I'll play along, Mike! This is a tougher question than is apparent (I think you are implying that the vehicle tampered with is less valuable, no?) I think that one other piece of information that comes to mind is the following: I have, and will put more consideration to a car (everything else being equal) if I have indication that it was maintained by a knowledgeable person.mbouse wrote:no offense intended in the following. please don't read anything personal into this. i am just trying to elaborate on my point, and am not inferring that anyone is anything other than an expert mechanic.
if you don't know the seller, don't know his mechanical abilities, and ALL OTHER things being equal....which is "worth" more money:
1. a 1981 "cherry" Fiat Spider with 32,000 miles .. all original car including the factory manual transmission
2. A 1981 "cherry" Fiat Spider with 32,000 miles .. all original except that the manual transmission inserted into factory supplied auto trans body
if both were for sale, and you were in the market and could afford the asking price, and both cars were in your favorite color.....which one would you pay MORE for? and answering honestly, which one would you tend to shy away from?
To know that a car has a manual transmission where there was otherwise an automatic transmission suggests to me several possibilities:
A. The owner is mechanically inclined and performed this modification him/herself
or
B. The owner was automotively inclined to prefer the sporty nature of the manual transmission (regardless of who installed said unit)
or (at a minimum):
C. this car was being maintained by a mechanic who knew the auto transmission was toast and that inserting a manual (in some cases) would be the cheaper route for this particular vehicle, and that the owner allowed such a transformation would then place him on the verge of choice B.
Sooooo, to give you the shorter version of it: I'd pick the car with non-original transmission.
To throw out the following concept that holds true with everything BIG that I buy (ie cars and house) If you came to me with two cars, an auto and a 5-speed. and every other thing about them was equal (engine, options, colors, miles, etc) and told me the prices were as follows:
Auto = $2500
5-speed = $3000
AND that if I wanted to add a manual transmission to the auto it would take me XX number of hours and 1000 dollars in parts to get it converted. AND I really really wanted the 5-speed. I would most definitely be inclined to purchase the auto version Because of two reasons:
1. Slow accumulation of parts might cost more in the long run, but in the short run hurts less on the wallet (and wife is more approving of little things, regardless of frequency, but will remember the expensive things forever)
2. Some hope (however small) of recouping some of the costs back with parting out the automatic transmission parts.
So, in the end I'd have spent 3500 dollars to have the same car as the 3000 dollar car, but my wife wouldn't be mad at me, I might be able to make 100 bucks in automatic transmission parts, I'd have proven myself to be person A (refer to above), and I'd have kept myself emersed in my Fiat hobby for many a month, and would be more dedicated to my car than before (commitment is directly correlated with investment true for relationships with cars, true for relationships with people, true for relationships with employers, etc)
so, comes to an end this psychologist's over analysis.....
)
