Can't decide (potential miata purchase)
 

I took a look at this car today: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/car/597135703.html

The guy said he would take $3400 without the wheels.

Its got a ton of stuff done to it, but has 192k miles (100k on rebuilt engine/tranny), and definitely needs a lot of TLC. Rusting in front of both rear wheels, A/C shot, not sure if it has an LSD (if it does, it is shot), needs clutch slave, needs a bunch of odds 'n ends taken care of. I think this person had great aspirations, but never the time to finish stuff off properly.

I would probably buy the car just to part it out, but I can't decide if it would be worth all the work.

Thoughts?

bad mistake...too much $$
you will not make $3000 in parts on that car...forget it!!!
$2500 he keeps wheels and you fix her up and sell for $3000, after removing SC and installing a few stock parts on it...
otherwise, i'd stay away from it...

I wouldn't mess w/ this rust bucket.. plus 192k is alot of miles. If its that rusty I'd imagine its a nightmare to work on. Keep this in mind ;) The only way I'd rock this junx is if I could pick it up for roughly 2.5k w/ everything and part it out. The car isn't worth much considering the miles and rust.

I think you 2 are right on in your assessment. That said, he was interested in parting out, so I guess I'll just cherry pick the good parts :)