Possibly Buying a '75 Squarebody

[ShortHaul]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

I like it too. But all the way to Spokane? Hmm, maybe he'll take a good-running '05 Toyota Corolla for it?

You never know! Cruise up in the 'Rolla, cruise home in the Cheyenne!

Originally Posted by jocko

I've been hesitant in the past about buying sight unseen and across the country, but once you jump in the pool, the water is warm. Question is, why IS it warm...
Trucks are like a box o chocloates, as they say. When I do buy sight unseen (and at a distance), I assume the absolute worst - and am usually pleasantly surprised. THE question is - if you assume the absolute worst, is it still a great deal even if a little more work than desired to fix the worst-ness (and the shipping cost)? If yes, then that's when I am willing to take a leap. That blue one seems to fall into this category. If sight-unseen is the only concern with the blue truck - might be worth a shout out to a savvy member in that area to check it out for you - then you can confirm condition and at least know the seller isn't a 14 y/o hacker in his parents' basement.

Jocko (as usual) makes excellent sense... A good ol fashioned phone call to the seller can tell you lots about the condition of a vehicle, or tell you nothing, which in turn can tell you lots In the case of the truck that started this thread, seller was shady, hard to get ahold of, full of conflicting info... chances are the truck was too... Who knows, maybe you get the owner of the blue one in Spokane on the line and he's a good ol boy who has mountains of maintenance records and an entire history of the truck... maybe he's savvy with a phone and would love to take a ton of pics or even a video to send your way...

Or... maybe he's sketchy too and it's not worth your time. Either way it can't hurt to try!

I've recently bought 3 Chevy trucks sight unseen, and road tripped each one of them home over 1k miles. I've had varied results... my first attempt was one I would have likely walked away from had I not been invested in it so much... but it grew on me and it ended up being an experience I don't regret. The next was my '75 Cheyenne named Sweet Pea (Voted This month's Truck of the Month!) and I have been extremely happy with that purchase. And lastly I returned home about a week ago with a '75 Suburban from the Seattle area. I'm still digging into it and definitely finding things I'd have been wary about had I been able to see it in person prior to making the deal. However I'm still convinced it was a good buy, and one I would have made either way. This being said, the price for these trucks is extremely high in my area (norcal) and I think overall I've managed to do OK with the purchases so far. I would bet that blue Cheyenne would fetch a far higher price down in SoCal, assuming its not a complete rust bucket underneath...

All in all, buying a car sight unseen is taking a risk of course... but even the ones we buy local and have all the time in the world to scrutinize will end up surprising us some way or another!

Best of luck either way...