i have been very interested in picking up and FD before this summer but i have an interesting problem. i live in montana, land of cowboys and indians. j/k. anyway there are almost no FD's in the entire state. so i don't know what to do because i obviously want to drive the car and check for all the things that need to be checked. i want to get a car off the forum but how do i keep from getting my @$$ shafted..haha. any ideas or comments would help

thanks tony
p.s. i drive a 87 turbo TII so working on the car is no big deal.

 

Read my tips and tricks for buying an FD -

http://www.clubrx.org/default.asp?id...ntent=25&mnu=5

Really, you are gonna have to drive to find the right car. If you play your cards right, you can find a good seller that can tell you everything about the car, provide pics. etc. When I bought my car, the whole transaction took like a half hour - saw the car, test drove it, it was JUST what the seller said it was. Paid the man and left .

You can also find other folks in the RX-7 club that are near where the car is to test drive it for you - I've done that before. Pay them for their time and get a good report.

Big thing is don't go cheap - spend a bit extra to get a GOOD, solid car that's what you want. Don't settle for an old junker because you are trying to save some bucks - that's a short-term solution that will bite you in the long run.

Dale

 

APEXITTREX has an FD in Great Falls, Montana.

 

I was also lucky to find an FD guru in the area where i bought my car. The seller let the guy pick it up and bring it to his own garage...worked out very well...

 

^This is good advice. I live in Nebraska, only marginally more populated than Montana and also with few FDs. At the time I didn't know anyone else to ask, so I did my homework by lurking here and reading the various sites. I ended up finding one in Texas. I did the CARFAX thing and questioned the seller VERY closely. Poured over over all the pictures etc. and had the guy commit in writing to a price we agreed on if the car was as advertised. But ultimately I had to risk the cost of airfare to go down and see/drive the car. Fortunately it turned out well and I drove all the way home with a big stupid grin on my face.
But I had been prepared to climb back on the plane if I didn't think the car was worth it. You should be too. Good luck.
Jim

 

Not that the rest of the advice wasn't great, but this is PARAMOUNT IMO. You MUST be able to walk away if you start having your doubts. In fact, one of my fav quotes (from Ronin) is "When there is doubt, there is none." Walking away can be VERY hard to do, esp. when the car looks sooo nice from the outside, has all these mods, the guy's real nice, the price is so enticing etc...but if you suspect any serious underlying issues, unless you're willing to tackle something pretty much all by yourself at home, I'd drop it and walk away.

If you're not good at walking away like that, find a friend who hates FDs or is just very good at thinking w/ his head and not his heart, and bring him along. That way you'll have someone to keep you in check.

 

Depending on what you want to do to the car, it may be a good idea to find a cheap one with a blown motor or something. I only say this b/c I found an FD in decent shape and paid top dollar for it two years ago, only to rip it apart and re-build the whole car. If I were to do it again I would have bought one with a blown motor for cheap.

It just depends on what you want to do with the car. The advice above is excellent for finding your dream FD.

Good luck, I hope you find what you want.

 

good advise listed above. remember " love is blind " don't let the beauty of the FD sucker you into a bad deal. Walk away..wait run away if something feels wrong or if the seller starts reducing the price as you start having doubts

 

I drove 5 hours to pick up my FD; before i bought it i went up there and took a look at it . . . . i don't regret doing so for a FD in such good shape.

 

5 hours? That ain't nothin. I drove 12 - 14 hours EACH WAY From DC to Miami and back

 

thanks for all the great tips guys, all of these are really help me ease carefully into such a monumental purchase!

 

superstock2, here's a real simple idea. Find the car you wanna check out, hit up the regional forum where the car is located, ask if anyone knows about that car, the owner, etc, and if anyone knowledgeable about these babies would mind accompanying you to check out the car. That's what I did when I went to buy my FB...the guy who helped me out (Lt. Dan) wouldn't even let me buy him lunch or anything! And he sure knew his way around the car too... So in short, use the forum and it's members as an asset to ya.

 

Believe me when I say that Ramy (FDNewbie) isn't kidding when he says to use us like assets. You can use us to help you buy all sorts of cars, right Ramy?

 

Ohhh man... (looking down in shame) . C'mon dawg...I didn't mean it like THAT. If anything, you should take it as a compliment that I trust your judgement. There are ppl that I know that...well...I really wouldn't take their opinion very highly...

 

As always I'm just kidding man. I guess I should stop attacking all your posts.

And I did consider it a compliment that you trusted my judgement when buying a car. Too bad it didn't work out in the end.

 

It's cool man. I just felt bad cuz I didn't want it to seem that I meant "take advantage of ppl on the forum" etc. I think it's a great asset to help others out tho. I've had a hella lot of ppl help me out, so I try and return the favor by helping out other news whenever I get a chance. That's what the forum's all about, ain't it?

As for the "attacks," try harder lol. Bring 'em on, cuz so far, they've been kinda mediocre lol.