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I used to have the fintail only on something I think was called a "storage policy" for like $2 per month, but I forget what it covered. I had to call them every time I drove it, and they said that if I didn't drive it much, they wouldn't charge me anything. So, I rarely called them when I drove it. But that got tiresome and I worried about risk, so I just went and got the Hagerty policy. Agreed $5000 value on the car, they didn't need some dumb appraisal like a normal company wants, they just wanted a couple pics of it.
Funny thing, I still have the storage policy, as it allows me to have a multi car discount.
Andre, well you could just always value it at $3500. How far out of line would that be for that era New Yorker? I would think maybe $2,500 to $3,000 for a nice one? I have no idea, so bear with me.
Was there a model of that era that would have been a full-sized sedan that would have had a poor reputation of not lasting?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Well, I guess it's worth a shot, Kev. I went to Hagerty's website and used the automated vehicle quote thing, and it accepted a value of $3500. However, here's a blurb from their website that gives me cause for reservation...
It use to be said that any vehicle 25 years old or older was considered collectible. Today, however, this is not the case. Automakers' production numbers significantly increased in the 1970's and quality standards fell as many manufacturers rushed to bring vehicles to market. Because of this increase in production, we still see many 1970's and early 80's vehicles driven daily today that are not collectible. However, there are many vehicles from this time period that are collectible because of there desirable characteristics. Characteristics such as:
Convertibles
2-door sports cars (few 4-door sedans are collectible)
Unique body shapes
Foreign sports cars
Muscle cars
Big block V8 engines
Vehicles submitted to Hagerty from this time period should have one or more of these characteristics.
At one time, they used to have a paragraph on their website stating that they would not insure big domestic 70's luxury sedans. I thought it was odd that they'd single out something like that but not, say, a 1976 Volare sedan. But maybe people were getting the idea that these big cushy lovebarges were "classics" and they could get antique insurance for them and drive them everyday on the cheap, while the poor sap stuck with a '76 Volare sedan would never in a million years come up with the thought?
I thought I was taking a chance with my '76 LeMans, as there's nothing really "special" about it (it's not a big-block, sporty model, convertible, etc) but they had no trouble insuring it for an agreed value of $4,000.
I wonder if Hagery would have any issues with the wheels I have on my NYer right now? Here's a pic I took of it at Carlisle this past summer:
It has the 15x7 cop wheels and dog-dish hubcaps that were on my old Gran Fury. They do make it look tougher than your typical late 70's detroit luxury cruiser. More like a copcar in drag. I'm wondering if the insurance company might see that and think I made some kind of mods under the hood, and drive it crazy or something?
I do still have the old tires and wire hubcaps that came with it, packed away somewhere. I guess I could always just put those tires and hubcaps on and take the pics. Or even just put the hubcaps on and photoshop out the raised white letters? Or perhaps I'm just thinking too much about something inconsequential, and they won't even care?
And yeah, the 280SEL would have to be grey market, we didn't have any 280 series W126 cars sold here, I have seen both 280SE and SEL grey market cars though. A 280SEL is actually one of the more unusual 126s.
I bet that E55 you just purchased goes like stink on the highway!
So for 4-doors, you'd have to wait 35 years total. They are now insuring ANY old car that is 1969 or older.
so just hang on until 2024 and you're in!
I actually got a very good deal on it, and they gave me a fair price for the C43.
I was a little tired of some aspects of the C43, mainly lack of rear passenger space, and harsh suspension. The E55 solves both of those. And oh yeah, you can really tell it has more torque especially than the C43. It's amazing that it can be larger, much more plush, smoother, quieter, and much faster!
And as luck would have it, today I got to inspect the spare tire, jack, and tools
No AMG spare, unlike the C43 which had one. I think the 18" wheels won't fit in the spare well. This is a 17" wheel. So Tuesday I get to go have a flat fixed. Teriffic.
I'd be one of those idiots that would pay too much in order to have another one! I'd be very dangerous of I had a lot of money! LOL. I'd buy everything I been wanting to own.
Yeah, I'm the same way. An additional problem I have is that most of the cars I really like are fairly cheap, so instead of blowing a bunch of money on a few high-priced exotic or muscle cars, I could see myself ending up with a junkyard, and have the county breathing down my neck!
The only thing I don't like about the 1979 5th Avenue is that they only offered it in that one color combo, the two-tone creme. I'm a sucker for the right shade of green, and Chrysler offered some really nice colors back then. There was a two-tone St. Regis in my neighborhood, kind of a light jade over dark emerald, that ironically went up for sale the day after I brought my '79 NYer home! And they only wanted $500 for it! If I'd had the money and the space for it at the time, I would've bought it, too.
Heck, I have to confess, just for that color combo, I would've rather had the St. Regis than my NYer! The NYer is better equipped though, and while most engines were dogged down by that time, the NYer's 360-2bbl is still alot stronger than the 318-2bbl that was in that St. Regis.
There was a pristine 1980 New Yorker for sale at Carlisle this past summer, with only something like 34,000 miles on it. It was midnight blue, but wasn't a 5th Ave. It did have leather though, and my only reservation with it was that it had only had the 318-2bbl. That year it put out 120 hp, and I think I've seen an old test of one that put it at 0-60 in about 14 seconds. I think they were asking something like $4200 for this one at Carlisle. Here's a pic of it:
Couple weeks later, I was driving my '68 Dart, which at the time had dog-dish hubcaps and trim rings. Hit a pothole, in a completely different location, and one of those rings popped off. I stopped the car to look for it, and did find it, but also found a center cap for my Cutlass!
I've never hit a bump and lost a cap...but I remember my mother once hit a curb so hard it knocked a trim ring off, and her friend who had a battered old W123 300D hit a curb so hard it dislodged the hubcap. That was in like 1987 and the car was a mess even then.
My '67 Catalina tends to lose its right front hubcap from time to time. Usually I'd be able to go back and get it, but one time it was about 11:00 at night on I-83 going around York, PA, and I figured that time wasn't worth the risk!
I've loaded up on a few extras over time though, if I've found them at Carlisle, the junkyard, etc. This is gonna sound kinda ghetto, but it's gotten to the point that I keep that tire's hubcap in the trunk these days, and don't put it on unless I'm at a car show! :P
My old mechanic (retired in 2002) said that the reason it threw that hubcap was because I had radial tires on the car instead of the bias-ply tires that were stock. That seems kinda odd to me, though. I mean, sure, radials will give the car a firmer ride and might increase the jolt to the wheel and hubcap when you hit a bump or pothole. But would they make a wheel and hubcap combination that was that sensitive? And it seems odd to me that it would only be that one wheel that would lose the hubcap.
Come to think of it, my 1980 Malibu lost a hubcap once, when I took a U-turn a bit too fast. Now that I think of it, it was the right front wheel, too.
I've never lost a hubcap...on the fintail, they are on there really tight, they attach to the wheel rather than with clips (I am pretty sure I remember those on my Galaxie anyway).
I was out driving one day in my '79 NYer, in the summer of '02, about 8 months after I bought it. I saw a midnight blue NYer broken down along the road. When I passed by that area a couple hours later, I saw that the car had been moved, but only made it about 100 feet before dying again. I stopped and left a note on the windshield that said something like "To the owner or whomever ends up towing this car: If you're interested in selling it please call me at... I have a similar car and would hate to see this one end up getting junked."
Never heard from them though, so I dunno whatever became of it. There was a big stain underneath, both where it was sitting and where it had been sitting, 100 feet back. Can't remember what it was now, but I think it was oil. The car looked solid and rust-free, but the interior was trashed.
As for colors, I think they did start offering the 5th Avenue in additional colors for 1980-81. I dunno if they offered the full range of New Yorker colors, but they at least expanded from the two-tone creme from 1979. In one of those years, either 1980 or 1981, they also changed the leather interior of the 5th Ave. The 1979 5th Avenue seats turned off alot of buyers because they weren't as pimpy as what you could get in a regular New Yorker. So Chrysler addressed the problem by simply flipping the seat options, making the pimpier seats with all the buttons standard in the 5th Ave, and the cleaner design an option for the cheaper models.
The freaks and orphans in the background are of some interest too
This thing is back...it's weird and kind of homely, but I like it
Now this is a Buick
Now this is a Caddy
The inner third reich motorist in me wants to like it...but it shouldn't come here. I wonder if it's been sleeping since the war
I've always liked these...there's a good dose of early 60s weirdness in it, but it retains some class
Seems a bit steep
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The Borgward was sold here briefly in 1960/1 as the Borgward Big 6, and last year I saw one at a car show, although it needed a fair bit of work on it, bt it was a runner.
The Goliath was really interesting - I went to a club event for the Microcar club in Kent, and in one of the barns at the back of the farm where we were meeting there was a Goliath, but it was parked nose first into the shed and you could only see the back. I gather that it was from the early/mid fifties, and it was a different model from the ones here, as they made a two-stroke 700cc car in 1954-5, and enlarged it to about 850cc thereafter, I think, but the significant thig about it was that they had the option of petrol injection, which was a first. They brought out a 4stroke in 57, which is what they are selling here. Of course, Borgward and Goliath were related makes by then.
The Saabs in the background look like 96's, the V4 version with the larger grille.
Nice Fiat 130 coupe. They are actually quite a large car, very wide, and now they are more common than the 130 saloon as nobody bothered to preserve those...
Also liked the Buick - these sold well in Britain before the war, although we always had the Canadian version, made as a McLaughlin-Buick, as there were tariff concessions for "Empire Made" cars in the 30's. They still turn up quite regularly at car shows - I think they were the most popular mass produced big N.American car sold in Britain.
Unfortunately not much :P
Do you think the Fiat 130 is homely? It could be criticized for being a tad on the conservative side but so could most of Pininfarinas designs, I think the 130 Coupe is rather handsome.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Sellers on eBay have got to learn that you don't make your starting bid higher than retail book. This often leads to (surprise, surprise) 0 bids. And of course when people see 0 bids after 3 or 4 days, they see a "loser" that nobody wants. It defeats the entire purpose of an auction, which is supposed to create an emotional irrational buy.
Regarding the price...I am sure you could get 5K for it on the continent no problem...but Vancouver aint there, and I believe that owner previously listed it for like 25K(!).
I kinda like the Borgward for its fintail-ness. There was certainly a trend in Europe around 1959 to have a large angular car with small fins. Definite Pininfarina influence. IIRC Farina had expressed interest in teaming with MB to design what would become the fintail, but MB backed out and just made their own similar design.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
I think the problem with that Fiat is that the roofline just belongs on a bigger car. It's actually very close in style to the roofline of something like a 1977 Pontiac Catalina coupe or a 1979 Malibu coupe
It's an attractive roofline IMO, but on it just seems to big on that Fiat. And while I'm all for a car with generous glass area and a low beltline, I think the ratio of door height to window glass height on that Fiat is just wrong. And I guess the sloping front end and high rear deck does make it look a bit tail-heavy. Maybe this style of roofline begs for a more sloping rear end, like what GM did on their big and midsize coupes? That Fiat also has kind of a long-ish rear deck as well, which draws more attention to it.
I always forget the name of it, but there was a Ferrari 2+2 model in the 70's that had that had a very similar roofline. A couple years ago I saw one, and didn't know what it was at first. The roofline was the only thing that looked familiar to me, and it was a light metallic blue similar to my old '80, but it was blatantly obvious that this thing wasn't a Malibu! :P
In an odd sort of way, I kinda like that Borgward too. It's not a beauty queen, but I think it's still a prettier looking car than the name "Borgward" would suggest.
The Ferrari was a 400/412 starting somewhere around 1976.
Borgward sounds like a washing machine to me.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I'll take the Ferrari in those red pics!
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I'm 36, but still probably too young to logically appreciate the cars that I do! A buddy of mine had a '95 Grand Marquis GS that he bought used in 1999, with about 54,000 miles on it. He traded it in 2004 on an '04 Crown Vic LX. I think he had about 175,000 miles on it. It was getting pretty tired by then, but he got his money's worth out of it I'd say. I think he did have transmission problems with it, but it just had something to do with a sensor or something else fairly minor. He also had a problem with the windshield wipers parking in the upright position, which I hear is a common Ford problem. He had to get new ball joints around 90,000 miles. However, it wasn't all of them that went bad. Just the upper or the lower, but I can't remember which now. I think he also had a power window motor fail, and probably needed new front brake rotors at some point. I also remember he bought a new headlight cluster for the passenger side, just before he sold the car. Paid something like $225 for it, but then we couldn't figure out how to get it on, so he paid a mechanic $75 to do it. And then less than a month later he traded the car!
I always liked those big '93-96 Fleetwoods, especially the later LT-1 models. I think I'd probably go for a Roadmaster, though, or even just an LT-1 Caprice, if I ever got something like that.
I like this old rig, the fact that it is a very early one is cool
"NO AIRBAG!!!!!" - you don't say
End of an era
This should be worth saving
Survivor
Lemko and Andre mobile
Cadillac Park Avenue
Andre-mobile
Lovely fintail...weird headliner
Diesel in my color...nice word of warning about performance
OF all the things to restore
It has a history
Stark color contrast
Why would this be saved? Fake bid I am sure
Cool looking car. And it's a BBBBUUUUUUUUUUIIIIICK.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
What, a bowling trophy?
Well perhaps the competition wasn't too keen that day....
The AMC has an odd disclaimer:
Sold “as is” with no warranties or guaranties of any kind implied or expressed by American Motors Corporation, Chrysler Corporation, the current owners(s) or myself. This vehicle is a 41-year old Classic Muscle Car....
ummmm, AMC is not around anymore, this is not a muscle car, and it's certainly not 41 years old. :confuse:
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Early Land Cruiser: Look at those bids, will ya? These vehicles are staying very strong in price (if they are nice). Who woulda guessed it? Still, not a vehicle I would speculate on.
AMC Concord: Oh, dear...I thought all these were crushed already...the Terminator must have missed one.
I am surprised at the strength of the Land Cruiser market too.
Looks like the author of that AMC ad copied and pasted his material in a careless manner.