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There seemed to be quite a bit of interest in this car in the COVID purchase thread so I figured I'd document my progress (or lack thereof) in a thread.
It's been a habit of mine for years to have my morning coffee in front of the computer and search Craigslist for VW's. Most mornings I don't find anything of note, but I still look because you just never know.
Two Fridays ago I logged on and almost spit out my coffee when the first ad was for a 1987 Jetta "coupe". The car looked clean in pictures and the P-Slots pretty much closed the deal for me. I immediately emailed the seller at 5:30AM and checked my email about every 5 minutes for an hour until finally I got a reply. The car was still available but the couple was heading to Maine for the weekend and wouldn't be back until late Sunday night. It was about a two hour ride from me, so not good news.
I asked if they thought it might be ok to go look at the car without them there, and if satisfied leave a check for half of the asking price of $950. They agreed that was fine and the owner gave me a call to talk for a few minutes. She bought the car new in 1987 and it had 120k miles on it. It "ran when parked" two years ago and had been stored in a garage since. They were selling the garage so sadly she had to part ways with it. We talked a little bit more about it and she said she was surprised there was interest - she had been planning on scrapping it. 🤦
So the wife and kiddo and I got in the wagon and headed North. My wife's parents live two towns over and it was Father's Day so we figured we'd make a day of it.
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It definitely looked complete but has some issues as expected. The carpet must have gotten wet and someone cut it all out leaving just the sound deadening. The good news was I could easily peel it all back and there was no discernible rust. The interior is covered with light mildew and the sunroof seems to be off track on one side which keeps it from closing tightly - I am assuming that was the cause for the water on the floor.
Seats and interior are all there with no rips - just a little wear on the drivers bolster. Dash has two small cracks but nothing major. The car has been resprayed at some point and I suspect it was rear ended at one point because there is pretty heavy rust on the rear trunk lid and the panel below it.
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My buddy and I rented a trailer yesterday and went to pick it up. Thankfully he had the common sense to bring a come a long because I had foolishly thought we could push it up on the trailer - not so much. :laugh: It was a long process to get it on and loaded but we got it done.
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The rest of the trip was uneventful and I was able to use my atv to pull it off the trailer when we got home. Now it has taken up garage space from the TDI and I am hoping to get out and do some cleaning this afternoon for a while to better see what I got myself into.
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I will keep updating as I go. And probably be asking for some advice and help along the way. 🍺
There seemed to be quite a bit of interest in this car in the COVID purchase thread so I figured I'd document my progress (or lack thereof) in a thread.
It's been a habit of mine for years to have my morning coffee in front of the computer and search Craigslist for VW's. Most mornings I don't find anything of note, but I still look because you just never know.
Two Fridays ago I logged on and almost spit out my coffee when the first ad was for a 1987 Jetta "coupe". The car looked clean in pictures and the P-Slots pretty much closed the deal for me. I immediately emailed the seller at 5:30AM and checked my email about every 5 minutes for an hour until finally I got a reply. The car was still available but the couple was heading to Maine for the weekend and wouldn't be back until late Sunday night. It was about a two hour ride from me, so not good news.
I asked if they thought it might be ok to go look at the car without them there, and if satisfied leave a check for half of the asking price of $950. They agreed that was fine and the owner gave me a call to talk for a few minutes. She bought the car new in 1987 and it had 120k miles on it. It "ran when parked" two years ago and had been stored in a garage since. They were selling the garage so sadly she had to part ways with it. We talked a little bit more about it and she said she was surprised there was interest - she had been planning on scrapping it. 🤦
So the wife and kiddo and I got in the wagon and headed North. My wife's parents live two towns over and it was Father's Day so we figured we'd make a day of it.
It definitely looked complete but has some issues as expected. The carpet must have gotten wet and someone cut it all out leaving just the sound deadening. The good news was I could easily peel it all back and there was no discernible rust. The interior is covered with light mildew and the sunroof seems to be off track on one side which keeps it from closing tightly - I am assuming that was the cause for the water on the floor.
Seats and interior are all there with no rips - just a little wear on the drivers bolster. Dash has two small cracks but nothing major. The car has been resprayed at some point and I suspect it was rear ended at one point because there is pretty heavy rust on the rear trunk lid and the panel below it.
My buddy and I rented a trailer yesterday and went to pick it up. Thankfully he had the common sense to bring a come a long because I had foolishly thought we could push it up on the trailer - not so much. :laugh: It was a long process to get it on and loaded but we got it done.
The rest of the trip was uneventful and I was able to use my atv to pull it off the trailer when we got home. Now it has taken up garage space from the TDI and I am hoping to get out and do some cleaning this afternoon for a while to better see what I got myself into.
I will keep updating as I go. And probably be asking for some advice and help along the way. 🍺
