Found a 1973 International Scout II - asking $3k for it. It's in OK condition. Recent paint job. Dash is a little beat up on it, drives and runs OK. It's an automatic.

I'm pretty sure it's the 304 V8 and not the 345 but I could be wrong. Either way it's definitely a v8.

Ideas? Stuff to look for?

when you say OK condition, can you elaborate a bit? also do you know the miles on it?

Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on September 18, 2014, 06:29:07 PM
when you say OK condition, can you elaborate a bit? also do you know the miles on it?

Miles...no idea. Over 100k most likely. Exempt. As far as condition it has a fresh albeit kind of poorly done paint job. Floors are rhino lined. Much of the instrumentation doesn't work. Speedo works.

There's a little rust. No squeaking on the suspension. Power steering chatters a little when turning unless you gas it. Might be normal. Though I think the hubs were locked so that might be why.

Dash is kind of busted up on it. Cracked and such. The doors close good.

It starts fairly easily and idles smoothly. Engine leaks some oil around the valve covers.

There's some cobbled together wires and whatnot in the engine bay. Radiator shroud is missing.

Could use an alignment.

Hmm, classics are hard to chew price down a bit, but id try. With those issues sounds almost poor condition not ok. But in running and driving condition, still say theres some room for negotiation.
Although scout 2s are like bronco 2s. Desirable in the offroading commu.ity. Y you hardly see them. Like cj5s. Those are getting bard to find. Any chance of pics of the trail beast?

I think I'm gonna actually pass on it. Too many question marks as far as the title and some other stuff. I realize it's old and whatnot, but it's registered (current) without a title, yet somehow they have the title? Hmmmm...

It's a car dealership that's been around for nearly a half century so I would imagine it's most likely legit. But still, I don't want to get involved with another title debacle like my 97 GS - that was just an extra number in the VIN and was a legitimate mistake; even so, it was a huge P.I.T.A to get corrected.

I think all vins, at least in the last several decades are 17 digits. It  would seem that that would not be that great a problem to correct since an extra digit or letter would ne one too many.

regards
mech

Quote from: Old Mechanic on September 19, 2014, 05:44:21 PM
I think all vins, at least in the last several decades are 17 digits. It  would seem that that would not be that great a problem to correct since an extra digit or letter would ne one too many.

regards
mech

Well, in this case, just to clarify, the VIN issue was with a bike I purchased a few years ago and have since sold. The original owner (the woman I bought it from) purchased the bike outright so the title was the original title from the dealer. This title had an extra number in the VIN at the end, making it 18 digits instead of 17 as expected. I had to get an affidavit of correction from the original owner (notarized) stating that the VIN number was incorrect and what the VIN number should be for the bike.

The normal procedure for such a situation (correcting the VIN on a vehicle's title) such as that would be to either bring the vehicle to the Tax Tag and Title office and have someone inspect it, or to have a law enforcement officer take a pencil impression of the VIN plate and sign it saying he or she verified the correct VIN number. This is in addition to the signed and notarized affidavit of correction from the previous owner.

Thankfully, since I had lots of documents, including the affidavit of correction, the folks at the TT&T office were nice enough to go ahead and correct it without having the bike present.

Still, though, it was a huge pain in the butt to get all that taken care of. I had to track down the seller of the bike to get the affidavit - thankfully she was cool about it. I would shudder to think what might have happened if I wasn't able to get her to sign the affidavit. Needless to say, I'm now wary of any title or VIN issues with vehicles.