Well the 500 was not known to be economical by today's standard, but should not be too excessive. Might need a good old tune up. And the temp in those cars do sometimes get high past the half mark after a long cruise in hot weather, or sitting in traffic for very long time in hot weather. If the temperature gauge gets up there just in normal everyday driving, that means the wrong mixture and or coolant is being used, or the there could be a partial block or the fan clutch is gone or going. None of those are too expensive to replace part wise if you shop around. But the kicker is that if the car is getting close to over heating on a test drive, chances are that it was overheated at some point before, and then it's time to run unless you plan on gambling with warped heads and things.
To get the interior from trashed to right - you'll put in a pretty penny a very pretty penny, make that a pretty chunk of silver if it's leather. Now if that 500 came with burlwood, good luck on finding replacement parts and the dealer will close early from the money they will rake in if you order them through them. Zebrano pieces are bit easier to find, but if I'm not mistaken, the 500 usually came with the burlwood, but who's to know if you replace all the wood anyways.
The motors for the passenger seats is a bugger to DIY, but not too hard. And dealership will see dollar signs if you get them to do it though.
I wouldn't personally buy that car for 1900, because of the cash you most likely will have to put in it to get it right anyways. 1500 from what you described assuming everything else is average condition is about as high as I will go, unless the AC works, then I might consider 1900 because a working AC saves thousands dollars worth of work.
16th Oct 2009, 15:02
Well the 500 was not known to be economical by today's standard, but should not be too excessive. Might need a good old tune up. And the temp in those cars do sometimes get high past the half mark after a long cruise in hot weather, or sitting in traffic for very long time in hot weather. If the temperature gauge gets up there just in normal everyday driving, that means the wrong mixture and or coolant is being used, or the there could be a partial block or the fan clutch is gone or going. None of those are too expensive to replace part wise if you shop around. But the kicker is that if the car is getting close to over heating on a test drive, chances are that it was overheated at some point before, and then it's time to run unless you plan on gambling with warped heads and things.
To get the interior from trashed to right - you'll put in a pretty penny a very pretty penny, make that a pretty chunk of silver if it's leather. Now if that 500 came with burlwood, good luck on finding replacement parts and the dealer will close early from the money they will rake in if you order them through them. Zebrano pieces are bit easier to find, but if I'm not mistaken, the 500 usually came with the burlwood, but who's to know if you replace all the wood anyways.
The motors for the passenger seats is a bugger to DIY, but not too hard. And dealership will see dollar signs if you get them to do it though.
I wouldn't personally buy that car for 1900, because of the cash you most likely will have to put in it to get it right anyways. 1500 from what you described assuming everything else is average condition is about as high as I will go, unless the AC works, then I might consider 1900 because a working AC saves thousands dollars worth of work.