Guest bastaad525 Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 Wish I'd had my digicam with me for this one.... I'm really torn on this car, was hoping to get a few oppinions or insight from people who have owned or know people who have owned one of these. It's an '86 Ford LTD Wagon, with a V6 and 3 speed auto trans in it. *pause* and now we are all collectively thinking But SERIOUSLY! Right off the bat, let me explain This car is one of the cars impounded at the tow truck company I work at. It 'clears' tommorow, which means, basically it goes up for auction. There is a very good chance no one will bid on this car, and the price SHOULD end up in the $250-500 range, most likely around $300 though. Secondly, the car is really really clean. No dings on the body and the paint looks great, interior also is very clean, definately doesn't look like a 20 year old car. The odo only reads 5 digits and shows about 10k, I'm gonna guess it's 110k, definately doesn't look like it's got 200k + miles on it. It started right up after sitting for a month (about 2-3 seconds of cranking) and the auto trans slid into gear very smoothly. Power everything and an A/C that actually blows pretty cold air. New tires. The idle seemed a little rough, but not as rough as my turbo Z under the hood is so-so... I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. Clean, looks like everythings there, radiator looks like it might need attention, as well as some of the hoses, and there is oil on both valve covers but not TOO badly (WISH I'd had my camera). Really it looks okay... better shape than I would ever expect for a 20 year old ford, or really for just about any 20 year old car. It really looks like it's been very well taken care of. Registered until september, so presumably can pass smog. Only thing I really didn't like was that the brake pedal seemed really soft and hissed as it was depressed, but had no problem stopping the car... however it did need to be pushed down pretty far. I didn't see any leaks around the master cylinder. I would be all over this as a second, daily driver/beater to keep miles off of my Z... except... I mean... it's an old ford. And not old ford as in GOOD old ford like old 60's mustangs, but an EIGHTIES ford. Even though $300 isn't a lot to spend, especially given the appearance of the car... I don't need another headache that will break down and cost me a lot more than the initial buy in. So I'm HOPING some of you guys here have either owned, worked on, or know someone who's owned a Ford LTD or a car with the Ford V-6 and can comment on how reliable/unreliable they are expected to be? Should I take the risk on this car? I NEED a replacement car ASAP as we're getting rid of my wifes very abused Honda Prelude... I've only got about $1000 I can spend and dont see myself getting a car for that much either way, whether US or japanese or anything, that I would really trust either way not to have problems... and this thing is gonna leave me a nice chunk of that grand if I get it. Okay enough rambling, what do you guys think???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 not worth it. my friend got one of those, it blew the headgasket in 3 days. In fact, he's thewingnut on the forum. maybe he'll chime in http://www.craigslist.org/sby/car/34851549.html email this person: dna4always@hotmail.com guy's name is aaron, he's selling a 240z for 1k.. or at least he was earlier this week when i test drove it. Pics of car here: http://datsunracing.com/z/newz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 My first car was a 1986 Ford LTD with a 302. I drove that car for about 2 years with absolutly no problems other than it leaked oil pretty bad toward the end. I wasn't about to stick money into it though. I sold it to my best friend for $900 when I bought my truck. He beat the living snot out of that car for another 2.5 years! When I say he beat the snot out of it I mean he treated it like it was a cop car/rental/like he wasnt the owner. He went through 2 sets of tires a year because he would wear the outter edges off because of all the hard cornering and burn outs! He finally got sick of it and he sold it to a guy that wanted to use it for a stunt car! I thought for sure my buddy could kill it but nope! I dont know much about the V6's but I know the rest of the car held up really good considering the amount of abuse it got in such a short period of time. Oh and when my buddy had it, the rear shocks went out at pretty much the same time. Yeah when he would stop hard it would look like he had hydraulics! It was the funniest thing ever seeing the looks we got when we rolled up to a stop light with it bouncing up and down like a Mexican jumping bean! LOL Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 the 5.0 block is pretty solid, my friend had an ltd with a 5.0 in it, and now drives an ltd with a cobra 4.6 in it. The LTD in question is the v6 3.8 liter, and those are notorious for headgasket failures. Same motor in the t-bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Yah, a friend of mine had an 85 T-bird with the 3.8 and it.. uh, sucked arse man. Gutless wonder, blown headgaskets, and daily oil changes. Im not a fan on ferd auto tranys either.. they seam fine, and then... yech.. not there anymore. I'd pass on it man.. go for an import with a standard IMO... I once bought an 85 200sx for $500, put $200 into it (front struts, brake pads, and tune up)and drove it for 2 years with NO problems. They are out there.. I'd wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
77280 Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 check out this site in the classifieds http://dimequarterly.tierranet.com/ earlyer this year i picked up my 71 510 4dr l20b a87 closed chamber head, weber,elect ign,new 2 14" exh, zx 5sp, 4.11 rear, st springs and sway bars, tokiko's all around steel braided brake lines and much more for $500 it came from mesa arizona he met me in l.a and i drove it all the way home to yosemite and i still drive it evryday i just needed to put some interior in it and do a little bodywork to clean it back up and i just picked up a 71 wagon for $2200 that is very nice lots of mods there is good deals out there if you look hard enough and you cant go wrong with a 510 the coolest datsun ever produced, easy to work on, no smog, and i dont think they will go down in value if you decide to pick one up and need some parts let me know i will be parting out a 71 4dr with a L6 in it soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 If the car runs fine and everything, I'm still not sure how you lose for $300. Otherwise, steer clear. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Wow... the replies were worse than I expected Well I'm kinda confused... if they are THAT bad, blowing headgaskets all the time and such, it amazes me that this particular one would look so well taken care of... unless you're like me with my Z, most people dont tend to put so much love into cars that are extremely problematic. Maybe the odo really does read ONLY 10k miles? I have a hard time seeing anyone putting 110k miles on a car that has problems like that. I do kinda agree with DavyZ... I mean... for $300... even if it didn't last that long, I wouldn't really be losing out. The way things have been, I can almost guarantee that if I drive my Z to work daily for say the next six months, I'll put more than $300 into it repairing something or other. I know I'd rather get something I KNOW to be reliable, a toyota or nissan, but I haven't seen anything either at my job or in the classifieds that I'd really trust even for up around $1k, that includes other Z's.... an really that's the LAST thing I need right now is another Z! Okay well I'm tempted to get one... I'd love to join the "owns more than one Z" club. Well I dunno... I guess I'll just watch this one tommorow... if I can snatch it up even as low as $250, I'll probably take it... I see them go for $500-700 in local classifieds... if there's ANY sign of anything not being right I'll just turn around and dump it and most likely double my money. If I can't... well then I lose out on $250-300... if I were to look at that as such a huge loss and not worth it, I'd HAVE to get rid of my Z on principle In the meantime I'll keep looking around and see if there's ANYTHING else even decent in the $500-1000 range... maybe I'll find a nice ZX or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 guess I am gonna pass on this car after all... really dont want ANOTHER headache and one blown headgasket this year was enough for me thanks! So... back to looking for a car I guess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 For $300 buy it and drive it until something breaks. Then enter it in a local demolition derby and have a blast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 LOL you know now you got me thinking... might be worth the $300 just to get the chance to wreck it like that! I know it's not feasible or likely but I would LOVE to take a junk car and do some rally-type dirt road racing, only someplace with nice fat roads and no trees lining the whole thing so that when the inevitable loss of control comes I could trash the car but still walk away. Well... I dunno... the guy still hasn't called me yet to let me know if it's been bid on or what.... so just waiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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