Some of you may remember my postings regarding this car before the recent delete.
A recap: Well about 1 1/2 years ago I had a chance at a rust free '81 AMC Eagle SX/4 (I6, auto, AWD) the guy that had it was a used car dealer. He claimed to have ordered and delivered this car when it was new to a friend of his and then recently the friend passed away, so the family sold it back to him. The used car dealer repainted it and did a few minor things to it. That's how I found it, on my way to a nearby town my Eagle eyes caught a glimpse of it sitting at a mechanic's shop. We pulled a U'ey and went to talk to the shop owner. He told us about the car dealer that owned it, so we hunted him down. He said he'd take $3,500 for it, I talked him down to $3,000 but didn't have that kind of money.
Went home and advertised my miniature horse trailer for sale. Had to go down on the price unfortunately but did sale it (took about a week). So the next day after selling the trailer we drove to said nearby town (some of you might remember my story of getting T-boned by Bambi's dad on the way), anyways make it there and the car dealer said that the family wanted it back so they were coming to get it.
Well this would normally be the end of the story here (and it was for 1 1/2 years)...
In the past few months (and for some odd reason, even after acquiring the Squirrel) I have had an ad out on CL looking for this car, even had the actual pics of the car in my ad.Even had a few people email me- one saying that there was one just posted, I looked and it was a '79 Spirit. Funniest one was someone sent me a picture of a silver Mazda RX7 saying it was the car.
It was a long shot, didn't expect anything really.
But today I had the best email yet...
This guy emailed me saying "I have that car." I texted him asking for pics, and sure enough there she was!
Unfortunately it was at another used car dealership, I hate dealing with car dealers ::). But fortunately this dealer was asking less than the original dealer was.
Went and looked at it and test drove it. Everything seemed fine. Noticed that it does need some minor things here and there (side mirror is loose, visor mounts are cracking, doors sag just a touch, both handles are broke, plastic valve cover)- but I do have the Black Mamba for parts.
Talked this dealer down a little, he wouldn't budge much on his price. Still had the $$ from when I sold my mini horse trailer too.
Drove the car home (around 30 miles) with no ill effects other than noticing a rumbling (at and above 45mph). Got home and had an inkling so checked all rims for heat... sure enough driver side front was too hot to touch. So assuming it's the bearings, we'll tear into it soon.
So here is my newest acquisition, Eagle #5 (no name yet)...
(http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w169/chantel5/Eagle/101_0160.jpg)
(http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w169/chantel5/Eagle/101_0157.jpg)
Here is a shot of one of the inner fender wells (it's a little wet), everything looks like this...
(http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w169/chantel5/Eagle/101_0162.jpg)
SO glad I was finally able to pin this one down!
OD is at 74,896. I wonder if it has rolled over. Undercarriage still has the factory rust preventive coating.
I am pretty sure I have all of the Arkansas SX/4's now.
I really need to thin out my herd :rotfl: currently at 9 vehicles (not all of them are on the road, thank god).
Poor Squirrel is going to be put on the back burner now I am sure.
But then again I probably should think about selling some of them soon.
Congrats on finally pinning it down. Persistence pays off, and sometimes long shots aren't so long.
Nice one. Glad ya finally got it.
Happy for ya,and good luck on the project.
Congrats! Looks great.
nice job gettin' her. you know you could always call it hot stuff. :blob8:
sweet
very nice ride
congrats!
Nice! You went from no sx/4's to three in less than a year, lol :occasion14:. Great you finally got the one you really wanted.
NIce score !!!! Your flock is growing uncontrollably , wich is the way it should be. lol .
Are you still stripping parts off the black mamba ?? Curious - The MoneyPit II is missing a few little things I am sure, and is also the black sport SX/4.........
Congratulations! Great looking SX4. Great looking wheels. Can sure see it wasn't driven in the salt belt in winter.
Very nice looking SX/4 survivor. I think Jim has a couple Eagles so you don't have them all in Arkansas.
Thank you everyone for the congrats ;D
I am sure everyone has had a car (or something) that they kicked themselves in the rear over for not getting... well this was mine.
But I guess I can't kick myself too hard, waiting a 1 1/2 years did get me- saved some money waiting on this deal, new carb, new distributor, new solenoid and new muffler (too bad they didn't bother with the rest of the exhaust ::)).
Forgot to mention that all the flares are in the hatch and were repainted as well. And found a nice little armrest in there too. It came from a newer vehicle (doesn't match the interior of this SX/4) but it does fit nicely.
I just wonder how long this wheel bearing has been like this and how much it was run during that time. I didn't notice it until we were fairly close to home, but like I said the noise wasn't noticeable until 45mph+ (in town the highest speed limit was 35mph).
I really hope that it hasn't fused together. :-\
I will be tearing into the hub on Monday or Tuesday to find out (if weather permits).
Yesterday before the rain moved in we cleaned up the front interior and took a handle off of the Black Mamba (so we could roll up the windows before the rain came). Fought with the handle- 1st install worked for a little bit but the little black cap thing popped off and that lever slide up and off. Tore back into it and fixed for the 2nd time- tried the handle and it worked for a bit but then that lever slide down on the arm and quit working, tore into it for a 3rd time and now it shouldn't be a problem unless something breaks.
But while we were in the door we did find a lot of the Ziebart coating, literally chunks of it. After pulling all of it out we had a pretty good size pile. So this has me wondering if they coated inside of the doors ???
Quote from: 68AMXGOPAC on March 15, 2012, 09:00:23 AM
NIce score !!!! Your flock is growing uncontrollably , wich is the way it should be. lol .
Are you still stripping parts off the black mamba ?? Curious - The MoneyPit II is missing a few little things I am sure, and is also the black sport SX/4.........
I realized last night that I am at 5 Eagles in 5 years :o I hope that trend does not keep going lol. But I think I am happy with what I have now. I even did the math last night to see what I have total into all these Eagles (just purchase wise), not good but I guess it isn't bad either.
lol yea, between the first pics I posted of the Black Mamba (in the Project Squirrel thread to the one here in this thread) you can see that the Black Mamba is slowly declining in looks (mainly exterior). But what you can't see is the whole front of the cab is disassembled as well (dash, plastics, doors, etc.). Now some will go to the new SX/4 and some to the Squirrel, though the new SX/4 won't need much (if needed, just drivetrain stuff). The Squirrel needs the most help as far as cosmetics from the Black Mamba... so the Black Mamba will be helping out (at least) 2 SX/4's in one department or the other in getting them back to looking and running decent.
Are you needing something for The Money Pit II?
Great score man! Now you can go ahead and send some of those SX/4s up north to Missouri! :)
Love those Canyon wheels. Did they come on the car? How much did you end up talking the dealer down? That's so cool that the second dealer was selling it for cheaper than the first guy! It all worked out in your favor!!
I really like the silver color. Gives me ideas for when I repaint mine. Nice save and hope you have much success with this car.
Congrats. on scoring the one you wanted!! Looks nice.
Quote from: Prafeston on March 21, 2012, 09:51:26 AM
Great score man! Now you can go ahead and send some of those SX/4s up north to Missouri! :)
Actually the Squirrel came from Bolivar, Missouri ;). The other 2 were found in Arkansas.
Quote from: Prafeston on March 21, 2012, 09:51:26 AM
Love those Canyon wheels. Did they come on the car? How much did you end up talking the dealer down? That's so cool that the second dealer was selling it for cheaper than the first guy! It all worked out in your favor!!
The Canyons came with it. Love the Canyons, have been planning on getting some anyways.
I talked this dealer down off his price just a little but in the end saved about $500 from the previous dealer and got all the aforementioned "extra's" in the wait as well.
I am not sure if I like the silver on maroon. Have been debating on if I want to go another route with this one. But no huge hurry, so I have time to think on it.
Unfortunately no bearing work was done this week, weather did not agree with it. We have had rain and storms non-stop.
I checked out a maroon wagon near Bolivar awhile back. It turned out to be a pretty big project. Quit stealing all the MO SX/4s! :)
Quote from: Prafeston on March 21, 2012, 09:51:26 AM
Great score man! Now you can go ahead and send some of those SX/4s up north to Missouri! :)
Love those Canyon wheels. Did they come on the car? How much did you end up talking the dealer down? That's so cool that the second dealer was selling it for cheaper than the first guy! It all worked out in your favor!!
The "man" may be generic, but I thought I would mention again that mudpuppy isn't a man.
She's the man! :)
I'll remember that one of these days! I'm still trying to get over the fact that women do like cars too...well a small majority of them!
There should be a thread called Female Eagles or Ealgers or Women of AMC Eagle Nest! :)
I'd still like to get together with some of you AR folk one of these days. I was hinting at maybe having the 2013 Eagle Meet in MO somewhere.