Need your wisdom, again

[clintard]

Seems this is the place i always find myself coming to ask level headed guys who have "been there done that" or "been around the block" for advice. Seems logical to do so being a young pup. Thank you guys.

Ive always wanted an International Scout. Since i was real young, 5 years old probably. My HILLBILLY grandpa whos no longer with us had a 79 Tera pickup version, and used to take me off roading in it every year when i came to visit. Since then ive been in love with scout's in general and im really partial to the tera model for centimental reasons.

After watching ebay, craigslist, wheels and deals for years, waiting for that "right one" and for the income to be sufficient i FINALLY found it.

The guy had his reserve set to 4,950$ and only had a 3 day auction so it didnt sell. He sent me a second chance offer of 4,850 and ive talked him down to 4. Poor guy lost his job back in november and owns 3 of these scouts and has to sell one.

Problem is, ive tried my credit union as well as the bank i have my mortgage through and i cant get anyone to loan me jack shit for a 30 year old vehicle. I put the 97 V-max and my 99 pontiac bonneville down as collateral even, and they told me the vehicles are too old or have too many miles (120 on car, 12 on vmax) and they couldnt help me.

Do you guys think its worth the money? And any advice on what to do for a loan? Im pissed at my credit union, i have paid off 4 vehicle loans over 5 grand each through them since being a member, and have a 650 credit score, so i dont see what there problem is.

Here is the listing

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0358793617&sspagename=STRK:MEDWX:IT&viewitem=


My intentions if i get this thing is to pay it off as fast as possible, more than likely before the summer is over. I want to do the diesel conversion and put a 4BT, which is a 4 cylinder 3.9 liter Cummins turbo diesel in it. The guys over at binderplanet are getting crazy milage with these engines. 20 in town and 30 on the highway is the normal. It wont win any drag races, but it will last forever, go anywhere, do pretty much anything and be somewhat economical to run.

Wadaya think?

 

[naughtyG]

It's a real nice truck, and I know wot you mean - I've overpaid for my Max and would overpay any day for the right VW Camper Van...

But here's the deal - it's 30 years old and it ain't worth four G's.. Looking at the pics it's in need of some work, and although it has huge sentimental value to you it's not worth all that cash.
I recently saw a Cagiva 900 Elefant on the UK fleabay, and almost bought it, even though I would then have had to ship it over, and couldn't afford either.

So here's how it goes: if you're meant to have this truck somehow you're gonna find a way to get the cash. If the cash doesn't materialize, then this isn't 'your' truck and a better one at the right price will turn up at the right time, hopefully soon!

 

[lankeeyankee]

The International Scout..
I remember them when I was 15 I pumped gas and they had one to just use to plow snow in the winter time off the parking lot. I was the one who was allowed to drive it. So it was a memory for me, I just remembered it was a piece of shit,, had to pump the hell out of the gas to keep it running, it would load up with gas and backfire!! After about 5 minutes of it farting and backfiring she would run! It was a tank and if I remember correctly it had a granny low 1st gear.. Big ol bench seat covered in plastic...
Hmm not sure about scraping up the cash for a new toy,, but my thing is you live once so enjoy the things you can.

Maybe open a burrito stand up, i hear they offer a lot of profit. I will be your first customer

 

[clintard]

It's a real nice truck, and I know wot you mean - I've overpaid for my Max and would overpay any day for the right VW Camper Van...

But here's the deal - it's 30 years old and it ain't worth four G's.. Looking at the pics it's in need of some work, and although it has huge sentimental value to you it's not worth all that cash.
I recently saw a Cagiva 900 Elefant on the UK fleabay, and almost bought it, even though I would then have had to ship it over, and couldn't afford either.

So here's how it goes: if you're meant to have this truck somehow you're gonna find a way to get the cash. If the cash doesn't materialize, then this isn't 'your' truck and a better one at the right price will turn up at the right time, hopefully soon!

Thanks for that.

I forgot to mention, the guy who has this for sale has a bill of sale for proof that in april of 2008 he paid 5600$ for it. Supposedly the owner before him has done several show trucks. I havnt asked him to scan the bill of sale and email it to me, but he did say he wouldnt have a problem producing it if i wanted it. Does that still mean its not worth 4 grand?

 

[gamorg02]

bank of american has credit cards where its 0% for 12 months on cash advances/card payoffs/credit transfers...

my buddy did that to buy my old yzf600 from me for $4k and paid it off within a year by getting a cash advance on the credit card...

just a thought or try another big bank....

 

[naughtyG]

1979 International Scout Terra Star 304 V8
-Automatic 3 speed transmission
-3.54 gears
-4 wheel drive with manual locking hubs
-1979 IH winter white paint
-3" body lift
-15" by 11.5 black american racing wheels with 32" tires, with spare, new tires needed in near future
-Holley 2 barrel carb. (2300 799304 0-7448)
-Dual glasspacks
-Comes with new side door and window seals, (rear window has leak)
-2 extra doors with windows and wing window vents
-Extra front grill
-Extra a/c vents
-Have original a/c, not installed
-Rear bumper with hardware (currently not on)
-Extra passenger side exhaust manifold, seal leaks
-new CD Player & speakers
-New floor pans in box, (2) areas on passenger side, (1) @ bulkhead needs patched and (1) @ front floor board
-Have Terra Star hood scoop not painted, not on truck
-Have roll bar with rear window metal louver cover, (attatches to roll bar)
-Installed new left and right rear fiber glass quarter panels
-Previous owner replaced engine with 1980 304 from parts truck with 102,000 miles on the odometer

errr... no, to me it's not - it's still a 1979 truck and the detailed pictures show it well.

 

[COP RUNNER]

Thanks for that.

I forgot to mention, the guy who has this for sale has a bill of sale for proof that in april of 2008 he paid 5600$ for it. Supposedly the owner before him has done several show trucks. I havnt asked him to scan the bill of sale and email it to me, but he did say he wouldnt have a problem producing it if i wanted it. Does that still mean its not worth 4 grand?

ONLY YOU CAN PUT THE RIGHT PRICE ON IT ! SHIT I WISH I COULD BUY THE BACK SEAT OUT OF MY 67 PONTIAC FROM 28 YEARS AGO ! TALK ABOUT SENTIMENTAL !..:wkwk::th_love031: .. I'D HAVE IT MADE INTO A GIANT PILLOW & SNIFF MYSELF TO SLEEP ! ...:rofl_200::biglaugh::rofl_200:

 

[mjsonar]

I would be careful, the seller has 0 for his feed back. I got screwed on a GPS with a guy with no feed back. :bang head: Im just sayin

Mike W.

 

[Buster Hymen]

Ya, it's a lot tougher getting loans for toys now, especially after the melt down. Someone already mentioned the new credit card route, can you get a line of credit from the bank? If you can get that, then you would have the cash to buy the truck.

 

[richwrench]

Are you good with electrical probs ? International was notorious for using the same color wiring for many different circuits - made it a bitch to trace wiring if you had a short somewhere. OTOH, my buddy had one of those in high school & it was a cool truck. It's unique, just like a VMAX. Don't see them everywhere. I say go for it.

 

[dannymax]

Are you good with electrical probs ? International was notorious for using the same color wiring for many different circuits - made it a bitch to trace wiring if you had a short somewhere. OTOH, my buddy had one of those in high school & it was a cool truck. It's unique, just like a VMAX. Don't see them everywhere. I say go for it.

I had a couple of those little Series 600 Scouts with the 266 cid, Holly 4 bbl, V8's. Pretty cool machines, lots of power, but International kinda re-invented the mechanical wheel, successfully for sure, but they had their own way of building things.
If you're familiar with the way International builds their machines, and the somewhat different approach needed to work on them, then it would prolly be a nice project truck for you.
It's impossible to put a price on sentimental value, only you can decide if the vehicle is worth the asking price.

 

[Redbone]

Thanks for that.

I forgot to mention, the guy who has this for sale has a bill of sale for proof that in april of 2008 he paid 5600$ for it. Supposedly the owner before him has done several show trucks. I havnt asked him to scan the bill of sale and email it to me, but he did say he wouldnt have a problem producing it if i wanted it. Does that still mean its not worth 4 grand?

No that just means that what he paid for it last year, has no bearing on the actual value. Perceived value to somebody that has sentimentality for it, yes it does.
I probably would not want to pay $2000 for a Scout, let alone $4000, but I have no emotional ties to one. A Willy's jeep , that would be a different story altogether though.
I think NG said it before...
."So here's how it goes: if you're meant to have this truck somehow you're gonna find a way to get the cash. If the cash doesn't materialize, then this isn't 'your' truck and a better one at the right price will turn up at the right time, hopefully soon!"
Let your emotions cool down, take another look at once they do, then let your karma flow baby! :thumbs up:

 

[4gasem]

I agree with Naughty here Clint. It's to much of a risk for the bank to take. In these times of people losing jobs the banks are being much tighter with their money. They look at several things before they lend money only one being the vehicle you want. The other being things like your income, credit score, your checking and savings balances and how much debt you have on credit cards. My fiance has a great credit score but has a ton of debt. (school and other)

What you should probably do is instead of trying to get a loan which you plan to pay off by the end of the summer, you should just save up the money until then and find another one. Where there's one there's two...

Another thing banks (and most people) look at is YOU. Make sure you are wearing nice clothes and are very clean kept looking when you go in for a loan. (not that you weren't)

Chris

 

[clintard]

Well guys, i guess it may be meant to be! I got a call from my credit union that ive payed all my previous loans through, and they told me they would go ahead and lend me up to 3500 for the scout. I can manage the rest, and im gonna try to talk this guy down just a little more if at all possible.

If you dont already know, i travel for work, so i dont have set days off or ever know in advance where im going to be. I cant do any sort of planning really. Now that im aproved for the loan, im going to have to send the guy the money and have him hold it for me until i can manage to come pick it up. Its a 350 mile trip each way from where i live.

Im not stupid, i cant just wire the guy the money, and then turn up and its a total rotten out piece of shit held up on a pedestal. What do you reccomend i do to protect myself? Should i have him send me another second chance offer through ebay for the new price? That way im covered by ebay?

I dont want to lose my ass on this, but i want this truck as much as i wanted my vmax. What would you do?

THANK YOU for helping me out!


EDIT: I also see that ebay offers a private inspection for 100$. They check everything and give a full report. If this things been wrecked and has frame damage or something thats being covered up, the 100$ would sure be worth it.

 

[naughtyG]

It's a really hard one when it's far away, cos' by the time you get there it's really hard to say no, even if you find more things wrong than you expected.

I would ask the guy to take more detailed pictures - if you know these trucks you know what you need to look at - and have him send them in high resolution to you via email. Ebay pics are compressed as hell so you can never tell anything from those.

And for the trip, I would take a knowledgeable friend with me to drive me there, someone I would have no problem riding back with if the deal was not good. Just take someone with no interest who can truly tell you if you're good or you're mad at the time of purchase, and respect their advice.

Good luck!

 

[gamorg02]

And for the trip, I would take a knowledgeable friend with me to drive me there, someone I would have no problem riding back with if the deal was not good. Just take someone with no interest who can truly tell you if you're good or you're mad at the time of purchase, and respect their advice.

Good luck!

good final reality check...!

 

[4gasem]

Having the seller send you pics of the under carriage, fender wells and other important parts is very helpful IMO.

Either way it's a gamble IMO.

Chris

 

[clintard]

Re: Need your wisdom, again (new pics)

heres some more pics. I have a ton of pics the guy sent me, and the body is straight and true, the only rust fixes would be floor pans and 2 small spots in the bed in front of the fender wells. The bed is super easy to fix, just chop a square out with a cutoff wheel and weld in a new piece of steel, then rhino line the bed. The floor pans im not so sure about, since ive never done it before, but everyone over on binderplanet.com says the rust dosnt look very bad at all. every scout rusts, especially in the salt belt, so its pretty damn clean for what it is. Im gonna do some more soul searching before i make my decision. Lots of research ahead

 

[4gasem]

It looks pretty good but paint hides a lot and white is the best hider of them all...

If it were mine I would pull the body off the frame and delve into it and make it right. Line-X or Rhino (I prefer Line-X) everything you feasibly can inside and out and then paint it all.

Either way this is going to be a money pit and it's going to cost you 3 times (at least) what you're paying for it.

Good luck!
Chris

 

[naughtyG]

Re: Need your wisdom, again (new pics)

Well it sure is in need of some work, but if you're heart's set on it, I'd say try to talk the seller down to $3.5k. If he's really desperate he'll take it, even if he waits for a week or two b4 saying yes.
It's still a lotta cash, and prolly about as much as he'll ever manage to get today. That at least means you can use any spare cash to start working on it.

Have you asked the owner if he'd drive 300 miles in it? He seems to be straight enough if he's gonna send you all these pics.. Only prob is the pics could be 1 year old, and every year can make a lot of difference on a 30 year-old vehicle! I should know, I had a salt-eaten 1968 VW Camper Van in the UK, still gutted I had to sell it when I left..