Searching for a car - what am I doing wrong?

I don't seem to be having much luck with finding a DD/occasional HPDE toy at all at the moment.

The longer term plan is to wait until my 911 and my house in the UK are both sold and then hunt for another 911 that's going to get some mild tweaks, but for the time being I'm looking for a Miata or an E30 to tide me over at least until the end of the year.

My preference would be a Miata, I've had three already so I know what to look for and can do the common repairs myself. An E30 would be the second choice, that way I wouldn't need to source a hardtop as well, but I haven't really got much experience with them - the ones in the UK were always too grotty.

In both cases, I'm looking at the local-ish craigslists, with the occasional peek on eBay and a regular look on Bimmerforums. I've got wanted ads up on Bimmerforum and on CL down in Sacramento (there aren't a lot of Miatas up here), both to no avail.

So far, I've mainly found heaps, the few good cars tend to get snapped up quicker than I can move (I can't just drive to Sacramento after work, it's 2-3 hours each way so I'm mainly stuck with looking at vehicles on the weekends) or are a lot more expensive than expected (or overpriced).

Anybody got any suggestions where to look or do I just need to be more patient, which isn't easy given that we're now down to 2 running and legal vehicles and probably one if I can't get new tires for the Corvette within a month or so.

Of course the alternative is to open the wallet wide and say "aaaah", the finance something but I'm really, really opposed to that. I have a house payment and a rent payment, plus we're trying to get out of debt, so the last thing I need is more debt.

You're trying too hard. When you stop looking for a car all the good deals pop up.

Or just spend all your money on something and immediately something you would rather have will be for sale.

EvanB wrote: You're trying too hard. When you stop looking for a car all the good deals pop up.

That might be the case. OTOH I'd prefer if I wouldn't miss this year's track season also for lack of a car.

EvanB wrote: Or just spend all your money on something and immediately something you would rather have will be for sale.

Yeah, that's what I'm concerned about.

Check the completed listings on ebay. This way you'll find out about the amazing deals you missed out on when you took a week break from searching.

Look for some other kind of car. There are people that are ready to buy those cars the minute they are posted, so they aren't really available to people who have other commitments.

If you are using Foxfire or Chrome, try this add-on called Craigslist Helper. Here is the link to the Foxfire version.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/craigslist-helper/
Built specifically by a GRM'er to help him find a VW Westfalia. Some of that discussion can be found here:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/searching-multiple-craigslist-sites-with-alerts/33304/page1/
Note that in one month it has gone from 202 downloads to 2,463 (and that is just the foxfire version.)

I've already got that addon installed...

@Travis_K - suggestions, in a similar price range? Pretty much everything I've considered so far appears to be either overpriced or moving quickly, or would require a lot of work to be halfway useful on the track, or add the dorifto tax.

@MitchellC, I assume that is supposed to make me feel better?

BoxheadTim wrote: I don't seem to be having much luck with finding a DD/occasional HPDE toy at all at the moment.

More track than DD but the guy claims to DD it...
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/2341437103.html
How do you feel about driving from the "near side"?

RHD wouldn't bother me, I've done that often enough in Europe.

What does bother me a little with CA cars is generally when the seller puts both "buyer smogs" and "legal conversion" into the same ad. That tends to have me smell a rat or three...

EvanB wrote: Or just spend all your money on something and immediately something you would rather have will be for sale.

This is funny because it is true!!!