Katrina Flood Car

[Brad_Cromwell]

The dealer doesn't actually do any repairs to the cars. He sells them as salvagable.

I don't think the car sat in water TOO long because the leather is still in excellent condition ( but smells a little bit ).

I'll try to get some pics of it posted this week so you guys can see the damage.

[Brad_Cromwell]

I wont' pay the 6000 he's asking, i'd probably pay around 3k-4k... which is about 20% its value. I got him to go way down on the firebird i bought from him. I think dry ones go for around 18k-20k.

The water sat about half way up the seats, just up to the bottom of the dash.

28' surge?!?! wow...

[grayman]

IMO
$6000 is far too much for that car.
Consider that only 2002 f body cars still have somewhat reasonable NADA and Kelly blue book prices.
The car values start to decline rapidly from 2001 on back. That 2002 car is already 4 years old. It is not a $35,000 car any more. At most it would NADA for low $20,000.
Now, it has been flooded. It is far from working condition. The mold in that car might kill you even if you change the interior. It could have any amount of toxic waste mixed in with the awater that flooded it. At least it might make you sick.

The car will also be a salvage title. Even if you got that car up and runing the SALVAGE title will limit its value.

YOu can get a working, non flood, fully functional LS1 Fbody for $7000 to $9000. You can buy 2000 and 2001 LS1 cars with 50k to 75K miiles for $13,000.
Start with your suggested $6000 for a flooded car, add how much money and time it will take to get it running....which is better? A complete car for $13000 that has never been flooded and might even have 1 owner or you project flood car?

I bet the salvage yard got that thing for free...just had to haul it away. All the good old boy corruption down there....

In 1 more year that 2002 car will be five years old. It too will start to decline rapidly in NADA resale value from that point on and it is a salvage car....not a normal salvage car, but a flooded salvage car. Even if you don't care about mold other people do.

[chets bird]

yeah i got my bird outta houston cause my camaro got hit by a tree, and even though it was too early for katrina cars houston still has alot of flood car, i pulled panels etc on the spot to check for silt water lines etc, everything cheked out real clean, and now that i have gone through almost the whole interior(door panels, rear trim all panels in back) everything is ok, i will be completely dynamating the car so the WHOLE interior will come out soon but i am sure it has no water damage, the only thing i noticed is that it had to have been wrecked in the front, the front end was repainted and driver front fender, BUT it couldnat have been nething bad, because everything else checks out good, and it had to been something minor for her to pay outta pocket im sure ehh no biggie!!!

[Loochy88]

cars with just minor water damage can be dried out, cleaned up and small repairs made, but others that were fully or mostly submerged will be trouble. bacteria and mold can get established in wet cars, and airbags and anti-lock brakes usually fail in time if they get wet with salt water and rust or corrode.

corrosion from salt water is a major concern, The body of a car soaked with salt water from the storm surge would rust out faster than normal. Water, especially salt water, that reaches bright surfaces, or those that slide against each other such as shock absorbers, bearings or seals, can rust and corrode these, making them unusable.

The engine on a vehicle that has been submerged is likely full of water. If you tried to turn it with a starter, you would probably almost immediately bend or break connecting rods, the crankshaft, valve train components and more. I doubt that it would be worth the effort to salvage a car that has been submerged.

i wouldnt touch that thing with a 10 foot stick

i definitely wouldnt give someone 6000 dollars for it

[Brad_Cromwell]

He gets the cars from auction. I'm sure he didn't pay much for it. I wouldn't pay $6k for it. From past experiences, I think I could get him to go down quite a bit IF i decide to buy it. ( When I bought my wrecked fbird from him, his asking price was very unreasonable too)

Thanks for the advice, but the title doesn't really bother me. I'd end up driving the car until it's worthless anyway. Even if I buy a non-flooded fbody, when I go to sell the thing when I get out of grad school (in say, 4-5 years), it won't be worth anything anyway.

Heck, I could always get the Firehawk retitled in another state, and hope the new buyer doesn't check carfax. :) Then at least I'd be selling a collector's item instead of another old TA. There are tons of TAs for sale in the paper every weekend. How many Firehawks? :)

As far as mold, I'm think you can buy a fogger that takes care of that. Anybody have any experiece with that?

[ March 05, 2006, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: Brad_Cromwell ]

[teal99camaro]

you could always pull the interior and pressure wash it. Even spray bed liner in the interior or something and get it undercoated. There are a few options for you. for 4k if the engine works check it out. Most of the parts in the v6 could be put on there.

[Classing]

From the looks of things Brad has his mind made up! Thank God its you and not me. You have no idea what you are about to get yourself into.Salt water is some nasty stuff..Especially after it has sat and dried for months. There evedently isnt any way to talk you out of this so all I can say is good luck because you are deffinatly going to need it.

[Brad_Cromwell]

Originally posted by Classing:
... Brad has his mind made up!

I haven't said I'm going to buy the car yet...

Originally posted by Classing:
You have no idea what you are about to get yourself into.

I know what salt water does to a car, and I realize they total flooded cars for a reason.

Thank you for the good luck...

[hockeyman]

At any rate:
Take some pics of the Firehawk and post them. I'd like to take a gander at it.

[BobbyZ72]

If you realize what salt water does to a car why do you want to buy it? Im sure you can talk him down 3000, as im sure he wants to make a few hundred and get it off his hands before it rusts out. We are talking about salt water!!!

[Brad_Cromwell]

You haven't even seen the car. I don't know if there's any salt water in the engine. Maybe the car was near a river or lake that flooded, and the water is fresh. :) Hey, it's possible.

Anyway...

I stopped by to take a look at it really quick between classes this afternoon, and there is still grease all over the bottom of the car and engine, and I didnt find any more silt in the crevasses of the door as there probably is in mine. There isn't any debri in the air cleaner(its ram air, though so it's on top of the engine). I don't think that the car is as bad as some of you might picture it. I wiped a few spots of leather clean, and it looks brand new...well, it looks 2 years old heh. I would think that if it was sitting in salt water long, the leather would be destroyed and moldy. The amp and sub in the trunk worked as well. I'm going to tear the thing apart this weekend and possibly have a mechanic take a better look at it.

Expect pictures Sunday or Monday. It's a great looking fbody even if it is just a big paper weight. But, whoever used to own it painted all the scoops yellow and covered the thing in tacky stickers... that would definatly have to be fixed heh

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know what salt water would do to aluminum?

[BLLDOGG]

just remember, its not hard to clean things up to look like its in good shape and wasnt in that bad of water damage.

[camaro_speedemon]

I'm sorry, but you're an idiot if you buy that car.

That engine is probably full of water, regardless if it was salt water or not, the engine is starting to corrode. The engine alone needs to be ripped apart completely and hot tanked and rebuilt.

Probably needs a new transmission because it's been filled with water. The whole driveline really, from engine to rear axel.

Then you have to yank all of the wiring out of the car, the complete wiring harness. Because water has seeped into the wires, and caused them to corrode.

Then you have to replaced the entire interior. Dash, radio, seats, carpet...

The door panels need to come off, so you can replace the power windows and locks.

The body panels need to be removed to repair any kind of rust damage, and probably coated some kind of protective coating to prevent futher rusting.

The brake system needs to be replaced, wouldn't want to risk a brake line rusting out, and failing under braking.

Floor pans need to be replaced due to rusting, the gas tank, the entire suspension.

You are pretty much looking at taking the ENTIRE CAR apart and rebuilding EVERYTHING. Sure, you might be getting a killer deal, but you'll be spending more then what it would cost you to buy a running, good condition LS1 car.

[Brad_Cromwell]

Well, I'll let you know this weekend if the tranny or engine is full of water, or whether it looks like any water got under the dash. You haven't seen the car, and you're completely speculating. I won't buy the car if the engine or tranny is crap, so chill.

I know it's not hard for someone to clean up water damage... I can definatly tell where the water was. The owner isn't trying to hide the fact it was flooded either. He wasn't even planning on selling the car whole anyway.

Some of you act like you're offended that I even consider buying this car. Geeze...

Just because it was totalled for flood damage doesn't mean the car was completly submersed in water. I doubt the insurance company went out and inspected every car someone claimed for flood damage after Katrina. The car isn't from new orleans btw. I'm not saying it WASNT submersed in water either...

If the car does turn out to be unsalvagable, at least I know where I can get a kick-a$$ firehawk hood, rims and spoiler. :)