Bought a used GT500 & Need Advice

I just bought a used 2007 GT500 from a guy in Chicago. It appeared to be a very good ebay deal, but here's what happened. I took Amtrak from Lansing, MI to Chicago on Saturday. The 4 hour trip took closer to 8 hours by the time I arrived. We met and I had about 30 minutes to check the car out as we drove to a bank that was closing at 4:00. The clutch was slippping BAD!!! The seller showed me TSB #08-16-4 about clutch drag on GT500's. He said that's the problem and it should be covered under warranty. I also pointed out a noise which sounded to me like a bearing in the differential which only showed up under coast and decel. We agreed to have me hold back $1,500.00 on the sale price in case Ford doesn't warranty the repairs needed. We wrote an admendment to the sales agreement to include this repair agreement.

At the bank (which was holding his title & lien due to his outstanding loan), they said they had to put a 5 day hold on my Cashier's Check to be sure it clears before they can accept the funds as good and allow him to pay off the loan for release of the title. He put the Cashier's check on deposit for his account to wait the 5 business days.

After we left the bank, we went to his house, he removed his license and I left for home. On the way home the clutch slipped so bad that I could not maintain cruising speed on some hills. I noticed a vibration & noise from the differential (I think) at about 75 mph. I did make it the 200 miles home.

I checked the car our further in my garage today and noticed it has an oil leak as well. BTW, the seller told me that the GT500's didn't come with a spare tire due to the brake size. A spare tire wheel would not clear the front brakes. Is that true? Also, is there a special key or socket for the lugnuts?

I guess the old addage of "buyer beware" applies to this sale, huh?

I plan on calling a local Ford Dealer to see about repairs on the clutch, differential and oil leak tomorrow. Any advice from anyone with experience with a GT500 in any of these problem areas is appreciated.

Thanks

The car has 21k miles on it. The dealer called in the Ford Zone Rep and after seeing a single piece drive shaft w/ safety strap and lots of rubber in the rear wheel wells, they said Ford will not warranty it - too much abuse and mods. Dealer said clutch would be $5,800 and diff could run $1,500-$2k depending on what they find. Dealer said someone other than Ford dealer did work on diff, seller claims no has. I have since learned that the seller had advertised this car previously as having 3.73 gears so he lied to me.

Paul's High Performance can do the clutch for a lot less than the dealer, but seller claims to have a Ford SVT connection so he is trying to get it warrantied that way. If Ford doesn't warranty it, I'll have PHP do the work and assume the seller will come through with the extra $$$ to cover it. Our sales agreement says that the clutch & diff have problems and if repairs aren't covered by Ford, seller has to cover it. Problem, I only held back $1,500 on the sale and he has the rest of the cash. I just have to hope and pray that he is honest and the has the integrity to do the right thing.

The price we agreed on was $32,500. I had a cashier's check made out for $31,000 and brought another $1,500 in cash just in case there were any problems. I still have the $1,500, but in hindsight I wish I would have either walked away from the deal, or had planned on being able to hold back a lot more than just $1,500.

The problem I see with a legal recourse is that he just moved from Chicago to LA and I live in Michigan. What court in what state would be the one to hear the case and when I win, how do I collect?

This still could turn out ok as long as I end up with the car in good working order at no cost to me.

The $5800 for a clutch is using Ford OEM parts including the flywheel, pressure plate, clutch discs, release bearing, pilot bearing PLUS the TSB transmission parts - input shaft and syncros PLUS the dealer's labor for all that. I can have Paul's High Performance replace the entire clutch with Ford OEM parts for less than half the price. Being that the trans shifts fine, I don't think it needs any work.

The seller has had his connection with SVT contact me and promise me the clutch parts, but that was 10 days ago and he has not returned my call from last week. I hoping/praying that he is on vacation or something and will get to me soon. I paid $32,500 for the car, but held back $1,500 in case the repairs were not covered under warranty. In hindsight, I wish I had been prepared to hold back $5 - $10k, or told him to call me after he had the car fixed, or just walked away from it altogether. But that's hindsight for ya

I'll let you know how this turns out as things progress.

gt500112 - The previous owner provided me with the TSB on the clutch & trans saying that a dealer should do it under warranty. The dealer and Zone Rep denied the warranty as the clutch & trans have been replaced before and the car has signs of abuse - although I don't know how they can claim racing is abuse on a car designed for racing

The seller's contact at SVT has promised to send the clutch parts including the new & improved flywheel, but that was just over 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard from him since even though I've left 2 voice mails for him.

The seller says he has located the spare repair stuff and I told him he can send that to me with the title - still waiting on that

The car is now in storage as Michigan winters suck. It would be nice to have all this settled before spring hit