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

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Comments

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    Funny that their Model A pic is some oddball foreign produced one, complete with RHD and an indeterminant plate - when Model A's are still insanely common and every little town probably has a few of them.
  • lemmerlemmer Member Posts: 2,689
    Even so, non car people love them when they see them. If I walked by one, I would stop and take a look myself.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    I think cars from that era are bargains for something to putter around a small town with. A good closed Model A can easily be had for under 10K, and good open cars can easily be had for under 20K. Parts are easy to get, they are easy to work on, and they have a lot of looks.

    Model Ts, both open and closed, can be had for closed Model A money. Even brass examples are inexpensive.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    I guess back then the Adenauer would be equivalent to a Maybach today?

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    Maybe between that and a high S-class. The "class" divisions weren't so sharp then. It was a very expensive car when new, anyway, I think costing about 10K new...but there were Caddys and Lincolns that cost the same.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Yes, $40,000 for a very nice 4-door Mercedes 300D sedan would be MORE than enough. Asking Price is lunacy.

    Volvo P1800 --- what a RAT! I wouldn't give you $750 for that rust-bucket

    MGTF -- right hand drive is a deal-breaker on the TF, since you could get them LHD. Only the TC is RHD exclusively. So deduct 30% for RHD on the TF.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    I'd say that Adenauer in the ad is a 20K car, and that could be generous. I see a lot of incorrect details.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I'm not so sure anyone cares about correctness on an Adenauer. It is such a narrow market of appeal that invariably one sees the novice rather than the Mercedes collector owning them. I find them a very unappealing car except in a historical context which might justify their preservation of course.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    You're probably right...the extreme cost of restoring an Adenauer sedan keeps away all but the most obsessive as for the same money one could restore a cabrio or maybe even a 300S/SC. I've seen few properly restored examples, and a lot of beaters, where you'll rarely see a beater open or two door car.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,109
    what would be a reasonable price for a decent driver '75 LeSabre convertible? That's always been one of my dreambarges, and the one Boomchek posted got me back in the mood. Although I'm not so crazy for that particular one. IMO, it loses points for the interior color and having the 350. I think my dream LeSabre would be that non-metallic baby blue that seems to be a 1975-only color, with a 455, white interior, power windows, preferably a power split bench seat.

    I'm not being too picky, am I? :shades:

    Also, after coming back from the Mopar show, I'm also a bit revved up about the idea of a '78-79 Magnum or an '80-83 Cordoba. They've both always been guilty pleasures of mine. I think the Magnums were better built, and tended to be better performers, as a good deal of them came with 360s putting out 150-195 hp. In contrast, most Miradas were just 318's putting out 120-130 hp, and stuck with really tall gearing. I've talked to Mirada owners, and they actually claim 26-28 mpg on the highway. Is that conceivable, or would you have to really drive one like an old lady to achieve that? My old '79 Newport, with a 318-2bbl, 135 hp, and 2.45:1 gearing, would get up to around 22 on the highway. So I guess a Mirada with a 130 hp 318-2bbl and 2.26:1 gearing just might, although I imagine with that kind of gearing it would downshift under the slightest hint of strain.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,161
    Maserati Indy - seems 1. high$$, and 2 .odd looking with those wire wheels.
  • lemmerlemmer Member Posts: 2,689
    Apparently my friend got tired of waiting on an answer from me and put the Audi on Craigslist. I am driving it for the third day. My kids love it. The wife approves of it. I think I am going to buy it, but I always get cold feet a little right before I make an offer on a car.

    Weren't we just talking about Audi V8s? This one just popped up practically in my back yard.
  • qbrozenqbrozen Member Posts: 33,802
    damn.
    seems like alot of $$ for 13-year-old car with 166k miles. And one that is NOT notoriously trouble-free.

    '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

  • lemmerlemmer Member Posts: 2,689
    Shifty says the drivetrain is very reliable. It is the electrical gremlins that will drive you nuts. In comparison, people want that much for a nice example of a high mileage '95 Eclipse GSX, and those cars spit out differentials and engines and stuff.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,161
    "Shifty says the drivetrain is very reliable. "

    Until I looked at the pics I hadn't realized they were still using the 5-cyl turbo in those. How many more years did they use it? They sure had lots of time to work the bugs out by then.
  • lemmerlemmer Member Posts: 2,689
    Well, in 1997 the new A4 came out and with it the new Audi. The started putting the 1.8T or the 2.8 V6 in everything and later the S cars arrived with a TT 2.7 V6.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    Make an offer and go for it, you only live once, right?

    I bet that S6 is easier to live with than the V8. I think 90% of those things were that pearl white.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    I think if you're a budget car collector, now is a good time to get in on these gas guzzler muscle and classic cars as it seems everyone is dumping them for next to nothing.

    Man I wish I had a house right now with multiple garages.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,109
    I've been driving my '67 Catalina convertible to work these past couple days, and have been taking the long way home. I've been passing by this albatross of a house. (if that link doesn't come out, it's MLS ID# PG6807538 at www.realtor.com). Grass really needs to be cut, and when I looked up its assessment info online, it appears to be bank-owned.

    Anyway, the house itself has a 2-car garage, but what the ad doesn't say, for some odd reason, is that there's another building on the lot. It looks like a big 4-car garage with a side entry, sort of like my garage, but bigger. Plus, it has a full-length carport-type roof across the back. So in theory you could get at least 6 cars in the garages (more if you play with small cars) and two big ones, maybe 3 smaller ones, under the carport in back!

    And with 3.5 acres, you could easily build another garage if you wanted to. I'm tempted to go check this house out. There's just one little problem. I don't have $525K laying around at this moment. Another killer would be property taxes. It's assessed at roughly double what my house is, so I'm guessing property taxes would be double. My bill just came, and it was $3100. The "true" bill would be about $4,000, but we get a tax credit every year that keeps the property taxes from shooting up too much year over year. If I sold my house, the new buyer would get ramped up to that $4,000. So I imagine the tax bill on this other place would be around $8,000. I'm not ready to fork over that kind of money!

    It's also listed at 2955 square feet, but being a cape cod, in Maryland they only count half of your upstairs footage. Nevermind the fact this house has a big dormer off the back. Oh, and a full basement. So I imagine the utility bills would be a nightmare on a monster like this.

    I guess if I ever want to fulfill my dream of a place where I can store a lot of cars, I'd really better start looking at more rural, less expensive areas. :sick:

    **edit: If you paste 10325 good luck road, 20769 into http://local.live.com or a similar mapping utility, you can see aerial pics and birds-eye views of the place. Lots of room to stash stuff.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    That would be a nice place to have.

    My wife and I have been looking at houses as we'd like to buy one within the next year.

    She prefers a condo locally, I prefer commuting a bit but having some land so that I can hoard some cars on the property. :P
    The places we looked at all had decent amounts of driveway space and at least a 2 car garage, so that I can pick a apart some "project cars" ;)

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    You could start your own little junkyard on all that land. A place that big on so much property would cost a few times that here.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    The MB for $8500 is a dreamer.

    As nice as it looks it's still an 81 with 187k miles.

    If I'd be in the market and wanted that generation S Class I can probably find a mint 1989 or 1990 for the same money. Otherwise I'd offer him no more than $4-$5k.

    I think he just wants the money back he put in it but it's going to be for sale for a loooong time like this one:here that's been on sale for for about 3 years now. Originally he was asking $24900. I remember when I was flipping through Auto Trader years ago and laughing.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    The fact is, ,he's wrong. It IS, in fact, "just an old used car".

    Once he gets that, then everything else becomes easy.

    MGA Coupe -- I really like the bashed in grill. Good selling point.

    Oh man, is that $1K T-Bird a candidate for demo derby or WHAT? That car could destroy anything.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    Check the ad below the $8500 car - it's the same car for a more realistic price (but I'd still knock a grand off).

    The link doesn't work, but if that same W126 has been on Van Craigslist, I might know it...some dreamers show up there now and again. Today the only 126 that would bring 25K might be a 6 litre widebody AMG car or maybe some Sbarro gullwing SEC or something...normal ones are pretty much just old used cars.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,109
    Oh man, is that $1K T-Bird a candidate for demo derby or WHAT? That car could destroy anything.

    Only if they use stuff like Citations and Celebrities and '84 Camries in demolition derbies these days. Maybe the pics make it look bigger, but the '80-82 T-bird's not really much of a car. Based on the compact Fairmont platform. 108.4" wheelbase, about 200" long, maybe 3200 lb tops.

    Now the '77-79 T-bird was based on the old Torino/LTD-II platform, and weighed about 4,000 lb. And the '72-76 was was a clone of the Mark IV, a mastodon that got up to about 5,000 lb once they started putting those 5 mph bumpers on them.

    I used to like those '80-82 T-birds when they were new. I've always liked cars with hidden headlights. And I vaguely recall commercials for them that showed a digital dash, which in my 9 year old mind was way cool.

    I saw one out on the street about a year ago, with a blower sticking up through the hood! It had fat tires on the back, too. Kind of an unlikely candidate as the basis for a hotrod, but cool in an offbeat sort of way.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    The mastadon bird...one of my earliest automotive memories as my mother bought one not long before I was born. White on white, I think it had a 460, for some reason she loved that car even though it must have been terrible to park, must have been a terrible guzzler, and I remember it needing work by the time I was a little kid. I remember playing with the 900-way power drivers seat. It served its purpose til the mid 80s when it was replaced by a Ciera, then it was sold to an eccentric family friend where it broke a timing chain or something not long after, and was relegated to the collection of about 20 old cars behind his house. I wouldn't be surprised if it is still there.
  • oregonboyoregonboy Member Posts: 1,650
    You should go visit it. :)
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    I've thought about that...maybe next time I am in that town. I've looked on google/msn maps and I can see a couple dozen cars still behind that house, so it could be there.
  • lemmerlemmer Member Posts: 2,689
    everyone has been waiting with nervous anticipation. I left work early on Friday in the Audi S6 with my checkbook in hand and the offer in my head. I didn't even get to start my pitch. Some guy from an Audi forum wired him his full asking price ($6,700) as soon as he saw the ad. So, I returned home in the old 944.
  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 53,827
    I've been down this road a few times. I think you were not comfortable with the Audi (basically you were trying to talk yourself into it), otherwise you would have just bought it at the beginning.

    So, by stalling around debating with yourself, you allow it to be sold out from under you. That way, no chance you buy something you shouldn't!

    hopefully something else intriguing comes along soon.

    2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.

  • lemmerlemmer Member Posts: 2,689
    I was going to buy it because it was a rare opportunity, but I knew it wasn't exactly what I wanted. I usually shy away from older cars that are technologically complex, so a high mileage turbo quattro Audi with tons of luxury options doesn't really fit the bill. I actually like driving my 944 better. At least I got to drive the S6 for free for three days.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    It's a risky car. Maintenance and repairs, if necessary, will exceed your 944 by a good margin, due to the expense of parts and the general lack of really skilled Audi technicians.

    You can get a Porsche fixed almost anywhere in a large city but even in big cities like San Francisco, I could count on one hand (and have fingers left over) the repair shops that really know what they are doing with an S6.
  • oregonboyoregonboy Member Posts: 1,650
    I don't recall if it was this thread or another that had the discussion on old Volvo wagons, but when I saw this ad, I just HAD to post it somewhere! :P

    Two for the price of one! (Make the neighbors in the trailer park happy.)
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Trim parts on the 122 are valuable (some of them) but the price seems steep for the pair in any event.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    I feel like my wallet is lighter just looking at that 6.3.

    I kind of like Corvairs too, I can respect GM trying to innovate.
  • michaellnomichaellno Member Posts: 4,120
    Turns out that both my family (in California) and my wife's family (in Wyoming) owned one of these.

    Ours was a '67, beige with beige vinyl, 4-speed, bought new (I think) and driven for 6 years until the engine failed on it. It took us (Mom and Dad, me (aged 7) and sister (aged 4)) from CA to NY and back in the summer of '71. Folded the rear seat down and made a cubbyhole for me in amongst the luggage. My sister, I was told, spent the trip on my mom's lap.

    My wife says that theirs was beige as well. Don't know the year or the ultimate fate, though my wife has told me that her dad also drove a 911 for a time when she was a kid.
  • oregonboyoregonboy Member Posts: 1,650
    Weren't they ALL beige? :P
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,109
    Weren't they ALL beige?

    Actually, I remember there was a red one dumped in the woods near my Granddad's house when I was a kid. For some reason, those woods seemed to attract a lot of junk cars, and most of them were VW's. There were also two Bugs. One was blue and the other was kind of off white. There was also a Karman Ghia, partially buried in rubble. Part of that area had been filled in for a school, and the Karman Ghia was at the edge, sort of half in, half out of the embankment.

    Now that I think of it, there was another VW back there, in beige. It was similar to that Squareback, but seemed a bit shorter, and more of a fastback. There was also an early 60's Falcon 2-door sedan in the creek, and an early 60's Corvair that looked like the fire dep't had practiced on its roof, cutting all the pillars on the driver's side and then peeling it over.

    Sometime in the early 80's, a cleanup committee was organized and those old cars were hauled out of there. I think they just threw some more rubble down on the Karman Ghia to totally bury it, though. There was also a stripped down car frame that they missed. Not sure what it was, exactly, but it had that wasp-waisted X-frame look that GM used in the late 50's and early 60's. It's been ages since I've been out that way, but I think it's still there. And there's a spot where the creek cuts close to the edge of the school's property, with about a 30 foot embankment. I think every once in awhile, a car still ends up down in there!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    VW Squareback -- always kinda liked the utility of these small wagons. Very good on gas, technically advanced (1st mass production car in the world with electronic fuel injection). What I didn't like about this ad was the "non-running" part. These engines are NOT easy to remove or to rebuild, like the old VW bug engines. So this car could be virtually worthless, depending on what's up with it.

    '62 Corvair--- Death Trap. Beware.

    '70 Midget -- cute cars, I like them and they are fun to drive. I can even squeeze into one! The price of $3,500 might be a tad optimistic considering but maybe not. Depends on how "light" this "light rust" is that he keeps mentioning here and there.
  • gsemikegsemike Member Posts: 2,440
    What the heck is he talking about with the loan?

    Does that have air shocks?
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,109
    Dunno about the air shocks, but that Caddy does look like it's sitting a bit high in the back.

    As for the loan talk, it has me confused too. I wonder if he's saying he'll take a $3000 down payment, and then let you pay him the rest in monthly installments? But the way he worded it, it almost sounds like he needs $3K and is looking to take a title loan out on it. But these are both just guesses, and could be way off.

    Anyway, with 140K miles on it, I can't imagine it would be worth more than $3K anyway. The pics are too vague to really tell anything. If it's been well maintained, it could have plenty of life left in it, but if it hasn't it could be near the end of its useful life.
  • toomanyfumestoomanyfumes Member Posts: 1,019
    My brother and his ex-wife had a VW Squareback. It was beige. They drove it a long time, I went camping and canoeing with my brother in it many times, I think it was a pretty good car for them.
    2012 Mustang Premium, 2013 Lincoln MKX Elite, 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    They got good gas mileage, were good in snow, easy to drive, and very handy for hauling things. You had two "trunks" in a sense. One big problem was that the grounds corroded on the fuel injection wiring harness; also the injection system was a little primitive, what with "triggering points" and kind of glitchy throttle switches.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    Crazy dreamer

    And what could I get a nice presentable one of these for? Less than his claimed reserve, no doubt.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    You should be able to get a very presentable 300SL roadster for around $450,000, especially the early type such as this one, which has the much less desirable drum brake system.

    Paying $300K for a barn find that has to be restored seems foolish.

    Also this car does not have the desirable Rudge wheels, factory luggage or factory hardtop, three options with great value to collectors.

    Last of all, these cars are not terribly rare by collector standards, with a high survival rate and an original roadster production of around 1,800 cars.

    One would be much better off to buy a restored one, with disc brakes and all the goodies, even if it cost you $600,000 or more.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,654
    Restoration costs have to be enormous too, you'd have to take it to a specialist, and better pray no trim is missing.

    A local high end dealer had a 300SL roadster a couple years ago...I forget if he wanted 295 or 395 for it. It looked nice to me, and it did have a hardtop. I think it was a 61.

    What does a presentable gullwing go for now? Although it is less practical, I think I would still rather go that way, just for the legend. Of course, if I was willing to spend 400K+ on a car, I would be able to afford them both.
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