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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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Meyers Manx style VW-based dune buggy, big piece of lumber attached to front to serve as a bumper.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Now, the 59-60s are much rarer than 57-58s.. but if I am correct (Shifty would know) the 57-58s have exploded in Value of late and are far more valuable automobiles.
Not too long ago a show car would barely bring $25-30k.. they are seemingly now $150k+ cars in that same condition.
Yeah, I'm sure the '57-58 models are much more popular and valuable. I think part of it may be that they were so unique. Styling on them was actually pretty tasteful, but some of those features like the suicide doors with no center pillar, stainless steel roof, etc, I guess just makes the cars more stand-out. In contrast, with the '59-60 models, it's actually the mass-market cars that stand out. Those Broughams are almost too tasteful for the era!
I know in my case, I would probably recognize a '57-58 model instantly. It's sort of like it's ingrained in my memory. But I had to go to the internet to see what a '59-60 model looks like. I guess it would be the same for most people?
The '53 and '59 Eldo converts are the most valuable Cadillacs postwar. Nothing else really comes close in value.
You'll see a lot of high values touted by Cadillac owners but they never get that kind of money. Like the old saying goes "they gotta be rare AND people have to care".
I've seen project EBs do $30k... one that needed a total restoration sold on eBay a year ago for that in 2 days.
I had one once, and want another.. but after watching prices on them seemingly skyrocket lately... oh well.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cadillac-Eldorado-1957-Cadillac-Eldorado-Brougham- -Simply-Incredible_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6147QQihZ008QQitemZ180151409687QQr- dZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
That led me to google Avanti, which led to a website, which shows that the time period during which the original Avanti was produced was far more interesting than the car itself. :shades:
fire up the Way-Back Machine
james
http://www.radersrelics.com/showroom_2/1958_cadillac.html
Is there $100,000 difference between the two? REALLY??!!
Rader's Relics, I forgot about their nice ads, they have been naming their cars at least since I was a little kid, and their prices usually seem reasonable.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
So many of these are unrestored
I suspect there are lots of this type of car just waiting to come out of the woodwork
Minivan
Original cars are always impressive
Same here
Andre/lemko mobile
Baby's got back
For those who like cars big
Impressive preservation
I could see Andre in this
Something you don't see every day
That interior does look kind of bright, but it might not look as bad in person. On my monitor, the exterior of that car looks more like a deep, steely blue then a gray. I also notice that the front and back seat patterns don't match, but I wonder if that's a camera flash or sunlight washing it out?
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
as far as difference between the two..
If the one in South FL is as described..
It's freshly restored to show standards..
Black/Black
Leather interior
And.. it has ALL the Vanity items.... those alone are worth thousands and thousands. Seller claims $25k, Not sure I buy that but I have seen them pop up on eBay on occasion and bring huge money... like stupid huge money.
I suppose a Pebble Beach resto would cost $100,000, but it had better be the best one the galaxy has ever seen, and I mean magnifying-glass perfect top bottom in out and the inside of the oil pan gold-plated and the inside of the glove box done in pearl-inlay with ruby-encrusted borders :P
That Buick Estate Wagon very much reminded me of my 69 Pontiac Catalina Safari Wagon. Except the Buick was a bit fancier. The inside of those wagons with the seats down was huge almost beyond belief.
Still, I like that one, probably because it's in such nice shape. I like the Olds 98 better, though. And I think that '73 LeSabre's pretty handsome.
I think for the most part, Buick had the best looking big cars of the 70's. They usually seemed a bit less conservative than Oldsmobiles, yet less showy than a Cadillac. And back then, Pontiac and Chevy were just trying too hard to look upscale, and it showed through. Seems like Chevy actually did pretty well, some years looking a bit like a baby Cadillac. Pontiac didn't know what it wanted to be, though. With insurance companies cracking down and performance becoming a thing of the past, they really couldn't keep their sporty image up, so they tried to infuse a bit of luxury into it, as it seemed everybody did back then. But with Pontiac, it just seemed to strained, I guess.
What are the odds?
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Yesterday, just for kicks, I stopped off at a local used car lot, which was closed. Sometimes they'll have something unusual or old. Not much there this time, although they did have four 2006 Charger ex-police cars. One was dark blue, the other three black. All with 3.5 V-6es. I checked them on the Net, and the blue one only has 3,000 miles on it! The others were more like 20K. I'm actually a bit tempted by the blue one. They also had a dark blue 2004 Intrepid police car.
Across the back fence, they had some relics from the 90's...a 1992 Tempo, early 90's Spirit, a similar vintage Suburu Legacy wagon. Seeing those poor relics sitting there really emphasized how far cars have come since then!
Today I was in DC, and went through an area where I'd often see a dark green 1979-80 Chrysler Newport parked at the curb, with a 1970 or so Ford Torino 4-door hardtop behind it. I first saw that Newport back in 1997. Sure enough, they were both there! I guess I'm not the only person who holds onto cars forever.
Other than faded paint and being dirty, the Newport didn't seem to be in bad shape. Although interestingly, all of the lettering that spelled out "CHRYSLER" across the top of the grille had been pulled off, leaving sort of an outline of where they had been.
The Torino was either a pale blue or gray, or somewhere in between. Kinda rare too, I guess. I think Ford only offered a 4-door hardtop in the intermediate line in 1970-71, and I don't think they sold that many.
Oh, I also saw a white MG Midget. Not sure of the year, as I don't really know these cars well. I see the bigger ones occasionally, but can't remember the last time I saw one of these little things outside of a car show. It looked a little rough, but was moving under its own power.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
1970 Torino
Yesterday I saw a lot of freaky european cars.
Volvo 262C Bertone coupe in sliver.
Morgan Aero 8 in silver and sounding bad [non-permissible content removed]
Merkur XR4Ti in bright Red that looked brand new and kind of hot in a freaky 80s way.
VW Thing. It was light blue with a white hardtop. It looked brand new, not blinged out or anything, but very stock looking.
Yeah, it was that generation, but just a 4-door hardtop, so it was a lot less exotic looking. It had exposed headlights and a thin horizontal bar bisecting the grille. I think that makes it a '70. Didn't the '71 have a grille split in the middle by a tall vertical logo, and also have a bolder eggcrate pattern?
And it's only 360 miles away.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
There was a '77 New Yorker at the Carlisle Mopar Nationals this year, that the owner rescued from a field. He paid $300 for it. He swore that the interior was original, and the body was still pretty solid, which I found surprising, considering he said it had been sitting out in the field for 10 years!
I've always had a thing for 4-door hardtops, and I think the '78 New Yorker, and Newport, were the last of that breed. GM phased theirs out after 1976 when they downsized, and I think once Ford restyled their big cars for 1973, they phased them out after a year, instead opting for that thin-pillar look with the frameless doors.
It looked like an early one so it wouldn't have the nice interior later ones got but otherwise didn't appear to have any cosmetic issues (nice Guards Red paint).
That struck me as cheap for one of the best sports cars of the 80s, assuming no major mechanical problems.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
And yes, it probably does cost more to fix than a 911. Problem is that an early 944 isn't worth anything, so all your investment is lost.
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It's a hugely expensive car to fix and even reasonably basic maintinence is time consuming and requires special tools.
Timing belts? Every 30-40k or so and you HAVE to use the right tensioner tool.. get it wrong, engine comes out.
Oh, the water pumps? They list for $575.. I can get them in an OEM box for cheap, but it's still $220+ my wholesale cost or 4-5 times the cost of a comparable BMW pump.
Clutches? At least Sachs has gone away from the stupid rubber hub setup (944s rarely wore out clutches, the rubber center hubs would fail) but my wholesale cost is still close to $500 and they are a pain to install. BMW Clutches are $175-250 my cost.
Wholesale on ignition wires is $140 for a set, distributor rotors list for $111... I could keep going and going and going.
So you find an old one.. needs a clutch, needs a timing belt, that alone exceeds the value of the car.
Shifty as usual is right, if you don't buy a mint one, don't even go there unless you're a Porsche mechanic.
And a masochistic one at that.