i'm going to look at an 89 gt saturday morning and i was hoping that some of you could tell me some stuff to look out for and what questions to ask

the body has about 130k on it
engine has about 10k
its a 5-spd

the biggest concern i have is where it is located, martha's vineyard which is an island off the coast of massachusetts
im worried that all the saltwater being around may be rotting the car? (its been on the island for 4 years)

anyways should i listen for anything in particular when its running?
where might some hidden rust be?
ya know, those kinda things

thx for the help

 

check the lip of the hatch for rust, look at the bottom of the car, and the floor pans and, drive it and make sure all the gears are good and work well

 

is that all?

 

check the botom of the doors, check fender gaps. check the jack rail listen for knocks and rattles from the engine un start up. hesitations under acceleration. also look at all rubber trim on side windows etc. they are very expensive to replace. and if you are really serious pay the 20 bucks and run a carfax report

 

carfax does no good i ran them before, useless. also check all weather striping and the bodyside moldings

 

looked at it this morning and at first glance the car looks beautiful but then you start to look deeper and notice how he has fairly new tires on but they're almost bald so you know he's at least beaten it a little

so i took it for a ride and it was hard to get it out of his garage because the e-brake was stuck and i didnt wanna hurt the car
once that was over with i got out on the road and it shifted real nice but it was the rattliest car i've ever been in

get it back to his house and he goes inside and prints out a carfax and i notice the rear end isn't straight...
the left rear tire sticks out a little more than all the other tires mayb 1/4 of an inch so i look at the right rear and it isn't centered in the wheelwell...

another thing is that he rebuilt the engine, ok that fine but i've seen his car on two different sites posted at the same time, one site says it has 6k on the motor, one says 8k, and in person he said 5k

i'm stayin away from this one

 

Good call on staying away. There are way too many other good foxes out there to be buying someone else's headache like that.

 

wow, what a rip-off. Good Call

 

Yea good choice. If you ever go and look at another fox. Make sure that all the little stuff works. I made that mistake and I didnt find out that there were a million little things wrong with it until I gave him the check and drove it home. Blinkers, brake lights, regular lights, trunk/hatch, radio, locks, windows. I seen the car, feel in love and 3 hours later I baught it. Mistake bc half of that stuff didnt work but.... you live and learn I guess.