Update on Saleen XP8 Ford Explorer 98-0028 - 1FMZU35P5WZB18340 - flood damage

[MuscleJunkie]

Update on Saleen XP8 Ford Explorer 98-0028 - 1FMZU35P5WZB18340 - flood damage - https://www.facebook.com/520650174769269/posts/1683264651841143/?extid=UUBrkg5rsUqqjdmN&d=n

The CURIOUS (Flood Damage?) case of 1998 Saleen XP8 Ford Explorer - 98-0028 - 1FMZU35P5WZB18340

So like many of you - I've been following the recent sales history and failed auctions of this truck. One of the big ????s is why have the recent sellers of this truck FAILED to disclose to potential buyers about this truck's flood exposure and damage from Hurricane Sandy?

So far this is what is known. This truck was owned by a really nice guy in New Jersey since purchasing it new. The owner kept low miles on the truck and took great care of it until... in late October/early November 2012 - Hurricane Sandy struck New Jersey

The original owner's area was severely flooded (SALT WATER) and this beautiful 1998 supercharged Saleen XP8 Ford Explorer sat in SALT WATER for at least 12 hours up above the cabin floor boards (see photos of the water lines and water saturated interior)

The owner did what he could to mitigate the damage which included a service at Flemington Ford for a couple of months. But the fact remains that this truck did have salt water exposure up into the cabin for at least 12 hours.

There was a paid insurance claim made for the flood damage to this truck. The original owner is gathering the paperwork which I will post here later.

In 2019 the owner decided to sell Saleen XP8 98-0028 1998-0028 and he disclosed to the buyer the flood history of this truck. Here is where things get a bit murky - but lets just go with what is known.

Possibly the second owner sold it at Manheim auction on 2/7/20 with 23,472 miles for $15,400.

Whoever bought this truck (CarsbyGary - CarsfromGary) offered it on Bring a Trailer where it failed to meet reserve at $17,500.00 - https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-ford-explorer/ If you have a look in the comments, you will see that this truck's flood history was brought up in the comments and the seller denied having any knowledge of it. This seller/dealer seemed very shady.is his reply comments.

From the sales history it appears that maybe that the seller confirmed XP8 98-0028's flood history and he took it back to Manheim Auction where it was purchased by Jonathan Davis of Davis Autosports in Charles City, Virginia on 7/31/20 for $16,750 with 23,487 miles.

Mr. Davis then offered the truck on his website for $24,900.00 https://inventory.davisautosports.com/…/1998-ford-explorer-… and as of today had three failed eBay auctions which all have failed to meet reserve. The 1st was bid up to $16,300.00, the 2nd up to $16,100.00. The third auction also failed to meet reserve at $20,100.00 but if you look at the bid history it is vastly different from that of the 1st three auctions (BaT and 2 Ebay auctions) as it was bid up very high in the very beginning of the auction versus the others showing higher bids toward the end of the auction as you typically will see with online car auctions. Here is the bid history of that $20,100.00 auction

Bidder Bid Amount Bid Time
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $20,100.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:28PM PDT
-***8(83feedback score: 83) $20,000.00 23 Aug 2020 at 6:51:50PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $20,000.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:24PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $19,400.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:21PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $18,800.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:18PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $18,500.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:14PM PDT
-***8(83feedback score: 83) $18,000.00 23 Aug 2020 at 6:51:14PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $18,000.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:10PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $17,700.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:07PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $17,100.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:10:04PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $16,500.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:09:58PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $15,900.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:09:55PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $15,300.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:09:52PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $14,700.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:09:49PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $14,100.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:09:46PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $13,500.00 23 Aug 2020 at 11:09:43PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $12,900.00 23 Aug 2020 at 1:49:08AM PDT
j***2(729feedback score: 729) $12,500.00 22 Aug 2020 at 6:17:53PM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $12,300.00 23 Aug 2020 at 1:49:05AM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $11,700.00 23 Aug 2020 at 1:49:02AM PDT
8***r(5feedback score: 5) $11,100.00 23 Aug 2020 at 1:48:59AM PDT
j***3(3252feedback score: 3252) $10,500.00 21 Aug 2020 at 10:02:57AM PDT
6***3(434feedback score: 434) $6,500.00 21 Aug 2020 at 11:12:09PM PDT
i***4(279feedback score: 279) $5,000.00 20 Aug 2020 at 7:52:55PM PDT
3***3(2853feedback score: 2853) $202.50 20 Aug 2020 at 8:53:07PM PDT
Starting Price $200.00 20 Aug 2020 at 6:28:27PM PDT

Notice the auction started on August 20th and the last bid of $20,100.00 came on the August 23rd - a whole 7 DAYS before the end of the auction on August 30th? Sometime during the auction a Buy it Now Price was added at $24,900.00 and then that price was lowered to $23,900.00 Was this an attempt at bid manipulation? I guess only the bidders, Mr. Davis and eBay might know the true answer to that question.

Currently Mr. Davis has the truck relisted on eBay and it is sitting at over $3,000.00. The auction started last night.

This brings us to the most important part of this curious case. Why is there (in any of the descriptions of all the five auction listings and the listing on Mr. Davis' website) NO MENTION of the FLOOD HISTORY of this truck? To the contrary, you will see Mr. Davis clearly states in his description:

"The above vehicle comes with a perfectly clean title, no previous salvage, repaired, flood, rebuilt, or any other insurance claimed buy backs. "

Obviously a misstatement especially considering if Mr. Davis had knowledge of any possible flood exposure/damage to this truck prior to offering it on eBay and his website.

Well it appears that Mr. Davis knew about this as he claimed Manheim informed him of the possible flood exposure and also he claimed he saw all of the comments on the BaT auction. The question to Mr. Davis is why do you not mention the flood exposure history of this truck to potential buyers?

Also, there are a few other misstatements in his auction/website listings as well as sales video made for the truck. Mr. Davis consistently mentions (gushes??) that this truck is in excellent condition and everything is working among other very positive things. Granted, the truck does show well but judge for yourself.
Here is a list of other issues and historical items with this truck that seem to contradict Mr. Davis' statements about Saleen XP8 Ford Explorer 98-0028 - 1FMZU35P5WZB18340

One of the lug nuts (specific to these magnesium Speedline wheels and very difficult to replace if they can be at all) is missing on the back left driver's wheel. See photo. The original owner said this became lost and as you can see from the current photos of this truck it is still missing, has been driven around like this and was not mentioned in any of the auctions.

The front of the truck was repainted by the servicing dealership. The original owner said there was a recall (by Ford or Saleen) on the hood bracket for the optional Saleen Design Hood. (The brackets were letting the hood fly up while driving). They had to replace the bracket and repaint the whole front end of the truck.

The radio display is broken. You can also see this in Mr. Davis' sales video. This contradicts his claims that everything is working 100% on the truck. The original owner stated that the radio display was not functioning when he sold the truck in 2019.

The original owner said that the steering wheel buttons shorted out and melted (possibly related to the Hurricane Sandy flood damage / exposure ) If you look at the photos ( see attached) in Mr. Davis' description you can see they they are still melted. When Mr. Davis' was asked about this he stated to his recollection the controls appear perfectly normal.

This truck has the Saleen BIG BRAKES option that was recalled by Saleen for failing brake caliper brackets which would fly off when the truck was driving. The original owner had one replacement bracket custom made after his original failed and the 2nd owner had another bracket custom made for the other side which is why these brakes are currently installed on the truck. (See bracket photos)

On the right side of the front recaro drivers seat, there is a missing control nob for lateral support and a large gouge in the rear plastic of the seat. Again this contradicts Mr. Davis' description of the interior of the vehicle. It appears that this button maybe was ripped off and it is unclear if this control is still functioning or can be replaced by Saleen/Recaro.

When the truck was sold in 2019 several suspension components were at the failure stage (see photos). It is unknown if these components have been replaced as Mr. Davis fails to include photos underneath the truck in his description. If his description of everything being such positive condition, then this should be checked. In the photos on the BaT auction, it is undetermined if these failed / close to failing components were replaced back to Saleen Factory spec.. See photos the original owner took of these components at the time of sale in 2019.

I hope this information helps more clearly document this history of this truck - including the Hurricane Sandy salt water flood exposure for all potential buyers or anyone else with an interest in the history of this vehicle.

 

[CDW6212R]

Interesting vehicle story. I hope the seller finds integrity and discloses everything, and accepts the loss he should get from choosing to buy it at the price he did.

The Alcon front brakes are very expensive to service, to operate and and pay for the high cost for new rotors and brake pads. The rotors many years ago were possible to special order, at near $750 for the pair. The pads ran over $200 a set, and from owner's experience with those brakes during normal usage, they wear down very fast compared to stock brakes. I was an active forum member when the custom front brake brackets were being made, the seller was in Europe and had about 5-6 pairs made. I had already begun my custom brakes so I didn't try to locate the Alcon brakes then. I learned later how expensive they were to have.

Mine are fast to wear pads, because the pads are for SSBC calipers, made for a light car(GT2000 AWD). I'll work on getting larger calipers on soon. My rotors run about $150 each, and I've yet to wear one out(made by Coleman Racing). The pads I will be using are over $200, but they are very large, I expect them to last many years.

The Recaro seats are very desirable if they are not damaged, like with mold etc. The body kit parts are also, but the truck without them is not worth much, maybe $5k in super nice condition.

That truck is still 23 years old, the rubber parts are in poor shape like any 98 Explorer of any mileage. That truck wouldn't be hard to put in nice condition, other than the water damage possible to untreated parts. The interior of that should have been removed completely, the whole dash, seats, rugs, door panels etc. Then it could have been cleaned properly, and well enough to be reliable for decades. But if the dealer didn't take it apart, they left growing corrosion in the floors, the doors, hatch, and some electrical connections, rug of course, maybe the seats, who knows.

I feel sorry for the buyer, but I wish for the truck to go to a great new owner who may be able to restore it.

 

[410Fortune]

is this the red and gold one from BAT.com? that sold earlier this year?

 

[CDW6212R]

is this the red and gold one from BAT.com? that sold earlier this year?

Yes, the pictures are in that Facebook link. I saw that the BJ bushings are all shot. The end links are too loose, and it does have the Saleen steering wheel. That truck looks to be fully optioned, only the supercharger is not seen. It would be one of the nicest XP8's if not for the possible water damage.

I need the side skirts still for mine, that's the only other items I could use from an XP8, or the Recaro's but those are way too expensive to even bother to consider. If anyone knows of any Saleen XP8 parts, do post any links or information about them. We'd like to know and give them a good home.

 

[MuscleJunkie]

Yes, the pictures are in that Facebook link. I saw that the BJ bushings are all shot. The end links are too loose, and it does have the Saleen steering wheel. That truck looks to be fully optioned, only the supercharger is not seen. It would be one of the nicest XP8's if not for the possible water damage.

I need the side skirts still for mine, that's the only other items I could use from an XP8, or the Recaro's but those are way too expensive to even bother to consider. If anyone knows of any Saleen XP8 parts, do post any links or information about them. We'd like to know and give them a good home.

It has the supercharger and ford racing headers on it too. Very sad about the flood damage.

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes, and back then the right person would have been able to easily fix it. We don't know what that dealer did. But I have worked at many car dealers, in and around the service departments. It is not uncommon for them to take any shortcuts to solve a problem. I'd bet they did not remove the rugs, which is the only proper way to fully identify the damage, and to fix it.

At this time, years later, the real issue is corrosion of parts where the water was trapped. Back then the worst case would have been to replace the rugs, assuming the water didn't reach any higher. It looks like it just got into the floors, which is not hard if you are patient and R&R the interior.

 

[jconnway]

Still for sale on the bay. I wonder who is going to get it.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Way too expensive for what it is, even without the flood damage.

 

[jconnway]

Way too expensive for what it is, even without the flood damage.

It is insanely rare and this is the only one I've ever seen with every single option.

Its got the blower, the recaros, the hood, the brakes *literally never see these*, the carbon bits and the floor mats.

I bid it up to 10k a few times I'd do it for that price but I have a feeling this reserve is close to 20 if not more.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Rare doesn’t equal expensive. You could build a WAY better truck for 20k and it’d truly be one of a kind. And, not terribly dated.

 

[mic98xlt]

It does look real shiny and bright. It makes you wonder how often dealers hide the true history of a vehicle that they have knowledge of such as an major defect from the public. Knowing the real history of this vehicle, makes all the difference for an informed educated buyer. I would be devastated to find a truck this nice had been in a flood after I brought it!