My son has asked me to check over this 76 Elky on Saturday.
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/1023566916.html
From the pics and meager description, it looks like a decent car. Of course, pictures and ads can be deceiving, and inspection in person is needed.
The seller says that there is a rust repair in the tailgate, you can see it lurking there in the rear shot. 85K miles. Needs paint(?)
I'm leery of the "custom diamond plate bed". That may translate into "the bottom of the bed was rotted totally away, so I...".
Asking price is $2600, but I really don't have a clue what a 76 is worth in any condition. The price seems reasonable to me if it is as decent as it looks in the pics and sound mechanically. Assuming it is, is that price in the ballpark or out in left field somewhere?
Opinions?

I'm leery of the "custom diamond plate bed". That may translate into "the bottom of the bed was rotted totally away, so I...".
Spoken like a ture northern ohioian. I feel the same as you about this car. If its from ohio and has been painted white or dove gray I would go over that car with a fine tooth magnet.
the 2,600 asking price doesn't seem bad but I would looking at the body carefully.
good luck!

man this is too much for that year car. you can get similar cars with out much rust or any for less 1,500 bucks all day long here in cali.

Here in Michigan, that truck would be in really rough shape by now unless it was stored in the winter. The tailight wiring was always a problem too.

If it checks out mechanically. it looks like it would be fun first car for your son. If the body is rough it will make a good project/daily driver for him.

I don't know the values on 76s. But if that thing needs as much work as it sounds like it will, your son would be better off buying something in better condition. Because he will have put too much $ into this car for what it will be worth when its finished.

I don't know the values on 76s. But if that thing needs as much work as it sounds like it will, your son would be better off buying something in better condition. Because he will have put too much $ into this car for what it will be worth when its finished.

I don't know, yet, how much work it needs. We're headed over to check it out today. If it needs a lot of work, it will stay where it's at. Realistically, any 33 year old consumer item is only worth it's weight in scrap to most folks. It's really not about resale value vs repair on something like this.


The seller answered a couple of questions via e-mail:
-The interior is black leather. ~2" tear in the driver seat.
-Power windows, locks, tilt, cruise all working
- AC works but has a compressor shaft seal leak (Imagine that)
-The diamond plate in the bed is for a built in cooler and spare tire/jack carrier. (??) The bed floor is intact.
-Odometer reads 75K (not 85K, my mistake). Title says "beyond mechanical limit". If it's 175K, I'll pass :noway:.
It sounds interesting, but it could still be a rag underneath. We'll see.

Thanks for all the input fellas.

The problems with those year body styles is that the parts are a little hard to come by. They are not the preferred years for Elky's. I agree with Alfred ref to ballpark price. If all is good then 2000 would be about right max.

when i bought my 70, it had a 'custom diamond plate floor' in it too, the factory floor was completely rotted out underneath with just a piece of diamond plate stuck over top, so it could be a good idea ot look inot that pretty well

Well, I looked the car over. It looks "pretty good". It came from the Texas coast and has been here for 6 years. It's had some sheetmetal replaced at some point (core support, battery tray, other front pieces. No sign of collision damage, I'm thinking old (80s) partial resto. The seller bought it and hasn't done much but stare at it in the garage for 6 years. He did exhaust and and some crappy "body work".

The diamond plate in the bed is covering the bed floor, but looking underneath, there was no visible rot in the bed floor. They covered over the smugglers cove behind the seat and made 2 hatches in the bed for access. This caused 2 quarter sized rust holes, one in each corner of the cove area.
The seller sanded some surface rust and dents in various spots and smeared bondo over it and retouched the crappy white paint. Everything else appeared solid. It passed the "magnet test" in the suspect areas. Inner door bottom seams and lower front fenders are juuuusst starting to flake rust. Easy, but PITA, fix if done real soon.

The interior is pretty nice black imitation leather. The dash has been hacked for an aftermarket radio and someone started painting the removable pieces white, ricer style. It has a gauge dash with the "Economy" vacuum gauge instead of a Tach (I'd forgotten all about those goofy things).

I'm thinking the odometer is accurate at 75K. The steering/suspension parts are original and tight. The 350/4bbl runs like a top with new dual exhaust and Flowmasters. All fairly new Goodyear rubber, new shocks and springs.

We had crappy weather and snow today so I didn't drive it, but I will as weather permits. Just in chatting with the guy he dropped the price to 2400 without really asking, I think I've got room for more.:D
If it drives ok, shifts good and I can score it for 2-2100, I think I'll tell Boy Wonder to buy it if that's what he wants. He likes it a lot but wasn't really prepared for the size. He's used to seeing his sisters 78 Elky, fair a giant among "modern" cars, but diminutive compared to a 76.
His first reaction seeing it was "Oh crap, that's really big! :D
I figure Tune up, oil change, coolant flush, some other minor repairs and it's a solid daily driver for 3-4 years with upkeep. Add money for a decent body/paint job and it could be a sweet cruiser for quite a while, but that's up to my son.

Sounds like you gave it a good going-over. Good luck with the follow up.

Sounds like you gave it a good going-over. Good luck with the follow up.

Thanks.
I need to look at a few other things when I drive it. I just realized I didn't look at the brake and fuel lines. I was too busy looking for rust in other places.

Sounds like you found a decent find for him.

Just an update:
I drove the car on Sunday and was really disappointed. (Yuck, what a turd!)
The motor mounts are toast which transmitted the vibration from a dead cylinder into the passenger compartment under acceleration. That, in turn, revealed all of the loose, rattly interior parts. The tranny slipped after a hard stop and restart.
I suspect that the dead hole is from crapped up plugs due to the bad choke pulloff (that I knew about)........but it might not be.
The trans fluid wasn't even showing on the stick, so that's why it slipped. It didn't smell burnt, so the trans is probably ok, albeit leaky from somewhere.

The rattly interior was from screws that weren't installed/fell out after an interior change and various sound system installs. The driver door panel is from a 4 door/wagon with power windows, the 2 Elky switches kinda ed around in the hole. The whole dash "clunked" on minor bumps in the road. The whole car seemed to shudder and rattle on bumps at about 35 mph, so the body mounts are about rock hard and loose.

I would pay about $15-1800 for the car and take my chances on the motor as a "project" car, but $2400 is really out of touch for even a "beater" El Camino driver. I left an offer of $1600 just in case, but I doubt I'll hear from the seller. He paid $2400 6 years ago, before the new exhaust and tires . He's pretty much stuck with it until he just want's it gone for what he can get.

Oh well, We're still looking.

A test drive can be a real eye opener.