Introducing: My wooden bird of prey, Virginia.

[WoodenBirdOfPrey]

I just picked this thing up about a month ago, after 6 months of searching for a good one.  It's an 87 with 172k on it, but I have a very detailed maintenance log including oil changes every 2,000 miles.  It drives like it's 5 years old, not 25.  It was also originally from Virginia so the body is almost completely rust free, minus a soft spot behind the front driver's side tire that will need tended to.  The options list was pretty basic on it.  Crank windows, basic seats, standard mirrors, automatic trans.  One of the few options it seems to have is the console around the shifter with the storage compartment.  Surprisingly, the A/C is ice cold and even the cruise control works.

Then of course there's the leaking windshield, leaking fuel tank, rusty fuel lines, cracked flex plate, and leaking valve cover.  Just the typical kind of thing you discover 2 days after buying the car but would have really liked to know when handing over $3k cash.

The PO bought it as a winter vehicle for going to college in northern PA because the salt did horrible things to his IH Scout last year.  But after he bought it, and realized how nice it actually was, he couldn't bring himself to let it get ruined by PA's road salt, and put it up for sale/trade to get a vehicle that would be less of a shame to get all rusted up.









Here's Virginia parked next to my parts car I picked up a couple weeks ago (Eagle fever has a very rapid, uncontrollable onset, I've found).  It has half the miles of Virginia, and almost every option box was checked.  Power windows, power mirrors, power seats, all that good stuff.  The car was definitely cared for well, unfortunately it had an unfortunate incident where the driver slid sideways on black ice, then hit a dry spot, flipped onto the driver's side, and slid until the roof hit a tree in the rear.  It's a shame because it was garage kept, the body is almost completely perfect minus the damage from the accident which isn't worth fixing. 


This last pic was the one the PO had posted in the clist ad.  I think this was taken when he bought it in Maryland a couple of months ago.  Was there a meet down there?

[eaglefreek]

Nice looking wagon, too bad about the unforeseen problems.

[WoodenBirdOfPrey]

Yeah, that parts car kills me.  When i bought It I was told it was purchased at an estate sale in a private collection.  There was this 88 Eagle, a Lotus, and a Corvette.  Seems like an odd collection.  It was definitely babied too, the very few spots the paint was chipped along the front of the hood were touched up, and the red interior looks like new.  I probably shouldn't have, but I took it for a short drive after I got it home.  It runs smooth and quiet, shifts smooth, 4x4 works perfect, steering is tight, brakes are firm and smooth, and all the lights and gauges work perfect.  No leaks underneath.  Basically, it's a perfect car minus the damage to the driver's side and roof.  It's nice to know that I have a parts car that's in better shape than my driver, and for $450 I couldn't pass it up.

Too bad Virginia has a tan interior, or the nice power leather seats and 3 spoke wheel in the parts car would be getting swapped over.

[Canoe]

Given some things have rust issues, and the 'soft spot', make sure you check out the integrity of the front rails. In particular, the resulting tray on top of the front rail below/behind the front spring, at the bottom of the shock/spring tower - common place to rust through as dirt builds up, holds moisture and salt ~= rust. If you can catch it before that, you're a major leg up.

[WoodenBirdOfPrey]

Given some things have rust issues, and the 'soft spot', make sure you check out the integrity of the front rails. In particular, the resulting tray on top of the front rail below/behind the front spring, at the bottom of the shock/spring tower - common place to rust through as dirt builds up, holds moisture and salt ~= rust. If you can catch it before that, you're a major leg up.

I just checked that out.  The passenger side looks 100% perfect and the driver's side looks like someone might have wire brushed it and resealed it within the past couple years.  So it looks like i'm good, I'll definitely keep an eye on that spot and take special care to wash it off after it goes through salt.

Being that there's almost zero rust underneath the car anywhere else, I'm thinking the soft spot I have was probably caused either by damaged undercoating holding in the moisture from the outside, or from water leaking down the firewall and sitting on the floor inside.  Being the windshield leaks badly on the passenger side (my glove box fills up when it rains), it wouldn't be far fetched for there to have been a small leak on the driver's side for a long enough time for the rust to occur.  Hopefully i'll be able to track down the source of the problem when I pull up the carpet to fix the rust.

I think i'm going to cut out the bad part, and use the same section of my parts car as a patch panel.  It feels almost savage to cut into the floor of a rust free car to steal it for another car, I just have to keep telling myself it's a parts car and there's no way it will ever see the road again.

[WoodenBirdOfPrey]

Nice looking wagon, too bad about the unforeseen problems.

Thanks.

The unforseen problems is frustrating, but i can't really be mad because the guy that sold it to me drove it less than 200 miles since he bought it.  Basically he only drove it from Maryland back to PA, and then drove it around town a couple times before he decided to put it up for sale.  He never really got an opportunity to find most of the problems with it.

I talked to him right after it started making noises from the flex plate.  I immediately thought the worst, that it was a rod knock, and knowing that he and his father were both mechanics and AMC nuts i was hoping he would have an answer that was less terminal.  He came up with the diagnosis of the cracked flex plate, and has also offered to replace the flex plate and give me $100 back towards getting the windshield resealed. 

It's very good of him to do that, and is definitely more than I expected from him.  The last time I bought a vehicle privately I drove for a month and then discovered all the emissions controls were tore out of it and the jerk wouldn't even answer the phone or return my calls.  And all i wanted to know is what shop he took it to that passed it for inspection that way, so i wouldn't be stuck forking out hundreds of dollars in pointless repairs.

[thereverendbill]

don't you just love the sellers that "take the money and run"  I have been chasing a guy down for a little over a year for a title to a 1991 jeep cherokee that i traded my 1987 mercedes benz for.  when i finally get ahold of him there is some reason or another that he can't just meet me to get the paperwork done.  Sadly i have just given up (but not defeated) and I am going to just part that jeep out and take the good bits to get the 2 I have now in the condition i want them to be in.

I think it is great that the fellow you purchased the car from is standing behind the sale and i am also happy there are still good people left in this world 

[HappyPappy]

Nice looking wagon you have there. I'll bet you could get the other one fixed by the right body man and body shop. Flex plate shouldn't be too hard of a problem, leaking windshield can be a problem, may have to have it removed and resealed.

Your on the right site if you need parts. I'm sure some one will have them if you need them. Good luck

[WoodenBirdOfPrey]

It's pretty bad.  Maybe it could be fixed but that kind of work would require another parts car, and would end up costing me more than this one is worth.  It's better off as a parts car in my opinion.

[Prafeston]

Nice woody, and 3k still seems like a pretty decent price for the condition it appears to be in. Looks a lot like my newly acquired woody, which I'm starting to think is too nice of a car for me to drive in the winter as well.

[shanebo]

now thats a shame....looked like that poor old car was bretty nice before the wreck. atleast it should render a ton of good parts though.

[maddog]

i think that Eagle is a perfect canidate for an Eaglemino.

[Prafeston]

i think that Eagle is a perfect canidate for an Eaglemino.

I was thinking this exact same thing!!! Make it a truck car!!

[WoodenBirdOfPrey]

The thought crossed my mind more than once too.  If it was a full frame car I probably would be rolling around in the first sundancer wagon, unfortunately I've seen firsthand how structurally important the roof of a unibody car is. When I cut the roof off my CRX to scrap it the car pretty much folded in half under its own weight.  The eagle would have a stronger chassis than a little honda, but the eagle also weighs 3 times as much.

[craigp29690]

So with these issues "...leaking windshield, leaking fuel tank, rusty fuel lines, cracked flex plate, and leaking valve cover."   everyone still thinks $3K is a reasoanble price?

If that's the case then what I paid for the war wagon is almost criminal.