With the recent flooding in Texas and elsewhere this spring, we are anticipating a lot of bargains in the market. June and July I figure, there will be a lot of bargain priced cars for sale here - and across the country - that were at the bottom of some of our low-lying lots. Not a good idea for purchase, as these vehicles, although they've been carefully detailed, will never be right. ECC modules, normally found under the dash or seats, once drowned, are toast. Likewise every electrical connection on board. Today, what doesn't get to the moving parts and grind them into powder for lack of lubrication, will fry the electronics - and the car will always smell moldy.

This won't be limited to the used car market, since Houston is a distribution hub from our port and rail networks. Brand new cars may have been flooded - and while they should be written off by the distributors or dealers, some will sneak into the marketplace. If you're car shopping, buyer beware . . . if the deal's just too good to be true, as they say, it IS.

I nearly bought one of those cars for the family while I was in high school and Dad was in South America on a job for several months. It was a gorgeous red and white Olds 98 I found at Houston's largest Oldsmobile dealer, only a year old and loaded with every option available. It was a dream car and sort of softened the blow of having to give up our '57 Imperial Crown Southampton - which was falling apart after three years. It would be difficult to replace this swooping '50's vision in white and aqua, but the big Olds was really nice - and was priced just right.

But before I laid out any of the family's money, Dad had always told me to have a mechanic look over any car before purchase. When ours sniffed the interior, then pulled a door panel and showed me a distinct moldy waterline on the cardboard backing halfway up the door, it went back to the dealer's lot - post haste. We'd had a recent flood on Lake Houston, and this car had been in a foot and a half of water for a week. It cleaned up well, but obviously, there ain't no free lunches. I'm sure it went on to become someone else's lemon.

 

Good thread, Bob. We saw the same widespread problems here in the Northeast with flooded cars after Agnes in 1972 and Sandy a couple of years ago. But what happened in Texas in the last few days is almost Biblical in scope. Perhaps the worst hit town was Wimberley, right outside of Austin, on the Blanco River, up some 40 feet. I've been there...and swam in that river.

I can understand your attraction to the Olds 98 of that period. I once owned its sister car...the Electra 225. Lousy acrylic lacquer paint job as with most GM cars of that era (Ford and Chrysler used a more durable enamel), but, other than that, an incredibly comfortable and smooth car.

Big difference a few years makes, doesn't it? Late-50s Chrysler products, though beautifully styled (thanks to Virgil Exner), were known for a lot of poorly-fitted parts and early deterioration....hoods didn't even close properly on some of them. Then, just a few years later, in the early-mid 1960s, Chrysler products were built like tanks...arguably the best in the industry. Then, in the late 1960s, quality slipped again....much worse this time.

Are there any officials from the Federal Consumer-Protection agencies or the Justice Department in your area, going around to dealerships looking for flooded vehicles...or don't you know? Techincally, that would probably be in their area of jurisdiction...and they would have the power to halt sales.

 

This is the first thing I thought of when I heard about the floods in Houston. I'm in the market for an IS350 currently and I am really paranoid about this as well. Which is why i'm trying to stick to private sales instead of dealerships.

 

Thanks, Mike!

Yeah, the Blanco's at it again - lots of damage and loss of life along it's watershed near Wimberley. But it's not alone - the Brazos, Colorado, San Jacinto, and Trinity Rivers are doing the same thing - in slow motion - as they are getting floodwaters from upstream. The flooding problem is exacerbated by our flat prairie. From the coast, the land rises about a foot per mile almost to the Balcones Escarpment near Austin. Offshore, we have the same problem, as water depth increases from the beach at about the same rate out to the Outer Contenental Shelf.

We had a '54 Olds prior to the Imperial, and it's lacquer paint job was badly crazed after only a year. Before repainting, it had to be completely stripped to bare metal and primed - if you expected anything to stick to it. It was a really bad idea from GM, but they used lacquers for years, despite customer complaints. Ford and Chrysler products had far superior enamel finishes.

Not only was the styling YEARS ahead of its time (Remember the slogan, "Suddenly it's 1960"?), but that big 392 Hemi coupled with 9½ wide tires meant it could run off and leave the hot set-up of the day, the Pontiac Tri-Power. I never lost a drag with a stock car. I've loved "sleepers" ever since. They made high school so much FUN.

I haven't seen any coverage of that, but I know they're there. They always are after a flood, particularly in the import lots down at the port where new Asian and European cars cover acres at the customs impound. The places you really have to watch are the dealer's off-site parks where they "hide" hundreds of cars out in a remote field outside the county. The taxman may not get them, but the weatherman sure will. Floods, hail, even brushfires have their own means of retribution for tax cheats.

I wouldn't worry too much . . . have a good mechanic look over the car before you buy. Telltale signs of flooding can be found under the carpets, behind the door cards, and up under the dashboard. Today's cars are so vulnerable to electronic damage that flooding often costs more to repair sufficiently to get them to even run, that they become uneconomic to repair - even for a dishonest dealer. Of course, there's nothing to prevent a dishonest private seller from doing the same quick cosmetic repairs and selling it on.

Then there's the smell. Just wait a few weeks for hot weather to bloom the mold. That stench is almost impossible to remove without a complete replacement of the interior. If you have doubts, turn on the AC and give it a sniff. I've seen cars that were just fine . . . until you turned on the HVAC. I once had a car in my district fleet that was assigned to a salesman who smoked cigars. When he left, as manager I had to detail his car before assigning it to anyone else. It was fine - until you turned on the AC - then you started all over. Foul odors seem to thrive in the evaporator and/or heater coils.