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Well, it made it far enough to get to my house and that's all I needed it to do. It gets picked up tomorrow by Vaccar and the next time I drive it, it'll be the 6 speed from a FoST.
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Well, the TC is on it's way to Florida. Late morning the Vaccar guys met me at a Walmart that is near my house and loaded it up. They had their two cars from SEMA on the trailer, a Veloster and a Focus ST, as well as a chase vehicle that they use for driving around in Vegas during the show rather than having to unhitch the truck and whatnot. It was just Aaron and his father Carl, so 3 vehicles on the trailer and one following on the road. They are serious road warriors.
The two show cars as it was when I showed up:
The Veloster and the TC:
The TC up on the trailer with the FoST:
I spent a good two hours talking with them while they loaded up and reconfigured and whatnot. I've spent quite a bit on the phone with both of them over the past couple of months already, but it was great to meet them in person - really great guys. They are fully excited about this project.
Some interesting news from them that came from SEMA...they were at a Ford Corporate dinner a few evenings ago and told some folks about my TC project, and some Ford people were very interested in it and said they wanted to 'follow' the build. So, there is some potential out there to get some Ford support on this possibly - we'll see if/how it pans out. There is even the possibility that this could become a SEMA car for next year. For now, this is all at the level of people shooting the shit and being excited about cars together, but they are the right people to make that kind of thing happen if it were going to happen so we'll see. Even if ultimately Ford doesn't donate a bunch of free parts, they do like the project and want to facilitate it so getting technical support and speeding up special orders and such is at the very least in the cards.
We're still hunting for the ST donor vehicle. I've got a bead on one in MA, we'll see if that one pans out. But, a big step taken today in getting the TC into Vaccar's hands and meeting with them personally.
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Maybe Ford could offer a nice discount price on an RS powertrain
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If they want to pay for it, I'd be happy to do a TC version of the Godzilla Juke that Nissan did a few years ago...otherwise we'll be sticking to the TCST plan.
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dotmaster206 wrote:
Some interesting news from them that came from SEMA...they were at a Ford Corporate dinner a few evenings ago and told some folks about my TC project, and some Ford people were very interested in it and said they wanted to 'follow' the build. So, there is some potential out there to get some Ford support on this possibly - we'll see if/how it pans out. There is even the possibility that this could become a SEMA car for next year. For now, this is all at the level of people shooting the shit and being excited about cars together, but they are the right people to make that kind of thing happen if it were going to happen so we'll see. Even if ultimately Ford doesn't donate a bunch of free parts, they do like the project and want to facilitate it so getting technical support and speeding up special orders and such is at the very least in the cards.
I'm curious what you hear from Ford. I'm not well enough versed on our social media policies to say more than that *laugh*
I think I can say I work in Ford Performance.
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I'm curious as well...ask around inside your office and see if you can goose my project a bit from the inside!
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One month since an update. Let's have it.
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Right. Not a whole lot of movement - we're still looking for a donor vehicle. They've narrowed the search criteria a bit further to 2013/2014 FoSTs. The reason is that for 2015, the wiring harness changed which would add a bunch of work and expense.
There are a couple of good candidates out there on Copart, but they don't have sale dates set yet. Sometimes it takes a while for them to get the title and everything sorted out, so they sit for a month or two. The Vaccar guys are also keeping an eye on auctions local to them in Florida, but nothing has popped up down there yet. It's very much a hurry up and wait situation. Once we have the donor car, things will move much faster. But I've got to be patient for now.
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I just stumbled across this, awesome to have the unabridged version! Also crazy to see how many cool projects have popped up around a small wagon forum!
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Sad news this weekend. I had a good car in my sights at auction on Copart in the North Boston area. I got set up with an account to bid through a broker and everything.
Phil ( that guy) went and looked at it and took a bunch of pictures and video for me. It seemed like a great option.
Unfortunately, I did not understand Copart's system well enough and lost it. I had prebid $4,000 on it and was the high bidder at $3,650. Copart will auto bid for you in $50 incriments up to your specified limit. When the live auction started, someone else was bidding on it as well. Once it got up to $4,000, my autobidding stopped. But I couldn't manually bid either. The other guy won it for $4k.
It turns out the reason is that Copart considers prebids and live bids as separate bids. So, since my account was only authorized to bid on one car at a time, my goose was cooked as soon as I made a pre-bid. I should have prebid my absolute maximum limit for that car - probably $4,500. I may have still lost it. Maybe not, though. So, still waiting.
In the meantime, Vaccar is keeping an eye on local auctions in Florida as well. I'm staying patient.
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Bummer man, but good you're finding stuff.
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http://morgantown.craigslist.org/cto/5908065402.html
What about this? You may be able to negotiate! This is about 2.5 hours from me.
Last edited by mbandi (2017-01-15 14:05:36)
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Woah, hey! That's a possible hit right there!
Emailing!
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Okay, looks like that ST in Reedsville that mbandi found is still available. That's good news.
Any thoughts from anyone on how to complete this transaction safely for all parties (if we get to that point)? Would Paypal be enough protection? Or do I need to find some kind of escrow service?
I bought my 9-2x sight unseen through this forum, but in that case I bought it in person and it was through the forum, not Craigslist. So, I haven't done anything quite like this before.
The way this would go down, I think, would be that I send the money somehow and he sends me the title and a bill of sale somehow. I would then have the car picked up by an auto shipper and moved to Florida to get gutted. Getting myself to Reedsville to make the deal work is pretty much a non-starter, I think. It's not near any major metropolitan areas, even if I could afford the time/cost of flying there and make those logistics work.
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I'd look for something that's been hit harder- that thing is basically fixable with $200 in metal and a new bumper skin, so you're paying a pretty hefty premium for a whole lotta stuff you won't recoup any money on.
Also, be sure your Copart broker isn't going to charge you some bullshit membership fee for keeping your account open with them. I had an "issue" with the slimeball I used.
In your case, should you decide to move forward with the purchase of that car, there are a lot variables depending on the status of the title the person is holding. The broker we used for Copart didn't process the title properly and we had multiple visits just to get a salvage title into our name.
Sorry, nothing helpful from me I guess, just more reinforcement that there is a lot to go wrong here.
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Certainly understood re: this car, although I think I do have a decent shot at it. It may seem like a pretty cheap/easy repair job to get it back on the road, but it was totaled for a reason. Front airbags deployed, needs a complete new fascia including headlights and all the bracketry up front. Additionally, I'll recoup some of the cost back by selling the body pieces and whatnot that I don't need for the van. It's definitely in the right ballpark for what I need.
My Copart broker is pretty legit - they're charging me $50 for a year to hold an account with them. They've been very responsive and helpful via email and phone so far, I'm pretty pleased. They are Cleveland Power and Performance (and buywreckedcars.com) - little plug if anyone else is interested in Copart auction vehicles. I can't speak to their title and paperwork process after actually making a purchase as I haven't gotten there yet, but so far I've been really happy with them. The salvage world is definitely a minefield - no question about that.
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I bought a front hit Fiesta last January. That Focus is a cakewalk compared to it.
Anyway, I didn't notice that one of the photos in that listing was from a dealer.
Googled them, came up with this
http://www.huffmansauto.com/listing/ford-focus-st/
At least knowing they're a dealer, they'd hopefully be able to get it onto a truck for you.
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Ouch, thats nine hours from Boston, I guess i'm out too. Kind of a dead spot in the country as far as our friends are concerned too. Maybe do a shout out on here somehow to see if someone would be close and willing to visit it?
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Is that what you're looking for, someone to look at it?
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There has to be someone from PA on this forum or perhaps another forum you post that would be willing to help. Although that does look like bumfuck PA looking on a map. I didn't even know it was in PA until I looked it up.
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If you found a wrecked RS, could you swap the AWD drivetrain into the van?
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cjaama wrote:
There has to be someone from PA on this forum or perhaps another forum you post that would be willing to help. Although that does look like bumfuck PA looking on a map. I didn't even know it was in PA until I looked it up.
I thought it was WV, not PA.
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It's in WV near Morgantown and WVU.
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bentmettle wrote:
I bought a front hit Fiesta last January. That Focus is a cakewalk compared to it.
Anyway, I didn't notice that one of the photos in that listing was from a dealer.
Googled them, came up with this
http://www.huffmansauto.com/listing/ford-focus-st/
At least knowing they're a dealer, they'd hopefully be able to get it onto a truck for you
Yeah, I saw that too. It is another option on the table, certainly. The seller apparently bought the ST at Huffmans Auto, along with another car, planning on fixing both up and selling them. He fixed up one, and apparently nobody who came to look at it knew how to drive manual, so he decided he'd try to sell this one before fixing up instead. Cutting his losses I guess.
Phodgkins wrote:
Ouch, thats nine hours from Boston, I guess i'm out too. Kind of a dead spot in the country as far as our friends are concerned too. Maybe do a shout out on here somehow to see if someone would be close and willing to visit it?
Yeah it's in Nowheresville, USA. It's gonna be a remote purchase, if anything. I talked with the Vaccar guys today about it and they are planning a trip to Ohio (where their other shop is located and where they are from originally) for the first week of February. If the timing works for the seller, they may be able to divert to PA to pick up this car on their way back to Florida. That would be nice.
mbandi wrote:
Is that what you're looking for, someone to look at it?
It would be great to get some eyes on it, but I don't want to ask too much - I know you're quite a long trek away from there...
I also don't have the seller's address or phone number even at this point. He has been fairly responsive so far, though - sent two videos of the car running less than 24 hours after I requested one, so that is a good sign at least. He's a man of few words.
If you'd be willing to make that drive though, I'd be more than happy to pay for your fuel costs or whatever. I do feel a little guilty, though. I already got Phodgkins out to a Copart lot on that auction that I lost due to my lack of knowledge on the technical details of pre-bidding...
Pyromancy5 wrote:
If you found a wrecked RS, could you swap the AWD drivetrain into the van?
This is a question I get a lot. I would say that technically the answer is...sure. Given enough time and money, you could do that. But the real answer is no, I absolutely could not do that. The difference is this:
What I'm doing: swapping a FoST motor with a 6MT into the TC, which is already set up for FWD, is on the same Global C platform as the Focus, and is sold with that FWD transmission in Europe so things like the pedal box, transmission tunnel, mounts, etc. already exist for that stuff on the frame
What you're talking about doing: putting a highly technical/complex/software intensive AWD system into the TC which doesn't have any of the supporting framework in place
I'd expect the cost difference to be on the order of maybe 10x. It would be a massive undertaking. It would be awesome, but not 10x more awesome. Also I don't have 10x the money anyway.
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