Sorry so long but sometimes the story is the best part.
Sometimes they really do fall into my lap.
One of my best friend's (first met in 1967) father passed on Sep 2. Charlie Adams was ninety two years young. In his youth he raced motorcycles, spent summers at the beach and had a great time. At thirty two he finally settled down in a marriage that lasted almost sixty years.
At the funeral yesterday my friend Dennis called me to the side and said he needed my help. Dennis is a restoration tech for Steinway Pianos and resides in Florida. He said he knew he wouldn't be here in Chattanooga to help his stepmom with cleaning up loose ends and asked if I could help him with a few things. I told him sure, happy to help.
They had three cars and a truck. My friend knows I dabble in used cars so asked me to come over today and see what I could do with a couple of them. Doris has a 90-something Cavalier and a 2015 Avalon and wants to keep the Toyota. Charlie had an '83 Accord sedan (purchased new) and a '98 Dakota she wants to sell. Dennis's brother had said a neighbor was interested in the Dak and had made an offer for it. Dennis wanted to see what I thought it was worth.
The truck is a 1998 Dodge Dakota Sport extended cab. Never been hit, painted or smoked in. Loaded out with everything but power seats and a sunroof. Add on step rails, bed liner and bed rails. The best things are an honest 109k miles and...a 5.2 liter (318 cid) V8! Hasn't been driven much the last couple of years, just occasionally.
Picked it up this morning. I spent about five hours sorting out some minor issues today. Had to replace an O-ring on an ac line to get the air cold. Cleaned up the terminals on the TPS to correct an idle stall issue. The Dak was dirty but had very little damage. Three of the four corners have minor scuffs (ninety two year old driver)but no rust anywhere. Washed it three times to get the layer of dirt off. Actually cleaned up pretty nice. The clear on the roof is shot but elsewhere the paint is good. The battery is dated 12/12 and still holds a charge! Charlie usually kept it hooked to a trickle charger. Don't know if that is why the battery has lasted this long or not.
Dennis said the neighbor had offered his brother "eight or nine hundred dollars" for the truck. I told Doris no, that was giving it away. The Michelins were that much. We did the KBB and NADA thing, looked on Marketplace and CL to see what similar models were priced at. Looked like most were $1800 to $4k. I told her like it sat and with what repairs needed to be done a fair price would be $2500, maybe a tad over. With repairs at least $3500 or so but looking at $400/700 to get it there and a couple of weeks time.
I told them I'd take it, clean it up and either sell it as is or make the repairs for her. She said she'd rather sell it as quick as possible and asked if I would give $2k for it as is and call it even for my time. I told her no, I would give her the $2500 price. At first she said no but I explained most of what it needs I can do myself (other than the roof repaint) for little cash outlay. It took a little persuading but she finally accepted. Dennis thanked me and told her, "See, I told you he would be fair."
I got a good deal, she got a better deal, and when done I'll still make a little money. After driving it around a while today I'm almost tempted to keep it for myself but I still have the '89 D100 with 122k I bought back in May.
