$1000 for 1996 Wagon. Worth it?

So I found a 1996 road master locally. It has issues. Broken driver side rear window, major oil leak (supposedly supply line and not an engine issue), rusted out front fenders and radiator cradle. Wasp nest under the tail light and inside the tailgate is included at no extra cost.

Interior look good and it has less than 60k miles. Is this worth considering, or am I better of looking at nicer ones around $3-4k?

Underside looked OK rust wise, but I was in work clothes and the ground was wet. Will have pictures tonight.

There also is a 94 locally with broken ac and 14xk miles for $2k. Might be a better choice?

If it has rusted out front fenders and radiator cradle, it is definitely not a Carolina car. I would pass and keep looking.

Tom

I had that oil line replaced on my RM. They are cooling lines that run to the radiator. The part was 49.00 but if your car is dumping al the oil out in about 30 seconds..... they charge you $490.00 to fit it!

So if you buy it - do that first.

So a $49 part and $500 labor. Ouch. This one has been sitting a while, so it should be dry.

It was originally a Kentucky car, hence the rust. Only an issue on the front, back fender wells looked solid.

I appreciate the feedback, will have pics up tonight.

Or just get the RMS / Corvette Oil Cooler Delete adapter and forget those lines. First thing I ditch on these cars (and the Fleetwood will soon follow once I pick another adapter up at the yard)

If you can talk them down to $600 or so....that interior might be MINT at 60K miles. Engine and trans too. Then, source out a nice Southern wagon with a shot interior and motor....get it cheap and put some sweat into a nice project.

That is what I did with Jade. Interior and drivetrain came from a Dakota wagon and I put it all in a clapped out Atlanta, GA wagon.

Chris

And I would gladly come up and help you one weekend if you needed it.....it goes by fast with help


Chris

silverfox103 wrote:

If it has rusted out front fenders and radiator cradle, it is definitely not a Carolina car. I would pass and keep looking.

Tom

I agree with Tom. Pass on that car. If it that rusty there is more rust that you have not yet seen. That is a parts car.

Sounds like it has issues, but that's a low mile car. If you do you own work you can do the oil cooler lines, (if that's really what it is, and not the manifold or main bearing seal) I've done them myself. Or just bypass it like others have said, it doesn't do a whole lot under normal driving anyway. When I look at wagons around here, I usually check for rust in these places on the body: The front fender wells, rad sppt, rear fender area, the bottoms of the B pillars on the outside between the doors, the tailgate hinge area, and believe it or not, I pop out the rear seat cushion and check the bottom of the C pillars, 'cause I've seen two cars rusted out there. Some of these areas are rusted out a lot because of water leaks, so even a car that's not driven in salt can have them.

Oh yeah, and the RMW I'm getting this weekend has a bees nest in the same places!

Dont be scared of rust. Unless you're looking for a perfect car. My roadmaster wagons radiator support was rotted. I replaced it. My front inner fenders are rotted. I don't care. It was cheap, and it runs excellent. Makes for a great daily driver I don't need to sweat a ding or a scratch.

For $1000, with that low mileage, whatever is rusted can be changed out and still be worth the buy.

brakelines could be shot, parking brake cables could be shot, floors could be shot, etc ect.

i bought a '95 wagon this past fall originally from kentucky aswell for around the same price. after doing all the work my self i've got maybe $2000 sunk in it including the price of the car. it's still not officially on the road but its very close. would i do it again? hell nah, i'd save my pennies and buy something in better shape.

also FWIW my drivers inner wheel well was rotted through also. i picked up a rust free one yesterday for $30.

take another look at the underside of the car.

The easiest/cheapest fix for leaking oil line fittings is to simply remove the fitting from the rad, cut the end off at the hose, buy a short length of pre-flared tubing, cut the end, thread it in the rad, put the hose on, clamp. No leaks. Ten bucks.

Mine was sitting on grass for 6 years. Needed rear brake lines too. No big deal. Some soft spots on the floor but no holes. Only hole is in the spare tire well. Small one at that. I'd guess some people would call mine a parts car. I call it what's gonna get me to Florida in a few weeks.

Ok, so here are the pictures. 3rd row seat looks like it has never been used...

Front windshield has a crack in it. Busted rear driver window, but looks like no water damage.
does has rear defrost which is something i have been looking for.

From the looks of the seats, I would say it is a real 60,000 car. If it were me, I would do a car fax just to be sure. With that low of miles you could get years out of it. I must say I have never seen inner fenders rust like that. And, the spare tire well is a bummer. But, if you are looking for cheap transportation (and where you live does not inspect the car for that kind of rust) I would buy it in a heartbeat. We all know how bullet proof these cars are, and with 60k on it you are good for years to come.

I don't care if that wagon had 64 miles, don't walk, RUN away!!!

Yikes...dude...I dunno about that one. Id pass unless you can get it cheeap. Like scrap value cheap.

$400 and you take out the good stuff...then scrap it to get most of that money back.

PASS PASS PUFF ... wait, just pass.

Kentucky car my @$$. It might have been a moved to Kentucky car, sometime after it started rotting out from all the norther Indiana/Ohio winter/salt BS. I would have to say pass unless you can get it for scrap value and throw the drive train into something else.

That is as bad as I have seen. My guess Western NY, Northern New England or WI / MI.

tom

Those fenders are long gone! Limited seats though that's nice, but looks like not heated. That's one of the only tow pack, non-posi's I've seen, that's weird. How are the rear fender/wheel well areas? The fender liners can be replaced, but when you've got visible rust through on the body itself, then stuff starts getting super expensive, what with shaping and painting. My concern with a car like that would be what's under the carpet. Could be bad, and you won't really know until you're stuck with it. If the rear fenders are good, around here a car like that would sell for around $1,000. (actually a '96 LTD RMW just did) Down by you though, that's a lot of rust (I see it's scaring some of our southern friends!) I would think down there it might be worth $600. If it had 130,000 miles, it would be worthless down there, and worth $600 here. It's all relative. And in the end, it's all about how much work you want to do. Myself, if I came across that car, I would be interested, but if I lived down by you? I would expect better, and probably pass.

Yeah... that one is gone unfortunately. Parts car for sure.

RUN AWAY!!!!!!

I'm not generally afraid of rust, but that one looks like a $500 parts car to me.

Good Lord the rust on that. How SAD! What a contrast with the perfect front center arm reast and covered carpet in the 3rd row.

Wow....

that's just a 300 buck parts car, unless you got the time to pull the parts and a place to store em, don't waste your time or money.

did you look at the rear frame?

did it look anything like this?



if you pull the back seat you may find this





just so you know the two wagons I pictured here had decent enough front inner fenders......something to think about.....

I'll run back by this weekend - see if I can get it on a lift and look under it.

Frame looked solid (dirty as heck from the oil leak) and the rear inner fenders didn't have any rust on them that that I could see.

Based on what i see everyone saying $1000 is too much - if the frame is solid (i will check) I might offer $500 and see what happens.

I f nothing else I could use the glass for mine, since I have some scratches from the prior kids owner in the wagon side glass.

YIIIKES!!

lift the car up,. look underneath,.
something odd about it,. where was it parked to get that much corrosion,. like right next to the boardwalk somewhere,.It,s definitely been exposed to something very corrosive,.
I live dead centre of the rust belt,. known for horrible wet sloppy calcium salty roads,. and i,ve only seen a couple of cars that bad,..
The mileage would save that car,..

I,d definitely check the floors,. and D pillars,.

It just may just need a front clip,..

I,ve seen some pretty tough cars get "refreshed " and sold out of waterloo NY,.

Nick

EDIT:

that dog leg on the frame is the killer,.
offer them 500 for the car,. take robs advice,.

Nick, that mileage won't save the car... it'll save the VIN plate.....

transfer the drivetrain, interior, and VIN to a 1/4 million mile southern body and resell......illegal and unethical as hell...... just saying.....

Superior Finish wrote:

transfer the drivetrain, interior, and VIN to a 1/4 million mile southern body and resell...

Hey! I resemble that remark.

Even if they paid you to take it,please listen to those with much more knowledge about these wagons and RUN away quickly or offer them 500 bucks and part it out.

I live in WI and I have seen and owned some pretty rusty cars...but those are the very worst inner fenders I have ever seen by far. The upside is that its almost ready for 28's!

Wow. I'm used to seeing rust but those front fenders kinda scare me. And the rad cradle is deffiniately toast. The floors are probably rotted out near the bottom of the firewall. Was there much left of the spare tire well?

$500 would probably an alright deal, specially if you don't need to get inspected to drive!

"Only 60k, never summer driven!"

Obviously check the floor and frame, based on what the inner fenders look like. I still say if the structure is otherwise sound, for a driver it is a good deal. And, like I said before, spend the $20 and get a car fax. Even if you drive it for a year, with that low of mileage (if accurate) you could easily get your money back with a low mileage LT1 engine and tranny, and then keep/sell the nice interior bits and trim. Tan, I believe is the most common interior color, and that stuff all looks good.

West Virgina car, except registered in Florida from 1998 to 2003. Then auctioned to North Carolina in 2010, with 67,708 miles at the time. The driver's side rear was hit in 2002 (in WV, while registered in FL ).

Even if the car really was in Florida, it could have been parked in a salt marsh there...

I have a house in Florida, and believe me, there are plenty of rusty cars down there. Lots of people think just because it doesn't snow that you are ok- but the salt air (if the car is close to the ocean) can be just as deadly. I wash my Florida car 1-2 times a week, including as much of the underside as I can get, and it is still rust free. When I go up north, it gets a very thorough washing, and then the car cover goes on.

florida cars rust from the top down not the bottom up unless you drive them on the beach in Daytona all the time down by the water.....just saying.

Just because it was registered in FL doesn't mean they didn't winter in Vermont....the rust speaks for itself. 500-600 parts car. if the interior is mint, then maybe a bit more if you are going to pull a Chris and swap the driveling interior into a solid body...

Holy crap that car is toast. I'd buy it for 600, yank the drivetrain and interior and scrap it. That body is not long for the world

Was gone within 3-4 days. Didn't even get to go back and get better underbody pics.

IMHO if you had intentions of it being anything other then a parts car you would have run into some major frustrations. probably best it got away.

my 96 rmw has less rust than that on an ohio car i paid 500.00 for mine,if your on a budget and thats the best you can buy like me go for it!but get them down on the price

bcb577 wrote:

my 96 rmw has less rust than that on an ohio car i paid 500.00 for mine,if your on a budget and thats the best you can buy like me go for it!but get them down on the price

I know you are enthusiastically reading all the threads and catching up,.

but a 2013 thread about a used wagon,.. its a little outdated and irrelevant i think,..?

But irrelevant enough to comment, but point taken, I will pay more attention to dates!

FORGET IT! It may have been from Kentucky, but it must have been parked next to a salt mine instead of coal.

By now the seller has died of old age and the car turned into maytags

Yeah point taken, new member here wasn't looking at dates but hey at least a conversation has taken place. Lol,I guess if one more replies to my grave mistake I started a revolution or something. Lmbo j/k but honestly I mmade a error, shoulda gotten an idea of the format before I replied

Wow, there is a blast from the past - yeah, glad I passed on this one back in the day.