Looking at a TTA and have questions

[Turbo F-bird]

I'm going to be looking at what's supposed to be festival car #75 (seller say's it's there behind the license plate but barley legible) and VIN ending in 227285. I checked the TTA VIN registry and it appears it is a festival car though I can't say for sure it's #75 from the list I saw.

It's got 94,000 miles (but supposedly looks like 20,000), is supposed to have a perfect cloth interior, extremely nice "never been hit" body with no rust, glass T tops, new tires on perfect rims, new brakes, alternator, water pump, ported and polished heads with "bigger SS valves", THDP, 3" SS exhaust, AFPR, Walbro 340, new rear main seal, new eng mts, 206/206 cam w/100 lb springs, engine strap, K&N/MAF pipe setup, and welded in subframe connectors. The guy my seller bought it from pulled the engine and trans to detail the engine compartment and do the motor work. I'm told all it needs is a power antenna and to reset the radio lock.

Asking price is 14K and he does not have the original parts that came off it though the original exh tips are supposed to be with it. He said he bought a lot of extra stuff off ebay like the owner's kit and will be selling all that too.

My feeling is it's a little overpriced for the miles and the lack of original parts included will hurt the value. I would have done some of the mods to any TTA I bought so I'm not totally bummed out by them though in my heart I feel stock cars always sell for more than a modified one. I also know the value of the car is what someone is willing to pay for it at a given moment. I keep thinking the welded subframe connectors are a huge value-killer though.

So I'm not sure if the mods, miles and lack of orig parts is offset by the festival history or what? The car was originally from Oregon, then spent the majority of it's life in Florida. Then it was sold on ebay from a Delaware owner to my guy in 2005. It had 4600 miles on it till 1999 when someone decided to start driving it. I have some of the ebay ad from when my guy bought it and it sounds very familiar. I probably saw it for sale back then. By the way I'm not looking to buy one to make money on I just don't want to have to take a huge beating if I decide to move on in a few years.

Anybody know this car by any chance?

 

[fast400]

It may be festival car #75, but it's not car number 75. It's somewhere between 82-89.

 

[1 quik6]

I don't think the mods hurt the resale value with 94,000 miles. I think the weld in subframe connectors ad value if you are planning to drive it. I put bolt in connectors in my 20,000 mile car and that was stupid. They aren't nearly as good as the weld-ins and needed to drill/grind on chassis anyways.

Although I don't think the mods decrease the value of a 94,000 mile TTA, $14,000 sounds like enough. Cloth seats are definately a plus because the leather never held up as well. Sounds like the car has a lot going for it -good luck with whatever you decide!

Don't forget to check out the spoiler. Probably close to a grand installed if it is cracked.

 

[fast400]

Although many mods are improvements, I think 14k is high for the car. Finding all the original parts replaced can add up. Remember that Mods usually = hard driving!

 

[SouthBaySurfer]

$14k seems a little high ....however, if I recall correctly, car #11(a Festival car) with 102k on the speedo went for over $20k about 8 months back. If the car is as nice as you describe and it has an owner's kit, it could very well be worth the money. I wouldn't be too concerned with the SFC's; these cars need them.

 

[TurboGTA]

up to you if you want to spend that amount

FYI I refinanced my TTA about 3 yrs ago (wanted the cash)and KBB was $21,000 so we borrowed that much and did some home remodeling and paid off credit cards

I went through my local credit union and got 5% interest rate

 

[Turbo F-bird]

Thanks for your responses guys I appreciate it. I'm gonna see it tomorrow morning so I'll see first hand if it's a real cream puff or what. Then the haggling can begin. Fun fun!

 

[Turbo F-bird]

Well I took a look at it today and it's not quite a cream puff but it's far from a roach either. The paint is actually very good, couple of rock chips at the hood edge and around the hood louvers. Only real blemish in the paint is a small area by the right front marker light where it has a scratchy feel like it was touched up with a paint brush. The paint doesn't appear to have been disturbed though so maybe some one tried to buff it out and overheated it? It's not "in your face" any way so that I could live with. It could use a good buffing out though. The body side moldings are a little yellowish on the top surface though and I'm not sure how to whiten them back up? The doors align and close perfectly. That was especially surprising since the car was up on blocks while I was looking at it. Body looks like it's all original, it's straight and rust free.

The cloth interior is basically perfect, amazingly. It does appear to have number 75 or 76 where the back plate goes so considering the cloth interior and 12/88 build date I'd say it is a festival car.

Things I can see it has are SMC alky kit, scanmaster, boost controller, VDO boost gauge, MAF pipe and K&N, RJC plate, engine strap, THDP, 3" exh w/dump pipe, AFPR, supposedly 42.5 lb injectors, Walbro 340, new alternator, eng mounts, new tires and supposedly new brakes. It's supposed to have ported heads and larger SS valves. The rear main is supposed to be new too but it's leaking.

Bad things are the rear main looks like it's leaking, PS pump (or a hose) is leaking, AC compressor is leaking a little from the shaft seal, the tranny lines up to the radiator are rubber hose, intercooler scoop is a little beat at the bottom, windshield is pitted, windows are tinted, small crack at base of Driver's side of rear spoiler and a crack in the paint at the edge of the nose and a couple of paint chips that look like a license plate bracket tapped it. The Indy badges are missing too but you can see where they were. Worst thing I saw is a 2" rot hole under the corner of the battery through the wheel well. I'm sure it's from battery acid fumes because the rest of the car is rust free.

I offered 11 grand and the owner says he'll take $12,000 for the car and he has $1800 worth of extras he bought that we can haggle over too. He has an extra steering wheel, window and door decals, rear rims, all the manuals and a CD rom for the engine, original plug wires and I forget what else. He has none of the stock parts that have been swapped for hi-po stuff though.

If we can get together Saturday we'll take it for a ride and haggle more. I'm thinking I can get it for 12K including some of the extra parts.