While looking at ebay tonight I saw my first car, a 1972 Comet GT, up for sell/auction. It is ebay item 4641693534. Can y'all give me your opinions if the car would be restorable at a reasonable cost? The car was an automatic not a mnaual as described. The interior has been trashed and I would want to reinstall original type seats as well as the other interior items. Can the rusted out sheet metal be replaced? Thanks for you comments. Roger Stephens
Wow,, that is really cool, wish I could find my first Grabber. But onto your old car. I spied that car and thought it was well worth the money. If you are paying to have it restored, reasonable is not usually not a term used. The cost to restore a car is only worth what you want it to be. In no way will restoring that car produce an instant investment. but, If you want it restored, I would toss a price of 20 grand out to have it done in a nice manner. Then it will be worth half that on the market. Depending on your abilities, that price can be higher or lower. Body and paint is your highest payout on doing one of these cars. Yes, all the rusted out sheet metal can be replaced. I really hope you are able to be rejoined with your old car! Dan
Is there a company/s that supply reproduction parts for Maverick/Comets? The Gt stripe and hood scoop&black out quickly come to mind. Also, the seats and other interior pieces, are they available anywhere? Are there any Comet restores that would due the sheetmetal and paint work for me? Roger
Yeah, sounds like the cowl vents went bad. That sure makes it a harder restore. Still it is a comet gt,, pretty hard to find. Worse cars have been restored for sure. But will take money and good money to restore that one. Dan
it doesnt sound that bad, but there were'nt any pics of the rusted areas so you never know. Not much maverick/comet support on the aftermarket so good luck, but your sentimental value on it may out weigh all of that. Good luck with it.
thats cool to find your first car... but that would be the only reason i'd say for you to buy it... that cars got alot rust as you can see. i wonder what you can't see... keep that in mind. if it was any other car besides your old one i would say under 1k thats just me best of luck on what you decide!
I have been informed that this not the same car I saw for sale a few years ago. Same year and color, but a different car. A good friend of ours works with a guy who lives across the street from the seller. He's going to try to find out some more about this Comet when he gets a chance.
Just curious, but how do you know this was your first car? This one definately was a manual from the factory. There is next to no reproduction parts available for these cars. The side stripes are available but the hood strip is not. Thats no big deal because its easy to duplicate with paint, which will last longer anyway. As far as restoration shops specializing in Comets, talk to the Dolls. They are the experts and they live in PA.
The VIN in the auction is the same as the VIN shown on the bill of sale. Yes I still have the bill of sale/dealer invoice. For confirmation I will need to check for holes in the sheetmetal behind the front grille where I had installed driving lights, a rear sway bar or at least the mounting holes and six holes along the transmission/driveshaft tunnel that were for the anchoring screws for a console that I had installed from a '69 Mustang. The gages mounted on the floor even look like the gages I had mounted on the package tray-the gage readings are sideways were as most gages read on the top. Also back in 1972 most gages were mounted in metal were these are in a plastic housing with a bottom mounting that pivots up/down. The transmission was an automatic with a floor mounted shifter with the chrome T top handle with black push button on the driver's side of the 'T'. I don't believe it had disc brakes either as I reminder only changing drum brakes until I got my '76 Mustang II. A few people had modified their Comets/Mavericks by installing front disc brakes that were gotten off wrecked cars. I believe the Mustang disc brakes were an easy change over. Roger
Price is to high IMO. I see that the seller has no feedback. I would imagine they are just throwing this on there to see what they can get out of it. I would email the seller and find out what they would take for it. I wouldn't mention to them it was your first car, as they will probably raise the price thinking you'll pay more then most people to get it back.
One thing I do like (about that ad) is the ability to zoom in on the pictures. Really shows the minor flaws and details.
I have seen far worse cars restored. Looks like some body started the bodywork and quit, by the primer on the drivers side. The rusty spots can be cut out and replaced with good sheet metal, are you capeable of doing this or will you have to let a shop do it? The missing hood scoop is reproduced, as are the side stripes. You can find many used parts from members here and at junkyards, as well as find out if anything you need may interchange with another model, just use the search formums feature to look for old posts with the info you're looking for or ask. From the ad, it appears this is a dealer, and since this is a auction with a buy it now and a best offer, I'd do like Jamie said, get in touch with them and see what is the least they will take. If you really want the car, I'd say go for it. I think it's about $1000 too high, but then again I live in the south and cars are a bit cheaper down here, and I'm cheap, too. A word of caution, though, even though you are attached to this car senamentaly [sp?], make sure you have the funds available or will have available to finish it, because there is nothing worse than buying a car and having great expectations and then at a later date having to sell it because the funds dryied up. Been there, done that. Lost my rear on some good cars because of the funds required exceeded my income at the time. Now I set my sights on what I want and need, and get it a piece at a time. Takes longer, but when I'm finished I know I'll be happy with the results! Just my , take it for what it's worth!
