Two complete SVXes for sale - 96 & 97 LSi

[Austin]

I'm selling two SVXes ('96 & '97). I don't want to but I need to. The backstory on them, should you want it, is at the very bottom of this post.

The cars (and I) are in Jacksonville, FL.

So I have two SVXes I need out of my drive way. They're mechanically sound, but they don't look great. I was going to give the blue one to someone but that deal just never seemed to materialize, and now I need to get rid of both. I can't give them away this time though, I have to get some money back out of them. The good news is for not a whole lot of money you could have two SVXes with potential.

Here's the specs - the good and the bad:
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1996 SVX LSi - Laguna Blue, charcoal gray leather

roughly 160K miles.

Engine runs great.
Tranny has some leak that I can't pin down - you can drive the car but you have to top off the ATF every few hundred miles. I had the tranny mounts replaced and when it was out of the car the mechanic was totally certain he'd found and fixed the leak, but it still leaks a few drops on the driveway every night. He said he'd pull it again and fix it, but that was about the time that I got the '97, so I never really pursued it.

The front passenger side brake rotor started making a bad grinding noise right when I stopped driving it (lucky coincidence), and I haven't even looked at it. I'm guessing it's either a broken/missing/worn pad or a messed up rotor itself. I've been too busy or otherwise occupied (or lazy and forgetful) the last year to look at it.

The exterior needs work. The clear coat is pretty much all gone. It has a big dent just above the fuel door.

So paint and body are a must and you'll want to either get the tranny leak plugged or put in a 5/6 speed (which is what I was considering).

The interior has the usual cracks in the leather in the driver's seat and the smudges on the "suede" door handles.

Oh, the sunroof is stuck in the "popped up" position, but it doesn't get wet inside even in a hard rain because the opening is so much smaller than the actual panel.

The car could be driven to its new home, but it would need a battery and you'd probably want to bring brake hardware and/or a rotor (or take your chances with the brake if it's not far, but I wouldn't recommend it).
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and now the other one

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1997 SVX LSi - black with tan interior


roughly 111K miles

Mechanically very sound. The tach doesn't work (probably the cable) but I have an app on my phone that gives me virtual gauges including a tach. Besides, it's an automatic. The only real mechanical issue is that the power steering is making a bit of a moaning noise. Battery is dead because I'm an idiot and didn't disconnect the negative cable when I started driving my Forester. I would drive the SVX once a week, but then let it sit for a few without driving it. Should charge up pretty good though it's pretty new.

Interior is in good shape, has some splits in the leather as it was a Miami car that baked in the sun. I've treated the leather as best I could in the year that I've owned it but it's still pretty cardboard-ish. They're not bad looking over all, but they could stand to be re-covered some day.

The exterior needs paint and body work, but it's not that bad. The clear is faded on the roof and hood. It has a few door dings and the rear wing will definitely need to be filled, sanded, painted, and primed on top... the paint is completely off of it and the fiberglass is exposed. Each door has a quarter-sized rust hole right at the "belt line".

That's it. Overall it's a good solid SVX.
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I'm wanting to sell the cars as a pair. You could drive both home (with the aforementioned attention to the blue one's brakes and a new battery) or drive one and trailer the other. You could fix both up, fix up one and sell the other, or use one as a parts car. Whatever you want.

I'd like to get as close to $3,500 for both as I can. I have put more money than that into both over the last couple of years (including the purchase of the black one, not including the purchase of the blue one many years back).



Bottom line: I need to sell them and I'd rather they go to a good home. My wife is suggesting if I can't sell them to have them hauled away. I really don't want to do that but if I can't sell them soon, that might be what I have to do.

Let me know if you're interested.

[No, I won't meet you with them somewhere - sorry, but I'm too old, too busy, and just plain don't feel like it.]


BACKSTORY (should you be interested):

One of the SVXes, until recently was my daily driver, the other had been my daily driver prior to that. If you're interested in buying them, genuinely interested in owning them, I feel it's worth knowing some of the backstory. It's just the way I am, I like knowing a little about the history of things I buy from others. Skip it if you like but here's the story:

I'm an old dude (going on 55). I bought an XT6 new in 1989 and drove one as my daily driver for 25 years. But in '90 I saw the SVX concept car in a magazine and was captivated. My ideal SVX was black with a tan interior (which didn't actually come that way until '97, I believe, but that was my dream from 1990 on). I almost bought a brand new black '97 LSi in '98 (the dealership apparently was feeling the backlash of the SVX's high price and hadn't sold it since the fall of '96), but the dealership couldn't make the deal work.

So I continued to drive my XT6, created a website for XTs and found a great community with it. But over the years I still fantasized about owning an SVX.

About eight years ago or so I got a Laguna Blue '96 LSi from a good friend and fellow member of this site. Loved it! Eventually the 4EAT died, of course, and the car sat for a couple of years, until my brother-in-law put a '98 Forester 4EAT in it for me. Then I was back to driving it!

It had a few more problems, such as a tranny leak I could never pin down and a brake leak that was resolved. You can search the forum for my posts on the cars. In the meantime I had gotten another XT6, which I loved (of course - they're amazing little cars). Eventually I got the SVX running again and drove it for another year or two. Then, I found a black '97 with a tan interior for sale only a few hours from me down in Miami and bought it. It had some problems as soon as I got it home to Jacksonville, but I had a few things fixed by a great mechanic and the car has been mechanically sound ever since. I had lots of plans for paintwork (which it needed) and getting the interior restored (it's not too bad but not brand new).

Then in early January of this year my mother had a stroke. She's doing well now but suffered some vision issues and can no longer drive so she gave me her 2011 Forester. It's a great vehicle but not as exotic as an SVX! Unfortunately, this brings us to the situation at hand, in which I have to get rid of my two SVXes.

[sicksubie]

Any pictures?