Thinking of jumping in but...

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by BBBluey

We always appreciate a military discount. Thank you for that.

If I call the guy and talk him down on the price...If he does go lower I will then feel stupid if I dont buy it...taking up his time, just like a tire kicker. At that point ill be locked in.
Let me give it some thought

Don't worry about how you feel. He's selling a car it is expected. Its up to him on how much he is willing drop, you just have to ask.It's part of it. But do it in person cause it gives you some merit. Over the phone negotiations is a red flag cause the buyer is thinking "he hasn't even looked at the car". Each negative thing found during an inspection carries a dollar amount. The seller knows it. If he was really serious about getting $7.5 he would have sanded down that roof and primed it.

Seriously, if you are into the car go down and see it for yourself, sit in it, poke around the back, ask him were he parks it at night, look for leak stains, crawl under it, start moving stuff around the trunk, hang over both quarters look under each quarter panel under side,look at the inside of the tailpan, look for rust broken seam sealer, crawl under look for a smashed dented fuel tank, start it up, let it idle, get it up to operating temp, look at the oil pressure when you rev the engine to 2 grand, 3 grand, does it smoke, does it stumble on accel, does it flutter on decel, ask the guy how long it was without that air cleaner lid, no lid equals cylinder scoring, lay under the rocker, look at the floor pan, look for rust, repairs, from the top push down on the carpet at the lowest section of the floor, push against the seats, go under hood, look for rusty water stains, squeeze some hoses, pull the air cleaner base, look for burn marks at the carb, look for leaks, grab the fan blade see if it wiggles, look at the harness, touch it, look for amature repairs, push on the belts, touch the radiator... Do all these things with him present and comment on what you find.
One thing, hang around the lower passenger quarter edge, near the tire. There is a patch of filler there. You can see the pink in one of the pictures. That's gonna be the game changer. Look at it from inside the trunk. Is it a dent or rust. That will be a quarter repair and will eat 3k of your budget. Another spot to focus on is that roof. See if any of it is deep, scratch it with a coin. Just pick at it and go back to it a few times, peek around the rear window trim. I know there is rust in there, see how war down it goes. Look from the under side in the trunk. Each rust hole you see equals 1k to repair.

Bring a friend and a flash light. Each one can drop the price a bunch.

Remember if anything turns you off walk away. Be honest with yourself and listen to your gut. Leave the guy your number and cool off. Just because you travelled all the way or managed to get him down don't feel obligated to buy right now. Give him your offer and put it in his corner.