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

Mr_Shiftright

The really great thing about bad taste is that you don't know you have it. :P

andre1969

ever opens a funeral home, this thing would be his car of choice:


I snapped this at the GM Nats in Carlisle in 2005. I don't think it's a Stutz, though. Looks to me like some kind of attempt at a Packard revival. And I think it's a heavily modified '79-85 Riv or Eldorado, as opposed to a full-sized car.

Mr_Shiftright

I wouldn't be seen dead in that thing.

andre1969

I think dead is about the ONLY way I think I'd ever be seen in something like that! I mean, I like my big, pimpy, oversized 70's cars but even I have my limits!

fintail

Yep there was a Packard revival car a little later than the Stutz...I have seen one or two on ebay over the years.

That thing sure takes any dignity out of death. Is it to make funeral mourners laugh?

fintail

"No rust ever, Minor surface rust underside of car"

Uh...which is it?

texases

Isn't the price high, more like for a good running example? Not like it's a hot collector's item, is it?

seminole_kev

That price is pretty darn hight to me! That guy needs to look up what it cost to have chrome replated alone. :sick:

fintail

Yeah, the price is high for a big old tank...especially one with no rust ever, but minor rust under the car (which is a bad place for it AFAIK)

texases

Looking at Ebay, $2000-$3000 (max, if knew engine/trans OK, oh, but wait, needs gas tank...) would be more like it...

ghulet

....I don't think that thing would be worth $7500 if it were a run-of-the-mill Impala, let alone a Galaxie 500. I mean, it doesn't run, it needs chrome work, has 'new upholstery' which has never been installed....other than the nice paint, where's the good news here? I think they'd be lucky to get $4k for that thing. '62 Galaxies just aren't that desirable, unless they have the right options (like a 406).

Mr_Shiftright

Well let's back it up. If it were finished and running, it would be worth about $8,500 at best. So you have about 100 hours of work here plus you haven't a clue if the engine or trans even work.

I don't even see $4,000 here. I'd probably appraise it at $2,500 tops, maybe $3,500 if it ran.

andre1969

Plus, this one has the 292 in it, and after hearing nvbanker's tales of his old Galaxie with the 292, that makes this one seem all the less enticing.

So I guess you really needed a 352 in these things to get any decent power out of them? I guess to be fair though, a '62 Impala with a 283 probably wasn't all that quick either, especially hampered by the 2-speed automatic. I think the big Fords at least had a 3-speed by then.

xwesx

Okay, so I have a bit of a dilemma. Not much of one, but a bit.

My old Subaru, which is fairly trashed at this point (review photos here), is still sitting at the tow company's lot. I have a choice to make:

Option 1) "Give" it to the tow company in exchange for the price of the tow bill ($250) and be done with it.

Option 2) Retrieve it, in exchange for the $250 mentioned above, and either part it out (interior and drivetrain) or keep it. If kept, I would remove all the body panels, cut off the roof, probably chop 3' out of the middle, install a roll cage, and have myself a fun little buggy. It would be ugly as all get out, but fun.

The caveat here is that my wife much prefers Option 1 and does not support option 2 in any respect. As a result, it would undoubtedly be a bone of contention. In addition, finances are decidedly tight right now so progress (if I went the buggy route) would surely be slow even if I was only buying some tube steel and tool supplies.

In the interest of marital harmony (is there such a thing?!), I am leaning toward Option 1 but want to pursue option 2. Concurrence? Dissonance?

-Wes-

qbrozen

i only had to look at one pic to decide that I would absolutely let them keep it for $250.

seminole_kev

Ooof! Uh, yeah from looking at those pictures I think I'd just be happy not to have to pay the towing fee. Let that one rest in peace....and it will make the misses happy, which in turn allows you to be happy.

stickguy

just take option 1. You are already building a house, right? Doesn't sound like you need any more hobbies!

You could also do all the work, and have something totally unusable. Can't imagine you a unibody car will do without most of the body panels! Plus it is what, 200K on the engine?

Just cut it loose, and go look for your next ride. Unless you can find a clean sube with a blown engine to combine it with.

xwesx

Yeah, that's pretty much what I am thinking. I was building a house, but not any longer. No money left to put into it. Might be able to start working on it again in a few years if it does not fall down first. :mad:

It has just shy of 221K on it. I think, really, it would do fine without body panels once the roll cage was installed... but I could be deceiving myself. Maybe just build a tube steel frame and swap over all the mechanical, but that would be a nightmare, too! I looked for a good body - just tough to find in this area. If the drivetrain is shot then the body went a long time ago.

I just hate to say "here, have it" and see no return at all on it when I have sweat blood and tears over it for the past 6.5 years just to keep it on the road. Had it died, I would be fine with that. But no, could not have gone more wrong. Infuriating, really. I hope I dislike my new car as much when its time comes as I do now.

fintail

yeah, that project sounds cool...but I doubt you'll have time to have at it. Then it will sit beside the house, and wifey will nag and complain. Say one last farewell, you'll always remember the beast.

fintail

Andre-mobile

Geez, all of these things were sold near Seattle

andre1969

I kinda like that one, except for that "Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?" color. :P

boomchek

Doesn't insurance give you anything for the car if it's a write off?

jlflemmons

bye, bye 'bu

xwesx

When this car came out it was the Big-Time stylin' ride - They don't make 'em like this anymore!

Thank goodness for that! :surprise:

xwesx

Alright, so we all concur. Just thought I would check.

Re: insurance - the limited coverage I had on that old thing would have only covered if the vehicles had contacted each other. I was able to avoid the other car, just not the trees. :sick: They consider it a "phantom" vehicle - and I am beginning to think the same thing.

boomchek

Ahh, I see. I don't know if you can sell it for more than the $250, even to a scrap yard, or Subaru mechanic shop. But then is it worth the hassle of the two bill, additional towing charges, etc.

fintail

Not many of these survived like this

boomchek

I always liked the looks of the Berettas. Especially the GTZ models.

lilengineerboy

Thats because that one has basically nothing going for it. A weezy underpowered 4 cylinder connected to a 3spd auto in a hard to see out of package.
The 3.1l V6 was a little better than the base 4 (it sounded mean at least, and felt really fast from 0-45 or so) or the Olds Quad 4 which was very "effective" but felt like a paint shaker.
I thought one of these would be my first car at the time (90s) but there were too many better options for used cars then, so I would think even more so now.

andre1969

that I liked the Beretta when it first came out for 1987. But I thought the '88 Cavalier coupe made it seem kinda redundant. A buddy of mine in college had a red '89 Cavalier Z24 coupe, with silver cladding, and I thought that was a pretty sharp car. I know it's easy to make fun of the Cavalier, but I thought this one was pretty nice. The interior was even pretty nice and uplevel. The hard plastic was kept to a fairly tasteful minimum and it had nice fabrics. I remember one of our other friends went for a ride in it though, and broke one of the a/c vents just by touching it.

lilengineerboy

67 Coronet with a 440

Just haven't shared anything in a while...this one seemed fun

xwesx

Not much of it left, but "rare"

Ugh.... don't look at this one if you ate recently. It is... yikes.

1988 Prelude - this could be a fun old beater!

Okay, now this is a project car. Any bets on why it needs a new ignition switch?!

boomchek

I'd buy the rare Hudson, and make it into some kind of a display or furniture for my garage. :P

lilengineerboy

I think if I am going to get an old Prelude I would at least opt for fuel injection. That one looked like a 2.0s as opposed to the 2.0SI or SI (a whopping 2.1x litres) which are fuel injected. PGM-FI seems to help at elevations and cold temperatures.

au1994

I had an 89 Beretta with the 2.0 and 3 spd auto. It was a formal rental and had 0 options. No pwr windows, locks etc. Did not even have a tape deck.

The 4 was so underpowered it was scary to try to pass someone. Build quality was typical for GM at the time: paint orange peeled badly, interior bits fell off, alternator went out, computer module went out, drivers side window would pop out of its track.

Got me through college, then was traded on a 95 Tacoma. It had ~67k on it and I think I got 3k for it in trade.

lemko

When my sister was in high school, the Beretta was her dream car. Her boyfriend even built a model of the car for her in a shade of blue she liked. Later on when she was in college, my sister bought a silver LeBaron coupe.

seminole_kev

The thing I didn't like about the Berettas and Corsicas was how the windows started lower than the windshield/front of the car was. Not sure if I'm making any sense, but the windows looked like they started too low in relation to the rest of the car. Just never looked right to me.

qbrozen

Any bets on why it needs a new ignition switch?!

Because it was originally a girl's car and she had 10 lbs. worth of keys and keychains hanging from it all the time.

stickguy

given the plastic sheet drivers window, I guess theft recovery.

qbrozen

ahhhh... i didn't do the math.

however, why the heck would someone want to steal THAT??

andre1969

Not sure if I'm making any sense, but the windows looked like they started too low in relation to the rest of the car. Just never looked right to me.

I don't remember it being so bad on the Corsica, but I agree on the Beretta. FWIW, I think the '88-94 Cavalier coupe windows started below the base of the windshield too, but it wasn't as extreme. Plus, they kicked up a bit in the back to flow in with the base of the C-pillar and rear window, which lessened the effect.

My '85 LeSabre and '82 Cutlass had window lines that were slightly below the base of the windshield, but then they kicked up at the front to align with the A-pillar, and I think that made it blend better. IIRC, the cowl of the Beretta was kind of high to begin with, so couple that with the low beltline, and that seemed to exaggerate the effect a bit.

Mr_Shiftright

My opinions:

32 Hudson:--sell to China for scrap metal to make teapots

54 Chevy -- good for parts to restore a better car...probably worth the money

Prelude -- who cares?

Jeep -- might make an excellent winter beater, but did it fail emissions and the guy gave up? Who needs an ignition switch? Worth a look...

fintail

I remember when I was in high school (early-mid 90s) some of those cars had already worked their way down to the high school driver. They were looking aged even then. Not a GM high point.

I remember when those originally came out, a coworker of my dad's bought one, and through some kind of manufacturing flaw (I am not sure what as I didn't get to examine it), the driver's door sagged down til it snapped off.

xwesx

...theft recovery.

ahhhh.. i didn't do the math.

however, why the heck would someone want to steal THAT??

Yes, that was my guess as well - theft recovery. Who knows why most people do what they do? They probably wanted to have some off-road fun for an evening, but if that is the case then I am surprised it still looks to be in good condition (structurally, body... though I cannot tell if it is mud or rust along the sides). Actually, for the year, that is one of the best looking Cherokees I have seen from this area. Most of them are horridly ratty. And, from Anchorage, there are more holes than sheet metal.

akangl

Because it was originally a girl's car and she had 10 lbs. worth of keys and keychains hanging from it all the time.

Hey Hey, easy now, I resemble that remark, lol. Hubby is always complaining about how many keys I have on my key ring. Not my fault we have 3 trucks, plus I still have a key to the Sebring on there, not to mention the 50 million keys we need that go to various locks/doors around the house. I've dubbed his janitor keys so he really has no room to talk, lol.

xwesx

I removed my Subaru keys from my 2 rings within 24 hours of its destruction... I think my wife still has hers on the ring.

I keep three sets of keys: a set that is tethered to me (I know my own limitations! hahaha) with work keys, a backup house key, and backup auto keys; a set that has primary house keys, car ignition key, and mailbox key; and a final set that stores my rarely used keys, like the van's keys, Pinto keys, camper key, and keys to other peoples' houses.... hehe. No sense in carrying them around all the time! Oh, and I just keep a key in the ignition of the truck and van all the time (at least during the winter months) so I never have to worry about digging those out.

Divide and conquer.... :P

qbrozen

I have 4 cars, yet each keyring has 2 keys. One for the vehicle and 1 for the house (of course, it helps that my mom has locksmith experience and has rekeyed all the locks on my house for 1 key).

I knew I'd ruffle some feathers with my comment. ;b

Its really that truck more than anything. All the 2-door cherokees I ever knew were owned by young girls.

But, really, why carry around all the keys all the time? You don't drive all your vehicles at once ... do you?? And how many doors do you need to open when you get home after a drive?

xwesx

This may be enough of an Alaskan phenomenon to seem strange to others, but unless the vehicle has an auto start, typically one will have two keys for each vehicle at any given time (at least during winter) - one to start the vehicle and another to unlock the doors once it is somewhat warmed up. It is tough to drive in -50 clothing and horribly uncomfortable to try and drive a cold vehicle at those temps. My truck will keep the cab temperature at about 30 degrees above ambient, so at -50 it is -20 in the cab (still a sizable difference). After 5-10 minutes of driving, though, limbs and phalanges start complaining.

akangl

I have enough trouble keeping track on ONE set of keys, if I put keys on other rings, oh goodness, I'd lose them for sure. Hubby says I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached, most times I think he's right!

Our Ford has auto start, but the remote stays in the house most of the time, darn thing will barely start with a key let alone auto start. Neither Dodge has auto start and they have the key and remote as one so unless I go get a blank key with a chip and have it programmed I'm stuck with just one key. We have 2 keys to each Dodge, I have one of each and hubby has one of each.

On our trip to Washington we had both sets of keys with us, so we could start the truck, then lock it. It gets confusing trying to figure out which key belongs to which truck, we are forever locking each other's trucks!

ARGH, now that I've confused myself, I think I'll go get some lunch, lol.

To keep this post on topic I'm currently watching the junkyard for another project. Kinda miss the Sebring, but it wasn't me. Gotta find an SUV of some sort for a grocery getter.

fintail

The market for 'normal' old cars like this is smaller and smaller...probably was worth more 25 years ago than now.