I am looking at buying a 1994 camaro z28 with an auto in it. As the car sits it has 3" magnaflow exhaust from the y back. The car has 30,000 miles of a stock lt1 with 91,000 on the car. The car is a dark maroon with ttops. Its never seen winter. The thing is, it has a salvage title because the lady drove into a ditch and puntured a hold in the oil pan of the original motor and it siezed up. The guy is asking $4000. Does this sound like a good deal? I currently have a 97 mustang gt that i would have to sell to buy the camaro. What do you guys thing? I like the fact that the camaro come with 275hp stock and i would be def putting gears in it. What gears would you recommend? What issues are there with these cars? Im not new to muscle cars but new to camaros. So any help or advice would be very helpful.

Sorry for the long writeup.
Thank you in advance.

 

In November 2008, I bought a 1995 Z28 automatic with 3 year old paint and the exterior/interior is excellent. The engine was rebuilt about 2,000 miles prior to my purchase. It has a clean title and I paid $3,000. Now you decide if $4,000 for a salvage title is a good deal.........

 

How many miles were on your car? The only reason the car was salvaged title is because of the engine siezing up. No other damage was done and the interior/exterior of the car is perfect. I would be worried about anything that has been repainted after being only 13 years old? The car was lady driven making me think that it wasnt beat.

 

First- salvage title. If you don't plan on reselling the car then it's not a big deal. Otherwise, just like it's a red flag to you, so will it be to others.

Next- I'm glad my car was repainted. Red in Florida doesn't look too good after a while so a fresh coat of paint was a plus

third- miles on my car. The frame has 135,000 but not the engine or may other items. I've put almost 200k miles on Toyotas when i used to drive 45k-50k miles per year for work. It was all highway and I'd take those cars over a 80k mile city car any day of the week so miles don't bother me; nor should they you. it comes down to condition of the vehicle.

these are old, non-classic, non collector vehicles. With a salvage title, the person should expect to see $1500-$2000, no more than that. So, with a rebuilt motor, and in good shape, my clean title vehicle was $3k. Why should a salvage vehicle be $1k more ?????

 

yeah my car is 11 years old and i want to get it repainted...it also came out of florida and the paint faded a bit.

if it were me...i think i could find a better deal out there than 4 grand for a salvage title vehicle. thats just my thing. if you really like the car and plan to keep it forever then not a big deal...but you wouldn't be able to sell it for much later down the road

 

Yeah, 4k might be a little high for a salvage title. Show them 3k and see if they'll take that. Also do a carfax to make sure there's not more damage than they are telling you.

 

I work at a body shop and the car is a purple or maroon color. Which i would think about repainting to a silver. I dont much care about the salvage title because im just gonna build it to beat my buddys 2004 mach 1. I will try to lowball him def though first. Because i want to try to make money of the sale of my mustang and use it for mods. Thanks for the info. Is there anything specific i should look for while driving it or looking over the car?

 

Obviously the overall condition of the vehicle is something that you want to pay close attention to. Pay attention to how it's driving, if it takes a while to get it started, if it feels like it may be miss firing. See if the current owner can produce any documentation that shows how often the oil was changed and other general maintenance. Make sure the heat works, the heater core has a tendency to get clogged. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Common trouble spots for an LT1 is mainly the Optispark distributor and that's why I mentions the missfire and the starting behavior.

 

look at the tires closely for uneven wear.

Pop the hood and if the motor is somewhat cool, open the radiator cap and look at the color of the fluid. Is it more brown and nasty or still in good shape?

Start it and go under the hood. Visually inspect the engine and listen for telltale sounds that are out of the ordinary.

Check the fluids and smell them...yes, smell them.

take it for a drive, going on a flat road, take your hands off the wheel going 45mph, does it track true?

Any vibrations at any speed?

how does the tranny seem?

Stomp on the brakes, does it pull to either side?

How is the brake pedal travel? Is it excessive?

Check the parking brake and verify it works

How are the hatch struts on the rear hatch, do they keep the lid open?

They will work better in the cold, so if questionable in the cold, you'll get decapitated when it's hot

do all the lights work, the power mirrors

are there any signs of leaks where the car was parked?

Oh, lastly, and here comes the old man talking again, DO NOT buy a car with emotion. Earlier in the post you were trying to defend the price which is high even if it weren't a salvage title. Bring a dis-interested adult with you, not a friend.

My children's friends have brought me along on occasion to look at cars along with their parents. I've helped kids save $$$$ from overpaying because the car looked or sounded cool and the seller could spot an emotional buy a mile away.

There is nothing better than discussing needed repairs in the open, in front of the seller. The seller tends to become more flexible in the price, especially in this economy. If you don't buy this car, there are probably no less than 500 other cars near you for $4k or less...plenty of choices.

go to autotrader and search all cars 50 miles from your zip code under $4k

 

Uh, ya, what he said! ^^^