This is a tough call, especially with vintage cars, just go to a few shows and see how good a car can look from 4 paces but as you close in on it turns into a mess.
Bad body work ca be hidden in pictures by accident, and the sell may not know the difference, right now a lot of the "sales boom" cars are going back on the block, a lot of cars i seen sell for way too much years ago and the new owners are done with them, now back up ffor sale and they don't even know that is a bondo bus...
I would utilize this forum, there are a lot of knowledgeable and decent guys on here that may be local to the car you are looking at, put the area up here and see who pm's you.
When I look at a car I bring the flir cam and the snake cam, I watch the motor under the thermal imager to make sure it doesnt have any "hot spots", very very very good way to find cracks, and a lot of stuff the present owner may not even be aware of! Its so accurate and sensitive that if I put my hand on my counter top for a 3 count, lift it off, and then count to 5 the came can see may hand print for another minute or so!!!
With the flexi cam I can look inside frame rails, under air grabbers, inside quarter panels and cowls through the trunk area and engine bay, etc.
I went to look at a 69 super bee for a buddy of mine, supposedly a perfect resto, NO body filler, NO parts missed, you know the type. Well I get there and the motor tests perfect, it was super strong, heat picture looked uniform and it started up from cold really nice, just an all there, nice drive train in the car. BUT the problem is, this was from a little shop that took it in trade a flip and did the resto themselves, when someone builds to sell, they take short cuts to save where ever they can, vs a guy building it for himself or a co building it for a specific customer, charging by the hour and making 10-15% on every part will NOT miss much..
So First I look above the gas tank, NO mat, then I scope under the carpet, grey primer not fully jambed, under the dash and the pedals have just been spray painted (all black, never rebuilt or taken apart), the dash harness has butt connectors all over it and I seen a welded in patch in the dash frame (probably a cb radio), under the seats (and I am sure behind the back rest) was all RUSTY, they painted the edges nothing else, so the seats were just covered, not taken apart and restored. No trunk divider, package tray was installed with no brackets (found this because it was loose), there were a few other things too...
So I had a check signed from for this car to buy it for up to $61K if it was worth it, they were asking 67K. I made my list and the guy was standing there watching me look over the car, he was cool about it because he deals with collectors on occasion (his words), he looked at my list as I was ding it and kept kind of laughing, so when we were done I said "whats so funny", he replied "you found stuff I didn't even know about" (I took this as he knew about a lot of it and just ignored it), BUT he did nothing wrong, I know its grey area but the car was nice, no doubt about it, the drive line was super super nice, big block 4 speed dana, it was done really well (they send that out)...
So I made my list and started the math, $150 to add the trunk bad, $100 for the divider, $1200 to jamb the floors and roof correctly (have to pull the windshield to do it right, plus the entire interior), $900 to rewire the dash (may as well pull it since you will have the shield out), it added up fast.
So i showed him what I was thinking, I told him the car is worth $61000 in perfect shape with all this stuff fixed, he said more like 62500 which he was right but I was trying to buy the car lol. I showed him the prices I came up with and told him if you fix it all I will write you a check for 61000 if you fix it all or deduct it from the 61K and I will write the check...
He went in the office and brought one of his body men with him, they came out about 5 minutes later and said $62K minus you repairs and we have a deal... I told him to throw in the paint to jamb it(they had a mixing station and mixed the original batch) and throw in the gas tank pad and trunk divider, and swap out the bumper jack for one in another car (He had a pristine bumper jack in his personal car, about the nicest I ever seen, the one in the bee was nice too, but that one was seriously perfect, lol) and we have a deal...
He smiled and nodded, we went in the office and wrote it up. Then we ended up blowing out a trialer tire on the way home after we ran over someone detached tire cap and I found out the jack I had on my trailer wouldnt pick up the trailer and a car (since changed it, luckily this one ran, I pick up a lot of cars that dont, we first tried using the jack from my tundra but that thing is useless unless picking up a tundra)..
BUT anyway, get someone local to check it out, even if they just run their hands down the quarters and look under neat with a flash light for a minute, it can save you thousands, and on the same not if anyone ever needs a car in CT, RI, MA area checked out, pm me, I can see where I may be able to help out. We should start a thread specifically for that, you list your location and area you can cover and if someone is interested in a car in that area you can go peak at it for them....
