Buying advice

[kten]

I am looking for some advice on what a fair price is for a vehicle I am looking at. I would love to post pics but all I received are interior shots and one of a tire so that does not help much. I will say this though that it has the cleanest and newest looking interior I have seen in a vehicle that is all original from 1985.

Specs:
1985 chevy blazer "has a silverado placard on the dash"
10 bolts front and rear with 3:08 gears
originally a 305 claims it has a 350 in it now.
700r4 tranny.
The truck has 130k original miles on her. The interior looks like it is brand new. It has new 31 inch all terrains on factory wheels. And new exhaust. I had my buddy test drive the truck for me and he said it seemed to run really well. Also mentioned that it felt nice and tight. It was his opinion that the truck is really mechanically sound. paint is in good shape also other than the rusted areas. The owner mentioned that the top comes off also.

He mentioned that the ac did not work and that the cruise control did not work either everything else worked fine. Said that there is a decent amount of rust on the driver side rocker. Surface rust on both doors and tailgate. He says it needs lower gears but I think he is just spoiled with the 4.56s and granny low in his 78 k20.

The seller is asking 5k for the truck does this seem reasonable to you? I looked at this truck back in July/august time frame of 09 and it is still for sale at the same price. Perhaps I might be able to get it for less but I don't want to insult the guy by low balling him if the 5k is a good deal for the truck. I don't want to spend a dime over 4k for the truck being that I will have to repair the rusted areas on it. Please help me out here and let me know if this truck is worth getting.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

He's insane.

I got my rust free '89 K5 from Seattle last June for $1800 and a road trip. There's plenty of rust free or very low rust K5's on the west coast for dirt cheap.

 

[trukker]

Yep way too high. I would personally like the body to be good and have to do a little work on the interior on a vehicle. if I was gonna buy it.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Exactly. I have approximately 5k into mine now but the body is excellent and the interior is fully Rhino Liner'd with new seats, a new stereo and speakers, and a host of other small improvements while I other work like tires, wheels, rebuilt the front axle, etc. I wouldn't touch a truck that needed body work with a 10' pole. Forget that noise. Buy something rust free out west for stupid cheap, drive it back, and then come show the guy he's dumb.

 

[Teck]

Way to much for one with rust, usually if you see rust there is way more tha is hidden under the carpet you don't see.

 

[kten]

Thank you guys I was just making sure. Seems he almost had me fooled

 

[tRustyK5]

Way to much for one with rust, usually if you see rust there is way more tha is hidden under the carpet you don't see.

Agreed, and to expand a little the rule of thumb for a K5 is it rusts from the inside out. If you can see a bubble in the paint, count on replacing that entire panel. Couple of small spots in the rocker? Floors are near to gone. "surface rust" anywhere...run!

I picked up a '90 recently, somewhat high miles, interior decent but plain, rockers were done, rust visible over the wheel wells in the rear. It had vinyl floors, which I could easily lift and check under and I found the rear floor area to be very solid. Not having to repair that area is half the work done already. I picked it up for $800 Picture of it in my avatar.

$5000 is for a mint shape survivor with absolutely no rust ever...likely from the southwest somewhere.


Rene

 

[kten]

Again thanks to you guys I didn't make a foolish purchase. I sure am glad to have places like this to reference for this type of info.

 

[jt512]

Just to repeat what everyone else has already said-- way too much money . I bought my 86, 99% rust free with a swapped in big block and factory hydro stick shift from TX and had it shipped to MD for less then $2200 about a year and a half ago.

 

[82355]

From your description, I wouldn't go over $1,000. Post the pictures.

Martin