Ok, not that I am any sort of expert, but here is what I see:
Body panels look ok… not great, but definitely not bad, at least in pictures. That hockey stick stripe is awful! It looks like they spent some nice money on the car, they could have stepped up an purchased a stencil kit for the stripe. Look at the bend at the top-front of the stripe, and the fact that the inner stripe doesn’t follow the same taper as the outer lines. There is also a few missing items like the door bumpers. Again, what bothers me here is the lack of detail, and my question on this would be weather or not this is indicative of the build.
Under the hood looks to be ok if a bit cluttered. On the other hand, this leaves you with plenty of “projects” to keep you having fun detailing the car. Again the thing that bothers me here is the apparent lack of detail. The missing dust shields stand out (wait to you see how much road dust can make its way into the engine compartment here!).
Interior looks plenty nice, though a little detail here would go a long way. It looks like the upper window blow-out guides are rusty. There is some chipped trim and crappy old weather stripping to account for.
The underside of the car seems to be just spray-bombed black, including the exhaust. The lack of things being blasted and painted nicely might also mean a bunch of old bushings in there too. Looks like he has installed the stock-style front discs, and a fairly run-of-the-mill rear disc conversion. Nothing wrong with this, but those discs will look a little small behind those big wheels.
All in all, if the body is solid, it looks like a decent car. If you aren’t one for an all out rebuild, it might be just the ticket. The few problems I see in the photos can be fixed by you over time, making the car more “yours” while you fix them. If it were me, I would go look at the car, and bring a VERY DETAILED check list. This way you don’t overlook something because the car “grabs you.” When I say detailed, I mean DETAILED! List every panel, inside and out with check boxes for rust, missing trim, weather stripping, grommets, etc. This also helps with the negotiations as you have a real reference to refer too, and can go back and show him everything you are talking about.
Hope this helps! Buying a finished car can be a great deal, but you can burn yourself quickly if you aren’t careful. Just ask me how I know!
Shiny Side Up!
Bill
’72 442 “Inamorata”