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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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ba-dum-bump
And now, please, back to posting other obscure cars!
Any insight as to what a fair price would be for it?
Honestly, I have no idea what that thing is worth, but what can you get for $5k these days.
agree that 5k is all the money in the world.
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It's a "love it or hate it" design. I was looking at one the other day, and it aged badly. There were cars built in the early 1960s that look more modern. Not likely that this model will have a post-production future as a replicar. The only vehicles that big these days are SUVs. Does it still have fins in the back?
Jesus, I see '94 Civics with asking prices of $4k.
I'd say a '94 Fleetwood in good working condition would be a good deal if you like that kind of car. I believe it's powered by a LT1 350 which is pretty much bullet proof.
Definitely a lot of car for the money.
I'm half-tempted to go look at it after work tonight. Wonder if I offered them $3500, perhaps they'd be able to meet somewhere in the middle? Even if $4200 is a bit south of "middle"?
Another bonus is that, on January 1, 2014, I can get Maryland antique tags for it! :P
I guess it depends on how you look at it. Pay $5k for a car you like, say Andre drives it 10k miles a year (he probably wouldn't drive it near that much). Anyway, it should get 15mpg avg, so it will cost close to $ $3,300 a year for fuel at $5gal. Big deal. How is that more expensive than buying a new car that might average 30mpg?
Yeah, but they're not expensive to rebuild either. Plus you can make them much stronger than original with a good rebuild.
Unfortunately, I know first hand how lousy a 4l60e can be. Man, do I know a lot of people that have had those rebuilt/replaced at low miles.
Not my kind of car, but I do find it to be pretty cool.
I have a feeling that, short of a hybrid, I'd hate just about any new car that would average 30 mpg in my type of driving, because it would just be too small. A lot of my driving is short trip local stuff, and my commute to work is 2.5 miles. In that type of driving, I'm sure even small cars and even hybrids would suffer, although I guess a plug-in hybrid would do well.
FWIW, my Park Ave has averaged 21.1 mpg in the 26 months and 23,000 miles that I've had it. I've managed to break 30 mpg a few times on the highway, but there's also been a few times that I've only gotten 15 mpg to a tank...mainly in the winter. It's EPA-rated 16/25 (18/27 back in the day, before they revised the numbers). The Caddy is rated a bit worse, at 15/23 (17/25 when new), so hopefully it shouldn't cost too much more to fill up.
I wouldn't be surprised if the FW could average more than 15mpg, but it depends on how you drive it. All in town and I doubt it would get much more than that.
But I was using extremes for my numbers. $5/gal is unlikely anytime soon and it's unlikely you'll only get 15mpg in the Caddy overall. So even with those extremes $275/mo in fuel costs with no car payment shouldn't put much a dent in a monthly budget. Good luck finding a 30-40mpg car (that you'd likely hate) for $275/mo.
You must have put a pretty big down payment on that car. I remember my Mom's '86 Monte Carlo, which was around $14-15K out the door, was around $280 per month for 48 months. That was the first car she ever financed. Before that, she'd owned three other brand-new cars: an '80 Malibu and '75 LeMans that she saved up and paid cash for, and a '66 Catalina that she saved up half the money, borrowed the other half from her aunt, and then paid her aunt back.
Kinda ironic, how the economy wasn't so hot in '75 or '80, but she was able to pay cash for those cars. But in '86, when things were rolling along, she financed. I think that was also around the time they started with really low financing though. I believe she got 2.9% on the Monte. I'm sure interest rates were pretty bad in 1975, and so ridiculous in '80 that it might have made more sense to just pay cash.
You got the words to the Billy Joel song wrong. The first verse goes,
"Workin to hard can give you a heart attack-'ack- ack - ack. . .
You ought to know by now. . .
=================================================
The second verse goes
He traded his Avanti for a Cadillac- ack-ack-ack ack. . .
But is sorry he did that now.
Cause he's run out of gas in Hackensack,
That Caddy ate up all his money.
How about a Studillac? :P
As for the Fleetwood's style, I'm actually not that crazy about it either. I like the previous '77-92 generation much better, and IMO the '80-89 was the best styled of the bunch. If we could take Lemko's '89 Brougham and throw the LT-1 under the hood, I think you'd have just about the perfect car!
But, there's still a lot about it I like...the room, the full-frame, RWD, V-8. Although, I'd better double-check on the room. Back in 2009, after my 2000 Intrepid got wrecked but before I bought my Park Ave, I looked at a 1991 Caprice that a local used car dealer had, and believe it or not, I actually found it to be cramped! It didn't have a power seat though, so that might have made some difference. But still, you'd think a car like that would be roomier. They also had a 1994 Olds 88 on the lot, and it felt like it had a lot more legroom.
A pretty good looking silver Contour SVT and a few minutes after that a, 'lead sled' Mercedes 300 SDL. Both of them passed me on the highway.
This morning, a late 70's Medium metallic blue Nova with a serious looking exhaust system.
The road was wet and it was crawling along. I'm guessing the driver was afraid of that situation.
That brings back memories. I bought a brand new silver '98 SVT Contour in '97. Loved that car, though it didn't always love me back;). I still see them on the road from time to time.
I think they look absolutely enormous.
That said, you gotta like the engine selection, and yes, it is a throwback to larger Cadillacs of yore. I do like that. I mean, it LOOKS like a Caddy!
I like some of the neat, Caddy-only colors you could get then, like a neat springtime grass-green color I liked. I also seem to remember dark green and dark blue leather inside available, which was distinctive even then.
One wonders if that was really a trade-in, or if they bought it elsewhere.
I am thinking about driving by after work and looking at it tonight. I'll ask the salesman the history of the car (provided he knows it). I was about to say that it has their dealership logo on the back, so it was originally bought there but d'oh, that logo's gonna go on the back of one of their used cars, no matter where it came from originally!
I guess one minor disadvantage is that this car only has a tape player and no CD. But at the same time, I can't remember the last time I put a CD in the Park Ave. And one of my friends has some kind of satellite radio tuner thingie that's portable. You just have to tune it in on a station that's not being used. One time, we even used it in my '76 LeMans!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
That's assuming it still works. It is 20 years old. I've usedcassette adapters in the past with varying results. FM modulators are fine if you don't live in an area where every frequency seems to have a station.
my recently purchased Volvo has an aux in plug, which also works fine for an ipod or XM.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
if only
Right. . . and the unemployment rate will not top 8% either.
Guess what? Five dollars ($5.00) per gallon has already arrived in Los Angeles. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/The-Highs-and-Lows-of-Gas-Prices-1402437- - 53.html One station is already charging $5.21 per gallon.
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So with 1 litre equalling 0.264 US gallons (our gallons are actually larger) and the £ at $1.58, I think, at present, that makes 1 US gallon of petrol here about $8.07 - although I may have lost the maths along the way...
We do pay a lot more tax on fuel, of course....
If I send you money, could you mail me some gasoline from Kentucky before the postal rates go up??? If you can find some gas with lead in it, my 1955 Studebaker Commander will thank you. Try aviation fuel. The $5.21 I posted in the last message was for regular, not preumium grade gasoline. What starts in Los Angeles does not stay in Los Angeles. This ain't Las Vegas.
To be fair, that was only at one local station... most of the others were $3.69/gal. for regular unleaded..
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I just saw $4.55/gal for premium in Glen Ellen, CA.
Oh, also a 70-72 GTO parked at Costco, I have seen it there before, maybe an employee car. Decent driver condition with later 70s honeycomb wheels which actually didn't look terrible.
It had what looked like an original Nixon bumper sticker.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Man want.
Well, I did have a '67 Camaro. Only a 6 cyl powerglide, but it did have the custom lightweight package. Also known as the rear fenders and about 1/2 the trunk pan had rotted away...
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Well, if enough people take on low-paying part-time jobs, or give up looking for employment altogether, the unemployment rate will go down. :sick:
Dunno if there's any way for them to fudge the statistics for gasoline prices, though.
And, it looks like that '94 Fleetwood is now out of the picture. I just went to that dealer's website, and it's not showing anymore so I guess it sold. I was going to look at it a few days ago, but before I had the chance, my Mom mentioned that she and my stepdad are thinking about getting rid of their '08 Altima, and asked me if I'd be interested. They haven't decided how much they want for it, or even if they're going to go through with it. They're thinking about reducing the number of vehicles they have, getting rid of a '98 Expedition and the Altima, and replacing them with an Escape, which they think will be powerful enough to tow their boat.
Now the V6 models are a different story, quick as heck and the CVT (while probably the same) doesn't seem as bad. I guess the extra power makes the difference.
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