I believe it has potential!!

[schwerdt1]

1989 GT roller. It will be getting dropped off at my house today. Already has had some upgrades done to make her track worthy, subframe connectors, cage, southside lower control arms, 3.73s, tubular k member and draglites. Have a 306 short block coming next week from Creb Engineering. Have been collecting my parts past few weeks. Under my bed right now are the TW 170 61cc heads, TW 1.6 roller rockers, lifters, f303 cam, Comp Cams timing set and some Ford Racing tall valve covers. Coming off my other project car will be Performer RPM intake, Holley Super Sniper EFI and On3 70mm kit along with C4 trans/ 2800-3200 converter.

 

[General karthief]

That is not an 89 steering wheel, did you check the vin tag?

 

[Mustang5L5]

That is not an 89 steering wheel, did you check the vin tag?

It has a black dash too, but things can be changed/swapped. I wouldn't get too hung up on that.

Looks like a nice starting point

 

[General karthief]

Oh, I agree on the parts swapping and if it is a race type car not an issue, I have seen people get burned in the past by not verifying the vin, still involved with a deal on a rebuilt car that someone bought with a bad title.
It can get complicated.

 

[schwerdt1]

Really not super worried bout original equipment or not. Steering wheel most likely wont be there much longer as I'll most likely go to a race style anyway. But, all good observations and warnings. Will be doing a lost title app pretty quickly as well. Just for the purpose of getting it registered antique once she up and running.

 

[General karthief]

You bought a car without a title?

 

[Boostedpimp]

You bought a car without a title?

that's gonna get interesting

 

[Noobz347]

That is not an 89 steering wheel, did you check the vin tag?

It's like he has a 6th sense about these things. Funny that it has a lot to do with his screen name.

And people ask me all the time, "Why do you keep that guy around?"

Oh wait... Nobody says that.




While we're all here, let's talk about all of the ways to spot an altered VIN on a Fox.

 

[Ryuk]

People generally don't put airbag steering wheels in non-airbag cars, it's the other way around.

I wouldn't do a single bit of work on that car until you have title in hand.

 

[Noobz347]

People generally don't put airbag steering wheels in non-airbag cars, it's the other way around.

I wouldn't do a single bit of work on that car until you have title in hand.

The other side of that though, is that 89 Steering columns are in high demand.

Totally agree with not dropping a dime on it until it's verified though. 100%

 

[95BlueStallion]

Do you need a title to run a car on the track? I honestly don’t know as I’ve never raced at a track. Being it has a cage, I’m assuming that is the plan with the car.

 

[schwerdt1]

Much appreciation for the heads up guys. In the car business, so I have some advantages over a general buyer. TWIX access and a titling department. Very right though on the suggestion of not investing any time or $$ untill cleared.

 

[schwerdt1]

Do you need a title to run a car on the track? I honestly don’t know as I’ve never raced at a track. Being it has a cage, I’m assuming that is the plan with the car.

Dont believe so, never been asked for it with my old strip car. Title would be so I can get it registered as antique and could drive to gym now and then. And insurance coverage.

 

[General karthief]

First thing (maybe there should be a separate thread on this subject) to be suspicious of is when the seller says 'I lost the title' most states have a free vin check on their dmv website, it will not give you any personal information but will tell you the status of the title, ie: stolen or last time it was registered. Ask the seller for a reistration, it will show vin, tile numbers.
The vin is attached to the car with special revits that cannot be attained anywhere except at the factory, and cannot be duplicated (allegedly), a 'retitled' car will have a vin plate riveted to the drivers side A pillar between the door hinges (at least in Florida).
In most cases you can call the local PD and they will tell you if it is stolen.
Now we 'assume' sellers are honest and in most cases they are but we are dealing with 30 year old cars here so protect yourself.
In one instance I was involved in a person borrowed money on a car title, the same day he went to the dmv and got a duplicate title then sold the car to someone a couple days later, that person registered the car and knew nothing about the lein (this was all done before the loan company filed for the lein) until he tried renewed the tag a year later, of course there was a hold on the title and this took almost 2 years to get sorted out. Original owner did several months in jail for fraud and I ended up collecting a bag full of money on storage/investigating fees.
Protect yourself.

 

[schwerdt1]

Yes!! We get all kinds of crazy excuses from people as to why they do not have a title, or why its not in their name. And right now with all this covid stuff, they are even more bold. "Its my moms car, I can sign it over." "My granmothers car, I can just take all the paperwork to her to sign, she afraid to be around anyone else, and her license expired so I cant get you a copy...." People showing up with fake IDs to try and sell us a car they stole, thats flipped value wise cause it has a payoff. They dont understand why we cant just give them a chevk for the value... Always entertaining.

 

[Ryuk]

People are scumbags. It's another reason I keep my titles electronic now. It might be a little more of a hassle, but you're protected. A friend of mine sold a boat in need of repair for relatively cheap. A year and a half later he gets a call from law enforcement to come and get his boat or he's going to be fined. Apparently they used the boat for over a year and then stripped it and dumped the hull out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. They never titled it, so the last info they had was my friend. No excuses, he was the legal owner. Not only did he have to go get the boat, he had to enlist the help of friends with jeeps because they left it in a swampy hard to access place that gets flooded.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Do you need a title to run a car on the track? I honestly don’t know as I’ve never raced at a track. Being it has a cage, I’m assuming that is the plan with the car.

Depends on if you want to carry insurance. You would need to hold a title to insure the vehicle.

Whether or not you carry insurance all depends on your risk tolerance. Most general insurance won't cover you at the track, so what happens if the guy in the next lane crosses the line and hits your car? Even worse, what if you cross the line and take out the $100K car in the lane next to you and don't have insurance??

 

[95BlueStallion]

Even worse, what if you cross the line and take out the $100K car in the lane next to you and don't have insurance??

I always heard rubbing is racing...

 

[LILCBRA]

I always heard rubbing is racing...

I've always heard rubbing is....... well, something else.
But I thought that was a NASCAR saying, so it's hard telling what they were thinking.

 

[revhead347]

The vin is attached to the car with special revits that cannot be attained anywhere except at the factory, and cannot be duplicated (allegedly), a 'retitled' car will have a vin plate riveted to the drivers side A pillar between the door hinges (at least in Florida).

I had a friend in High School who put the same VIN tag on 4 different chassis. It was sold at some point. 1 in 10 million people might check to see if it has the factory correct rivits.

A car does not have to be registered to race at the track. John Force does not have a tag for his funny car. You could steal a car and go race it, and no one would know.

I wouldn't worry about the steering wheel. There's all kinds of reason it could have ended up with an airbag steering wheel. Friend parted out a car, that was what was at the junkyard that day, who knows.

It looks like a terrific car to start with. There are so many terrific deals on rollers now, it's hard to justify building a car from scratch. It looks like a lot of fun without having to do all the work.

Kurt