New member - Need help

[vapg7]

Hi all,

My name is Victor and I've been looking around the forum for a while checking out first generation celicas. I own 94 Lexus gs300 and I'm looking to buy a 77 liftback. Anyway, to make the story short I've found the car i want and need some help deciding if the car is worth the asking price; US$3,000. I have never purchased a vehicle that old and need some guidance on what to look for.

Its a 77 liftback, black, 5 speed, with all original parts according to the current owner (except for the fuel filter and battery). Seats look good (no rips) and body has small rock chips and small rust bubbles. The vehicle is 4hrs drive away from where I live and before I drive to take a closer look (purchase) i'd like to get as much information from the owner to make sure it is worth the asking price. This is where you (previous and current first generation owners) come in, please share some of your knowledge and let me know what I should be asking/looking for.

Thanks for you time and hope to be able to give this baby a new home.

Victor

[smiley]

Hello, kind of a judgement call, Victor. The market seems pretty soft on these cars, while finding a good example seems hard.If the car is all original, and in running order, Personally, I would say it is worth at least $2500.00.Rust areas are around the rear window, and liftback section, and in the rockers and front fenders. they also rust under the door trim. They have sold for higher,so check it out! ...Mike

[slowmo]

A lot of it depends on what you want to do with the car. Is it going to be a track car? a daily driver? a show car? a fun weekend car? are you going to keep the engine? Can you do work for yourself? Can you do any body work? Will it get new paint?

The hardest parts to come by are usually interior and body panels. Good luck!

[808celica2damax]

Welcome Vic, and great talking to you earlier.

Good luck on your sale! I was in the same boat for a while....but its all timing. What I noticed tho from probing all the craigslists via google multisearch is that the sales come in waves. At one point there will be none, and then there'll be like 6-7 here and there different states, and then none due to maybe the time on the add expired. But they're out there.

All the best!

[vapg7]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm finally going to check it out tomorrow afternoon and hope to bring it home. I don't think I can get my self to offer more than $2500 when I know I can get another one (with a lil surface rust) for 2k or maybe a little less.

"slowmo": I'm planning on using the car as a daily driver for now and slowly work on it make it look as clean as possible, not gonna invest a lot of money right off the bat but hope to eventually get it to "show" material.

Thanks for the input and hope to officially own a 1st Gen tomorrow.

Victor

[madds]

hi...if the interior and exterior is complete-BUY IT BEFORE SOMEBODY DOES
engines and body rusts are easy to deal with...good luck

[vapg7]

I guess luck in not on my side...the owner of the car called me last night and told me the car wasn't starting due to fuel pump problems and now I'll have to wait til he fixes it. I found another 77 Liftback and it sells in less than 24hrs...getting stressful now.

[Luvn737s]

It's a 34 year old car and will probably have issues like fuel pumps forever. These should not be deal breakers.

Personally, I would look for a more modern car for a daily driver. If you have to dump the amount of money necessary to make the car 100% reliable immediately, to get to work, etc. it will be alot more than $2500. And the stress of depending on a car like this will take alot of the fun out of it.

These are fun cars to mess around with on weekends and put money into at the pace you choose, not letting it decide how much of your income is disposable!

[vapg7]

Luvn737s: sorry if I gave the impression I was gonna rely on this car only. I've got a 94 Lexus gs300 that i use as my reliable go-to car. The deal is not broken but the owner seems to want to have it running for me so I'll let him fix it that way i can drive it back home. I say daily driver because I think the car could handle the 10 miles round trip to and from work

[smiley]

Hello, i agree this is not a deal breaker, but would be benificial to hear run, and drive before you invest in it. Otherwise, If you can fix it yourself, that is a good reason to negotiate the price!...Mike

[vapg7]

Alright...good news...I got the car and drove it home today. I'm officially the owner of a 1977 LB. It was an entertaining trip to be honest as the car would backfire every now and then and got worse towards the end of the trip. It didn't backfire every time though, sometimes the rpm's would drop down to zero for half a second and come right back up...do that a couple of time and then....BAM!!! Backfire...anyway...she made it home just fine but I definitely need to get that fixed.

I spent an hour trying to figure out how to post the pictures and I gave up (long day, i'll try again tomorrow) but here's the link to them if you want to see her:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29795351@N04/

With the car finally home I got down to business and took a closer look at other things in the car. The engine bay looks like hasn't been opened in years and there's dust, oil, spider webs, leaves...and who know what else I'll find later. This is all cosmetics and hope to get it cleaned up as soon as I get it running right...i'll have to learn about those weber carbs so I got some reading to do.

Anyway, i'll post again later with the rest of the findings as I take her apart to make sure I have no major rusts in the car...exterior is got some surface rust but nothing big.

[slowmo]

Looks really clean. Good luck with everything. Sounds like the trip was worth it.

[808celica2damax]

lol looks good man. It wasnt driven for a little bit i think. haha. I'm glad u were able to get it. Its got a lot of potential. Good luck!

[vapg7]

Ok, well I did a little research and looks like the previous owner may have put the wrong carburetor on this thing. On the weber there is a tag and it says the following: WEBER, 72HB KB, B 0L17...after a little googleing i read on other forums this may be a ford part? Can anybody shed some light on this? I'm also contacting the previous owner to figure out if he replaced the stock carburetor and if so what type he bought...in the mean time if anyone can offer some input I'd appreciate it.

[smiley]

Hello, please post a picture..Ford did use a similar carb on the pinto's, (I believe). think they used the water choke...mike