ohms Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Alright. So while combing craigslist to find a car for a friend (we found one, he bought it, an 86 vw cabrio), i came across an ad for an 88 turbo 5spd 505 and an 89 turbo 505 automatic (same seller, same ad, both cars are black). heres the story, from the ad, plus after meeting him today and going together to Ramsey Peugeot: he bought the 88 brand new in georgia and has owned it since; hes owned many nice cars, and swears the 505 is his top favorite - this is over various jags and bmws. He bought the 89 brand new for his wife, it was a dealer demo model, and he says it definitely had a rough life within the 300 miles it had on it when he bought it. things always went wrong with it (including the turbo blowing, and headgaskets), but his wife liked it so much they kept it anyway and kept paying for whatever repairs it would need. the 88 never missed a beat (has original turbo and head, headgasket was only replaced as part of maintenance), never left him stranded. anyway, fast forward a couple years, and its 2008 and hes divorced and switching between 88 and 89 for his daily driver - he had been using Ramsey as his go-to mechanic shop; and on such good terms with Alberto, the chief mechanic/current owner of Ramsey, that he was able to store whichever car he wasnt driving in the lot at Ramsey. Reason he kept the 89 was/is he liked the spoilers, etc, and its suede interior (the 88 has gray leather). As time passed, his plan was to swap the bits he liked from the 89 to the 88, since the 88 was the solid performer of the 2. until a few months ago. He had a stroke; cant drive the stick. A day or 2 after getting out of his routine therapy sessions, driving the automatic 89, a guy hit him, hard. crumpled the passenger front corner of the 89, frame is bent. Now he cant drive either - he picked up a 78 jag automatic to drive now (also being restored at Ramsey by Alberto, will be ready for road duty in about a week). So the 88 and the 89 have to go. The 89 looks great aside from that crumpled corner =P so thats for sale as a parts car (i forget the mileage on it) the 88 is what i was/am interested in. Its been sitting more than the 89 lately (the past couple months), and the paint is super super faded and cracked. inside is excellent. 260k miles or so, runs like a top tho. Alberto says its a solid runner, and everything works - minus the trunk strut, and the e-brake cable needs to be replaced (which i can take from the 89, and just pay for the labor involved). I took it for a drive - damn thing is fast. and tight. no smoking from exhaust or underhood. There WAS tho, smoke when we started it up, but alberto said it had been sitting for about a month since last he started it, and we let it idle til it warmed up, and there was no smoke after that (even after my lil thrashing of it in my test drive). So...I dont know. Alberto hasnt been charging mike (duh, i havent mentioned the peugeot owners name this whole time!) for storage, but now hes got 3 cars sitting there for free, and needs the space, so he'd like mike to get the cars, atleast the 2 peugeots, outta there. My position in this is that mike would like to trade me his 88 for my 84 sti. my 84 is damn mint haha. But its also my daily driver. and actually moreso my gf's daily driver, because she drives 5 days a week to and from school; i just drive on the weekends really. She was cool with getting a stick, she can drive, but just 2 nights ago, her usual 30-40 min drive took 3.5 hours - most of it in gridlocked traffic. When that happens, she doesnt wanna be driving a manual. Shes mulling it over tho. She could see the look on my face when i came home from my day at Ramsey and knew what *I* wanted haha I dont really wanna have a car that adds to her tiring day (if shes in deadstop traffic), its her first year of law school and she gets run ragged just enough as it is. But still, she digs the turbo as a fun car. So i dont know. mike has had people calling about the 88, but he was willing to wait for me to see the car today and i have til tuesday this coming week to give him a final answer. I'm also posting this all here, so that if i pass on the car, possibly someone here could jump on it (will also post to yahoo list). Its a good deal imo - hes selling the 88 for $1000. i think hes asking 800 for the 89, i dont remember. You can search nyc craigslist for "peugeot" and you'll find his ads. Somewhat separately - Ramsey Peugeot is a cool cool place! Alberto himself has a showroom condition v6 sti 505, that he has driven for a couple years - he took it apart and almost has it completely rebuilt - the man has little time, customers come in and out all day, he has a very loyal customerbase. standing in the old showroom is a timewarp - theres his sti in the corner, theres a delorean (under a lot of dust), theres a mint 57 tbird (looks just like suzanne sommers american graffiti tbird!), and mga that needs resto, a mint sunbeam tiger, a 80s/early 90s? miami vice drug dealer looking jag vert, and a brand new looking late 70s/early 80s 635csi bmw. and peugeot parts and part boxes EVERYWHERE. also a bunch of pug 405s all over the premises. Theres like 4 or 5 other 505s, besides mike's 2 505s sitting there also. and thats just in front and visible, he has a backlot with tons more parts cars. If you have a pug in the area, i'd suggest making him your new go-to shop btw - his prices are really good. I will make another trip and chat him up some more, i think it would make a good story for jalopniks recurring "forgotten dealerships" posts. well i think thats about everything i had to say, tho i could be forgetting some stuff that i'll post later on when it comes to me, it was a hectic day. A lot to absorb. Also, question regarding my test drive of the 88, to those of you with 5speeds: totally normal for the clutch pedal to not go down all the way without MEGA force applied? i only needed to push it about i dunno 5 inches for it to engage/disengage the clutch, but ive never driven a stick that had that much pressure in the clutch pedal. Also, both the 88 and 89 have good stereo systems installed, alpine stuff all around iirc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Tough call Omar... The 89' 505 Turbo I bought from August had over 310K KMS on it, and it's the tightest handling and driving 505 I've ever driven. (My first 505 Turbo only had 128K KMS in it) So mileage really is moot if the car has had exceptional care. I would likely trust it as a driver for myself, but once you involve the GF that changes things ESPECIALLY if she isn't an enthusiast. That being said - if money is spent ensuring cooling systems are in tip top shape - I'd have no problems driving any 505 Turbo in stop and go traffic from a heat perspective - but driving a manual would suck hard. The 5-sp car is the better drivers car, but if I had to communte in traffic I'd find a nice 505 turbo or a 505 V6 with the 4-sp auto... Great driving car, and with the 4-sp - traffic wouldn't be a problem. If you do get the car, I would negotiate to see if you could get more parts as well. I've got 3 505 Turbo's, and while the 85 isn't a parts car - it could be if I needed it. I've also parted out quite a few 505's so I have a pretty decent used parts stash - although I always replace with new parts whenever I can. Pity about the paint too... Cosmetics cost a fortune - much more than mechanical in most cases. Painting a car properly usually is a $3K+ proposition if there is no body work or rust, and while you can get cheaper paint jobs - they usually look like cheap paint jobs. So that's something else to consider.... Please keep us posted on your decision... Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Some pics of Ramsey's dealership from a Canadian in Quebec posting on the French 505 forum... http://club505.forumpro.fr/exprimez-vous-l...t2080.htm#27418 I was hoping to see pics of the damage 89' but no luck... Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohms Posted October 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 that could be/im fairly sure the same 88 in this pic on the right http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i...&u=13953803 damn. its so much more crowded there right now, theres a lot of empty space in those pics. i have a note written to myself on my door right now, to remember my camera when i go back to ramsey! yup, im trying to hammer out a way to get the 88 (i may just buy it, and keep my 84 still) and have somewhere to keep the 88, until my gf's winter break - then she'll get used to the 88, and be cool with driving it daily, and i'd sell my 84 at that point. thinking if i can ask alberto how he'd feel about letting me keep the 88 on his lot for a bit longer, if i help clear up space by helping him sell/remove other cars on the premises....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I found the ad for Mike's 89' and sent him a note should he decide to part it out... It's the cosmetic twin for my car and if I could find a way to get it to SK cheap I'd do it in a heart beat just to strip it for spares... I'd really like some small cosmetic trim bits off it mostly - but I'd swap doors and stuff if I could get access to the whole car. I'm also curious just how bad that damage to the front corner is though - I'd be tempted to use a parts car to replace the corner as the pics posted look like it was a sweet car. I was also curious about the "Suede" interior - I assume it was velour - but I didn't think the 89's would come with cloth interiors... (edit - got a note back from Mike and it sounds like he has an "out of country" buyer for the 89 - waiting for the check to clear. Also mentioned he has no way to facilitate selling parts off the car even if he wanted too - so looks like I'm SOL for parts.) BTW - the 88's paint issues just might be crazed clear coat, and if that's the case, you'd be surprised how nice you can get it with modern paint cleaners and polishes. Basically remove the destroyed clear coat and revive the paint underneath... Couple guys one the forum have had decent luck making it look OK. Koll always suggests reading up on Autopia - TONS of info on the site... At the very least - bring the sides back with polishing and waxes and then price out just the top surfaces to be resprayed. Even a quick Maaco job wouldn't be too bad... I've gotten the hood, trunk, and side skirts painted at the local tech college, and while it's not show quality - it costs a fraction of what it would cost at a shop, with about 85 - 90% of the quality. Sadly they won't do the whole car! Good luck with the plan for the 88'! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohms Posted October 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2010 youve got email bean! and to update the rest of the board - i'm going to ramsey on saturday and will snap lots of pictures of both cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Good luck bro! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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