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Purchase advise 5.0 LX Hatchback

dehcho

New Member
Hey guys,

Looking at buying my fisrt Fox Body. I have a line on a private sale. Its an LX 5.0 manual . 1 owner car with 70,000 miles. Fully documented and completely stock. He is now in his seventies and its time to sell. He factory ordered the car with only 2 options. 3:08 diff and high back buckets. The only modifications are the mufflers. When he factory ordered the car he also ordered 2 front fenders, hood and an extra set of wheels all still wrapped in the factory plastic . Comes with order form, invoice, sales brochure, original keys and rings. Its black with grey tweed. He is asking $15,000 CAD

As well, another LX, but a 90 with similar milage also with great history, although a 2 owner car he has had it for 12 yers and bought it from a good friend. This one is more highly optioned and is Red with grey tweed. Also asking $15,000 CAD

Ps $15,000 CAD Roughly equals $11,500 USD

Any input woyld be greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
What year is the first one? Both sound like rare finds... original, unmolested condition foxes are hard to come by.

Even being well cared for, you're s still going to want to check common problem areas. You didn't mention whether these were hard top, sunroof, t-top or vert. Although open roofs are nice features, they have major problems that go along with them... mainly involving rust. Simple hard top is always the safest bet. If it's one of the other roof styles and you've checked everywhere for rust, then just take proper precautions to keep rust away. I won't go in to specifics, but you'll want to do your research. An ounce of prevention and all that jazz!

Check floor pans, specifically the passenger side. Check as best as you can to see if the heater core is leak-free. They are notorious for leaking and rusting out the floor pan. They are also a giant pain to replace, as the entire dash has to be removed.

The rear torque boxes are bad about rusting and having damage from hard launching. Yours being stock, I would think the latter wouldn't be an issue.

The lower radiator support is another problem area. They get damaged and also rust, due to their design. They aren't very easy to replace if using a stock style. There is an aftermarket tubular style lower support that is an easy fix. Just cut away the lower support and weld the tubular piece on each side.

By far, the biggest problem area these cars have are the front frame rails, just below the shock towers (often spreading to the shock towers themselves). The design causes water and salt and dirt to collect between the layers of sheet metal and rot from within. If you see a small spot that doesn't look bad, it's usually just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start opening it up, you'll find more inside. It's in a hard-to-see area and you'll really need to get in there and look/ feel around under the hood... just across from the headers.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 

dehcho

New Member
What year is the first one? Both sound like rare finds... original, unmolested condition foxes are hard to come by.

Even being well cared for, you're s still going to want to check common problem areas. You didn't mention whether these were hard top, sunroof, t-top or vert. Although open roofs are nice features, they have major problems that go along with them... mainly involving rust. Simple hard top is always the safest bet. If it's one of the other roof styles and you've checked everywhere for rust, then just take proper precautions to keep rust away. I won't go in to specifics, but you'll want to do your research. An ounce of prevention and all that jazz!

Check floor pans, specifically the passenger side. Check as best as you can to see if the heater core is leak-free. They are notorious for leaking and rusting out the floor pan. They are also a giant pain to replace, as the entire dash has to be removed.

The rear torque boxes are bad about rusting and having damage from hard launching. Yours being stock, I would think the latter wouldn't be an issue.

The lower radiator support is another problem area. They get damaged and also rust, due to their design. They aren't very easy to replace if using a stock style. There is an aftermarket tubular style lower support that is an easy fix. Just cut away the lower support and weld the tubular piece on each side.

By far, the biggest problem area these cars have are the front frame rails, just below the shock towers (often spreading to the shock towers themselves). The design causes water and salt and dirt to collect between the layers of sheet metal and rot from within. If you see a small spot that doesn't look bad, it's usually just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start opening it up, you'll find more inside. It's in a hard-to-see area and you'll really need to get in there and look/ feel around under the hood... just across from the headers.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 

dehcho

New Member
Well thanks very much!!

The black car is an 89 it has only 2 options the 3:08 diff and high back buckets. He factory ordered it that way. No sunroof etc.

The red car is a 1990 also factory ordered with everything (sunroof) other than leather.

I am leaning heavily towards the low optioned 1 owner black car (1989) I think is cool to be such a low ootioned car and the history on the car is very good (paperwork)etc.

I am looking at both within one day of each other in a few weeks.

I will report back with photos etc.

Thanks again.
 

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
In your opinion do the prices sound in line?

Thanks again.
Prices sound reasonable to me. I tend to buy fixer-uppers and end up spending more. If I factor in the number of hours spent, busted knuckles, broken tools, and lower back problems, it's probably 3 times as much lol
 
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