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

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Comments

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
    Yeah, a swap makes a lot more sense than a rebuild, unless you have massive sentimental attachment to the car, and price is no object. Nobody is ever going to care about a 'matching numbers' W123.

    That metal plate thing must have been a dealer-specific item, I'm actually not familiar with that for MB

    This doesn't look like the worst old thing
  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,751
    I parked next to an old 200D fintail today. It was white-on-black (now I am trying to recall... it was white on the entire cab (roof, pillars), and I think the hood and trunk lid were white as well. Both sides were black.) and looked very sharp. The interior looked to be vinyl - it had a few cracks here and there and had a checkerboard pattern on the center portion of each seat. No head rests on the front seats (archaic, but common practice way back when). I did not see the mileage, but it looked fairly nice other than a centered dent in the rear chrome bumper.
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    Funny you mention those two cars...

    Had a couple of guys come in driving a 300TD Waggon to pick up their 2000 Range Rover.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I just saw a clean 300TD for sale for $3,500. I know the car and it used to run well, but I haven't given it the once over....so you never know. Guy has a dog so that's a big minus, but a couple of weeks of detailing with high pressure hoses should fix that :P

    My memory of 190Ds and 200Ds is that they are nasty little cars to drive...they vibrate like hell.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
    Yep, that sounds like MB-Tex (their fantastic hard wearing vinyl), and the paint job isn't right...2 tone fintails were one color on the body, the other color on roof and pillars.

    Still, it was being driven, and in that harsh climate...that has to be worth something. I still recall seeing a documentary on the 1964 Alaska quake, and in a shot of traffic in a demolished area (after the tsunami I think), there was a fintail driving along.

    0-60 on a calendar, unsafe for highway driving.
  • british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    This is not the picture I was looking for but it was shot in the same area probably by the same person.

    Alaska Quake

    In the pictures I am thinking of I saw a mercedes parked on the side of the road.

    Here is a neat shot of a Vette...

    image
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
    Cool stuff, that Corvette one is remarkable. For a while when I was a kid, I had a huge fixation on disasters, and I had several articles and a little book on the 1964 quake. In the book there was a great shot of a rental car storage yard, where a bunch of new 64 Chevys (many Impala 2 door HTs IIRC) got crushed by a collapsed roof. It made me wince even then! Stupidly, I dumped all that stuff at a yard sale when I moved away from home.

    That Volvo in the larger pic must have been unusual then. Did Alaska attract odd cars? An old friend of the family lived there back in the day, and he always talked about driving his Renault Dauphine on the Alaska Highway.
  • british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    Watches that stupid Girls Next Door show on E or Bravo or I don't know what channel it shows up on.

    Anyway one of Hugh's girlfriends has never driven a stick before and Hugh has one of the guys that maintains his cars show her how to.

    On his 1959 300SL roadster that he has owned since new. :surprise:

    She promptly got it stuck trying to drive up a steep driveway. Dragged the whole back end across the ground. :sick:

    Pictures of Hef's 300SL
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
    Uuugh, there should be a law (with harsh punishments) :sick:
  • lilengineerboylilengineerboy Member Posts: 4,116
    92 Talon TSI AWD
    Edmunds TMV:$139 $655 $1,537
    90 Talon TSI AWD
    Edmunds TMV:$111 $468 $1,076

    96 Disco
    Edmunds TMV:$2,159 $2,766 $3,633

    I guess if you are adverising for free, there is no real incentive to actually sell the item. Kind of like the housing market around here...ask rediculous amounts and then whine when it doesn't sell.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    I saw that episode. Made me cringe when they got stuck on the steep driveway. Ouch! :surprise:

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    I always like those Talons/Eclipses. If an AWD stick one comes on a trade cheap I wouldn't mind picking it up as a second car.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • lilengineerboylilengineerboy Member Posts: 4,116
    Booomchek, thats kind of my point, these should be a lot cheaper than they are asking. These are all first gens so they shouldn't have a crank-walk issue, and the '92 should have the stronger internals. They alll have transmissions that don't like 200hp going through them so the syncros wear out and you get the second gear grind (which is better than the SE-R 5th gear pop-out) but these people want 3-10x what the car is worth.
  • british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    Ok I actually kind of like the homemade avalanche... :blush:

    Nice price range on the third one 600-120,000 dollars. :surprise:
  • lilengineerboylilengineerboy Member Posts: 4,116
    I am glad that 914 is far away. That is a pre-smog 2.0l. That could be a lot of fun.
    I agree on the Mustangs.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    '54 Chevy--interesting but kind of a long shot. At best, all restored you have a $20,000 truck and it looks like what we have here is a restored chassis on a piece of crap body and interior...no mention of motor or trans. Personally, I'd buy one already done and let the other guy take the 50% depreciation on restoration costs.

    Porsche 914 -- this would need further investigation. The "built" motor is of some concern. If he used Japanese flat top pistons and a big-bore kit, what we have here is a Japanese hand-grenade with a loose pin. But if it was built with quality parts and good mathematics ("...now if I flycut the heads, I get 11:1 compression---do I want that?")
    Also there's the rust issue--if it's eaten into that unibody, not so good.

    Mercedes SLK -- car for a chorus girl in Vegas

    1986 Ford 250 -- looks like a good buy to me

    '88 Mustang -- well, if it's your thing, the parts alone are worth the price of the car.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,144
    Is it just me - both this SLK and the current SLK don't look quite right. The previous one is too rounded off, while the latest has the 'nose' job...
  • gsemikegsemike Member Posts: 2,425
    Monster trucks and Mustangs are good investments
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,088
    Nice-looking car, except I'm not a big fan of that color! I'm sure fintail can tell you if the seat/steering wheel relationship was correct. Maybe the seat had sagged?

    Yeah, I'm not so crazy about the color, either. I had thought about the seat sagging, but when that happens on a car, often it's an improvement for me because as the seat sags, it actually creates a bit more legroom!

    I guess it could be possible that the seat track was messed up, so that I couldn't put it back all the way. I do remember though, that where I had the seat positioned, it was far enough back that I don't think you could get an adult back there with any degree of comfort.

    I think we actually got off pretty lucky with the rain that year, although it was overcast all day and the skies seemed to be threatening to open up on us all day. I think it had rained the day before though, so the fields were muddy in places. And for some reason, this year they had the show in the grass instead of the parking lot, just to make it interesting I guess.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,088
    I always thought it was interesting that in that one pic of the Alaska quake, when the road dropped it took a '60 Chevy, '59, and '58, all in a row, along with that Volvo.

    It looks like the cars didn't suffer much, if any damage, although I guess it's possible the '60 might have gotten hurt. I wonder if it was a very big deal to extract those cars from the hole, or if they just got written off?
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
    I drive with the fintail seat pretty much all the way back as I like to stretch when I drive, and the rear legroom behind that seat is poor, yes. I am sure the steering wheel in that 108 was also a comically huge unit like it is in the fintail, so that might not have helped.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,144
    After having lived there for 12 years, I can assure you they got yanked out of there and used till they rusted apart. I saw all kinds of old, rusted hulks driving around. It never made much sense to have a nice car there, what with salt on the roads 5 months of the year. And the outlying towns/villages were always a market for the old stuff. When I left we sold our 11-year old Cherokee to a teacher from Kotzebue (on the Bering Sea) who was going to barge it over there for continued use.
  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,751
    Yep, that is spot-on. And, when it comes to rust, Anchorage is about as bad as it gets. At some point they did curb salt use in favor of sand (less corrosive on the environment!), but during transition weather it is still not uncommon to see chemical melting agents applied to intersections. :sick:

    I will say, though, that after 220K on my '96 Subaru, the harsh weather up here has nothing on the Northeast. I see ads on Ebay and what not that show all sorts of surface rust on engine components in Subarus that have less than half those miles, and yet there was not a spec of rust anywhere on my car... even with its once-yearly wash and wax.
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • martianmartian Member Posts: 220
    What say you Shifty-does it make sense to restore these things? Or are they essentially worthless?
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Restore one? No way.

    But if you find a nice survivor, that could be a very nice cheap car.

    Once they are banged up or rusted or the engine goes, yes, they are totally worthless except for parts. And that won't ever change. The SLCs chances of becoming a valuable car are utterly hopeless at this point.

    Most "luxury coupes" suffer a similar fate. Look at the BMW 8 series or the BMW 635 CSi, etc. Nice cars I guess but nobody wants to touch them unless they are bargain-priced.

    Why is this? A combination of too many of them still around, competition from their ragtop brethren, and punishing repair costs.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    "Punishing repair costs"

    That was nicely worded but an understatement.

    Most shops just hate to work on cars like this and they will charge accordingly.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Cars like that are very seductive. You look at this shiny old coupe with a prestigious logo on it, nice leather seats, shiny chrome and you say "hell, only $7,500 bucks?!" and then 6 months later you've bought the car 2.5 times already. Fix the heater? $1,500. Need a radiator? $1,200. Tune-up? $600. Shocks? $120 apiece. Brakes, calipers and rotors? $1,800. New top? $1,500. Engine rebuild, $15,000. Ouch!

    Best time to buy cars like that is when the previous owner is financially exhausted, sobbing softly, bewildered and disillusioned. Then you buy it cheap, drive it while it still runs great (thanks to the $10K he sunk in it), then at the first sign of trouble, you unload it and you got a "free" ride for a while.

    Cruel, but then life isn't fair sometimes.

    The whole idea is to make sure there's a chair waiting for you when the music stops. That's all you have to remember about 450SLCs or any old foreign luxury car.

    With domestics that are older, they tend to be way more archeological in technology. No overhead cam this and fuel-injected that and pneumatic-hydraulic whatzis.

    AND....you got Pep Boys and Autozone to boot. No 450SLC parts at Kragen, last time I looked.

    At least if you bought a shabby 280SL you might get some of your money back at least. But a 450SL is money down the old pipe IMO.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,144
    One more reason - lots of new ones are sold to folks wanting everyone to know how much money they make/have/spend. A 10-year old version of that car no longer does that, so demand drops way off. You should have seen the glut on Rolexes in Houston the last time oil dropped.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I had a French girlfriend once, and one day I was trying to explain to her the concept of "wannabees" when it came to buying older luxury cars. She told me that in French the Parisiennes have a similar perjorative expression....a "baker's car"...which means a car that looks pretentious, but in fact a local village baker could afford it.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    It's not a sports car of course, it's a GT car.

    Pretty good price actually...realistic for a change. First thing I'd do is check it over for potential engine fires and make a list of what it needs...they always need something, it never ends, not even for ten minutes.

    Could be a good deal there...nice car to drive. Just put $5000 away in a saving account for the maintenance.
  • au1994au1994 Member Posts: 3,729
    Forget cars, lets hear more about the French girlfriend! ;)

    2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Limited Velvet Red over Wicker Beige
    2024 Audi Q5 Premium Plus Daytona Gray over Beige
    2017 BMW X1 Jet Black over Mocha

  • au1994au1994 Member Posts: 3,729
    Great looking cars, I always thought.

    Like many other Jags, probably better to admire from afar, rahter than own.

    2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Limited Velvet Red over Wicker Beige
    2024 Audi Q5 Premium Plus Daytona Gray over Beige
    2017 BMW X1 Jet Black over Mocha

  • lokkilokki Member Posts: 1,200
    Let's see -

    Ze French Girl Friend -

    Very rare.

    Very high maintenance.

    Requires exotic fuels.

    Accesories are very expensive.

    Some say can be hard to get 'em to turn over, but not all models have this problem. In fact, some can be started by anyone passing by.....

    Newer models are often stolen.

    Older models can be hard to get rid of.

    And of course -

    Smokes. A lot.

    ;)

    Did I miss anything?
  • british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    You are a bad, bad man.
  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,751
    I..... am laughing too hard to post a cognizant reply. :D
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
  • british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    I was expecting an unflattering photo of a french girlfriend...

    Now I am disapointed.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    no comment for professional reasons :P
  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,751
    That is good. Were I in the market, I would snap that up in a heartbeat! What a deal! :sick:

    I will have to post a "mockery" ad one of these days, but I lack the necessary motivation. :P
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,751
    Now this ad is hilarious!
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,751
    But this one has just one *slight* hitch... At least $1500 in parts right out of the gate, if you want to replace the T-case yourself....
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,751
    This fella received his wake-up call quite a bit faster than most people.
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • moe145moe145 Member Posts: 2
    You funny funny man!! I laugh too much. I soil myself. I sorry.
  • qbrozenqbrozen Member Posts: 33,788
    interesting that he considers losing $1800 "an investment."

    I gotta wonder where that money went, or why you would put that kind of money into an old automatic prelude needing bodywork. And just what does "motor is straight" mean? Is that his way of saying "inline 4-cylinder"? ;)

    '11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S

  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Some guy who lives around here has a couple of these screwball little cars that he drives pretty often.

    Didn't they build these until not too many years ago?
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Some guy who lives around here has a couple of these screwball little cars that he drives pretty often.

    Didn't they build these until not too many years ago?
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,593
    As in the 2CV? I think they quit making them around 1990.
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