Buying Modified vs. Stock

I bought my mx6 heavily modified. It was a hack job but easily sorted, and it's been great since.

I bought another mx6 this past weekend. Also heavily modified, and incredibly badly. Doesnt bother me, as I paid less for it than the wheels alone are worth, let alone the turbo setup, the $400 clutch setup, the trans worth $300 or so etc etc etc. I could part it out for 4x what I paid. THOSE are the modified cars you want. The ones you dont care if you can sort out because the parts are worth so much money.

Bought my MSM heavily modded. All engine no suspension. Won't do that again.

Depends. I'd only buy modified cars if I knew them or did a lot of research on that particular car. I know British and American cars but haven't got a clue about BMW's for example.

I sold a modded out 1275 MG Midget and a modded 1071 Cooper S years ago. The guy who bought them was getting a great deal because they were done right and he saved big on the parts. Same thing if I was to sell my hotted up Triumph TR8 right now.

Suspension/shocks/say bars is nothing to worry about, but go over the engine very carefully.

If you're wanting a car as an appreciating classic then go stock - and also never drive it. But what fun is that?

I bought one of my Miatas modified. Springs, shocks, sways, supercharger with a big boost kit, AFPR, MSD ignition box, cat, header, exhaust. It was pretty much the "Miata Club of America approved" setup.

I've changed every single one of those with the exception of the shocks, sways and cat I had to send the supercharger to a prison colony in Australia.

My Mini was modified, and better for it. I've done a few more things, but only to build on what the original builder did.

One thing I've seen is that modified cars tend to change hands quickly several times once they're sold by the builder. Every time they do, it's because someone didn't understand what they were working with and screwed something up, and every time more information about the car is lost. The number of emails I get with "I just bought this, what is it?" along with a fuzzy cellphone picture...

Looks like the general consensus is to buy stock, or with basic suspension mods, that can be easily looked over. Thanks for the help guys!

Keith Tanner wrote: One thing I've seen is that modified cars tend to change hands quickly several times once they're sold by the builder. Every time they do, it's because someone didn't understand what they were working with and screwed something up, and every time more information about the car is lost. The number of emails I get with "I just bought this, what is it?" along with a fuzzy cellphone picture...

jeff, miatame, had a 94 with a BRP coldside modified jackson racing supercharger, which was awesome by the way, and a bunch of different stuff all over the car. YEARS later he got an email or something asking some oddball question about the brakes iirc, which jeff never even touched in his ownership, and this was something like 4+ owners later

it's case by case for me. i dont mind undoing some stuff, but even in the case of my e36 where aside from a shocks/springs change and a shift kit was stock replacement parts, the list of "recently serviced items" actually turned out to be the list of parts i needed to remove and reinstall correctly.... and i mean that literally . every damn part but one was in wrong.

if you're looking at a modified car and cant get a good enough look around it you could always pay a garage you trust who understands modified cars to assess the work.

I do my best to not buy modified cars, but my general rule is: I'll buy a car I really want if the modifications fall under the "Street Prepared" category. Anything more than that and my comfort level isn't really with me.

That is, unless their name is John Lingenfelter, Chip Foose, or Yenko...

i dont buy a modified car unless it's really cheap. i was into modified hondas that i would buy cheap and then take the mods off and put it back to stock and sell it. the real problem i have now with modified i am not up on the mods enough to know if they are good or some knock off china ebay crap so i stay away unless really cheap

I had a series of Miata's where I would buy the best car that I could find, place it on jackstands next to my "old" car and swap parts. I usually but not always transferred my stuff over to the "new" car.
I did buy 1984 RX-7 GSL-SE because when I opened the hood I realized what had been done to the car and the quality of the work. The used car lot couldnt even get the car started for me to test drive but once we repaired the cracked manifold(which was in clear sight), I drove that car for about three years. The list of items that had been replaced or improved by Mike Levy was impressive. Essentially only the exterior body and interior were OEM Mazda; all running gear was race quality.

So everyone here mods their cars correctly, but everyone else does not.

pres589 wrote: The responses make me worried for what I'd like to do to my Mustang, like a rebuild 5.0 and parts to set the rear suspension into better shape. If you lot wouldn't buy such a car, what's my hope to sell it someday short of trading it in and getting zero for the money & time spent making it 'right'?

I've had no problems selling modded cars, from stuff that was simple bolt-ons to custom paint to my V8 RX7. There are a lot of peopel out there that want th emods, but can't afford to or have the skills do it themselves and are willing to buy a modded car that's done well. So don't hack it up and you wont' have any problems.

Do I buy modded cars? If the mods were something I was going to do anyway, but I know what I'm looking at and can chew someone down on price if the work isn't up to par.