In the process of looking to buy an 81-87

[stavendirtbike]

I just sold my 78 f150 for $4000 and am in the process of looking to buy an 81-87 chevy 2wd shortbed. What I've noticed, after looking for some time, every chevy I looked at in my state of Connecticut, has been rotted out junk! I'm really just considering buying a cleaner truck down south or out west, but not too far. I found many nice trucks on ebay, in the southern states. Have any of you guys bought a vehicle out of state before? These trucks are quite far from CT, ones I'm interested in are from Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and one out in Tennesee. Would you recommend flying down and driving the truck up? These trucks, from what I've seen on the computer, seem very road worthy enough to make a long distance trip back to ct. I'm a little hesitant on doing this, but I do have a weeks vacation coming up. Seems like if I want an older truck, that's presentable, I will have to travel for it. My Ford I lucked out completely, it was local, and the body and mechanics of the truck were excelent. Not something you find everyday in New England, for the price I paid for it.

[Lt.Del]

There absolutely nothing wrong with flying to another state.  If you fly, you might as well make it worth while....like goint to TX or AZ, where there is a negative amount of humidity.  Go ahead and make quite a trip while doing it.

I live in sweet Ole Virginny and flew to Phoenix to pick up my 91 Suburban http://www.delbridge.net/suburban.  I think I am the first one to ever use the windshield wipers and the heater!  There simply is no rain or snow (which means no salt!) anywhere down there.  I am exagerating slightly. But the point is, you would have to search high and low to find a vehicle with any rust down there, if it is native to AZ or Tx or OK or NM. I bought my sub about two years ago and I swear it could've passed for beinig brand new as far as the frame and body and under the hood were concerned.

I drove back home along interstate 40, hopping off a few times to get on ole route 66.   Made a stop in Oklahoma city and saw the bombing site.   Stopped in Nashville and visited with my aunt and uncle.  Then drove it straight to the Chesapeake Bay where my dad was putting rip rap around his shore line at his river house.  Four days of driving. I love every minute of it.

Gas aint cheap, but then again, nothing worth doing is cheap.

[joesgarage71]

 SGTDel
 What did you do for insurance and plates?

[77c15]

I agree with del on this one...I live in South Carolina and some of the trucks here are horrible. Lower fender, cab rockers, and wheel well rust left and right. You'd be suprised what a little bondo and a good paint guy can cover up for a couple hundred dollars. My truck looked great until I lowered it and scraped the fenders one time, then the big chunk of bondo on the passenger fender fell off and left a gaping hole. Then, during the bed swap, I came down too fast with the cherry picker and wound up with stress cracks along the bondo line above the wheel opening. I paid $1500 for a POS bondo truck with a 307 that had 350 heads on it and leaked oil from every cavity and had a smoked trans. Great buy, yeah right! TN is bad about rust, too with all the snow. Florida isn't so bad, but the humidity anywhere in that state will kill you if you stay out of the a/c long enough. I'd travel to Texas or Arizona, personally, for a prime example. Nothing worth doing, if it's not done right. California guys seem to think all of their trucks are gold, so don't try that state. Considering you're in CT, i'd take a truck from Houston or Waco and head East towards florida and take I-95/I-85 home. It took me about 9 hours to get from SC to Deleware in a Malibu rental car loaded with IROC camaro parts I was delivering. Sweet trip, and you get to make pitstops at all the major landmarks (D.C., Baltimore, etc.)

[Lt.Del]

Hey, if you ever travel I-95, I am only two miles west in Richmond. 
Insurance: just tell your agent that you are flying down to pick up you new vehicle.  They may want the make/year/model.  But that is all my agent needed. I told him the day I would start driving it. He later got the VIN number and stuff.  No big deal.

YOu can get temp tags, depending on what state you live in.  Just call your DMV. Call the seller for the VIN number first. Or, perhaps the state where sold may have temp tags.  You may have to have a bill of sale first though.

I bought my sub from a dealer down in Phoenix...a guy traded it in for a new vehicle.  I received temp AZ tags til i got back to Virginia and registered it.

 You may be able to borrow the former owners tags, just have a contract that he is not liable. You can rent it from him until a specified date, then, have a sold date when you can go to your dmv and get it registered and pay the taxes on it.

Nothing to it. Where there is a will there is a way.



 

[pcmcobra]

I live in NW Florida, found my 86 up in Georgia, north of Atlanta.
Flew up there, and drove it home. About a 6 hour ride... I used the back of a plastic license plate and wrote "tag applied for"...
As for insurance, my policy had me covered, I called and asked before I drove it home.

[VileZambonie]

Where in CT are you from? I live in CT also and there's a short bed down the street for sale that looks pretty clean but I'm sure it's gonna go fast. I almost went for it but my topless Blazer is next priority again. Plus I'm spending $20K on a Harley

[red4wd]

If I were in the market for a truck right now I would definately be willing to fly some where to pick one up that had more potential than the trucks in my area.  Unless you are planning on doing an engine swap i.e. LT1 or Vortec I would seriously consider only going with an 87 model.  I am not sure about all insurance companies but State Farm automatically covers a vehicle for a certain period of time from purchase. 

[stavendirtbike]

Yea, after thinking about it I think I really just want the 87 with tbi. I had a carb'd truck and it just really wasn't efficient, and cold starting is horrible.

[stavendirtbike]

I found what appears to be a clean looking 83 and it's not too far from me in New Hampshire.

I contacted the dealer and they are going to check some things for me such as if it has the overdrive transmission (I believe the 700r4 came in these trucks beginning in 83?), also, if the engine has been modded, I would like a fairly stock engine. I've never dealt with dealerships but they are a bit too steap I think on the price at $4950. Overall it looks good from that one picture, I love the paint scheme, but they are going to be sending more pics and info. What you guys think?

[Lt.Del]

If the undercarriage is not rusted and is in great shape (remember, a paint job can cover a lot of abnormalities), I'd offer a grand less---dealerships will always come down on the price.  If you have cash, it helps too.
Remeber also that this is a carbed engine.  If you want TBI, you would have to change the fuel pump, lines, manifold, etc..

You should also factor in the fact that you don't have to pay for a plane ticket somewhere else...if you were to buy from another state. That save money.

[stavendirtbike]

Yes, these are things I have to look for. As for the carb'd engine, if it has the 700r4 transmission, and the engine is fairly stock, from what I've read here, and on fueleconomy.gov, even the pre-87 carb'd 2wd chevy's get close to 20 on the highway. The 78 ford I had I think was plagued with cold start issues due to the elec. holley junk choke that I could never get right. I have driven many stock ford and chevy carb'd era cars/trucks and they run and start fine in cold temps with the stock carb setups.

[Captkaos]

700R4 started in 1982.  Of course all of them up to about 87 were horrible, but with their age the original one should be long gone by now.
Price isn't unreasonable, but I would never offer a dealership what they are asking.  The probably gave less than $2500 for it if it came in on trade.

[stavendirtbike]

Guys, it does have the auto overdrive and the pics of the truck look decent. I'm going to post a few more here. The price on the windows are higher than the 4950 listed on the internet. I'm going to offer them $3950. Does that sound fair? Also, if you notice, it looks like a wiper blade is missing :-)

[Lt.Del]

That would be a good price if it drives decent.  They'll try to go up from your offer to about 4500, be prepared, hold your ground.  Again, cash talks.