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

qbrozen

Seats don't look bad at all. But I'm definitely put off by the rest of the .... ummm... whatever the hell they are.

fintail

The hood alignment, rattle canned wheels, and front and rear "spoilers" are a visual treat. I can picture the driver now.

qbrozen

Oh wow. Just ran across it on Ebay. When you didn't think it could get worse...

texases

I choked when I saw this...

fintail

"This car is considered to be a parts car that runs and drives."

At least they are honest. I am amazed at how those seats look, they have to be worth something to someone.

qbrozen

which part made you choke? The condition or the ludicrous price?

texases

Both the price and just the thought of spending $100k on a Mustang restoration. The nice price/crack pipe listing on another site today is an old, rough Aston Martin. THAT'S a car to spend $100k on. I know, it's not that hard to spend, but to expect to recover it when they sell a Mustang is, to me, nuts.

qbrozen

I think even at their peak, the nicest 4-speed v8 '65 verts were fetching like $35k. So, yeah, restoring one yourself and trying to sell it is financial suicide.

Mr_Shiftright

Well maybe if it were a genuine K code GT convertible w/ 4 speed. But it's not.

It's not even a 64 1/2 Mustang, because Ford never made such a car. All early Mustangs are 1965.

qbrozen

yeah, you and I have agreed on that point before. Even the ones built in April '64 were still titled as '65 cars.

Mr_Shiftright

If the car's year is stamped on the title, it's a pretty good argument I'd say.

andre1969

I didn't know you could get a 289 in the 1964 1/2 early 1965 Mustang. I thought initially, you could only get a 170-6 or 260 V-8, and in the "proper" 1965's it was the 200-6 or 289 V-8?

lemmer

Watching my friend's new project. It looks like fun. He found an '89 Grand Wagoneer with an owner in dire need to sell it. He bought it for $2200. It appears to be rust free and the chrome, paint and wood stickers look good from 20 feet away. The interior is thrashed. Three different kinds of tires. Tons of little issues, but seems solid.

At this point, it needs a new ignition module, sway bar bushings, power steering gear box, a/c "needs charging", speedo cable, linkage from throttle to tranny, and a rear window tailgate switch.

texases

Andre, I wondered about that 289, too. Turns out you could get the 4 bbl 289 in the 'early 65' Mustangs, the 260 was only a 2bbl. The 289 was either a 4 bbl (not quite the same as the 'A' code 4 bbl) or the 'K' code ("Hi-Po") 289.

au1994

This wil be fun to follow. Those things have a cult following for sure. There is even an outfit in Houston that "refurbs" them and sells them for about 30k!

Mr_Shiftright

They are becoming a minor cult vehicle. Hope he lives near a gas station though. He's in for a shock. I'd recommended putting black tape over the gas gauge, at least in the beginning.

lemmer

He claimed he got 17 MPG on his first tank. I smiled but left him in fantasyland.

Mr_Shiftright

More like 12 mpg if he's lucky and 10 mpg if he's not.

lemmer

The original carb was replaced with a Holley 4 barrel. I don't know if that helps or hurts. I wasn't impressed with the cruise shift linkage and a couple vacuum hoses dangling unattached next to the carb.

andre1969

Ironically, that's what the current EPA estimates on an '89 Grand Wagoneer are...10 city/12 highway. The original window sticker was 11/13, according to the EPA.

Were they still using the old AMC 5.9 V-8 by that time, or had Jeep started using the Mopar 5.9? My uncle had a 1976 Jeep pickup with the AMC 5.9 and a 4-speed stick. Never drove it enough to find out what kind of fuel economy it got, but I imagine it was pretty bad.

toomanyfumes

When I was a teenager, my friend's dad had a Jeep Cherokee with the 360 V-8 and full-time four wheel drive. I think it was a '76. It was a hog, I remember it getting around 10MPG.

Mr_Shiftright

yep they're pretty brutal on gas--but kinda fun to drive around-quite deluxe in an 80s kind of way.

If your friend is claiming 17 mpg, we can always jump him and shoot him up with truth serum and get to the facts. :P

explorerx4

Years ago, a friend of mine bought a Grand Wagoneer and another for parts.
He didn't realize until deep into and engine swap that 1 was AMC and the other Chrysler.
Changed his life forever.

lemmer

He is a known "story teller" so I let it pass.

The outside of it seems so '70s to me, but the inside is '80s (and not in a good way).

lemko

There's an article in the current edition of Collectible Automobile about the 1969-75 International Travelall. It was also a gas hog. I think it got 9 MPG Highway!

Mr_Shiftright

Well out where I live at $4.50 a gallon, you wouldn't be doing too much frivolous driving in your "collectible" rig at 9 mpg. That's .50 cents a mile! Ouch!

lemmer

My Wagoneer friend still has delusions of having it be his daily driver. His commute is around 15 miles one way of heavy traffic in a very hilly area. My wife has almost the same commute and gets 15-16 MPG in a Honda Pilot. At least the Pilot starts every day. The Wagoneer failed that test on the second day of my friend's ownership.

As an aside, over the weekend, we added an '05 Prius for my wife to have purely as a commuter car.

Mr_Shiftright

Well if he's willing to fork up $300 a month for gas for that daily commute each day , more HP to him.

texases

And what's really neat about actually having to DRIVE an old Wagoneer every day? I got nuttin'

Mr_Shiftright

Oh, there's that kind of "I have a tank, get out of my way" sort of thing....the Hummer Syndrome.

texases

Sure, then give me a new(er) tank, one that was built in this century...Tahoe, Landcruiser, whatever...

Mr_Shiftright

No, the Hummer Syndrome requires crudity and retro-tech and a touch of rudeness if possible. Hmmm...Not to be confused with the similar "Harley Syndrome".

texases

"Not to be confused with the similar "Harley Syndrome""

Walk our dog in the park near here, most every time somebody on a strait-piped Harley drives by. This morning, they had their radio on, loud enough to hear over the strait pipes...yikes :mad:

steine13

>> Oh, there's that kind of "I have a tank, get out of my way" sort of thing....the Hummer Syndrome.

That's just unkind. It's nothing like that, I'll bet.
I wouldn't drive a hummer if you gave it to me. It makes me look fat. My favorite conveyance is a touring bicycle.

My favorite car, which wouldn't be my favorite car if I actually drove a lot, is a shorty Chevy van. Prefereably a 1980 or so, cargo, with 3-on-the-tree. Though I've been known to own later conversion models, to the chagrin of wife and daughter.

For reasons not immediately clear, I love driving those old things down the road, looking at those ancient gauges, quarter vent windows open... It's got nothing to do with being cool, or being aggressive, maybe it's nostalgia for simple things.

And I bet the JGW thing is like that.
Love.. it's what makes a Chevy van a Chevy van...

Cheers -Mathias

Mr_Shiftright

Well could be nostalgia I suppose---but 1988 seems too new for sentimental reveries of the ancient past.

andre1969

Well could be nostalgia I suppose---but 1988 seems too new for sentimental reveries of the ancient past.

Yeah, but something like a Grand Wagoneer lets you re-live the 60's, 70's, and 80's, all at once!

Mr_Shiftright

"Suddenly---it's yesterday!"

I was looking the other day at an engine out of a 1934 Chevy truck---it would have looked perfectly normal, if painted up, in any 50s, 60s or 70s American car. In the 80s, they added all those delicate easily breakable plastic vacuum lines.

fintail

"I wouldn't drive a hummer if you gave it to me. It makes me look fat"

Ha! Excellent. Big SUVs do that to people in my eyes, too.

wevk

Seth Meyers, SNL Weekend Update, on the news that the GM Hummer is discontinued:

"So now you'll just have to go door-to-door and tell people you're an a-hole"

Mr_Shiftright

Ever drive one o' them babies? Pretty awful. But I have to say, they're pretty impressive off-road.

andre1969

I drove one at a GM sponsored test drive event back in 2005. It wasn't a "real" Hummer though...just an H2. I wasn't that impressed.

I'll never forget the first time I saw an H3 on the road. It had been involved in an accident on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. It had rear-ended a Plymouth Voyager, and both were stopped along the median. And the H3 definitely came out the worse of the two in that little tangle.

lemko

stevedebi

"There's an article in the current edition of Collectible Automobile about the 1969-75 International Travelall. It was also a gas hog. I think it got 9 MPG Highway! "

My father had one to tow our travel trailer, a '72. I don't think he even checked the MPG on the tanks (it had two, as I recall). Gas was about 25 cents per gallon. That was a great truck. I remember my cousin was enchanted by the 4 barrel Holley carb...

explorerx4

I used to have that picture as wallpaper with the caption 'Battle of the Titans'.

stever

This one sounds like it's already folded and they're looking for expert help for parting out their E-Class. Thanks!

Edmunds Answers

ab348

I just picked up the June edition of CA and read the Travelall article first. It seemed like a real winner, even finishing first in a comparison test at the time and earning good marks from owners. I was interested to see the pictures too, as I don't recall ever seeing one of these in the flesh. It looked very nicely trimmed inside. I didn't know this, but it was available for a time with the AMC 401 V-8 in addition to different I-H V-8s.

Were those I-H engines used in their commercial trucks too, or just in the Scout and pickups they built? I wonder about availability of parts and rebuild kits for them, and whether they were big, heavy, overbuilt boat anchors. Should a buyer at the time have chosen the AMC 401 or the I-H 392?

berri

I liked the IH pickup trucks too starting around the mid 50's. Chicago was an IH town and the Museum of Science and Industry had a farm display that featured IH vehicles and tractors when I was a kid. To this day I think IH makes many of the school bus chassis around there. But in big SUV type vehicles, even back then Chicago was a major GM market and Suburbans ruled. Next I'd like to see an article on the old Willy's trucks, especially the FC models.

fintail

Looks like some others beat me to it. Car will probably bring a grand if it is nice otherwise, seller could make a bit more if he parted it out though.

gsemike

A friend of mine is there this week and reports to seeing a lot of classics

Garaged Really? they didn't just leave it sitting out in the driveway for 50 years?

Nicest restored FJ Cruiser but is the price nuts?

Same diea for a lot less Suppose he may be regretting the green hornet paint now

And then there is this

unique car from muscle era Chevy engine wasn't the right move

All that work and you don't get the right dash

I remember my uncle having one of these

Anyone want a driver Beetle?

Be able to tell everyone that ytour $3,000 car appeared in a calendar

Crazy price backed up by good photography

My first car was a 73 Charger A lot about this is nice but I'd bet the tranny needs more than a tune-up

xwesx

I don't know about that FJ; six-year-old photos don't inspire to much confidence in me!