Project Cars--You Get to Vote on "Hold 'em or Fold 'em"

kapbot

and a couple of losers.

O.K., not a project, but can it really be worth this much?
Maybe.
Project, yes, but $4,000??
Could come in handy if we ever have a real winter again.
I'm sure he meant $195..0BO!
Another real project, don't know about the price.
C'mon!! You know ya want it!!

qbrozen

hmmmm... those are interesting. Would really need to crawl around them, though, to check out the firewall and frame. If there truly is no rot, the price isn't too far fetched. I'm feeling like $8k might be a better number, though. Its tough to call because I prefer the short wheelbase, but the right-hand drive model could make up for that. I wonder how desirable that is on the collector market, though. Its not exactly attractive with that big box stuck on there.

qbrozen

'68 chevelle - modded out and completely nonoriginal ... yeah, i think that's a bit high. depends on how well it was all done.

'52 pickup - if he's telling the complete truth, I actually think that's not bad. I've always liked the idea of a clean starting point for a truck-rod.

kaiser - $5k without the engine?? No thanks!

british_rover

Pretty cool espesialy the ambulance model that is an original UK model. Probably a lot of history on in that one as it is an Ex-MOD unit.

One problem those they are not Series IIas...

Headlights are in the wrong place.

http://www.landrovercentre.com/history/history_land_rover.htm

Series I


Series II

Series IIa


I might just call this guy and get the VINs off both these cars see what year they really are.

If they are actually IIas then they have a Series II front fenders, headlights, grills and hood.

That would be kind of unusual. I have seen lots of Series IIIs and Series IIas with cross polination of parts but I have never seen a Series IIa with Series II parts.

Mr_Shiftright

52 Dodge Pickup -- old pickups are red hot right now, but Dodge is at the bottom of the list. A nice '52 Chevy 3100 would bring $25K!!

andre1969

52 Dodge Pickup -- old pickups are red hot right now, but Dodge is at the bottom of the list. A nice '52 Chevy 3100 would bring $25K!!

Yeah, I always thought old Dodge pickups for the most part were pretty grubby looking. The old WW-II looking Power Wagons, which I think they made up until the early 60's, were cool though, and that Swept Wing style from '57-59 that had the Dodge tailfins grafted on was cool.

I don't think Dodge really came into its own with regards to pickups until the 1994 Ram.

How do old panel trucks tend to fare, price-wise? There's a 1959 or so Ford panel truck for sale on my street. Looks good at a quick glance. I think they want $5900 for it. It looks like this style. And there's a late 50's Dodge panel truck that lives in someone's back yard near my Dad's place. Looks like this style

I always thought panel trucks were kinda cool. I guess they pretty much got phased out once the cabover vans hit the market? I think Chevy kept theirs around through most of the 60's though. Probably pretty easy to do since it was basically a 2-door Suburban with no rear side windows.

BTW, when DID they start making 4-door Suburbans? I'll occasionally see 3-door Suburbans from the 60's (2 doors on the passenger side, only one on the driver's) but don't recall seeing any 4-door models.

fintail

For the 70s buff

xwesx

Well, according to this Wikipedia entry, the 4-passenger-doors was introduced with the 1973 redesign. From 1967-72, it was 3 doors with just a driver door on the left side. Strange though, I as I am pretty sure the 1969 model a former neighbor owns has 4 doors. I guess I would have to make a point to drive by there some time to look again. :confuse:

lemko

In Philadelphia and surrounding counties, I believe, you need to pass both inspection and emmissions. Elsewhere in PA, it's just inspection. You can spot a non-Philly car by just a single inspection sticker rather than two differently colored inspection and emmissions stickers.

For a brief time, Philadelphia had a different registration sticker - a rather large yellow, somewhat unattractive, sticker that went in the rear window. The sticker was meant to foil people who would steal the little license plate-mounter sticker from the corner - either by carefully peeling it or crudely cutting it off with tin shears. This rear window sticker would often rapidly fade and fall off requiring the frequent use of cellophane tape and adding to the ugliness. In 2004, Philadelphia reverted back to the use of the usual license-plate registration sticker. I believe there were concerns about suburban cops using the yellow stickers as a form of "geographic profiling" to target city drivers.

I still have the old 2003 sticker in the rear window of my 1989 Cadillac Brougham as a relic of this failed experiment.

fintail

Around here, I think one only needs an inspection to register a car purchased out of state, and the criteria is very weak. Otherwise, only emissions tests in more urban counties. All of that means you get some pretty dodgy vehicles on the road.

gsemike

The Chevelle looks nice. With any Chevelle, having a big block is a major major plus. That's offset by it being a 68 which doesn't that great of a following but I guess that everything from 66 to 72 are desired.

Someone around here had a 70 SS clone small block that he wanted 19.5 for. It was nicely done but I thought that was steep because the engine was just an everyage small block with bolt-ons and it had 15 X 7 Vette rally wheels.

I don't know how much he got. The guy with the 68 should put it on ebay with a reserve of 20 or in the high teens and see if he can get a bidding war.

That's the type of car that could go for anywhere from 15 to 25 based on the timing.

The Camaro guy is stoned. He should take the initiative to part it out. Even if somebody wanted the parts, no one is going to do him the favor of dragging it away and paying him 2 grand to do it.

fintail

Nice looking old tank

fintail

Andre-mobile

fintail

So it has lots of needs, but good compression justifies a high price. Yeah...money pit

Mr_Shiftright

Actually a compression test is NOT a perfect method for determining engine health. Some engines are notorious for putting up great compression numbers and yet being totally worn out....how is that? Well the compression rings are still okay but the oil rings and bores are all worn out and the combustion chambers are all carbonized. So you can end up with 140 psi compresssion on an engine that is puking oil and is completely anemic once the revs are up.

fintail

I was thinking that...can't an engine in need of some work have a lot of blow-by with good compression?

I just found it funny that seller took compression as a reason to ask big money.

fintail

I suppose it is cool in a weirdo retro survivor way, but can these really go that many miles?

Mr_Shiftright

Old Corolla -- well, the engine and trans were rebuilt, and if you don't bang into things and keep replacing the pieces that fall off, sure, an old Corolla could go that many miles.

But I always tell people that after 300,000 miles or so you have to have the car inspected for structural issues. I personally would replace the steering arms and control arms on a car that old, or at least have them removed and magnafluxed. Some cars, like old Saabs, are notorious for upper A-arm failure after a lot of miles and some cars are notorious for busting old tie rod ends....

COMPRESSION -- you are absolutely right, you can have lots of blow-by and still have good compression. Just about any old Volvo 140 or 240 with lots of miles on it will exhibit this symptom, as do older American engines (and after all, Volvos are just closet Buicks).

lemko

The only way an old Corolla like that would survive in Philly is to have it hibernate in an oil bath all winter.

Mr_Shiftright

We call that Italian undercoating...which is what they do in Italy, or used to at any rate....just mix some oil (olive?) and grease and slather it on under the car.

british_rover

I am not a happy camper this morning.

Someone blew the clutch out in our 1959 Sereis II.

I pulled in this morning and it was parked under the service bay not on its trailer where I left it last night after the auto show. Someone pulled it off the trailer and parked it out front sometime this morning. They managed in less then 100 feet to completly smoke the clutch out of it. I can't get it to move at all now and I had someone coming to look at it this afternoon too.

I have a pretty good idea who did it as well.... :mad:

fintail

On that Corolla, the price seems high anyway. No matter that only a few might be on the road. Can't be a safe car.

My fintail has a little blow-by, or what I call blow-by...at sustained high speeds a small amount of oil will come out of the dipstick hole (which is a strange setup...weird rubber filter at the base of the top of the dipstick handle, as if it was made to do so) and will accumulate below this area. I just wipe it off if it does that.

Mr_Shiftright

Can the general public attend the execution or will this be a private affair at the dealership?

british_rover

Maybe I will broadcast it over Youtube.

Make them stick their mouth over the tailpipe of the rover and rev it up till they die from consuming too many unburnt hydrocarbons.

Mr_Shiftright

Let me guess...the suspect is male, between the ages of 18-25, and wears a baseball cap backwards.

bumpy

Andremobile + 10 years

worth more as parts than as a car

not a real Honda

the shark

oh, is that all it needs?

people seem to love that aqua color on '50s cars but I hate it

you could do worse for $1900

sorry, but you can't sell an S12 for S13 money

andre1969

I like the style of those '81-88 Cutlass Supremes, but I wish they'd list which engine it has. At first I thought it was a base model, but the seats look pretty plush, like a Brougham. If it had the 307 and there was nothing major wrong with it, I'd be tempted. But I put up with one of these with the 231 V-6, and swore never again. It was the only car I've ever owned where both the tranny AND the engine self-destructed!

I like some of those aqua colors, as long as they have a bit more green in them, or are a touch darker. I don't really care for it on that Ford wagon, but on something like a '55 T-bird it wouldn't be bad. Still a bit too light for my tastes, though.

I kinda like those Tiburons. Wait till you see the red one!

british_rover

I wish point the baseball cap the right way and double the age...

Lets call it a family problem if you catch my drift.

qbrozen

if it wasn't for the clear corner lights, I'd almost suspect that 190E was the one I sold about a year and a half ago. Oh, that and the fact that the guy down the street still has it. Spotted it there a couple of days ago. I guess he's doing ok with it.

$4k for a '95 del sol??? uhhhh... no thanks.

i gotta wonder what's wrong with the toyo frame. Ya can't just drop a bomb like that in an ad without giving details, fer cryin out loud.

I'm with you on aqua cars, by the way. just not for me.

fintail

Turquoise is better than aqua on those cars.

And yeah, that 190 doesn't look half bad for the money.

fintail

Another little tin can oddball

qbrozen

man, that is odd.

he doesn't even say if it runs.

Even if that car were showroom condition, I'd have to think a while about dropping $500 on it. But I guess there's a buyer out there somewhere for everything, right?

akangl

They are kidding right?

At least he's honest

Cute car, high price

Dreamer

Kinda high

fintail

Wow, things are expensive in AK. That 4WS Mazda is a real weirdo, can't recall when I last saw or even heard of one.

And about that Colt...yeah I would have hesitation paying $500 for a mint one, too.

xwesx

Okay, so the Aerostar is a great vehicle (for its purpose!), but come on, do not ask for top dollar and take photos of it demonstrating it has (or was) not used in quite some time.... Ugh!

"This is good, cheap, reliable transportation." Hahhaha, that has to be the funniest statement ever when taken in context: 1986 Ford Bronco II?! Come on... the Bronco II was one of the worst lemons in recent history! Maybe that did not apply to all of them.... :sick: But, if it is, by some miracle, running well, a good tune up, once over, and repaired 4wd (if it is not a bum transfer case!) could turn a $2000 gross turnaround, so maybe $500 profit if you got in as deep as you'd ever want.

It can be tricky finding a decent vehicle up here with a price to match. The only vehicle I have purchased in Alaska was my C20.... and I had to cut down a forest to extract it.

akangl

It can be tricky finding a decent vehicle up here with a price to match. The only vehicle I have purchased in Alaska was my C20.... and I had to cut down a forest to extract it.

The last 2 used vehicles I bought were both projects. One a 1997 Chrysler Sebring LXi was saved from the junkyard for $650. Fixed its issues (badly bent rear suspension from an accident, brakes, and replaced the airbags) had about $980 into it total including its purchase. Sold it for $2500. Its a decent car, only had 56k on it, some body damage but it was not as bad as some I've seen. Clean title saved it.

The other one was our 97 F-250 powerstroke. Finally fixed its starting issue.....glow plugs, $90 and its reliable again. Its a good running truck that doesn't leak, a real bargain for the $3k we have into it. Down side is its reconstruct title.

Both of them were bought from the junkyard more or less, lol. They have a car there now I've been looking at, but I think I'll end up passing on it. Its a 1998 (I think) Camry, cloth, sunroof, busted rack & pinion, but does drive, needs a front fender too. Has a reconstruct title and about 150k on it. They are asking $800 for it.

jrosasmc

I was browsing Kelley Blue Book's website a few days ago, and decided to look at some Mercedes values for the fun of it. To my dismay, I discovered that even the last two years of the 190E ('92 & '93) have very low trade-in values, even though they are Benzes. I typed in an average mileage (120k, to be honest) and both the 2.3 and 2.6 models still had average trade-ins of only $1700. The other Benz models fared much better trade-in wise. I'm wondering why the 190's values are low, I'm guessing they're not a well-regarded model among Euro car enthusiasts?

w9cw

http://chambana.craigslist.org/car/236864474.html

toomanyfumes

The Toyota Pickup frame is probably rusted where the bed meets the cab. He said the bed was replaced making me think it had serious rust. I had a Toyota 4X4 that rusted there also. The bed topper hit the roof of the cab, as the truck was trying to bend itself in half. It was only about 9 years old at the time. Boy, the tan color and the hubcaps on that '80's Cutlass just kill the car.

qbrozen

well, really, its kinda the same thing with newer models, no? The C-class fetches far less than the E-class. More of a difference, I think, then say a 3-series vs 5-series.

qbrozen

that's frightening.

I would consider a truck that old with that kind of frame problem junkyard fodder. The only thing worth possibly saving would be the 22re. But I wouldn't know what to do with it.

stickguy

Maybe transplant it into your Mazda?

You ever get that thing straightened out with a new head? I got behind on my reading, and hate to miss the end of a story!

qbrozen

haha. i was actually going to say that. that engine in my mazda would be real nice.

well, i was holding off on finishing the story until it was done ... but here goes.

SO... when last we left our brave little truck, it was sick with smoke and waiting on an ebay head. The head arrived last Monday when I was off from work. Seemed to be in ok shape. So I set about to installing it. Got it all done, cinched down, timing set, etc. Started her up and ... "ratatatatatatatatat"

hmmmm... those valves aren't sounding too good. Monday was done, so during the course of the work week, I spent a little time out there each evening starting the dissasembly process again and checking things along the way. Timing was still dead nuts on, etc. Well, to keep the long story as short as possible, it basically turned out that all of the hydraulic lifters in this "new" head were seized shut. I can't say for sure why. could be I should have disassembled the head when it arrived and primed them; could be the ebay'er did not replace them like he said he did; whatever. Luckily I still had my old head on hand, so I pulled the lifters from that and installed. Reassembled and its much quieter now.

Did it fix the problem? Welll..... that remains to be seen. I did have a tremendous amount of smoke shortly after startup, but I'm told this may go away after breaking it in. So I ran it for maybe an hour and it did mostly clear up. It still spits out a puff if I rev it real hard. But if I ease on the gas and ease off, it seems to be good. And if I shut down and restart a half hour or more later, I've got smoke again.

SO, my plan is to drive it on my commute tomorrow (about 10 miles backroads and 25 miles on the highway) and take it straight to the inspection station nearest my office early in the AM before work.

I did use it this past weekend to aid in my leaf cleanup and I LOVED having it. What used to take me a month of weekends took me about 6 hours. SO, I figure worst case scenario, if its not legal on the roads, I will keep it just for the yard. It would be nice, however, to be able to drive it to the dump, too, though, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

stickguy

Ah, playing the old inspection station tailpipe sniffer roulette game. I remember it well!

That is where I learned that when you sit idling and start/stop for 1/2 hour+ the exhaust gets dirty. You always want to show up hot and pull right in, with minimal idling. I have had cars fail, and then pass the next day without doing anything to them. Only difference is pulling right up to the retest station.

One thing that might be beneficial is to pay the few $$ and use a private garage (assuming they still have themn!) They tend to have a way to "make" you pass!

qbrozen

OH how I wish I could still do that.

I've had to pay a few times in my life, that's for sure. But no longer. There are no such thing as private inspection stations in NJ anymore.

Do you think they'd be suspicious if, as I sat there waiting, the truck was revving at 3k rpms the whole time.

andre1969

Do you think they'd be suspicious if, as I sat there waiting, the truck was revving at 3k rpms the whole time.

I remember ages ago, when I had my '79 Newport, I was worried about it passing the emissions test because it had over 230,000 miles on it, and, well, I paid a whopping $250 for it! On the way to the test I took the scenic route and kept it in second gear most of the time to keep it a bit more revved up.

Oh crap, that reminds me...my pickup is due to go in, sometime around January. Guess I'd better get off my duff and put the exhaust system back on!

jlflemmons

If that Cutlass was a 307, I would take it right now. The 16yo boy needs transportation and that would be a good solid unit.

On exhaust testing, I did a volunteer test with a new '79 Cutlass Salon (that's back when they were rwd) that the cat had been removed from. Up to 2000rpm all passed. above that all the meters pegged. The tester kindly suggested I have the carb checked out.

british_rover

Smoke at start up and for a while afterwards is normal after a head swap.

If a car didn't smoke right after some head work I would be worried.

qbrozen

thanks for the hope, BR.

any thoughts on how long this should last for? Should I even bother with inspection tomorrow? Or wait it out and run her some more. I would say she's been run a total of maybe 2 hours since I finished the work and it will be another 40 minutes or so tomorrow morning to get to the station.

british_rover

That should be enough time. Is there smoke under acceleration still? I wouldn't expect any smoke at idle anymore but a little smoke under acceleration would not be unusual.