Help me gauge this eBay Mystic

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Hey all-
I've been in contact with the owner for a couple of days trying to feel this one out, and I'm in need of some other perspectives.

s-l1600.jpg

1996 Ford Mustang | eBay

"1996 true mystic cobra only around 2000 made in 1996 Factory black leather interior, Mach 460 system aftermarket radio, cold ac, heat, 4.6 Dohc engine, t45 5spd transmission shifts perfect 149k miles on chassis 100k on the driveline which all came from a 1998 cobra Car runs drives great. Does not over heat nor have mechanical issuses Car was just fully repainted a month ago was very expensive. !!! Car is svt #1551 Modifications Bbk longtubes Off-road h pipe Pypes catback Steeda underdrive pulleys Steeda triax shifter Aftermarket clutch quad Firewall adjuster Ford racing aluminum driveshaft Ford racing 410 gears Tokico blue shocks Eibach prokit Sct chip Egr deleted 18x9 Saleen chrome wheels 285 rear tires New parts Motor mounts Headlights Rear bumper reflectors License plate lenses Tensoner Spark plugs Fuel filter New slotted drilled front & rear rotors New pads New sve floor mats Leather stock shift knob New windshield Tint Car has 17” factory spare tire iron jack cargo net Just changed oil filter, coolant, trans fluid diff fluid p/s fluid No leaks History on the I bought in rough shape been in storage lot Missing engine interior was rough paint was shot Was sad to see such a rare car in bad shape I bought a wrecked 98 cobra for donor We used complete driveline the 8.8 Rear. Complete interior, gas tank, Pretty much restored car Never been wreck has all vin tag except drivers fender had a big dent in it so I replaced it with a good used oem fender I still have the dented original fender. Rust free Texas car Only a couple small flaws on car The window piller has small crack as shown in pictures 2 small dings in the trunk on the plastic part The lower radiator support looks like someone used a jack on it right in the middle Very common on these cars for some reason Driver seat motor works but not the best Car does not come with plates or tags Keep in mind these paint jobs run $7-10k to repaint Since being redone has not been ragged on mostly sits at my shop I drive it around when I runaround I do have the original wheels if you would rather have them instead of the Saleen wheels Please ask me any questions please have money in hand before purchasing I don’t play game I’m very easy to deal with.
Just had car fully detailed"



The car is under budget and I definitely didn't set out to find a car with complications, but the BIN got my attention. The question basically boils down to: does the price make sense on this thing? Grateful for any thoughts or opinions.
 
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Here's our correspondence so far:


Hey there-
Couple of questions about the Cobra you have for sale. Any information about the donor drivetrain, in terms of service history and condition? Possibly a VIN from that car?

It appears like you have a Mustang shop? Can you tell me a little about your business and experience? And/or send me a link to a website, if you have one?

Also, curious what you'd rate the car 0-10:
Cosmetically
Interior
Mechanically
Overall

Thanks for your time
Brian


shananoganh:

I don’t have service records I bought the donor from insurance auction Yes I own a mustang shop I’ve been in the industry over 20 years I’ve owned Shelby’s Saleens roushs steeda cars a cobra R I restore a lot of foxbodys put the back on the road
I’ve restored a few 03 cobras I’ve found sitting in bad shape

This car is bout a 9 on my scale. New paint interior super nice driver seat isn’t perfect but not bad at all. Motor trans both work perfectly no issuse no rust no accident


Your previous message


Thanks for the reply-

Do you happen to have the VIN for that car? Also wondering if you have stock exhaust available/ EGR valve. I'd have to pass emissions, and I don't know a shop that'll 'help me out.' Perfect scenario, I'd actually take it with full stock exhaust, for a bit off the price.

Your feedback is overwhelmingly positive on here, but I'm curious about what happened with this guy, if you care to share:

"Buyer beware! Dishonest seller won't work with you if there's a problem.
1986 Mustang (#163919925484)
Buyer: d***y (792)
US $8,000.00 (Best offer was accepted)
Past year"

Thanks
Brian


shananoganh:

Guy drove a 35 year old Foxbody with hot rod motor & 410 gears back to Virginia in two days from Dallas rear main started leaking said trans was messing up 5spd that’s a lot of rpms for hours on a 302 engine car wasn’t designed to drive that far

I don’t have any egr nor stock exhaust for car


Your previous message


Looking at the mods, paint and labor, some would say the car should cost more. Looking at the history, with a theft on the record, and a high-mile drivetrain, some would say the car is worth less.

How did you arrive at $10k, if I can ask?

Thanks
Brian


shananoganh:

The paint job alone was $7k 100k isn’t high mile I’m a little obo



Your previous message


I hear ya.
I am genuinely interested in the car, and I don't mean to hound you, but I'm kind of thinking out loud and trying to do my due diligence. I'll explain why I asked about the price- what you're presenting is basically high-quality paint job, on a solid chassis (with a history), with a 100k powertrain and the right mods, and you don't have a desperate need to sell. There's a lot of people out there who'd ask maybe $14k and wait to see who'd eventually bite at 13 or 12. Being in the car business for so long, I'm sure you've seen that pattern... does my thought process/ question make sense? What kept you from pricing it differently?

Brian


shananoganh:

$9k buys it
 
svtfocus2cobra

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Hey buddy, I'll add what I can to help you out on this. The original damage shown to the car doesn't look that bad to me, and knowing that the guy owns a long standing shop is a good sign as far as it being repaired correctly. But you'd definitely want to look the car over real good in person. I'd start with looking over the paint and see if there are any blend lines to make sure he actually repainted the whole thing. On paint like that if you can't really see the blend lines then that would be the first good sign, but if there are any then you should be able to pick them out very easily on that.

That paint is really expensive though. The various pearl mixtures that come in like 7oz bottles cost $600-700 each and you are only putting in a few drops of each pearl into the recipe for the mixture. The $7k paint cost was likely his cost, not retail, to paint the car as that repaint for retail would cost someone around $15k or more depending on the shop. So if he repainted the whole car also then that is a huge plus. If all of that checks out then start looking for dirt in the clear or any flaws in the paint. You have to expect that there will be some dirt even in the cleanest paint booths but that stuff gets cut and buffed out if they did a good job on the finishing work. If you look close enough at a panel you will see little dots under the paint or also fish eyes if there was a reaction with another substance while painting. Or you may see sanding lines from where they did their body repairs if they didn't finish the body work with a high enough grit on the bondo. There should be no sanding lines on the body but it is possible for paint to shrink back after being painted causing the sanding lines to show through and that can be hard for a shop to catch, but if they did it right then those lines should be very light if it does. A couple of these things on a freshly painted car can be acceptable but if it is riddled with them on every panel then the paint prep was terrible and it speaks volumes of how they operate their shop.

Next I would check all the places there was body damage which looks to be mainly right at the left fender and door. Doesn't look like it got in all the way but you would really want to look at the left pillar for repair, and if it was repaired can you tell it was repaired? Any good shop can fix these things without leaving any details that it was repaired. Check the door gaps and how the driver door lines up and opens and closes. I would look at both front and rear frame rails to see if there is any damage to them as well and try to get a look at the upper tie bar, the left and right aprons/strut towers, and bumper bars if you can see any of them.

If I think of anything else I will let you know.
 
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svtfocus2cobra said:
Hey buddy, I'll add what I can to help you out on this. The original damage shown to the car doesn't look that bad to me, and knowing that the guy owns a long standing shop is a good sign as far as it being repaired correctly. But you'd definitely want to look the car over real good in person. I'd start with looking over the paint and see if there are any blend lines to make sure he actually repainted the whole thing. On paint like that if you can't really see the blend lines then that would be the first good sign, but if there are any then you should be able to pick them out very easily on that.

That paint is really expensive though. The various pearl mixtures that come in like 7oz bottles cost $600-700 each and you are only putting in a few drops of each pearl into the recipe for the mixture. The $7k paint cost was likely his cost, not retail, to paint the car as that repaint for retail would cost someone around $15k or more depending on the shop. So if he repainted the whole car also then that is a huge plus. If all of that checks out then start looking for dirt in the clear or any flaws in the paint. You have to expect that there will be some dirt even in the cleanest paint booths but that stuff gets cut and buffed out if they did a good job on the finishing work. If you look close enough at a panel you will see little dots under the paint or also fish eyes if there was a reaction with another substance while painting. Or you may see sanding lines from where they did their body repairs if they didn't finish the body work with a high enough grit on the bondo. There should be no sanding lines on the body but it is possible for paint to shrink back after being painted causing the sanding lines to show through and that can be hard for a shop to catch, but if they did it right then those lines should be very light if it does. A couple of these things on a freshly painted car can be acceptable but if it is riddled with them on every panel then the paint prep was terrible and it speaks volumes of how they operate their shop.

Next I would check all the places there was body damage which looks to be mainly right at the left fender and door. Doesn't look like it got in all the way but you would really want to look at the left pillar for repair, and if it was repaired can you tell it was repaired? Any good shop can fix these things without leaving any details that it was repaired. Check the door gaps and how the driver door lines up and opens and closes. I would look at both front and rear frame rails to see if there is any damage to them as well and try to get a look at the upper tie bar, the left and right aprons/strut towers, and bumper bars if you can see any of them.

If I think of anything else I will let you know.
Click to expand...

This is tons of thorough, great information. Thanks sincerely for taking the time to go through all this.

steve-099xlt said:
Used Ford Mustang SVT Cobra for Sale in Greensburg, PA - CarGurus

Seems like a more logical choice here. Clean title, half the miles, 3-4k more?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link- didn't know about site.
 
black92

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I don’t think 4.10’s in a 302 is that bad unless the guy was driving 100+ the whole way. I had 3.73’s/Detroit locker in my Fox and the 4 years I had it, it was a great highway cruiser with gears.

Did the seller ever post any engine shots, or did I miss that?
 
VenomousDSG

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The car has got 150k miles and the interior is rough and faded.... I agree with Steve, i wouldn't even pay 5K for it. I love how he labels the car a 9 out of 10 though, he can't even be honest with you about it.

Take a walk and look for another car.
 
ccq8le

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Exterior is for sure looking nice. You could re do the interior yourself as it is not terribly difficult and/or expensive. To me it is definitely easier and cheaper than doing an exterior which looks to be done already.

It appears as if the car is not local to you which can significantly drive your out of pocket cost up. Would you ship it? Fly to it and drive it home? As a person who has bought a few cars and had them shipped I can tell you it's a pain and it's $$. If you're going to buck up and pay to ship a car, you might as well buy the one you really want as you would already be reaching on price some.

If it was a local car and you could go see it and test the waters of this guy in person, as well as not have the expense of shipping it, I would say go and haggle with the guy. If not I would keep looking and buy the one you really want.

Good Luck!, and keep us in the loop!
 
hemdog

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For a fresh repaint, there are a lot of flaws. Looking at the ebay link, the hood doesn't line up correctly, there is a ding below the SVT on the trunk, and why wouldn't he have filled in the license plate holes? Make sure the VIN tag in the windshield is the same as the tag on the b pillar, it looks like it was peeled off. If that's the same car as the one on the impounded vehicles site, then you know the bottom of the car is going to be beat to hell. Get some under carriage and engine bay pics, would speak volumes on how well the car was taken care of. The paint looks nice, but I would pass.
 
7998

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For $9k I'd pass. You can get some really clean 96-98 Cobras for that money.
 
evasive

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Hard pass for that amount of money. $5K maybe. He's acting like the cost of repair work means it has more value. Just because a part, or in this case paint, is expensive to do doesn't mean the car is worth more. It just means you find yourself upside down and should have punted...but he didn't so he's trying to make that money back. Sucks for him. And that paint looks like is has a ton of swirl marks...
 
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I appreciate the information and input from all of you. And thanks to John (jmsa540) for a good conversation about these cars.

Going to pass on this car. No part of "shady eBay Frankenstein" is typically appealing to me. The BIN caught my eye, and the paint really kept me coming back and led to me contacting this guy. The proposition of $7k paint + a few grand worth of mods for $10k... especially having been out of the Mustang game for about 10 years, relatively unfamiliar with the market, and never having bought a Cobra... made some good sense. Paint is one of the big things for me as I look for these cars, because it's pretty unlikely I'll ever want to shell out to repaint a panel. Figured, that's the tough part out of the way- mechanical stuff is more familiar and manageable. The hypothetical was, 'would I be interested in a 100k Mystic with mods, work done by a practiced Mustang guy and a recent full repaint for $9/10k?' Honestly, yeah, kind of.

But that's me getting lost in details, and the reality is I've never had a lot of honest faith in this car, or seller. Despite quick response times, he didn't really give me adequate answers to my requests, and that turned me off as much as/ more than anything else. Right after I put this thread up, I asked him if he'd grab a video for me of some key stuff, and it's been radio silence since. Could be a great car, might be a great dude... who am I to say? But everything together was too many compromises.

black92 said:
Did the seller ever post any engine shots, or did I miss that?
Click to expand...

No.

ccq8le said:
Exterior is for sure looking nice. You could re do the interior yourself as it is not terribly difficult and/or expensive. To me it is definitely easier and cheaper than doing an exterior which looks to be done already.

It appears as if the car is not local to you which can significantly drive your out of pocket cost up. Would you ship it? Fly to it and drive it home? As a person who has bought a few cars and had them shipped I can tell you it's a pain and it's $$. If you're going to buck up and pay to ship a car, you might as well buy the one you really want as you would already be reaching on price some.

If it was a local car and you could go see it and test the waters of this guy in person, as well as not have the expense of shipping it, I would say go and haggle with the guy. If not I would keep looking and buy the one you really want.

Good Luck!, and keep us in the loop!
Click to expand...

I appreciate the response- this is absolutely relevant. My working theory is that if it's a reasonable day's drive away, I'll fly out to it. Meaning I'd be shipping this car sight unseen.

hemdog said:
For a fresh repaint, there are a lot of flaws. Looking at the ebay link, the hood doesn't line up correctly, there is a ding below the SVT on the trunk, and why wouldn't he have filled in the license plate holes? Make sure the VIN tag in the windshield is the same as the tag on the b pillar, it looks like it was peeled off. If that's the same car as the one on the impounded vehicles site, then you know the bottom of the car is going to be beat to hell. Get some under carriage and engine bay pics, would speak volumes on how well the car was taken care of. The paint looks nice, but I would pass.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the perspective. Back on track with some more straightforward cars.
 
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