Need trustworthy inspection on car in california

[mike b]

I located an excellent possible car I would like to buy but it's in California and me in michigan.Has anyone had a similar dilemma ? I need someone who knows what to look for in the car ie.rust prone areas and previous accident damage yada yada... Any suggestions where to find someone to be my yes to inspect the car ?  Your input/opinions needed .

[JimNolan]

If it's close to Bob I'd say try and get him. Only thing is, after fixing up his 57 once, tearing it apart and doing it again, he's going to be more picky than I am. But, that's not a bad thing since you're so far away. I'd rather have someone with a critical eye when evaluating a car I'm going to buy. Jim

[mike b]

No disrespect,but bob who?  I welcome someone fussy to look at it.I just need assurance that it's solid,never wrecked good car. the car is near Gardena.

[JPotter57]

Bob Lee, aka 57agin, or Rick Crawford, aka 57tudor here on this site.  There is also Ron Woodside, aka shopratwoody.  You can send a PM to either of these fellows and ask if they would be willing to help you out by looking at it for you.

[mike b]

Thanks Mr Potter!  I will check and see .   

[57AGIN]

Mike b:

I'd like to help you out, back about 40 years ago I lived in Gardena, CA.  I will need to know the address of where the car is at and how to contact the current owner.  I will try to have Rick go along with me, he's the mechanical expert and between the two of us we should be able to come up with some pictures and an idea of the condition the car is in.  At least from a surface view, under the patina a whole new animal could exist.

I've checked with Rick and he'll be happy to go along, too.  We are looking at this coming Friday to do this, as we are expecting a storm to arrive Friday night and stay around till Monday.

You can reach me at rlee@ovsd.org.

Bob
57 AGIN

[mike b]

bob,email sent requesting your phone # so i can talk to you .

[mike b]

Bob and Rick went and looked at a car for me.I can't thank them enough for doing that! It really is nice to know there are still good people out there. The car has issues and I don't have any pics to contemplate on and use to make a lower offer but at east I know the extent of the problems. Thanks guys!

[RICH MUISE]

Way to go Bob and Rick. That deserves a few more karma clicks.
Rich

[57AGIN]

Neither Rick nor I aren't sure why Mike B can't open the PDF file of photos we sent him.  But, Rick spent some time on the phone with Mike and he 's aware of the problem areas.  The car would have been a great "project" car.  But the money asked was well above reasonable, especially if you add in the shipping costs.  I was impressed with the back seat arrangement on this 70D model.  The back seat folded down just like the middle seat in a 57 Ranchwagon, it had a split upper rear seat and solid all the way across bench lower seat resting on a swivel bar when in the down position.  I didn't know Ford did this in 1957.  I thought this kind of convenience feature wasn't around until the 1965 Mustang Fastback introduced it in 1964.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Zapato]

Bob,

Did you take pictures of that seat set-up?

Zap-

[57AGIN]

Zapato:

Yes, we took 3 or 4 photos of that unique seat setup.  I've got the pictures where I'm at in a PDF file.  I'll see if I can separate them out.  I'm sure that Rick can help out, if I'm unsuccessful, as these photos came out of his camera.  I also found out why I couldn't send the report on the 57 inspection to oneadam12, the file size was just too large for my email system to handle (17 pages of PDF files mostly photos).

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Zapato:

If you go to the above posting and click on the attachment you should be able to see the three photos of the 70D's back seat.  I had to do a work around to get the proper photo's displayed.  I called up the PDF file, paged down to the photos I wanted, then did an Alt/Print Screen to copy the photo on the screen, then I pasted it onto a MS Word page, named it and attached it to the above reply.   I was able to open the replies attachment, so it should be available to anyone else.  Let me know if you have any trouble opening the attachment and viewing the seat photos.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Zapato]

Adobe wouldn't  let me open them. Will try again later on another computer.

Zap-

[57AGIN]

Zapato:

If you have Microsoft Office, that should let you open the file in MS Word.  Maybe Rick can post the seat photos he got out of his camera before he PDF'd them.

Bob
57 AGIN