Hello! So I've been looking around for a first car to buy, and when I came across a 1980 Avenger it was love at first sight. However, I don't know much about cars so I had a look around on the internet to try and find some info on it, and discovered this website! So I was wondering if anyone could help me with a few questions, and just give the specs a going over to make sure I'm hopefully not buying a lemon?
Specs:
Chrysler Avenger 1.3 GL 1980
141,000kms
4 cylinder, 1295cc, Manual
4 door
Aaand here's the seller's description:
Chrysler Avenger 1.3 GL 1980
Two lady owners (plus dealer).
My wife has owned this car since 1990 and the 141,156km travelled is genuine.
Has been regularly serviced.
Electronic Ignition
New Front tyres 3,000km ago
New diff. Pinion Seal at 138,820km.
New front Wheel Bearings at 139,919km.
6-July-2010 - New SLA battery ($160.00)
20-Dec-2010 - New Fuel Pump (Wasnt needed though)
11-Jan-2011 - New Diaphragm in Carburettor
New Rear Muffler
Compression Check:- All between 160psi/11.3kg and 175psi/12.3kg.
(with-in manufacturers specifications)
Notes:- The trip meter is not working.
There is a small amount of play in the right end bush of the steering rack, but OK for WOF.
Some cracks in the dash board plastic - see photos.
Small dents in L. Rear door near hinge and rear bumper. See photos.
All doors open and shut nicely.
And things I want to know:
Does it seem ok?
Are Avenger's reliable?
If something does go wrong, how easy is it to get parts etc?
How economical is it on gas - or how many litres per 100kms?
I think that's it for now but I'll reply to this post if I think of anything else I want to know. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm so out of my debth here and I don't want to be scammed or anything haha.
Thank you!
Hi Scout, Is that the Avenger on trademe? I put some links to it in the for sale section.
I saw that car this morning an I think it is awesome and at $900 it is a steal.
First to answer your questions.
Does it seem ok?
Yes it seems a very tidy Avenger.
Are Avenger's reliable?
Yes, if well maintained. I have owned Avengers for over 15 years and I have had very little problems with them except on my race car. If you look after them they are strong easy to work on cars.
If something does go wrong, how easy is it to get parts etc?
Yes, Parts are easy to find. Common stuff most auto stores have but anything else then we have members like "avengerparts" who sell new Avenger parts. also there is a good second hand parts scene with people wreaking old Avengers, like there are 2 parts cars on Trademe at the moment. I just did a engine rebuild on my '75 Hillman Avenger and I had no problems finding any parts new.
How economical is it on gas - or how many litres per 100kms?
They are great on gas if left stock. My old 1500 in my '75 used to get me 7L/100KM. a 1300 will be a bit better on gas than that. That was better than my old work wagon which was a 2004 Toyota Carolla 1.8 Auto. If you modify the engine then the fuel economy goes out the window. As I said my old 1500 used 7L/100KM and my new 1500 uses 12L/100KM/
Now because it will be your first car we may have something in common. My first car was a Chrysler Avenger 1.3 GL 1980. exactly the same as yours but red. I was the same, first look and I feel in love with it. I got it in about 1996 for $600 and I learnt to drive in it then drove it around for years and I loved it some much that I turned it in to a race car and raced it for years after that. I still have the car and I have no plans to get rid of it, so Avengers must be a great first car if I still have my first car 15 years later.
Over the years I have owned many Avengers and I swear by them. At the moment I have 2 of them, My original 1980 and my daily driver '75.
We have a real good group of guys and girls here who can help you out with any advice or parts you need so hopefully you join the exciting world of Avengers.
Thankyou so much, that's all so helpful! (It's Scout by the way ... not Scott :P close though! I'm a girl lol).
Another question: what does this part mean:
"Notes:- The trip meter is not working.
There is a small amount of play in the right end bush of the steering rack, but OK for WOF. "
I don't know what a trip meter is OR what it means about the steering rack, is this a big problem, or will it become a big problem?
Thankyoooou! I want it so so bad!
Haha, sorry Scout my bad. Teaches me for skim ready. I was still half asleep when I approved you account this morning so I misread it. I am Dyslexic so I often misspell or misread things.
To answer your new questions
A trip meter in like your odometer but you can reset it at the begining of a trip. It measures distance travelled so you can tell how far you have been driving that day or something. I have only ever used them for measuring how far I get on a tank of gas, I.E you reset the trip meter to zero when you full up and see what it gets up to when the tank is empty then reset it at the next full up. It is petty much useless for anything else. My Hillman Avenger or Chrysler Valiant Charger don't even have trip meters so it is nothing at all to worry about.
A small amount of play will need to be looked at some time down the track but this is part of normal maintainance of an old car. It shouldn't be too much to fix and I wouldn't let it put you off buying the car. It is small enough ammount of play to not fail a WOF so it can't be that bad but just get it checked out afterwards but know that it is just a part that wears out over time. I have replaced all my steering in all my cars and it is just a normal part of the joy of old cars.
For the age and the price of it if they are the only 2 things wrong with it then you are doing very well.
Just to give you an idea about Avenger pricing. I brought my '75 Avenger for $4,000 last year and if you read my members gallery post about it I had to do ALOT to that car to get it up to standard. The one you are looking at is really tidy for it's money and for that sort of money you would be hard pressed to find a better Avenger.
Don't worry about it, easy mistake! Yeah I found this forum late last night when I was too excited about the Avenger to sleep lol, so it was nice to wake up and see that I could post!
OH is that what the trip meter is? I know them but never realised they were called trip meters. That's no problem at all then because I doubt I would have ever used it anyway!
Good to know about the steering, if that's the only thing wrong then that's not going to put me off at all! Especially if it sells for $900, I was planning on spending more money on my first car anyway, so if it does go for only $900 I can use the rest of the money to fix it. Yay!
Thank you so much for all your help, I really appreciate it!
Glad we could help you.
Avengers are really good first cars. The little 1.3 is nice and cheap to run and won't get you in to trouble with speed or power. Avengers handle really well. Plus you get the learn in a proper car without power steering and ABS.
If you do buy it make sure you pop in and let us know. Make a post in the introduce yourself section and members galleries and keep us up to date with how the Avenger is going. And make sure you look after it and drive safely, there isn't many Avengers left out on the roads and they are great little cars so we need to keep as many on the roads and driving as possible.
Good luck with the auction and let us know how it turns out.
good luck and welcome to the forum and fingers crossed avenger ownership!!!!
my avenger is my 3rd car and its the only car ive owned that ive really liked driving. its the best thinkg ive had on petrol but sometimes you have to be prepared to spend a bit of money on it, as you would with any old car. thyre kind of like running project cars lol
They seem to be really good, everyone loves them! I thought of more questions haha, any help would again be greatly appreciated.
First question: ah yes Avenga you mentioned power steering, that's what this question is about. I've only ever driven cars with power-steering, (not that I've driven much at all) and was wondering what going to a non power steering car would be like? Will I still be able to, um, drive? Haha I obviously don't know alot about power steering.
Second question: What is the approx top speed it will sit at easily? I work/study in Christchurch but live about twenty mins/half an hour away, and there's a decent amount of 100km zones in between that I'll be driving back and forth most days. Will it be able to handle this with only 4 gears?\
Thankyou! And yes if I do get it I'll definitelybe posting in the intro section :)
Cars with no power steering are fine. All my cars have no power steering and I prefer cars not to have power steering. basically power steering really only helps in parking. Once you are moving at any speed over like 5KPH then it is just as light as a normal car. If you are in a car park and you need to turn the wheel while stationary then you will need to put a bit of arm work in to turn the steering wheel but with the big original steering wheel it shouldn't be that bad. but on the plus side you can feel the road better in cars without power steering, this meaning you get more feedback from the road and you get a better idea of what the front wheels are doing because power steering tends to damper the steering and make it feel some what disconnected from the road. Plus you can impress every one with your exceptionally large arm muscles after a while of driving it ;D
Put it this way, my Charger which is a much bigger car with out power steer was previously owned by a very petite lady and she could handle the steering on that without a problem and that is much heavier steering than the Avengers.
A 1300 sits at 100KPH fine. it probably won't want to go much over about 110-120KPH thinking back at my old 1300 but that is perfect for you because you shouldn't be speeding in such an awesome car! You should be driving safely at the speed limit which it will do fine. They do rev high on the motorway, maybe about 3,800RPM but that is fine. It is how they are designed to run. They are quite fast for their size. Hunted has a stock 1300 so you could ask him what it is like on the motorway.
Haha Avenga all these answers you are providing are so good and are helping me out too :)
Haha. I aim to please :)
Just a couple more questions that are going to make me sound like a TOTAL newbie haha, but hey I have to start somewhere. So: Do Avengers have hi-beams? Or heaters/fans insides? And whereabouts are the radio speakers? Aaand what are the circular things on each end of the dashboard?
That's okay. Best to be well informed before you buy.
Yes they do have Hi-beam just like a normal car. It is operated on the stalks just like a modern car.
Yes they do have fans, they are not as good as a modern car (No air conditioning) but they are Okay. Controls are in the middle above the radio. It should have a 2 speed fan with controls for heat and recurculation.
The Speaker for the radio is in the centre of the dashboard above the heater controls. If you look at a picture of the dashboard you will see a whole bunch of little holes. The speaker is behind that. Because it only has an AM radio most old cars only had one speaker. Both my Avengers and my Charger only had 1 speaker in the middle of the dashboard.
The circular things at the end of the dashboard are the heater/air vents. you open and close them as you would on a modern car to adjust the air flow in to the cabin.
I see, thank you! I hope it's not too hard to put a head unit in, don't know how long I could stand just an AM radio haha.
Ok so someone just asked if there was any rust on the car and the owner said no, buuut then they posted this:
"Seller Comment: Regarding previous question. My wife just pointed out that there are brown spots on the trim around the front and back windows. It may be rust, but I am not sure if the trim is metal or not. It was chrome coloured. It may just be discolouration. No holes or anything like that. You are welcome to come and have a look. Phone number on a previous post."
Do you think that will be much of a problem? I don't want to get stuck paying truckloads to get rid of rust :s
Head deck is easy to replace. I did it on my 1980 (see my members gallery thread). It uses a standard size radio so just take the old one out and replace it with any modern head deck but KEEP the old head deck because it is very rare to still have the original AM radio and the next owner might want to put it back in for originality.
By the sounds of it he is talking about the chrome trim that runs above the doors. This is plastic with a chrome coating on it. My '75 has a tiny end bit snapped off and you can see the plastic underneath. My '80 the chrome has completely worn off so it is all this yuck discoloured plastic, I have since repainted it body colour.
So I would say it is just some discolouration because that bit of trim is plastic there for it can't be rust. But check the drip rail behind the plastic trim because that can be a common area for rust. Just look from above and you can see behind the plastic there is a channel for the water to run down and if that gets blocked up it can rust.
If you do go out and view it take some pictures of that area or anything you have questions about and I can help you out.
avenga it sounds from the description that it might be the insert on the front and rear windscreen rubbers i have seen these discolour before with what look like rust patches behined the plastic trim,if it is its really nothing to worry about and not rust per say inserts can be replaced cheaply no bodywork needed.
just a thought they would have been chrome coloured originally
I was thinking that but then I went down to have a look at mine and I couldn't see any chrome bits on the front or back windows on my '75 but I do know the bits you are talking about and I have seen them in chrome on other Avengers. I am guessing mine have just completely faded away.
I agree with avengertiger that if it is the inserts and they are discoloured then they are nothing to worry about. You should have a close look at my window rubbers and inserts, they are fulled up with so much silicon and mastic window sealant it's not funny.
As long as it doesn't leak then it is fine and probably better than most I have seen/owned.
As I said best step is to go have a look and take photos of any problem spots you see and send them to us and we can see if you need to worry about it. Make sure you check the sills and behind the front and rear wheel archs for rust. Thats where I have found mine have problems, get on your back and check along the bottom edge of the car on both sides. Under the doors, around the arches and bumpers. if that is all good then you know you have a pretty solid car.
I need to do some minor rust repair on my '75 soon behind the drivers side front wheel arch and the drivers side rear wheel arch.
Oh ok, thanks! I've just rung the seller and made a time to go have a look tomorrow. I'll take my camera and definitely put the photos on here if I see anything that could be a possible problem. =)
Also, the seller just posted this;
"Seller Comment: 1) It has a Fuel Star fitted in the petrol line. When lead was taken out of the petrol there was a bad shipment of petrol and the Avenger would not run properly. The Fuel Star fixed this. It made a big difference. It runs well now though without it, but it counteracts the lack of lead in the petrol, so I have left it on. 2) The turn signal indicator needs centering. 3) To use regular grade petrol the spark may need to be retarded just a little"
Do you know what this means? I have no idea :(
I bet you can't wait til Friday when the auction finishes and I stop asking all these questions haha!
Haha no after friday will be when the real questions start :D
The Fuel Star is a product which sits in the fuel line and is supposed to alter the fuel so it is more like the old unleaded gas they used to run on. It is debatable if it works or not. There was a bad shipment of petrol when they first ditched unleaded, It killed my sisters Hunter. but since then it hasn't been much of a problem. The main problem you get with unleaded gas is Valve Seat Recession. I have put hardened valve seats in all my cars so I don't need to worry about it. You can can also use Valvemaster which is a petrol additive you put in each time you full up on gas but again I don't need it because of the hardened valve. Some others might want to comment on the effectiveness of Fuel Star and other "Fuel Catalyst" products.
Turn signal indicator centering could mean the "Auto cancelling indicators" need adjusting, this is the thing that turns off your indicators after you straighten the wheel after a corner. My auto cancelling doesn't even work so I just manually turn off the indicators. That or he might mean the position of the indicator stalk isn't centered either way it would be a minor inconvenience.
The retarding the spark for regular is just talking about the timing of the sparkplugs. To retard the spark means to cause the spark plug to fire and ignite the gas a tiny bit earlier, this is done to prevent self detonation of the lower octane 91 fuel or pinking as it is also known. I have alway run my Avengers on 95 or higher so I don't have this problem. With the compression of Avengers being higher than some modern cars it is suited for higher octane gas and I don't think you should retard it just to run on 91, just run 95+ and you will be sweet. The fact that it will pink on 91 is a good sign because it means it still has really good compression. He listed the compression of all the cylinders and they are all really good which is a really good thing.
I have been watching the auction and everything he mentions is just small things so if he is being that detailed and honest then you know the car is good. most cars I look at have rust holes everywhere and the list of faults are longer than both my arms so for a classic this one is in amazing shape.
i know a guy who swears by fuelstars, and he would know. he knows his shit
Soo pretty much just use 95 and I shouldn't have a problem with the fuel stuff? :D I went and saw it today! AHH I must have it, I love it so much! It's in such good condition. The pink discolouration on the boot has been painted over and is barely noticable, and he pointed out the dents in the doors, but they were so tiny I could barely see them haha. The owner is such a nice old guy. I brought my Mum with me and it turns out she and my Dad used to work with him back in the day! Small world. They (parents) are much more on board with the idea now because of that, since now they know he's a genuine guy that wouldn't be trying to cover up any faults with it. :) He even said he hopes I win the auction! but he probably said that to everyone haha. Auction closes tomorrow night! Exciting! Fingers crosses I don't get into a massive bid war lol. :D
Awesome stuff!! I am glad it looks as good in real life as it does in pictures.
Yeah just stick to 95 and you will be sweet.
I really hope you get the car. I will be watching the Auction tomorrow night to see how it goes. Good luck and I hope you win the auction.
what happened here? avenga the winning bidder?
cricky dick, that went for heaps!!
HAHA damn you Dave, you weren't supposed to spot that I won the auction. Yes well there is a long story behind all of this but long story short Scout owns the Avenger. WOOHOO!!!
do explain...haha
should have kept my :-X hey congrats scout welcome to avenger ownership,i was just looking at the bidding and couldnt figure it out so scout out with it whats the plans for pick up you will have to do a road trip thread for the collection?
Okay so long story time.
It all started back on friday before the auction. I emailed Scout to see how the car viewing went and what sort of budget she was able to bid up to. She said the viewing went really well, she loved the car and by coincidence the previous owner used to work with Scouts parents. She told me her budget was $1500-1600, $1700 max.
So I was watching the auction and half an hour to go the auction shot past her budget, I felt really bad for her so I kept watching the auction and I could see she kept bidding way over her budget so I could tell that she really wanted the car. with 20 minutes left before the auction closed she stopped bidding at $2470. I figured she had exhausted all the funds she could muster but I had this really strong feeling that she was so close to beating the other guys auto-bid.
I emailed Scout telling her I will put some bids on and if I win then I will pay for the car and she can pay me back. I felt the other guys auto-bid was about $2500 so I put on a $2501 bid which was beaten by the auto-bid so I figured I would put a $2600 auto-bid on and if that didn't win it then at least I could say I tried, I didn't want to bid higher without hearing from Scout.
It turned out the other guys auto-bid was $2570. only $100 more than Scouts last bid so I was pretty stoked about that because I know how much this car means to Scout and I would have hated to see her miss out on it by $100.
I didn't hear from Scout until 8 minutes after the auction closed, I know she was finishing work when the auction closed so I figured so had resigned to the fact that she had lost her dream car. I bet she was in shock when she found out I brought the car for her.
So I emailed the seller saying I was buying on behalf of a friend, he asked if that friend was Scout and how he used to work with her parents. I transferred the money to his account and then emailed Scout to arrange her repaying the money. In the morning I got an email from the seller saying that he had recieved the money in his account and Scout could come pick up the car.
This is when the second random act of kindness happens. About an hour later I get an email from the seller saying he felt bad about how much the car sold for and that he would refund me $1000 on the car, which is was really amazingly kind of him to do. It is not often you see people wanting to take less money for something they are selling so this was a real awesome super kind thing for the seller to do. This brought the amount Scout needed to pay me back for the Avenger down to $1570 which was perfectly within the budget she had saved for.
Since the auction I have emailed Scout and she has picked up the Avenger, which she totally loves and she told me that the seller and her parents are planning a lunch to catch up on old times.
I think this is a really cool story about how "Paying it forward" and random acts of kindness really do work. In the end of the day it didn't really cost me anything because I got all the money I loaned back but there has been heaps of positives out of it.
As I told Scout I believe it is a Win-win-win-win-win scenario, I win because feel good because I helped Scout out and scored some sweet kharma points, Scout wins because she got the Avenger at the price she wanted to pay, The seller wins because he is happy his car went to a good home plus kharma points, Scouts parents win because they have reconnected with an old friend and the Avenger community wins because they have a new member of the Avenger family.
I was sort of hoping nobody noticed that I won the auction because I like doing random acts of kindness but I don't really like getting public credit for them so I was hoping I could just do this and nobody except Scout would be the wiser but after Dave catching me out and talking to Scout I decided that I may as well tell all you guys about it because it is a really cool story about how kindness has a way of amplifying itself, so my one act of kindness was followed by an even greater act of kindness by the seller generously refunding some of the money to help Scout out and it has ended out with a lot of happy people.
I hope to see some new pictures of Scout and her new Avenger soon.
top work richard, good on ya! did you tell scout that the only condition is she has to bring it to hastings in march! haha
what an absolutley brilliant story and who could ask for a better start to avenger ownership imagine bonding with a car before actually owning it,im delighted for all parties concerned sounds like a really super outcome.
like something out a film!!!!!
it makes you feel good just reading it.anyway hope to hear lots more from scout and her avenger and there is plenty of help on here if you run into a problem your not sure off scout.oh and biege is the new black so i hear on the retro car scene......
cool!!!!!!
Quote from: hunted on February 21, 2011, 10:53:23 AM
top work richard, good on ya! did you tell scout that the only condition is she has to bring it to hastings in march! haha
Oh damn I completely forgot about Hastings, do you think it is too late to add it in to the deal? :D
Hey Scout, what are you doing next month ;D feel like a bit of a road trip :D
It's such an amazing story huh! I FEEL SO INCREDIBLY LUCKY. And so so sooooo grateful to Richard and Don for their amazing acts of kindness, especially since I'm an almost-stranger! I absolutely cannot thank you enough Richard! :D You're so right about the paying it forward thing, everything turned out wonderfully! And The Avenger is awesome by the way everyone, I even love it's beige-ness hahah. I was called into work today so I still haven't taken a photo of me and it together, tomorrow I promise! (Hopefully!) Not sure about coming to Hastings lol .. since I'm technically still learning to drive (not too flash at reversing yet haha) .. maybe later on in the year! :P And I'll definitely keep posting here, it's such a great forum and I'm sure I'll have many more questions in the future :D
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOU!
Haha, no need to thank me. I'm just glad you love the Avenger.
Yeah probably not the best idea going on a long road trip when you are still learning to drive :)
I will probably be driving my Charger down to "MoPars in Geraldine" in October so I might pop in and say hi then.
Hi there concerned Avenger prospect. The trim as you call it, is a plastic manufactured inlay[like most modern cars] that not only adds an attractive feature to window surround, but more importantly locks into weatherstrip to aid the pressure of rubber against both body and glass to perfect a good seal. Its discoloured only through age [gone blotchy brown] due to moisture getting in behind the thin layer of tinsel thats imbeded into product. No way effects performance, but also shrinks back from corners and looks unsightly. I have NEW product in stock but is also sold by BASIS in Marlborough. Cheers.
hello everyone. i am looking for a original tape player/radio that will fit my 1973 Avenger alpine.... does anyone have onefor sale????!!!! i'm desperate.
please get back to me :)