If this thing has been sitting "in a garage unused " …no way. Occasional use does not qualify. @jesmed1 has a good suggestion. My first car was a $500 junker from a coworker. But, he drove it daily to work the year before I bought it. Until it failed rust inspection, it provided reliable, no breakdown transportation for me for the next 2 years.
Be aware too. 50k miles is low mileage for a new car today. It is not low mileage for a 1980 Faimount. Time breaks down cars as well as mileage. You have lots of parts that are weathered. Good luck finding parts, even if you keep it in one place. This is a project second car and would be a cool local transportation vehicle. Otherwise, pass on it.
$1700 isn’t chump change. By all means find a decent used Asian import . When that Fairmont breaks down ( and it will) the odds of finding the required parts are slim to none. I tend to find cars that aren’t driven regularly break almost immediately once you actually begin driving them. It’s as if the car is rebelling against the notion of being driven. Old lady grocery getters that’ve never exceeded 30 mph fall into the same category.
Unfortunately the air bag light came on. Was supposed to leave today, but am trying to get the dealer to get it repaired today. My family insists I get a different car if they cannot. There is no returns so I would have to sell it back to them, and then purchase a different car…idiotic. I really can’t afford to pay tax twice over unfortunately.
What about the timing belt issue? The car is an '09 likely built in '08. That makes it about 6 years old along with the miles and due for the T-belt kit.
It’s also an interference fit engine which means if the belt snaps you will be sitting on the side of the road with major engine damage at the very least.
