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intro, buying questions, 69 midget

To: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: intro, buying questions, 69 midget
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 00:22:39 -0500
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Hi List,
I went to see the car I am interested in today. Superficially, it doesn't
look too bad. 4 painted wires (no spare), all the spokes seem to 'ting' more
or less the same pitch. It shows 69k miles, and I think i believe it, from
the overall condition. The PO really doesn't know anything about it, he
bought it for his wife, lost interest, been sitting for a year (it's been
started and taken his kids for rides periodically).

It seems to be whole, except for missing front turn signals. It's been
painted, overall looks OK. has some rust in trunk, but no holes. The trunk
lid is not closing tightly, but the rubber gasket there is very good. What's
all the extra holes around trunk? Has some bubbling around rear wheel
arches, I know what that means..... The wheelwells themselves look good, as
far as rust. It has a fairly recent top, no zipper for back window. It has a
non-SCCA rollbar, no crosspiece. Appears to be bondo on driver's rear
quarter, but is a good job. It has a chrome rocker panel added, which
usually means rust, but I was short on time, and didn't get to look under it
much. Interior is good for the age, gauges work. It started well cold, but
was a little blubbery after warming up One thing that puzzled me, was the
clutch disengages completely, but the pedal would not return easily, once it
stayed on the floor! don't think it's low on fluid (didn't check) it seems
to be engaging well, no slipping, but what can make that happen? Is the
return spring on the bellhousing?

First gear is a little noisy, I know it's not syncromesh. Even accounting
for the fact that I haven't driven a car like this for a long time, the
steering seems good, no play. I wanted to (but didn't have time) to get the
wheels off the ground and pull on them, or maybe get approximate runout. It
has J.C. Penny tires on it, about half tread. Engine compartment is clean,
hood's hinges are a little loose.

If I got this, I would eventually like it to be a daily driver. What is the
current state of parts availabity? When I had 73 Spitfire (in '75) parts
were sky-high and scarce. I know Midgets have been hugely popular, are
normal wear and tear items like starters, etc reasonable?

PO says he has $4k in it, would take $2500. I have the feeling that if i
waved a two thousand dollar bill at him, he would take it. Here's some pics.
The interior actually looks better than the pics here, it was getting dark
and the flash washed it out a little.

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