The cost of the parts is so high because the build volumes are so low, so each part bears a greater proportion of the tooling and design cost. If you want exclusivity, you’ll have to pay for it, that’s just the way it goes. Great job Wizard, solid advice as ever.
That’s exactly right, and I think this fact is one which is not considered often enough when balking at the high prices for these parts that are made in small quantities. Economies of scale plays a huge “part” in driving the prices down for the mainstream vehicles we’re used to dealing with.
The fact still remains that Maseratis are low quality built vehicles and there are vastly better options for the money. Only fools who don't know cars believe Maserati is an exclusive, high quality luxury brand.
Yes, but branded parts are usually more expensive than OEM and aftermarket parts and sold at higher markups. Which means it is only a half-truth. The fact remains, it is awfully expensive and it wouldn't be much of a problem if the car was reliable.
That's pretty much why they get so cheap so quick - parts are hard to get and expensive, they often have odd engineering so it's hard to find skilled people to work on them, and when you do, they charge a high rate for their time - and of course, they are usually quite fragile and get driven harder than most cars, so break a lot and at low mileage. The market has some understanding of this, and thus the depreciation is insane.
@@FWDSUXARSE I remember thinking of saving up to buy a cheap Benz back in the day. Used to see 'em on the used car lots for $3000 and up and thought that was a deal until I got older and understood how they're money pits once out of warranty.
That Maserati looks like a good candidate for an LS swap, if the rest of the car wasn't a POS that is. I can't believe the poor quality of that interior.
Interior showing attitude to the car by previous owners, can't believe that their attitude to the regular maintenance of this car engine/trans, etc was any better.
From the look of it, it looks like it was fairly chintzy to begin with. The car isn't that old, shouldn't be falling apart like that even if the owner wasn't the best caretaker.
Cars can deteriorate quite quickly unless you keep them inside or under cover for most of their lives. Wouldn't surprise me if it had a lot of faults and the former owner just got fed up. Many of these cars are leased from new, so the first owner basically drives it for a few years and doesn't really care since they will upgrade at the end of the lease period. The lease company that owns the car sells it off cheap as a deductible and some drop kick buys it thinking "Wow a Maserati!", then can't afford to fuel it, insure it, or fix it.
Yes, seeing these european high end cars and the work and expense it takes to keep them going on the youtube channels I watch has eliminated any tempation I might have had.
I have rebuilt quite a few project cars over the years and they are ALWAYS at least 3 times as expensive as I thought and take at least twice as long. There is no cheap way and any short cuts you think you have come up with turn out to cost more in time and money in the end when you have to redo them properly once you find out why they were done like that at the factory. Great learning experience, bad investment.
If you start with a really great platform and decide you're going to get your value back through mileage rather than trying to sell it for a profit then you can do ok (IF) you like the car in the first place and are therefore likely to keep it. This of course assumes sweat equity.
Any kind of machanic work once you get into a job l involve more than you figured to begin with. Rebuilding cars is somethin a man's gotta enjoy doin and if you have to pay somebody to do you need to stay away from em. And on them old cars that works somethin that don't never go away. If it aint in your blood leave em alone. LOL
I read Hot Rod magazine for years and remember that almost every time they asked the owners if they had any advice for other people looking to get a classic car they'd say to just buy the best quality car possible because you'd always lose money fixing one up.
@@barrybarry8564 that's exactly right. You aint hardly if ever gonna make money building an selling em. You gotta run it out of em. When you get tired of foolin with em or see another one you like for th right price grab it an build it.
Still quoted as $200,000 car parts. That right there is wisdom. As someone who dreams of owning a used car of this caliber, that helps me stay rooted in reality. Thank you Wizard!
I worked in the parts room at a Mercedes dealership and was floored when I saw the price of their parts. One of the examples was a shop that ordered a heater core and it was 700 dollars. On top of that when a part is in the system for a certain amount of time they throw them in the trash instead of trying to sell them to a wholesale parts dealer.
@ Travoy. Yep as an owner of a 10 year old E Class 350 the parts are insane. A SAM unit failed and fitted by UK MB specialists was £1,000.00. ( MB UK wanted nearly double) Michelin Pilot tyres £1,000.00. Broken brake pipe, MB wanted £1,000.00 to take off the rear axel to do the job ( this £1,000.00 sum seems to be normal) the list goes on…… So yes very expensive to maintain
Mercedes overcharges know the majority of owners are suckers who care more about showing off wealth than having a highly reliable and low maintenance cost vehicle.
Blue 4.2 Red 4.7 you did hit it right on the head though you’re better off spending the extra money to buy one in good shape where the maintenance has been kept up to date. The biggest problem with these cars is exactly like you said people don’t wanna spend the money for the upkeep on the maintenance I had two of them and both were very well-maintained and I had very little problems with them.
I don't think that's the case. You can escape engine rebuild by buing "maintained" car, but shock will break on any car. Not to mention it could be polished turd. Then you get the same car for 3x the price.
Seems like a non-electronic strut conversion on all four corners would be about the same price as one electronic strut. These air or electronic struts are always so expensive when they fail. Simpler is better.
I have a 1995 Buick Roadmaster with air suspension. It broke, too expensive to replace the shocks and air pump, so I converted to conventional shocks and a 3" lift on the springs.
Loved my 68 Quatroporte. All leather, including engine and trunk. Two crystal flower vase, between the front and rear seats. Twin gas tanks, needed them.
A quick search, I can find two NEW struts for the Maserati for 900 USD with 2 years waranty, same goes for engine mounts. I would consider finding better suppliers.
Let me guess, made in China? Not all parts that claim to fit actually do, and not all are built with quality.. Had plenty of people want me to install white box/ no-name brand crap from Amazon on their cars. I tell them the labor went up and no warranty in any way, shape or form.
I feel this 😂I bought an 97 integra from my uncle for 35$ and have spent 5k fixing it…. Suspension, brakes, and seals (just to have the drivers axel snap)
I did exactly that with my 91 Integra but replaced both while the engine and trans were out. Well more than ten years now since the project and I still daily it. The problem I'm now running into is even the best parts available are complete junk. And when the DS axle has to come out to change the alternator, THREE TIMES IN ONE DAY it gets old.
My general rule of thumb I learned the hard way is: if I can’t comfortably afford the payments of the new equivalent of a car, I can’t afford to maintain that car either. I definitely can’t afford a 100k car payment, much less comfortably, so I can’t afford to buy a depreciated hooptie and fix it up.
And it also depends on what your intentions are for the car. If it's for daily driving, it would be wiser to buy something far more utilitarian, like a Toyota Camry or a Ford Crown Vic. Not as nice as a Maserati ... assuming it's 100% sorted, of course. A Maserati that's not in the greatest of shape ... you'll wish you were driving a Crown Vic. Speaking of which ... a Crown Vic LX Sport Package that's perfectly sorted and blacked out is a fairly bad-ass car ... and with hardly any of the Italian opera style drama of a Maserati. Still not as fast, but how fast do you need your car to be?
@@Watcher3223 it is definitely a badass and cromulent car. My worry is how many people would slow down just because they see a Crown Vic in the mirror? I’ve wanted to get a Town Car, drop a Coyote in it, and put in a manual transmission. That would be a damn fine setup, I think! I’ve learned that if you only have room for one car and nowhere to work on it, avoid the hoopties at all cost lol. I’ve been burned too many times. Get something reliable-ish that runs well, even if it’s more interesting than a Camcord. Now, when I have a carport or garage to work on something, then I can look into hoopties again.
Your video got me wondering about the guys in Cuba that keep cars from the 40's and 50's running. When they break down they cannot buy parts, they have to make them. But they are dealing old Chryslers instead of complex Maserati's.
I always tell people not to buy a cheap luxury. I used to work at autozone and when a lady came in looking for a part for her jaguar saying she got it for cheap and she really likes it but when I told her how much a headlight bulb costs she instantly had a look of regret
As a previous owner of one, they are great to drive, until they go wrong, the electrics require the correct Maserati diagnostic gear to repair them and recode any new parts to the car, only specialists have them. See my comment above for a list of the weak spots that i found out the expensive way.
LOL that reminds me of a joke we used in the car business for someone massively upside down in their trade: "Do you love this car? Good, because you're married to it!"
I like the older Quattroportes. Beautiful cars. Also, an old Maserati with expensive repairs. Look at my NOT surprised face. And I guess in regards to the base price spent on the car and how much you spend in repairs, you could get it a LITTLE cheaper. But, it could just be a case of this Maserati was dying and the customer wanted to bring it back to life.
Still rolling in my ‘87 Camry with 240K miles on the original engine and 5-speed manual. While I’ve had large repairs completed on my car during my 20 years of ownership, these repairs are usually around $1000 for parts and labor (head gasket, timing belt, clutch job, etc.) Unless this customer has an endless supply of disposable income, he will go bankrupt once he has to complete a major engine or transmission repair.
Retired ASE Master Auto Tech here, with 42 years in the business. Car Wizard, as usual, hits the nail on the head. I don't think I've ever disagreed with him on anything. Except I hate Land Rovers and Range Rovers and like C1 Corvettes. Another accurate, no-nonsense video. Being from the SF Bay Area, I have seen this for years: formerly very expensive, exotic cars selling for peanuts on the used market a few years down the line. Good deals? Never. Money pits? Always.
Dealer I once worked at had a little cartoon on the service dept wall. Showed a service write showing a customer an estimate for repairs.. Caption was, "Look at it this way, sir. If you ever wanted to own an expensive car, Now's your chance"
I just got an 08 Maserati gran Turismo at 43k miles for 30k good to know what sorts of parts could fail and where to start looking for replacements etc. I did get the car knowing that I would have to put money into parts that fail eventually. It's super sturdy as of now and ive put 6k miles on it since i got it.
This is my first time watching Mr. & Mrs. Wizard, and I'm already in love with them both especially with Mr. Wizard's outstanding explanations on "Why does repairing luxury vehicles costs so much?" = Everyone needs to watch and listen and learn from Mr. Wizard!
This is another community service announcement by The Wizard for 'Car Guys n Gals' looking at some of those heavily depreciated & 'cheap' luxury cars on Market Place and the like ... been there done that ... Wizard is so right ... strangely luxury car parts never seem to depreciate 😧 There's an old saying ... "If you can't afford a new [Insert luxury vehicle make] ... then you probably can't afford a used one"😉
A mid-size business owner acquaintance of a coworker of mine had a 2014 Astin Martin Vantage. He took it in for service, just a tune up and a/c service and brakes, he got a bill for $18385 !! Ouch indeed !
Makes you wonder why we punish ourselves like this! I'm looking at a 2011 Range Rover Sport that is in good shape and well maintained outside of a seller stated "camshaft issue", who knows what the real story is, but the 4k price tag still makes it tempting. I think I'm a textbook sucker for punishment!
If you hate money in your bank account go ahead and buy it. If the thing was so great and the fix so minor it wouldn't be selling for 4k. Be ready to put 10k into it.
There's a 2004 Mercedes 500SEL in my neighborhood that hasn't moved in a few years. Every time I walk by it I say to myself "The air suspension is stupidly expensive, keep walking!"
You have to remember that all exotic cars are built for first owners who keeps them until the warranty is up and then trades them in. A set of custom coil-overs for this car is about $1,600 for all four plus labor to install them. But why waste the money. However, it's hard to beat the styling of Italian cars.
In the 1960's my dad owned a service station. His partner could work on exotic cars, much cheaper than the dealership. One of his most popular jobs was converting V12 Jaguars to use a GM alternator instead of the Jaguar. Those Jags ate alternators for some reason, and the GM was much cheaper to replace and easier to get than the one the car came with. A fraction of the cost.
I had a ragged out '69 E-Type in 1983. Jaguar u-joints were $25 each. Chevrolet u-joints in the same size were $9 each. After that discovery, I quit buying Jag parts.
With Jag's piss poor quality there used to be a site back in the day called "jaguars that run." It sold conversion motor mounts and other parts to put a chevy 350 into Jaguars in order to make it so you could actually afford to drive it reliably
@@nickwarner8158 LOL yeah I remember seeing quite a few Chevy small block V8 conversions back in the 90's. The 4.2 inline 6 was actually a decent engine though, just a bit lazy and of course loved to burn and leak oil - but hey, that's british cars for you. The V12 too was a good engine generally, but a maintenance nightmare for anyone who didn't have a good understanding of it.
One thing that really stood out in my mind that I (hope I will) never forget is this: if a car has a part fail on it at 25k miles and it was was just driven normally... then that part is probably going to fail again in another 25k miles. Car manufacturers aren't like software - they rarely fix their "bugs". If there is a poorly engineered part, then the new one is going to have the same problems in the same period of time. That's what is really crazy about these low mileage exotics - unless there is something directly related to age, the failures that the happen in the short amount of miles in those pampered environments (never seen rain, probably California temperatures, garage kept) is just really embarrassingly bad. At the other end, if you replace parts that finally fail on a 200k Japanese car, then there's a pretty good chance the new parts will last 200k. In this example, if it's $2.5k just for one strut + bushing, you need to budget another $7.5k just for the other 3. Money pit and unlike investing in something like your house, you won't recover ANY of those costs when you sell. Heck, if you advertise the car with $10k of recent service, you'll probably scare away a number of customers.
that Ferrari has been in the shop since I started this channel over a year ago. He repaired two boats faster than that one car so I really wonder if it’s just a tongue in cheek joke with the wife. If they wanted it drivable, The Wizard would’ve knocked it by now.
I have a friend who is a time served (35+ years) Ferrari/Maserati mechanic and he said if you own a Maserati, you may as well stand on top of a windy hill throwing money into the air.
Driven my buddies many times, and it’s tremendous in all the right ways, but WOW the maintenance was crazy. I wonder if some day it (the right trim) will be a collectible due to the fact it’s a Pininfarina thoroughbred.
I just spent $3,500 give or take for parts for my 2013 C63 Sedan P31 and U70 for 60k miles major service. Brembo 2 pc front rotors and Brembo rear rotors and pads, 9 liters of Motul 5w40 Gen2, oil filter, air filters, cabin filters, pulley's and belt, radiator fluid, Brembo Brake Fluid, Fuel injectors, Spark plugs. Wow :)
Although I’m guiltily of loving these aging European exotics too, I often run into those who end up hating them because of how the parts and labor adds up. People overlook the fact that these cars may have depreciated, but their parts prices remain the same. At the end of the day, you’re still paying to maintain that $100K plus car, not a Honda Accord. I wish people would understand this before buying one and then becoming upset about the maintenance and repairs. With that being said, I’d still own one personally.
4 struts brand new struts from HONG KONG and a TWO YEAR WARRANTY for $1,725 obo. $588 obo for both front lower control arms with bushings and ball joints for a TWO YEAR WARRANTY from HONG KONG.
I ran a few Alfa 164s and found them great cars and affordable to maintain. I thought about a Maserati now and again, but thought " how much more does it actually give you, and at what cost ?" I concluded it just wasn't worth the "upgrade". The Alfas did everything I needed and without the financial worry. P.S. I do love Maseratis and here in the UK we have a guy who has worked out loads of economical fixes that would otherwise cost thousands. The lower end of Maserati ownership rather depends on him....but he is only one guy 🤔
You're right wiz. I sold used auto parts for a number of years in my youth and I often heard that same refrain. "I didn't pay that much for the car!" But that's not the point. Maybe the point is you paid too much for the car. The parts are worth what the parts are worth. I guess the lesson here is to consider
That's nuts. I just replaced the front struts, mounts, bumpers and boots for $285 with KYB parts on a 2006 Toyota Matrix. Car just passed 200k miles yesterday and going strong.
Hah, we have a Toyota Voltz (same as the Matrix but in RHD) we've had for 14 years now, it's now our spare car beater - it's hardly cost us a cent too - This weekend I have to replace the sway bar bushings as they have started to perish quite badly... $30 for the pair from Toyota, and it'll probably take me all of 40 minutes to put them in, and I'm not even a great DIY mechanic. Best thing about it is it's a tiny little thing but it can hold a crapload of stuff, and we don't care about how beat up it is.
One of my buddies bought a Maserati and I cannot keep track of how many issues he had including a full engine swap... I told him to buy a fancy Lexus instead but you know, it doesn't sound as good as a Maserati...
This is why brother, I purchased a Mercedes benz 300SD 1983 turbo diesel. Most of the parts i find at pick your part junk yards, and online mail order part suppliers. I perform all the work myself. I figured buy German engineering, and with the 126 chassis that has the highest imported cars in America! I drive a tank with the inline five cylinder engine!
Interesting car, As long as engine etc is good, I'd go aftermarket strut/mounts and have somebody rebuild the radio. If its not a terrible radio. Might just put a phone mount in there. The exhaust note on these Masarati are just amazing. I know I'm weird, but I'd take a GMC truck and swap the engines. LS family car and race truck 🤣
in 2018,,,i went to get a used car at a used car lot where i live,,,,there were cadillacs bmw's and cars like that,,,most of these were i would say were maybe early 2000.s to maybe 2010 or so,,,but chose a 2009 mitsubishi eclipse gs, with 150,000 miles,,,to this day,,,the only thing i have replaced is a starter,,,,and that was 430 dollars including labor,it's still running fine
Simple. They sell the car for 30% more than manufacturing cost. This means that a single 100$ part is essentially sold for 130$ as a part of the package. But a spare part also needs to make them enough profits to cover storage costs, packaging, additional handling costs etc, so they may need to charge 70% over the original manufacturing cost to make that 30%. So you end up paying 170$. And if they charge 70% for all spare parts, your 40 000$ car would end up costing 50 000$ if you bought each part separately.
Maserati Quatroporte? It is a Maserati! Hahahaha, forget cheap repairs. Some brands look cool to own and ride but if something breaks you know it will probably cost just about the left over value it has.
@Car Wizard I think you can convert them to conventional Bilstein shocks or plug and play coilovers $1.3-5k range. Skyhook cancelling wires $500. I bought my mom a Quattroporte S with only 28,000mi. She’s coming from an E60 550i and this is a “shock” haha get it? Anyway, you give me courage to want to maintain these types of vehicles and not just Lexus or Toyota lol
It would be a hack job, it's one of those built into the dash with a weird bezel shape. Assuming Maserati hasn't wired the damn thing into the car's brain like Volkswagen did.
@@MrJeffcoley1 At the time i was feeling lazy as to inspect a still image. The buttons on the side perform other non-radio functions so you'd be right, attempting to install an aftermarket radio is dependant on if that screen is wired into those buttons and the rest would be how carefully one would carve out and stitch together radio mounts, with the right person doing it i feel like it wouldn't be a hack job, unless you want factory spec, which how rough this car looks the former would be the route to go.
A lot of this exotic cars don't manufacturing all the parts themselves, I think the struts from some other car with quarter the price will fit, the problem is to find out what brand they are using, Ford Volvo Toyota..... VW etc
Wizard, back in 1970 I could have purchased from an aquatint a 1967 XKE Jaguar for 2000$ US. money, it had a bad transmission. Yes the car was in the USA. but because it was of foreign manufacture my father advised me not to buy it due to getting parts for it. I guess it still holds true. I also know you are talking about a different caliber car. Now if I could only find my driver and my keys to my Silver Gost, that’s right , Lennon had it painted with flowers.
Same kind of coolant tank as in my Alfa 166. Thankfully my interior is about a 8/10 with only minor issues to fix (A, B and C pillar fabric glue failure). I've fixed all sticky plastics.
Thank you Wizard and Mrs. Thank you for the warning on parts $$$ for exotic cars. This is why the value of cars of $50k is half the value in a few years.
Kudos to the customer for recognizing the things they can't do and paying for a good professional to do right. They could have gone to some cheap mechanic that would have botched the job instead or worse looked at a video and thought 'I can do that', tried themselves, quit part way through and THEN go looking for a mechanic.
Reminds me of when Hoovie bought a Porsche and put an LS motor in the back, his comment was, he should’ve just put a Porsche engine in. Whatever you do, it’s going to cost a lot of money.
Edmund's report the full value of this vehicle with normal mileage (less than 130,000) in EXCELLENT condition is only approx. $12,000. Doesn't take long to wipe out any savings on bargain purchase when replacing $2,000 struts. Oh, and Car max offered $4,000 to buy it, LOL.
I appreciate that by fixing up an old car, well that's one more car on the road, one more car that has been saved. The wizard is pointing out that the price might end up being about the same in the end, but in the end there will also have been a car rescued from the scrap yard. That's not nothing!
"That's more than I paid for the car!" Made think of how bad Ca. has become---I'm paying more for the ANNUAL registration on my '56 than I paid for the car. (Not a joke.)
The cost of the parts is so high because the build volumes are so low, so each part bears a greater proportion of the tooling and design cost. If you want exclusivity, you’ll have to pay for it, that’s just the way it goes. Great job Wizard, solid advice as ever.
That’s exactly right, and I think this fact is one which is not considered often enough when balking at the high prices for these parts that are made in small quantities. Economies of scale plays a huge “part” in driving the prices down for the mainstream vehicles we’re used to dealing with.
The fact still remains that Maseratis are low quality built vehicles and there are vastly better options for the money. Only fools who don't know cars believe Maserati is an exclusive, high quality luxury brand.
Yes, but branded parts are usually more expensive than OEM and aftermarket parts and sold at higher markups. Which means it is only a half-truth. The fact remains, it is awfully expensive and it wouldn't be much of a problem if the car was reliable.
@@zarbon700 Absolutely !!
It was junk from day one though? lol
People tend to forget that premium/exotic cars have premium priced parts even when the cars themselves get cheap.
A cheap used premium (or exotic) car most of the time never winds up being cheap in the long run.
That's pretty much why they get so cheap so quick - parts are hard to get and expensive, they often have odd engineering so it's hard to find skilled people to work on them, and when you do, they charge a high rate for their time - and of course, they are usually quite fragile and get driven harder than most cars, so break a lot and at low mileage. The market has some understanding of this, and thus the depreciation is insane.
I’ve only found them to be worth it if you’re a competent home mechanic with a place to work on them and the proper tools.
@@FWDSUXARSE I remember thinking of saving up to buy a cheap Benz back in the day. Used to see 'em on the used car lots for $3000 and up and thought that was a deal until I got older and understood how they're money pits once out of warranty.
That Maserati looks like a good candidate for an LS swap, if the rest of the car wasn't a POS that is. I can't believe the poor quality of that interior.
Interior showing attitude to the car by previous owners, can't believe that their attitude to the regular maintenance of this car engine/trans, etc was any better.
It looks like they were living in it. Only thing missing was a full ash tray with cigarette butts and burn holes all over the floor.
From the look of it, it looks like it was fairly chintzy to begin with. The car isn't that old, shouldn't be falling apart like that even if the owner wasn't the best caretaker.
Yes. Owned by someone who doesn’t care about keeping things nice.
Or the engine and auto is more bulketproof than user care for
Cars can deteriorate quite quickly unless you keep them inside or under cover for most of their lives.
Wouldn't surprise me if it had a lot of faults and the former owner just got fed up.
Many of these cars are leased from new, so the first owner basically drives it for a few years and doesn't really care since they will upgrade at the end of the lease period.
The lease company that owns the car sells it off cheap as a deductible and some drop kick buys it thinking "Wow a Maserati!", then can't afford to fuel it, insure it, or fix it.
Instead of spending 25k more to buy a better one, just don’t buy one. You will be way ahead of the game.
Agree 😊
Yes, seeing these european high end cars and the work and expense it takes to keep them going on the youtube channels I watch has eliminated any tempation I might have had.
Yea, just don't live life and stay indoors at all times.
some car brands are too SM. they just keep punishing you until you give up and sell them.
😂😂😂😂😂, just buy a Prius
That's SUCH a good point you make, David. "The value of the car has dropped but the value of the parts have not."
I have rebuilt quite a few project cars over the years and they are ALWAYS at least 3 times as expensive as I thought and take at least twice as long. There is no cheap way and any short cuts you think you have come up with turn out to cost more in time and money in the end when you have to redo them properly once you find out why they were done like that at the factory. Great learning experience, bad investment.
If you start with a really great platform and decide you're going to get your value back through mileage rather than trying to sell it for a profit then you can do ok (IF) you like the car in the first place and are therefore likely to keep it. This of course assumes sweat equity.
Any kind of machanic work once you get into a job l involve more than you figured to begin with. Rebuilding cars is somethin a man's gotta enjoy doin and if you have to pay somebody to do you need to stay away from em. And on them old cars that works somethin that don't never go away. If it aint in your blood leave em alone. LOL
I read Hot Rod magazine for years and remember that almost every time they asked the owners if they had any advice for other people looking to get a classic car they'd say to just buy the best quality car possible because you'd always lose money fixing one up.
@@barrybarry8564 that's exactly right. You aint hardly if ever gonna make money building an selling em. You gotta run it out of em. When you get tired of foolin with em or see another one you like for th right price grab it an build it.
My high school auto shop teacher always said, "if you want to know a person's true nature, go look at their car inside and out. " He was sooooo right.
@Quick Setace fuck em then.
@Quick Setace that's what you call a "ghost"
@Quick Setace add 'If they have a car' to the end of his sentence.
Car wizard getting better and better on camera! Congrats!
He still can't decide how to pronounce "roof."
Still quoted as $200,000 car parts. That right there is wisdom. As someone who dreams of owning a used car of this caliber, that helps me stay rooted in reality. Thank you Wizard!
I mean u still in the game of getting one of these one day?
Quatroporte is literally the most disposable of the cars of this caliber
@@ruhollahetemadi7518 better off getting a used S class than the Maserati
I'm always delighted when you have a new video out very informative about The vehicle you're working on keep up the fantastic work you do
I worked in the parts room at a Mercedes dealership and was floored when I saw the price of their parts. One of the examples was a shop that ordered a heater core and it was 700 dollars. On top of that when a part is in the system for a certain amount of time they throw them in the trash instead of trying to sell them to a wholesale parts dealer.
@ Travoy. Yep as an owner of a 10 year old E Class 350 the parts are insane. A SAM unit failed and fitted by UK MB specialists was £1,000.00. ( MB UK wanted nearly double) Michelin Pilot tyres £1,000.00. Broken brake pipe, MB wanted £1,000.00 to take off the rear axel to do the job ( this £1,000.00 sum seems to be normal) the list goes on……
So yes very expensive to maintain
Mercedes overcharges know the majority of owners are suckers who care more about showing off wealth than having a highly reliable and low maintenance cost vehicle.
Because Mercedes are fucktards and so are the mugs who buy them :) Merc knows it too.
Blue 4.2 Red 4.7 you did hit it right on the head though you’re better off spending the extra money to buy one in good shape where the maintenance has been kept up to date. The biggest problem with these cars is exactly like you said people don’t wanna spend the money for the upkeep on the maintenance I had two of them and both were very well-maintained and I had very little problems with them.
Correction Red 4.2 dry sump duo select Blue 4.2 Wet sump Zf auto Red 4.7 Zf auto
My 2 GTs were 4.7 with red covers & were both wet sump.
@@bigtuna9529 All 4.7 are wets sumps as they just happen to have red cam covers.
I don't think that's the case. You can escape engine rebuild by buing "maintained" car, but shock will break on any car.
Not to mention it could be polished turd. Then you get the same car for 3x the price.
@@theEskalaator Good point, but that's cars previous owner based solely on the interior was a Crack head, or it was used as a new York yellow cab 😁
Seems like a non-electronic strut conversion on all four corners would be about the same price as one electronic strut. These air or electronic struts are always so expensive when they fail. Simpler is better.
I have a 1995 Buick Roadmaster with air suspension. It broke, too expensive to replace the shocks and air pump, so I converted to conventional shocks and a 3" lift on the springs.
yes just like the bentleys and rolls shocks fail fast and there are conversions out there
Good advice sir.
Coilovers kit for all 4 corners costs 1200$ ! It is not very clever decision to buy 1 shock absorber for 2k for a car which cost no more than 5k
Similar scenario for the Lincoln Mark 8’s with the air suspension…most simply delete it and use the Thunderbird strut setup.
Loved my 68 Quatroporte. All leather, including engine and trunk. Two crystal flower vase, between the front and rear seats. Twin gas tanks, needed them.
Flower vases???
A quick search, I can find two NEW struts for the Maserati for 900 USD with 2 years waranty, same goes for engine mounts. I would consider finding better suppliers.
I suspect it differs in some way, the Wizard is not a fool.
Let me guess, made in China? Not all parts that claim to fit actually do, and not all are built with quality.. Had plenty of people want me to install white box/ no-name brand crap from Amazon on their cars. I tell them the labor went up and no warranty in any way, shape or form.
link your sources i searched and am finding them for about 1200-1400 this for a granturismo though used they are about 500.
It’s always true, if you can’t afford a good one you certainly can’t afford a bad one.
I feel this 😂I bought an 97 integra from my uncle for 35$ and have spent 5k fixing it…. Suspension, brakes, and seals (just to have the drivers axel snap)
I did exactly that with my 91 Integra but replaced both while the engine and trans were out. Well more than ten years now since the project and I still daily it. The problem I'm now running into is even the best parts available are complete junk. And when the DS axle has to come out to change the alternator, THREE TIMES IN ONE DAY it gets old.
My general rule of thumb I learned the hard way is: if I can’t comfortably afford the payments of the new equivalent of a car, I can’t afford to maintain that car either. I definitely can’t afford a 100k car payment, much less comfortably, so I can’t afford to buy a depreciated hooptie and fix it up.
And it also depends on what your intentions are for the car.
If it's for daily driving, it would be wiser to buy something far more utilitarian, like a Toyota Camry or a Ford Crown Vic.
Not as nice as a Maserati ... assuming it's 100% sorted, of course. A Maserati that's not in the greatest of shape ... you'll wish you were driving a Crown Vic.
Speaking of which ... a Crown Vic LX Sport Package that's perfectly sorted and blacked out is a fairly bad-ass car ... and with hardly any of the Italian opera style drama of a Maserati. Still not as fast, but how fast do you need your car to be?
@@Watcher3223 it is definitely a badass and cromulent car. My worry is how many people would slow down just because they see a Crown Vic in the mirror?
I’ve wanted to get a Town Car, drop a Coyote in it, and put in a manual transmission. That would be a damn fine setup, I think!
I’ve learned that if you only have room for one car and nowhere to work on it, avoid the hoopties at all cost lol. I’ve been burned too many times. Get something reliable-ish that runs well, even if it’s more interesting than a Camcord.
Now, when I have a carport or garage to work on something, then I can look into hoopties again.
@G Kab absolutely right. If you’re going to buy a cool car that needs fixing, you have to be able to do it yourself.
Great video Mr and Mrs. Wizard. So honest and real.
To replace the whole skyhook system, get the coilovers from formula dynamics! Saves having to deal with skyhook shocks and they are rebuildable
Skyhook now available aftermarket $903.00 a pair 2 fronts with Bushes fitted. Bushes now available aftermarket $40 pair.
Your video got me wondering about the guys in Cuba that keep cars from the 40's and 50's running. When they break down they cannot buy parts, they have to make them. But they are dealing old Chryslers instead of complex Maserati's.
Just because a used Maserati now cost a fraction of the price doesn't mean the parts are cheap either (if available)
There is a reason its cheap. The three most expensive things you can find on earth are 1. a cheap supercar 2. a free boat. 3. a wife.
I always tell people not to buy a cheap luxury. I used to work at autozone and when a lady came in looking for a part for her jaguar saying she got it for cheap and she really likes it but when I told her how much a headlight bulb costs she instantly had a look of regret
he literally said that the last 1 minute of the video
and its a dodge charger interior....which are way more reliable
@@nickwarner8158 The wife is the worst expense.
I've been in love with this car ever since Jeremy drove one on top gear. Such a gangster car with a lovely engine note.
As a previous owner of one, they are great to drive, until they go wrong, the electrics require the correct Maserati
diagnostic gear to repair them and recode any new parts to the car, only specialists have them.
See my comment above for a list of the weak spots that i found out the expensive way.
Did u remember how they did a scientific study on how the Quattroporte engine sound was a certified aphrodesiac
LOL that reminds me of a joke we used in the car business for someone massively upside down in their trade: "Do you love this car? Good, because you're married to it!"
I like the older Quattroportes. Beautiful cars. Also, an old Maserati with expensive repairs. Look at my NOT surprised face. And I guess in regards to the base price spent on the car and how much you spend in repairs, you could get it a LITTLE cheaper. But, it could just be a case of this Maserati was dying and the customer wanted to bring it back to life.
Still rolling in my ‘87 Camry with 240K miles on the original engine and 5-speed manual. While I’ve had large repairs completed on my car during my 20 years of ownership, these repairs are usually around $1000 for parts and labor (head gasket, timing belt, clutch job, etc.) Unless this customer has an endless supply of disposable income, he will go bankrupt once he has to complete a major engine or transmission repair.
Toyota in japanese translation. “Runs forever” Honda. “ starts on first kick.”
Retired ASE Master Auto Tech here, with 42 years in the business. Car Wizard, as usual, hits the nail on the head. I don't think I've ever disagreed with him on anything. Except I hate Land Rovers and Range Rovers and like C1 Corvettes. Another accurate, no-nonsense video. Being from the SF Bay Area, I have seen this for years: formerly very expensive, exotic cars selling for peanuts on the used market a few years down the line. Good deals? Never. Money pits? Always.
Dealer I once worked at had a little cartoon on the service dept wall. Showed a service write showing a customer an estimate for repairs.. Caption was, "Look at it this way, sir. If you ever wanted to own an expensive car, Now's your chance"
I just got an 08 Maserati gran Turismo at 43k miles for 30k good to know what sorts of parts could fail and where to start looking for replacements etc. I did get the car knowing that I would have to put money into parts that fail eventually. It's super sturdy as of now and ive put 6k miles on it since i got it.
The motor mount silicone implants 😂😂
@That V8 Life Hoovie has completely corrupted the Wizard's mind. But it is rather humorous.
@That V8 Life I always got the impression Hoovie was a good guy. Loves his family, helps his friends.
@That V8 Life No it doesn’t, but calling him child predator is a little extreme.
@That V8 Life fair enough.
Wow, Mrs. Wizard made the Wizard do the interior tour himself today!
At the time this customer sloooowly finishes fixing this Maserati, that strut will probably need another replacement 😄
This is my first time watching Mr. & Mrs. Wizard, and I'm already in love with them both especially with Mr. Wizard's outstanding explanations on "Why does repairing luxury vehicles costs so much?" = Everyone needs to watch and listen and learn from Mr. Wizard!
With Maseratis it's not the price of BUYING it. It's the price of KEEPING it that you should be concerned about.
Stunningly beautiful car, beyond any US manufacturer to design anything remotely similar.
Great video wizard! As Scotty K would say "an endless money pit" 😂😂😂
He's an idiot. I don't even think he has ever worked on a car.
This is another community service announcement by The Wizard for 'Car Guys n Gals' looking at some of those heavily depreciated & 'cheap' luxury cars on Market Place and the like ... been there done that ... Wizard is so right ... strangely luxury car parts never seem to depreciate 😧
There's an old saying ... "If you can't afford a new [Insert luxury vehicle make] ... then you probably can't afford a used one"😉
A mid-size business owner acquaintance of a coworker of mine had a 2014 Astin Martin Vantage. He took it in for service, just a tune up and a/c service and brakes, he got a bill for $18385 !! Ouch indeed !
Did it have carbon ceramic brakes? If so I bet at least $15k of that bill was just brake rotors.
Oh yeah, carbon ceramic are crazy expensive, though they should last longer and perform better.
Bullshit!!! 😂😂😂 its always "my cousins best friends aquiantance' dog owned one" 18 grand for a tune up my ass....
thanks Wizard! You've talked me out of at least 2 cars!
The old adage of “can’t afford to buy it new, then you definitely can’t afford to buy it used” is very appropriate.
Totally agree
Not true. I only buy used luxury vehicles with low miles. Most hold up until you near the 100k mark, which is when I trade it
Makes you wonder why we punish ourselves like this! I'm looking at a 2011 Range Rover Sport that is in good shape and well maintained outside of a seller stated "camshaft issue", who knows what the real story is, but the 4k price tag still makes it tempting. I think I'm a textbook sucker for punishment!
If you hate money in your bank account go ahead and buy it. If the thing was so great and the fix so minor it wouldn't be selling for 4k. Be ready to put 10k into it.
There's a 2004 Mercedes 500SEL in my neighborhood that hasn't moved in a few years. Every time I walk by it I say to myself "The air suspension is stupidly expensive, keep walking!"
No such thing as 2004 500SEL. Only 2004 S500
You have to remember that all exotic cars are built for first owners who keeps them until the warranty is up and then trades them in. A set of custom coil-overs for this car is about $1,600 for all four plus labor to install them. But why waste the money. However, it's hard to beat the styling of Italian cars.
In the 1960's my dad owned a service station. His partner could work on exotic cars, much cheaper than the dealership. One of his most popular jobs was converting V12 Jaguars to use a GM alternator instead of the Jaguar. Those Jags ate alternators for some reason, and the GM was much cheaper to replace and easier to get than the one the car came with. A fraction of the cost.
I had a ragged out '69 E-Type in 1983. Jaguar u-joints were $25 each. Chevrolet u-joints in the same size were $9 each. After that discovery, I quit buying Jag parts.
Original alternators where probably made by Lucas - also known as "The dark lord of poor quality electrical components" - or just "Lucifer" sometimes.
@@Beer_Dad1975 The Prince Of Darkness
With Jag's piss poor quality there used to be a site back in the day called "jaguars that run." It sold conversion motor mounts and other parts to put a chevy 350 into Jaguars in order to make it so you could actually afford to drive it reliably
@@nickwarner8158 LOL yeah I remember seeing quite a few Chevy small block V8 conversions back in the 90's. The 4.2 inline 6 was actually a decent engine though, just a bit lazy and of course loved to burn and leak oil - but hey, that's british cars for you. The V12 too was a good engine generally, but a maintenance nightmare for anyone who didn't have a good understanding of it.
One thing that really stood out in my mind that I (hope I will) never forget is this: if a car has a part fail on it at 25k miles and it was was just driven normally... then that part is probably going to fail again in another 25k miles. Car manufacturers aren't like software - they rarely fix their "bugs". If there is a poorly engineered part, then the new one is going to have the same problems in the same period of time. That's what is really crazy about these low mileage exotics - unless there is something directly related to age, the failures that the happen in the short amount of miles in those pampered environments (never seen rain, probably California temperatures, garage kept) is just really embarrassingly bad.
At the other end, if you replace parts that finally fail on a 200k Japanese car, then there's a pretty good chance the new parts will last 200k.
In this example, if it's $2.5k just for one strut + bushing, you need to budget another $7.5k just for the other 3.
Money pit and unlike investing in something like your house, you won't recover ANY of those costs when you sell. Heck, if you advertise the car with $10k of recent service, you'll probably scare away a number of customers.
When Mrs Wizard claims your Ferrari, snow her this episode! She clearly says it's your Ferrari! 😂
*show, not snow
@@andymair7992 You _can_ edit your comment.
that Ferrari has been in the shop since I started this channel over a year ago. He repaired two boats faster than that one car so I really wonder if it’s just a tongue in cheek joke with the wife. If they wanted it drivable, The Wizard would’ve knocked it by now.
My wife would say it’s my car when it is on the lift, and hers when it is fixed.
My guess is that she's got her 👀 on some other car.
I have a friend who is a time served (35+ years) Ferrari/Maserati mechanic and he said if you own a Maserati, you may as well stand on top of a windy hill throwing money into the air.
Driven my buddies many times, and it’s tremendous in all the right ways, but WOW the maintenance was crazy. I wonder if some day it (the right trim) will be a collectible due to the fact it’s a Pininfarina thoroughbred.
Probably there may be too many of them to be collectable but I wouldn't mind collecting one myself!
I just spent $3,500 give or take for parts for my 2013 C63 Sedan P31 and U70 for 60k miles major service. Brembo 2 pc front rotors and Brembo rear rotors and pads, 9 liters of Motul 5w40 Gen2, oil filter, air filters, cabin filters, pulley's and belt, radiator fluid, Brembo Brake Fluid, Fuel injectors, Spark plugs. Wow :)
Although I’m guiltily of loving these aging European exotics too, I often run into those who end up hating them because of how the parts and labor adds up. People overlook the fact that these cars may have depreciated, but their parts prices remain the same. At the end of the day, you’re still paying to maintain that $100K plus car, not a Honda Accord. I wish people would understand this before buying one and then becoming upset about the maintenance and repairs. With that being said, I’d still own one personally.
The Maserati name can be translated as "Car that travels more up and down than forward and backward"
“Formerly owned by an aspiring rap artist…..”. Huge pass
Thats like every other second hand Maserati. Bleedoff effect of being related to mopar
SoundCloud rapper lol
Or Jessie Pinkman...
@@bryan1480 🤣🤣🤣
"Minor fender damage" (riddled with bullet holes and meth dust)
just vacuum the carpets and resell what you find ... now you can afford all those parts
4 struts brand new struts from HONG KONG and a TWO YEAR WARRANTY for $1,725 obo. $588 obo for both front lower control arms with bushings and ball joints for a TWO YEAR WARRANTY from HONG KONG.
I hear this is one of Scotty Kilmer’s most favorite cars.
Scotty Kilmer diddles himself in a 94 high mileage Celica with ice cold air while looking at a picture of the chairman of Toyota.
@@williamegler8771 😂😂😂😂
Great info for those who just don’t know. Thanks for sharing.
I ran a few Alfa 164s and found them great cars and affordable to maintain. I thought about a Maserati now and again, but thought " how much more does it actually give you, and at what cost ?" I concluded it just wasn't worth the "upgrade". The Alfas did everything I needed and without the financial worry. P.S. I do love Maseratis and here in the UK we have a guy who has worked out loads of economical fixes that would otherwise cost thousands. The lower end of Maserati ownership rather depends on him....but he is only one guy 🤔
I used to have one too it was a Burgundy L model. Had it for a few years and it was pretty solid.
I had some 164s and 166s amazing cars
You're right wiz. I sold used auto parts for a number of years in my youth and I often heard that same refrain. "I didn't pay that much for the car!" But that's not the point. Maybe the point is you paid too much for the car. The parts are worth what the parts are worth. I guess the lesson here is to consider
slowly fix it up over time...famous last words.
I love the fact you work on high end cars... and then you see that old GM product in the background.
That's nuts. I just replaced the front struts, mounts, bumpers and boots for $285 with KYB parts on a 2006 Toyota Matrix. Car just passed 200k miles yesterday and going strong.
Scotty Kilmer approved
Toyota struts might get noisy, but they last forever. I would have just the originals.
@@BenJammin427 wizard approved as well. he keeps saying dont get exotics unless you know what your getting into.
@@user-tb7rn1il3q Not mine on NY/NJ potholes and 195k. The passenger side was soaked.
Hah, we have a Toyota Voltz (same as the Matrix but in RHD) we've had for 14 years now, it's now our spare car beater - it's hardly cost us a cent too - This weekend I have to replace the sway bar bushings as they have started to perish quite badly... $30 for the pair from Toyota, and it'll probably take me all of 40 minutes to put them in, and I'm not even a great DIY mechanic. Best thing about it is it's a tiny little thing but it can hold a crapload of stuff, and we don't care about how beat up it is.
One of my buddies bought a Maserati and I cannot keep track of how many issues he had including a full engine swap... I told him to buy a fancy Lexus instead but you know, it doesn't sound as good as a Maserati...
Another great video from the wizard. Thanks
This is why brother, I purchased a Mercedes benz 300SD 1983 turbo diesel. Most of the parts i find at pick your part junk yards, and online mail order part suppliers. I perform all the work myself. I figured buy German engineering, and with the 126 chassis that has the highest imported cars in America! I drive a tank with the inline five cylinder engine!
I wouldn’t own that car even if it was given to me.
I was thinking the same thing…
I wouldn't own that car if I bought it.
I rather have a Toyota anything than that Maserati.
Maybe if there was a Chevy 350 or Windsor 351 in one instead of the Italian garbage engines.
I'm told the Maserati said the same about you 🤣
The rule used to be if you can't afford it new you can't afford to run it second hand. Seems truer than ever.
I've almost bought one of these about 5 or 6 years ago but instead I got an S63 AMG
Needless to say, I don't regret my decision at all...
Amg is better
Good call
My favorite old saying is "There is NOTHING more expensive than a cheap Rolls-Royce" 😎
Whenever I see someone driving a Mazzer or such like, I can't help but think,
"There goes more money than sense".
Either that or they have so much money that it just doesn't matter to them.
Interesting car, As long as engine etc is good, I'd go aftermarket strut/mounts and have somebody rebuild the radio. If its not a terrible radio. Might just put a phone mount in there.
The exhaust note on these Masarati are just amazing. I know I'm weird, but I'd take a GMC truck and swap the engines. LS family car and race truck 🤣
Does it do 185?
in 2018,,,i went to get a used car at a used car lot where i live,,,,there were cadillacs bmw's and cars like that,,,most of these were i would say were maybe early 2000.s to maybe 2010 or so,,,but chose a 2009 mitsubishi eclipse gs, with 150,000 miles,,,to this day,,,the only thing i have replaced is a starter,,,,and that was 430 dollars including labor,it's still running fine
I can never figure out how when you price out any car part by part, it seems like the car should cost a lot more than it does.
Discount price when you buy hundreds, thousands, millions.
I sold car parts for 21years.I can tell you parts are worth more than the purchase price depending on how long you keep the car.
Simple. They sell the car for 30% more than manufacturing cost. This means that a single 100$ part is essentially sold for 130$ as a part of the package. But a spare part also needs to make them enough profits to cover storage costs, packaging, additional handling costs etc, so they may need to charge 70% over the original manufacturing cost to make that 30%. So you end up paying 170$. And if they charge 70% for all spare parts, your 40 000$ car would end up costing 50 000$ if you bought each part separately.
Very instructive as always. Exotic cars, exotic prices. Actually is called "Quattroporte" (double t).
Maserati Quatroporte? It is a Maserati! Hahahaha, forget cheap repairs.
Some brands look cool to own and ride but if something breaks you know it will probably cost just about the left over value it has.
I had an '07 QP with the F1 tranny. I was so happy when I got rid of it.
Who would abuse his Maserati like this? The interior looks awful!
Blecks
You can peel that molding and remove the debris behind it. It sits flush after.
Buy it for $5000, put the drivetrain from a Crown Victoria in it.
Trade a ferrari derived v8 for possibly the most boring v8 I can think of, brilliant.
@Car Wizard I think you can convert them to conventional Bilstein shocks or plug and play coilovers $1.3-5k range. Skyhook cancelling wires $500. I bought my mom a Quattroporte S with only 28,000mi. She’s coming from an E60 550i and this is a “shock” haha get it? Anyway, you give me courage to want to maintain these types of vehicles and not just Lexus or Toyota lol
If you can’t afford it new you can’t afford it used.
Expensive cars are expensive to fix.
Who woulda thunk it?
In further news water is wet.
So proud of the $5 carts...Mrs Wiz rolls eyes
Maybe i'm not familiar with maseratis but what does that head unit have on it that would stop me from converting that to an aftermarket double-din?
It would be a hack job, it's one of those built into the dash with a weird bezel shape. Assuming Maserati hasn't wired the damn thing into the car's brain like Volkswagen did.
@@MrJeffcoley1 At the time i was feeling lazy as to inspect a still image. The buttons on the side perform other non-radio functions so you'd be right, attempting to install an aftermarket radio is dependant on if that screen is wired into those buttons and the rest would be how carefully one would carve out and stitch together radio mounts, with the right person doing it i feel like it wouldn't be a hack job, unless you want factory spec, which how rough this car looks the former would be the route to go.
A lot of this exotic cars don't manufacturing all the parts themselves, I think the struts from some other car with quarter the price will fit, the problem is to find out what brand they are using, Ford Volvo Toyota..... VW etc
Endless money pit
If you spend that money to fix up a car like this you know that the work has been done. This is why project cars make sense.
Wizard, back in 1970 I could have purchased from an aquatint a 1967 XKE Jaguar for 2000$ US. money, it had a bad transmission. Yes the car was in the USA. but because it was of foreign manufacture my father advised me not to buy it due to getting parts for it. I guess it still holds true. I also know you are talking about a different caliber car. Now if I could only find my driver and my keys to my Silver Gost, that’s right , Lennon had it painted with flowers.
Have you heard about coilovers ? For this car you get a full kit (4pcs) for about 1k.
Same kind of coolant tank as in my Alfa 166. Thankfully my interior is about a 8/10 with only minor issues to fix (A, B and C pillar fabric glue failure). I've fixed all sticky plastics.
E bay has 4 struts for 1400, motor mount 200 dollars. Used strut 300. Where you getting your quotes from?
Good point weezerd!!! "Parts for a $200,000 car."
Thank you Wizard and Mrs. Thank you for the warning on parts $$$ for exotic cars. This is why the value of cars of $50k is half the value in a few years.
Next on Hoovie's Garage: my roached out '07 Maserati Quatroporte!😂😂
Kudos to the customer for recognizing the things they can't do and paying for a good professional to do right. They could have gone to some cheap mechanic that would have botched the job instead or worse looked at a video and thought 'I can do that', tried themselves, quit part way through and THEN go looking for a mechanic.
@16:02 That sometimes works with old Mercs because of the heritage program.
Reminds me of when Hoovie bought a Porsche and put an LS motor in the back, his comment was, he should’ve just put a Porsche engine in. Whatever you do, it’s going to cost a lot of money.
Apollo porch lol
Edmund's report the full value of this vehicle with normal mileage (less than 130,000) in EXCELLENT condition is only approx. $12,000. Doesn't take long to wipe out any savings on bargain purchase when replacing $2,000 struts. Oh, and Car max offered $4,000 to buy it, LOL.
Yes, there is the saying: “there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes”
I appreciate that by fixing up an old car, well that's one more car on the road, one more car that has been saved.
The wizard is pointing out that the price might end up being about the same in the end, but in the end there will also have been a car rescued from the scrap yard.
That's not nothing!
2:38 Wizard, you better save that clip. The Mrs says it's your car, that's evidence right there...😉😁
"That's more than I paid for the car!" Made think of how bad Ca. has become---I'm paying more for the ANNUAL registration on my '56 than I paid for the car. (Not a joke.)
Honestly it looks like a well-built car I would feel comfortable working on it