Like I said, some people have no problem buying salvaged vehicles, you're obviously one of them.
But then, you didn't actually say that you would buy one, now did you?
My post is simply me saying "Buyer beware". Take it for what ever you think it's worth.
But now I know (thanks to Yodaforce) to stay away from North Carolina Dealer Auctions.

 

I have a brother inlaw owns his own body shop. On the side he rebuilds cars & then sells them ! He always picks the ones that fix easy not much damage for a total !! He does list them as rebiulds by law !! Great cars has one or two for shop loaners all the time !!! Some are really like new with low miles on them cause insurance companies like to total new ones pretty fast for some reason !!! So there are many people who dont mind buying rebuilds as long as they know wht there buying !!!!!! Thats all Im saying lots of people sell on the up & up !!!!

 

Well, just to clear the air, these cars are not going up for sell until I get to put some miles on them. I got them to drive, not to shove out onto a lot with a price tag.
Second of all, I have rebuilt other salvage vehicles, and I have divulged all of the build history, pictures, etc..., because I'm not ashamed to sell a rebuilt vehicle. I'm very proud of the work I do, and I enjoy showing the possibilties. I have actually never met another person who would SHOW what was done as far as repairs. They would just tell teh buyer "It needed a new fender and bumper..." or so on and so on, never mentioning that the whole subframe had been replaced or pulled 10 inches and a whole new suspension setup. The truth is, in our recent economy, it is a booming business to purchase these "totaled" vehicles and sell them at a decent price. It IS up to the buyer to be able to verify the quality of repairs before purchasing a salvage title vehicle, and since most do not have a clue as to what to look for, that's a good selling point to actually document all of the repairs so you can educate them and show them what and how it was done. Alot of people cannot afford a brand new or even slightly used 2010 vehicle, but when I can pick one up with very low miles and slight damage from auctiona dn rebuild it and sell it at a lower price, while still earning profit for all of my invested time and money, then we both can be happy.
I am not in the car business. I may sell one to three vehicles a year. My business is Hot Rods and custom cars. I build and modify other peoples cars. I'm happier that way.

 

I think everyone needs to chill out and stop worrying about what you may or may not be doing. I am sure everything you do is honest. I think it is great that you are giving these cars a second chance. If my car was smacked like these I would want it fixed. I would rather spend the 5K to fix my car then just get a check from the insurance company. I personally think the insurance company is too quick in totalling our cars. If the car can be brought back to life and looks good while it drives great (like it once did) then what is the big deal?

Now if the car fell in the ocean or a lake, that is a different story! But you are talking about an accident with some cosmetic damage here.

 

Great to hear what you are doing for the XF, but I do have a question.

Will any of these XFs receive any 'custom' treatment while at your shop being reborn? I, for one, have not been able to stay away from *tastefully* modifying my XF, and if I worked on customs and one offs all day, I would definitely want to do something to the cross to make it stand out.....

 

No custom work at the present time, mainly due to funds. It has been expensive enough to just fix it. I would love to do something different, but maybe down the road. Especially something to raise it's value. Your XF is pretty awesome. Very nice!
I may try to slip in some mods on one of the other XF's if I can get it by the wife.

 

Thank you for the compliment. I can tell you what I would love to see, and maybe down the road, if the right wreck came in, it could come to pass...

The Targa XF. I think the coupe would be so mean in a targa, with the entire section being removable, but only if done correctly (ie: no leaks and a sleek look LOL) and with your shop, you make be the guy to be able to do it. After seeing a solstace coupe with the targa roof, I was hooked (just don't want a 4 cylinder and a dead car company to come with the deal...)

 

Great work yoda'!

 

I think a Targa would be cool. Open air without the soft top of a convertible. Great idea. Anythings possible, it's just metal and some rubber!
I wouldn't mind (if the RIGHT wreck presented itself) building a Hemi/Prostreet XF either, or a caged pro-touring track car with a Nascar style V8. Alot of possibilities, given the parts become more plentiful that is.

 

Yoda you got any cracked headlights laying around i would like to have a set i can remove the clear housing from( as i'm not going to put it back on ) but i want the mount housing to be usable ??? just wondering

 

Nope. All the spare lights I have are busted up pretty bad, housings that is. The lenses actually survived pretty well, but not the rest of it.

 

Very cool work Yoda, I love the idea of saving them. Lots of posibilities here. I am in Spartanburg and would like to come by and meet you. I will send a PM to set up a time. As for the chatter about buying a rebuild, my wife bought one while I was working on the road. I was upset when I got back and found out it was a rebuild. Long story short...it turned out to be a reliable suburban.She made a better deal than I ever made. She paid 8k drove it for 4 years and got 8k when she traded it. Maybe we were lucky, but I think it depends on selecting the right project car and then on the quality of the rebuild.Keep up the good work.

 

Targa has been done before. There was a crossfire for sale on ebay once. They chopped off the top. A real hack job but I am sure it wouldn't have been as bad if they did a good job with it. I am pretty sure the car was a salvage.

 

Yeah, as with any car, salvage or not, when it comes to repairs of any kind being made, it has to be quality work. I have seen alot of people do really "low budget" repair work, on customer cars and cars they would repair to sell. It's sad but true. My own daughter purchased a car last year and wasn't told it had a salvage title, until her new copy of the title came in the mail. She said the guy just told her that he had painted it and replaced a fender where there was "some damage". I looked it over and could not really find too much wrong with it, until she drove it off a cliff and rolled it twice. Long story short, I rebuilt the car (considering that I could and it allready had a salvage title on it) and it's still a good car. There wasn't much I could do about the lot that sold her the car and didn't divulge the important information due to some rules in SC. Oh well. Lesson learned. I built the car better than it was before. I wasn't too happy about the "scrapyard" airbag sensor he had put in the car, but if the bag had've gone off in her accident, she could've been hurt worse (other than a few little pieces of glass in her knee which is all she walked away with). God was with her that day.

 

Have seen it, several times. This is why I stressed, done WELL.

The lines of the coupe are so much more elegant the lines of the roadster, IMO. A targa, done well, would be a true show stopper

 

Update! Well she's about 98% done now. I have to locate some driving lights and front side markers, and a little cut-n-buff here and there. I've got a guy coming over next week (hopefully) to drop in a new windsheild.
Diverse Customs: Chrysler Crossfire

 

What's wrong with the one you got in there right now? I can't see any cracks.

Looks pretty amazing, just looks like you need the trim pieces, which I can tell you will be hard to get/may be expensive.

 

Well someone (after the accident) tried to raise the hood all the way up and forced the pass. corner of the hood into the glass, cracking it all the way across, about 3" up from the bottom.
I have the trim, it's just wrapped up in the back waiting for the glass. I painted it bodycolor. Didn't like the silver.

 

Well it's done (or has been for about a week now), and wow! I drove it for the first time and it is really fun to drive. What is the "w & s" by the shifter? And how does the headlight switch work? It turns both ways, pulls out, and there's a blue light to the lower left. I don't have a manual, so I'm just guessing. How do I turn on the fog lights?

 

turn on the fog lights by pulling out the switch.... turn the switch one to the right for running lights and all the way for head lights..... turn the switch to the left and you get either left or right side markers on for when you are parked with engine off....

the W/S is for Winter(starts out in 2nd gear) and Summer(starts out in 1st gear)...