Ok, had look at this yesterday. Turns out that this is a car that I have seen before - about 12 months ago in a car yard for $10k.
The seller knows exactley what it is and he actually told me that it owes him just over $5k (i.e. thats what they loaned against it), but after going around it I said I thought its money was less than that and he reluctanly agreed due to the amount of strategically placed rust it has.
The rust is probably its biggest issue. The back drivers floor has a hole rusted through, there is also some on a couple of the other floors, around the sunroof, some under the paint on the drivers side roof, under some of the doors, what looks like some under the bootlod seal, some under the sills - esp on the edges of the metal and some in a couple of the wheel arches. Looking under the car, especially just behind the front wheels, I wonder whether there has been significant repair or some sort. People work more knowledge than I could better tell.
The paint is very good as is its general presentation. The leather is a bit cracked but not too bad as are the carpets. It has what looks to be new window tint. The sunroof works as do all windows except thew back drivers side. The central locking does not work and neither does the air coonditioning.
I couldnt drive it due to being out of rego, but it started easily (except for the stupid immobaliser it has and a flat battery) and idled smoothly. We started it from cold and it was quite smokey until it warmed up. The motor didnt have any rattles or other noises except for what sounded like a small hole in the exhaust pipe. The auto went into reverse and drive without hesitation and when loaded up against the brakes, didnt seem to be slipping.
The suspension worked very well; it went up and down as required and it was not sitting low prior to being started. I found a receipt in the book for a bit of suspension work a couple of years ago (new pump) but other than that, a bit of documentation and the owners manuals, but nothing that makes up a complete history.
The carpet in the boot was damp and the seals around the car were basically stuffed. It also interesting to note the amount of cobwebs all around it. My overall impression was that it was a well looked after car up until a point in time, after which it has been left to deteriorate.
What I also did was took my video camera (bloody stills camera was flat) and did some filming of the car. As soon as youtube makes it available, I'll post the link here.
If anyone has any specific questions on what I saw or wants a high quality video file, pls let me know.
