Originally Posted by
Minnesota
I don't have a lot of time here, but I did find a car and have made the purchase. You guys probably saw this one for a while on Autotrader. The car was located in Pymouth, MI and he wanted $8,000 for it. 120,000 miles, cold weather, premium (I think). I got it for $7,000 mainly because of the poor paintwork on the front clip of the car. It also has a salvage/repair title.
I drove it home on Wednesday, which necessitated putting another 750 miles on the clock. The car performed flawlessly on the way home, other than the "Service Engine Soon" light coming on about an hour into the drive. I kept going since this car has sat pretty much all winter and I figured it may need some miles on it to clear the engine out. Sure enough the light turned off just after I filled the gas tank just outside of Green Bay.
Overall impression of the car is that it is very nice, but has some warts. This is a 12 year old car that first came from California and must have gotten into a front-end collision on the driver's side. The headlight, fender, and mirror on this side are all newer than the rest of the car. It must have spent some time out in the sun because some of the window trim, especially the vent windows, is starting to rot and crack. The front bumper doesn't appear to be original either but it is OEM. I also noticed there seems to be a panel under the car behind the front bumper that is missing. I see some hardware for 4 bolts, but whatever was meant to screw into these points is gone.
There is some rust starting on the right front fender as well as on the hood. My plan here is to save up some money and buy a new hood and fenders. Up here in Wisconsin you are better off just getting new metal rather than trying to eliminate rust once it starts. A friend of mine who is a big car guy said I could spend tons of hours cleaning up the rust and take the chance it might come back. Better to just start fresh. There also seems to be some small alignment issues with the body panels up front. Things are close, but not perfect.
In hindsight I perhaps was a little too impatient in trying to find a car and wasn't as critical in my evaluation as I should have been. However, the flight to Detroit was a pain in the ass and the seller was a very, very nice guy who was very helpful. The thought of going back to the airport and trying to find a flight back home without a car was just not very pleasant. The seller also threw in a cabin air filter, an engine air filter, and two oil filters. The car also came with a set of Blizzaks on rims, which was a big selling point for me. The seller bought a new shift knob for the car but I had him dig the old one out of his trash can so I could put it back on. He had gotten an M-badged shifter, but it wasn't a ZHP knob.
So to put a silver lining on the whole situation: the car is certainly a huge improvement over the tired old E30 I've been driving for the last 8 years. It has tons of power, drives great, and looks awesome (from a short distance). The interior is quiet and comfortable and has all the creature comforts we have come to expect in our cars...and then some. And even old, salvaged, somewhat neglected ZHP's need to be loved and cared for. My goal with this car is to get the front end looking like it should and just driving it.