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

fintail

No problem. This topic gets me going, I've had a thing for these cars since I was a kid.

Speaking of Lorinser, maybe 6-7 years ago when I had a W126, I missed out on buying these Lorinser wheels by a day. They look pretty good:

See more Car Pictures at CarSpace.com

texases

Funny that web site includes Audi, but excludes VW. Plenty of euro-tuned VWs, that's for sure. Seemed like it was a requirement that any hot VW in "VW&Porsche" magazine had euro headlights, a body kit, etc. I remember Zender in particular. Not $$ enough, I guess!

fintail

Yeah, Dinan tends to be under the surface. A coworker of mine has a ca. 2001 330 coupe with Dinan mods...previous owner sunk a fortune into those add-ons and got very little for them at sale time.

Speaking of the BMWs, when I was a kid, there was an Alpina E28 in the little town where I lived, something like this:



I have no idea who owned it or what it was doing in podunk. There were a few odd cars there...must have been something about the 80s. I first saw it when I was maybe 11...I had never seen an Alpina car before.

fintail

I think the cars on that site are supposed to be more upmarket than VW, or the VW that once was, anyway. I remember the name "Zender", especially on Sciroccos IIRC.

boomchek

Judging by the photos, I don't believe that one is worth $10k. Not with the mileage or the condition it's in.

Buyer should ask for $5k and hope he gets $3-4k for it.

boomchek

That's a cool site fintail. Some cars are cool other ridiculous. I guess the interior theme for the 80s included multiple buttons for stuff, car phones, and a crazy 4 head unit car stereos. lol

fintail

One thing about that car is the interior...I am certain that's a domestic conversion. I don't care for it.

fintail

You mean this doesn't look up to date? :shades:

I'll admit I kind of like it...the vintage Recaros and some kind of freaky hybrid digital gauges especially. Steering wheel buttons were ahead of their time, but look bad.

fortee9er

That interior would cost a fortune to duplicate today. Those Recaro seats alone were close to $1k each, in standard cloth upholstery from Recaro, back in the day. I don't see much of a difference from a contemporary Rolls/Bentley/Aston. I like it!

fintail

Probably held up better than period British machines...most Astons and Rolls etc from that era look pretty sad today.

It looks like we have the same taste...I wouldn't turn down those Recaros if they were given to me. In my fantasy garage would live a few period tuned MBs.

Here's the backseat of that car - 2 more of those special seats

And the outside...couldn't get more 80s

ghulet

very Miami Vice.

Mr_Shiftright

New Porsche Panamera seems to carry on the theme:

INTERIOR PHOTO

fortee9er

My wish list includes a 450SEL 6.9 with the full AMG treatment and other 80s S class Mercedes with AMG engines.
I already have a 1984 Maserati QP and a 1984 BMW 745i in my Miami Vice style stable.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh I like QPs very much !

fintail

I'd rather look at that garish SEC than the butt of the Panamera :shades:

fintail

Very 80s, nice. Which of the E23 had a turbo? I swear I have seen one of those in my area. There's also an AMG converted 107 SLC around here, with full bodykit, spoiler, blackout trim, and two tone (body color-polished) wheels.

I'd like an AMG 6.0 widebody SEC and a Hammer, and maybe a Koenig special or something by another maker for variety.

boomchek

The whole car doesn't look like a quality conversion. I prefer the SEC you posted. Outrageously funky and ridiculous 80s car you'd see in duPont Registry every so often in the 80s and 90s.

fortee9er

Which of the E23 had a turbo?
The 745i - which is 3.3 (or 3.5 after 1983) times the F1 formula of equivalency for turbo vs NA cars

texases

Those turbo 745i were grey market, weren't they? A friend had one, had the air/hydraulic(?) rear suspension, which went out, of course. I think he converted it over to regular springs/shocks.

fintail

I wish I had kept old issues of the duPont Registry...I think I bought my first in 1986-87 or so. Didn't hold on to a single one.

fintail

Cool...I just saw one badged turbo, and I knew it was different. And yeah, I think those were all grey-market.

texases

'89 Chrysler TC by Maserati just sold on Mecum (well, recorded) for $5800. Almost had the reserve not come off...that would have been a mistake!

gsemike

What does everyone think these will go to:

Montego

Duster

ghulet

Montego, eh, maybe $4500ish (and that may be optimistic), mostly for the engine.....these were largely unloved unless they were specially equipped, and it looks kinda bondo-y/rusty/badly repainted at some point.

Duster will do better, I'm gonna guess $6000ish, it looks better, cool color, and people are ga-ga over Mopars of this era (though not this variety especially), despite its imperfections and non-authenticity.

Mr_Shiftright

I'm thinkin' about $2600 to $3500 for the Montego and about the same for the Duster.

gsemike

The Duster has over 100 watchers. We'll see.

garv214

I have seen this Porsche 911 on EBay over the past couple of weeks. The auction ran out at $16K the first time (just missed the reserve), and ran out at $14K last night ($400 under the Buy it Now price). Now it is listed again. It looks like a nice car, but I had 2 questions for you guys:

1) What do you think it is worth
2) For the price would you rather have a 1985 911 or a Porsche Boxster

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300429505689

Personally, I could go either way. I like the idea that I could put the kiddies in the back seat, but I also like the idea that I could just get a sitter and just take the wife for a little Mommy and Daddy time....

What do you guys think?

texases

Assuming '85 is a 'good' year for 911's, I guess I'd rather have a 911. Let's double the price, to $30k - would you rather have a $30k 911 or a $30k Cayman?

lemmer

It really is just personal preference. An '85 911 is an old school car. It isn't that much fun to tool around in because of the heavy clutch and balky shifter. It isn't tame enough to drive hard on the back roads. It will bite back if you aren't really careful with it. The Boxster is fun at pretty much any speed and easy to drive. The 911 is probably a better built car, but it is much older and might require more care than a Boxster because of that. If you need decent heat or ac, the Boxster is your only choice. The 911 is more iconic, of course.

Overall, I think the Boxster is a better car for the money. And you can probably squeeze into a Boxster S in that price range. A stock Boxster S will easily dispose of a stock '85 911 on a twisty road or at the local race track for your Porsche Club DE events.

qbrozen

I'm with shifty on the montego. He'd be lucky to hit $3k on it.

The Duster I like a little more, for some reason. Appears to be a more solid car and alot of the hard work has already been done. I could see $4k'ish-$4500 on this.

texases

I'm also thinking the Duster's going to get a few more $$. That Montego is just plain scary in the rust department, with some of the lowest bodywork gone. Ugh, reminds me of the '65 Mustang that pretty much rusted apart in my hands.

boomchek

I think I have a handful from the early 90s, maybe one from the 80s.I had more but (gasp) threw them away when I moved in with my wife.

Mr_Shiftright

Well that's true, you DID ask what eBayers would pay, not what it was really worth :P :P

I thought the Duster is really a bit of a mess. If you read the ad copy carefully, we've got the following to deal with:

1. blown steering box and "play" in front end (meaning what?)
2. Rust in trunk floor
3. Tear in floor next to spring shackle (how's the shackle support I wonder?)
4. Rust in floors, "patched with sheet metal"
5. No heater/defroster
6. no power disks (pedal-jumpin' time)
7. paint has chips, dings and "defects"
8. Missing ID tags (do we have a VIN tag?)

I mean, what we have here is a loud "thing" that goes fast in a straight line and is probably barely street-able.

It's going to cost a lot to make this car "right". Right now, all I'm seeing is a really good engine/trans/radiator and some good body panels.

I think the Montego is a *much* better buy all 'round.

lemko

...the only Montego that is worth spit...

Mr_Shiftright

Well yeah, and you'll pay a lot more for it, too!

tjc78

Not this... :P

ghulet

I think they're BOTH a mess (both have crummy repaints, both have replaced 'big' engines in place of their original mild small blocks, both need interior help, etc.), but the Duster is better eye-candy and a more 'popular' car, thus my guess it'll get more money. Seems a lot of people on the lower end of the 'collector' car market will overlook (or turn a blind eye to) a lot of deficiencies to just have something that looks 'cool'.

Mr_Shiftright

I suspect people would be shocked if they saw the Duster in person. I checked out the Photobucket photos quite carefully and, forgive me please, but this car looks like a total rat's nest.

The public seems to agree, with bidding at only $1300 so far. Not exactly "gotta have it" bidding activity.

I would regard it as no more than a parts car.

Also the bidding is very strange on this car. Why would one person, in a no-reserve auction, bid 6 times in a row at $50 increments in rapid succession?

Am I missing something here? Please advise.

jlflemmons

You're not missing anything. Probably a shill, and a dumb one at that.

texases

Well, that $50 bid repeated may have something to do with how ebay handles automatic bidding. I've seen that quite a few times.

How's the Merc doing?

fintail

This is funny

boomchek

Yeah that is. Saw it on another site yesterday. I think he's asking a tad too much but what do I know if people are bidding that much. :confuse:

jlflemmons

What the heck is that thing? Looks like part Ferrari, part Fiero, and a lot of really crappy kit car. :confuse:

toomanyfumes

That would be great to take to a high end car show, park in the middle of all the Ferrari's, and pop the hood. :surprise:

explorerx4

that was one of my dream cars in high school. not that color.

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, look at the bid history on that "Ferrari"

Bidder Information
Bidder: 0***r ( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days)
Feedback: 0% Positive


Member Id: 0***r ( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $12,999.00
May-20-10 16:09:17 PDT

Member Id: 0***r ( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $12,999.00
May-20-10 16:08:46 PDT

Member Id: 0***r ( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $12,999.00
May-20-10 16:08:35 PDT

Member Id: 0***r ( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $12,999.00
May-20-10 16:08:15 PDT

Member Id: 0***r ( 0 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $12,999.00
May-20-10 16:07:15 PDT

Starting Price US $12,999.00
May-16-10 20:46:53 PDT

It's rather shocking to see that lump of an engine in a Ferrari---looks like something they pulled out of a tractor.

Too bad this car was messed up. The 80-81s had severe oil burning issues, so no doubt that's what happened here.

You can buy a nice REAL one for around $35,000 but what you really want is the slightly later 4-valve model.

fintail

Oh, that's a real Ferrari. I think most Italian cars from the mid 70s to the mid 90s could be considered "kit cars" in terms of materials and build quality.

The wheels are also inappropriate, they make it look really fake.

fintail

Or a kit car show, and blow away the fakey Fiero-based Ferraris...tell them you did all of the bodywork yourself :shades:

jrosasmc

I just had to laugh at the description and pictures of that Ferrari. It sure doesn't look like a vehicle that's held up great in all those years.

I'm pretty sure even Don Johnson would be embarrassed to be seen in a car such as one of those early 308 GTSi's. Sonny Crockett would've had a tough time catching up to the bad guys if he was forced to drive one of those! :P

andre1969

over the weekend.

On Friday I tried to start my '79 New Yorker up so I could turn it around. I like to move it around from time to time even if I don't drive it, just so it doesn't look so derelict in the yard. Well, it refused to start on Friday. Refused to start on Saturday. Yesterday, in the rain, I was down by the garage and, just on a whim, turned the key, not expecting anything. It fired up so quickly...heck, most modern fuel-injected cars don't start that fast!

So, I figured I'd drive it around the block, which in my neighborhood is about a 3 1/2 mile circuit. At one point I came up on what looked like two squirrels and a baby bunny that appeared to be playing in the road, so I slowed down for them to scatter. As I got closer, it turns out that what I thought was a baby bunny was really a squirrel that had no tail, and one of the other squirrels was trying to have its way with it...right in front of me! Well, they finally scattered, and as I accelerated up to speed again, got up to about 30 mph and the car just shut off. I threw it into neutral and tried to re-start, but nothing. Finally drifted to a stop along the shoulder, about a half-mile from home, got out, and started playing under the hood.

After about 5 minutes, I did get it started. Threw the top on the air cleaner, and noticed the whole air intake was shifted a bit. And, as I shifted it to where it lined up, the damn thing cut out on me and refused to re-start! I gave up, closed the hood, locked it up, and started walking.

Came back about an hour later with the pickup truck, some jumper cables in case I ran the NY'er battery down from too many failed starting attempts, some starting fluid, and an old t-shirt. I'd seen the trick before where you spray the fluid (or just dump some gasoline) on an old rag, cover the intake, and it usually starts up...although if you don't watch it, it'll suck the rag down when it fires up!

I messed around under the hood again, jiggling the choke, popping the distributor cap off and rubbing the contact points, etc. And then I did something I hadn't thought of before. I jiggled the wires that run into the Lean Burn computer mounted on the side of the intake. Didn't think anything of it at the time, but when I turned the key it fired right up! So, I threw everything back together, making sure NOT to straighten out the air cleaner again, and got it back home without a hitch.

Once the car was parked, I turned it off and on a few times, and it fired up every single time. Then I popped the hood, and while it was running, jiggled on the wires running to the Lean Burn...and it died immediately. This time it started right back up, and when I jiggled the wires, it died once more.

So, after nearly 3 years of fighting with this car, and having two different mechanics give up on it, it turns out it's probably just a loose wire or two. I hope! :surprise: