Very handy little cars (I’ve had two of that generation), but the price, like the seller’s claim that it is “rare,” is somewhere between aspirational and downright delusional for this car as found. Even garage-kept and in showroom condition, I’d be reluctant to pay eight large.

Took the words out of my mouth. I think that in California (where CNG was once pretty big in fleet service—think Crown Vics, not Civics), it’s a visual inspection every three years or 36,000 miles, after any accident above some threshold, and after any vehicle fire... and when the manufacturer’s nameplate  lifetime…

>student mechanic

Yeah, unless they’re Japanese stickers, or the dealer/importer bought it back from a previous US owner after considerable use, they’re probably just (literally) window dressing.

If* this truck is as good as described and the seller is reasonable to deal with, I am amazed that it has languished on the market 28 days at that ask in a metro area of 18 million.

I’m hearing different advice whispered into each ear:

It’s also a breach of trust! You take care of a thing and then it breaks down on you??? “KHAAAAAA(n)!!!!

Government attorneys can and do file civil actions, not just criminal ones.

Since it’s in the hands of a dealer, I’m surprised the asking price isn’t 2-3x that in search of a nostalgia market.

A couple of decades ago, when living in the Bay Area, I used to see fruitwood fireplace wood advertised all the time. Perhaps increasing constraints on fireplace use in urban areas reduced this market?

if its for the “Rolling Coal” for the life of me I do not understand how these are legal and safe?

Somewhere between 1 and 364 days from now—even the latter is probably faster than the legislature could turn around on changes—he’ll be 13 and within reach of the system. Hope springs a leak eternal that this means adjudicated and enforced actual help for whatever psychological problems are driving this behavior,…

In that condition and at that price, I’m not surprised the ad is down already. As long as it shows no signs of the supercharger and/or the transmission being ready to go (and I’d look at those as negotiation points rather than show stoppers), this is the easiest NP in a long while.

ND with a plate of fava beans

The market for these is all over the place. This example (significantly, from the years of a slightly larger and fuel injected engine) might command this price, but it had better be fully worthy of those claimed concours wins.

Or the seller is a flipper, or the heir of the deceased owner, or a dealer who took it in trade. Saying that the money was spent, and saying he personally spent it, are two different things.

Could it be the actual press car?

Seventeen grand (down from twenty) for a car so badly in need of frame-off restoration that he’s even willing to sell you a new frame?

The well-worn exclamation-point key seem to belong to a dealer called Bid2Own Wholesale, so what they really know firsthand about the car and its past are good questions. (Well, we can safely assume that what they’re asking is a fair bit north of what they paid...)

I stopped there once, ages ago, to get a cup of coffee and see what it is like. There was a sign much like this regarding their coffee prices. I more vaguely recall some prominent interior reflection of the owner’s hobby (maybe a lot of fish tanks?) as well.