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

stickguy

I kind of like that E320. Assuming the uncle Harry story is legit, and it really is that clean/maintained/documented.

though the outside looks a little beat up for that. Maybe Harry street parked? Still, I always liked that model.

Mr_Shiftright

Carfax says 1 owner, no accidents. Dealer serviced early in life, car lived in Forest Hills NY.

stickguy

if it lived in Queens for 15 years, it actually looks pretty darned nice!

could be a good deal I guess.

andre1969

The one redeeming thing about that Fairmont is that the 2-door sedan is the lightest configuration of the Fox body, and people looking to build up a car for racing go for that. Somehow, the Fairmont 2-door sedan came off a bit lighter than even the 1979 Mustang, which I can't understand, with the Mustang being a smaller car.

But, considering any of these cars would have to be beefed up if you put any real power under the hood, would the maybe 50-100 lb of weight difference really make a difference? Or, maybe since the Fairmont was bigger, it was easier to beef up? For instance, easier to put a roll cage in, etc?

I wonder what movie/tv show the car was in? Back in 2006, I had my '76 LeMans in a shoot for a movie called "Talk to Me", with Don Cheadle, Cedric the Entertainer, etc. I got paid either $250 or $275 for it (can't remember now...it was a long, hot day!) And if you watch the movie, and know where to look, in some grainy black and white handheld footage at the end of the movie, you can catch a glimpse of the back half of the car, if you don't blink.

stickguy

Fairmont felt like it was made out of tin foil and styrofoam. Both don't weigh much.

Mr_Shiftright

andre1969 said:

The one redeeming thing about that Fairmont is that the 2-door sedan is the lightest configuration of the Fox body, and people looking to build up a car for racing go for that. Somehow, the Fairmont 2-door sedan came off a bit lighter than even the 1979 Mustang, which I can't understand, with the Mustang being a smaller car.

But, considering any of these cars would have to be beefed up if you put any real power under the hood, would the maybe 50-100 lb of weight difference really make a difference? Or, maybe since the Fairmont was bigger, it was easier to beef up? For instance, easier to put a roll cage in, etc?

I wonder what movie/tv show the car was in? Back in 2006, I had my '76 LeMans in a shoot for a movie called "Talk to Me", with Don Cheadle, Cedric the Entertainer, etc. I got paid either $250 or $275 for it (can't remember now...it was a long, hot day!) And if you watch the movie, and know where to look, in some grainy black and white handheld footage at the end of the movie, you can catch a glimpse of the back half of the car, if you don't blink.

A difference of 100 lbs means a lot to pro drivers in NHRA, who are trying to gain every tenth of a second, but for the average street racer or weekend drags it can't mean very much.

gsemike

Mr_Shiftright said:

Carfax says 1 owner, no accidents. Dealer serviced early in life, car lived in Forest Hills NY.

Forrest Hills is Queens, albeit a nice section of Queems. One side of Queens Blvd is pretty suburban with many free standing houses. The other side is more attached houses and parking wars

Mr_Shiftright

Well better than if the car lived in Long Island City.

gsemike

Or Brooklyn

Mr_Shiftright

Oh, definitely better than Brooklyn. I was born there, to give you some idea.

fintail

E320 will need to be checked for rust, and hopefully the interior wear is from a dog and not from being wet. If it is solid and not a flood car, it could be OK - those things get a bad rap aside from the rust, I've seen some miled up ones.

ab348

stickguy said:

Fairmont felt like it was made out of tin foil and styrofoam. Both don't weigh much.

Exactly. The term "tinny" was invented to describe that car.

xwesx

andre1969 said:

And if you watch the movie, and know where to look, in some grainy black and white handheld footage at the end of the movie, you can catch a glimpse of the back half of the car, if you don't blink.

Hey, that's not bad for a couple hundred dollars!

explorerx4

Has some needs but looks pretty good overall
http://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/5453858767.html

stickguy

that is a big honking vehicle. Gotta imagine being a 4 door hammers the value.

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

that is a big honking vehicle. Gotta imagine being a 4 door hammers the value.

Judging from photos and description I'd appraise it at about $10k-11k.

texases

And no pics of the engine - makes me wonder why. Or should I say "make's"? Guy got a bunch of ' on sale, I guess...

andre1969

xwesx said:

andre1969 said:

And if you watch the movie, and know where to look, in some grainy black and white handheld footage at the end of the movie, you can catch a glimpse of the back half of the car, if you don't blink.

Hey, that's not bad for a couple hundred dollars!

Speak of the devil. I just checked my email, after a couple days, and found a message from the car casting director, or whatever you'd call that title.

"Hi guys....

Small production company is looking for a, "1970s-1980s family type car for this Thursday and/or Friday in Gaithersburg, MD."

Usual $300/day.

Let me know if you're interested.

Thanks."

I guess if I was really interested, I could've tried pimping out my '79 5th Ave or '76 LeMans to them. The roads are pretty nasty around here though, with leftover salt and brine from the snow storms, so I'd rather not have the old cars venture out until that stuff has had a chance to wash away.

Mr_Shiftright

I used to wrangle classic cars for movies---a friend had a huge collection and I'd handle the transport for her. Let me tell you, it's a tough way to make $300. You have to watch your car like a hawk, and hopefully you won't have to let anyone drive it or mount a camera on it. (We'd charge more for that). So if it's a "background car", that's much better, although you will stand around from 7 AM to 6 PM and finally convince yourself that making a movie or commercial is about as exciting as watching paint dry on a white wall. On the plus side, sometimes the chow is pretty good and generally the people are nice in the movie end of it. TV people? Welllll.........be sure you check their insurance coverage.

fintail

Finally got a break in the rain, look who came out to play a little today:



Idle for 3 weeks, started on the first turn of the key as usual - I guess I have some mojo with this car. Ran and drove sweet as a nut, you can't beat an I6 - the small size of this one might even make it smoother. Only quirk is the dash rattle which I think is connected to the radio or speaker. Next time I drive the car, I think I will start trying to tighten things.

It'd be cool to have my car in a period movie setting, but it seems all filming in this region is in Vancouver.

xwesx

Heading to work this morning, I came upon a 99-02 Chevrolet pickup on the side of the road. It looked like it was in really nice shape, but was disabled due to a front tire basically canted inward (at the top) at about a 30-degree angle. I stopped to see if the guy needed assistance, but he had help on the way already.

I laughed and said, "I guess those noises in the front end weren't nothing after all!" He chuckled and said that he hadn't been hearing much, but the steering was a little sloppy lately. It looked to me like a failed ball joint, so at least he was able to stop safely. It could have been a lot worse!

Mr_Shiftright

Here's a bargain for you if you're pretty good with straightening carbon fiber and welding high strength alloys.

Only 500 miles on this 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB, so barely broken in--but definitely broken.

andre1969

xwesx said:

Heading to work this morning, I came upon a 99-02 Chevrolet pickup on the side of the road. It looked like it was in really nice shape, but was disabled due to a front tire basically canted inward (at the top) at about a 30-degree angle. I stopped to see if the guy needed assistance, but he had help on the way already.

I laughed and said, "I guess those noises in the front end weren't nothing after all!" He chuckled and said that he hadn't been hearing much, but the steering was a little sloppy lately. It looked to me like a failed ball joint, so at least he was able to stop safely. It could have been a lot worse!

Back in 1993, I hit a huge pothole with my '68 Dart at a high speed, and it punched one of the ball joints right up through the upper control arm. I guess the upper control arm still sort of held it in place though, because the car was still driveable. I remember replacing it myself though, and it was a real pain. The local mechanic let me borrow his ball joint socket, and I think I needed a pickle fork as well to do it. I'm sure a pro who knew what he was doing would've knocked that job out in no time flat, but it took me all day. I bought a new ball joint, and luckily, still had my old wrecked '69 Dart GT as a parts car, so I pulled the control arm off of it, put the new ball joint in, and got it all back together.

One thing I just realized though...even with the upper control arm gone completely, that '69 Dart was still driveable. I used to drive it around in the yard when I needed to move it. I guess with that design, the torsion bar and lower control arm was strong enough to keep the wheel vertical, even with the upper control arm gone? But, maybe if you jacked the car up, then the top of the wheel would flop outward?

andre1969

On the subject of broken trucks, there's a place up the street that sells construction materials...dirt, gravel, etc. Usually they sell by the cubic yard. Well, a cubic yard of dirt is a lot heavier than most people think, so every once in awhile, I'll see a disabled truck in the neighborhood. A couple years ago, I caught this half-ton GMC, that made it less than a quarter mile, sitting a bit low on its haunches....



I don't know if it actually broke anything, or if the driver just stopped because the tires were rubbing. But either way, it didn't look too healthy.

xwesx

Mr_Shiftright said:

Here's a bargain for you if you're pretty good with straightening carbon fiber and welding high strength alloys.

Only 500 miles on this 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB, so barely broken in--but definitely broken.

LOL Just pull that drivetrain and put it in something more practical, like a Pinto. Hhahahahaha

Mr_Shiftright

The Ferrari's is a total, so yeah, who knows what will happen to it? Well there's $300,000 ++ bucks that just went POOF! Gotta watch that right pedal when you own 660 horses.

uplanderguy

Speaken of broken ball joints, my unscientific opinion is that the cars I see most often with that condition on the streets of where I live are older ('90's?) Hondas.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

Speaken of broken ball joints, my unscientific opinion is that the cars I see most often with that condition on the streets of where I live are older ('90's?) Hondas.

I remember one day helping a lady I worked with deal with that same issue with her Acura EL (a dolled-up Civic) in our office parking lot. She was turning onto her parking space when the left front wheel decided to depart from the car. It was still partially attached but was stuffed up inside the fender at an acute angle. She ended up replacing the car.

fintail

As lease end is now on the distant horizon, I am thinking what will be my next DD. Will I lease again, buy a modern used car, or an older car? Driving the new car is cool, but I guess I am used to it now - taking it for granted, and my attention always goes to older cars.

If I could get something like this for closer to 5K, I'd do it if the car checks out - this is super rare and my favorite color combo.

And speaking of rare, if this was more like 15K, I might take a look I have been looking closer at R129s lately, and this is about as high spec as you can get for a non-tuned example. I like the very uncommon pano option, and the color is seldom-seen.

ab348

I'm in the same boat - approx halfway through my lease and wondering what's next. I love the ATS but wonder if something a bit more practical or utilitarian like a small AWD SUV might be better. But then I wouldn't have that punch and handling-on-rails I love with the ATS. Maybe I should just buy it at the end of the lease? It would be a 3 year old used car with very low miles since I don't drive much any more. Luckily I have plenty of time to ponder.

fintail

I would rather have an AWD wagon if I want the utility - but no C wagon here. GLC is close, and I might look if cash flow permits another lease, but I don't know. I fear the upcoming new E will be expensive.

Something else I could consider is a 2012+ E550 - easily tuned twin turbo V8, and it can be had with AWD - the kind of car that will be a thing of the past soon.

stickguy

that SL is kind of cool. I can't imagine how much that would cost to maintain if it needed anything.

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

that SL is kind of cool. I can't imagine how much that would cost to maintain if it needed anything.

Just put your $15K in a barrel and set it on fire, and you'll accomplish the same thing without having to go to DMV.

fintail

It would be a maintenance pig, but not so much as earlier ones, I think. The earlier ones are easier to find and seem to age poorly. The W140 diesel is a better deal, and it looks like the problem areas (wiring harness especially) have been done.

steine13

You got to hand it to Mercedes fans... few others talk so blithely about little niggling maintenance needs... like having two miles of cabling ripped out of your car and replaced as part of the normal ebb and flow of life...

But dang if their cars don't have presence.
I can't look at a Benz and just see a car.

If I ever stumble across a clean late W210 wagon, I might fall into the rabbit hole myself.

Mr_Shiftright

That's so true...the Benz fans seem to have an almost unworldly tolerance for gut-wrenching repair bill punches, and they still come out of their corner fighting. I'm a fan of Mercedes diesels but I not ascribe to the myth of "they'll run forever". High miles is high miles, and all those parts whirling around...well, they wear out just like every other car part on planet Earth. What I like about Benz diesels is that once you square them away--and by that I mean actually fixing everything that's wrong with a 175K Benz diesel, not turning a blind eye like a star-crossed (no pun intended) lover--then, after that initial investment, the cars are not fussy at all. Just do the oil changes, be nice to your turbo, be meticulous about fuel purity, and don't play too much with the HVAC or electric windows, and you're good to go for a long, long time.

Also the build quality of body and interior is extremely good, so they won't fall apart in those areas like certain other well-touted German brands.

isellhondas

Mercedes owners remind me of people who own Pit Bulls. They will tell you how gentle and wonderful they are and how they act is determined by their breeder or how they were raised etc.

On Judge Judy it seems that half of her cases involve an attack by a dog in some fashion and almost every time the offending dog is a Pit Bull.

I once asked a Pit Bull supporter..." If you are on a hike out in the woods and out of nowhere, an unleashed dog comes running toward you on a deserted path, would you rather that dog be a Golden Retriever or a Pit Bull?

His answer was..." It wouldn't matter" RIGHT!

Like Mercedes buyers, people know the reputations yet still buy them!

fintail

You live in a rust area, right? Get a PPI before buying a 210, even if is the right car - they were not MBs most rustproofed effort.

The wiring harness debacle is just a thing now. If you have a certain early 90s car, it is a known issue and dealt with or price adjusted for it. By now, all but the lowest mileage time capsule cars should have had it replaced, as it fails with time. Decomposable wiring - thanks greenie idiots.

steine13 said:

You got to hand it to Mercedes fans... few others talk so blithely about little niggling maintenance needs... like having two miles of cabling ripped out of your car and replaced as part of the normal ebb and flow of life...

But dang if their cars don't have presence.
I can't look at a Benz and just see a car.

If I ever stumble across a clean late W210 wagon, I might fall into the rabbit hole myself.

fintail

It all depends on the car and where it is repaired, and how it was treated by prior owners.

I'd rather have an aged MB than an aged BMW or Audi, that's for sure.

isellhondas said:

Mercedes owners remind me of people who own Pit Bulls.
Like Mercedes buyers, people know the reputations yet still buy them!

uplanderguy

Glad to hear you love your ATS. Chevrolet sent me a couple free tickets to the Cleveland Auto Show and I went with my B-I-L yesterday. I hadn't gone in a few years. I wasn't even aware there was an ATS coupe--loved the styling and frameless door glass, but sheesh, they should've just made it a two-seater, it's so small in the back seat! I was pretty impressed with the prototype CT6 they had up on the turntable, and the young eye-candy there confidently answered questions I had about it. Size and power of a 7-series; weight of a 5-series.

Some rambling overall observations: I love the C7 'Vette, but I had a hard time getting out of it. The top-of-the-line new Malibu does not look like a $35K car to me. If I were shopping for a large car, I'd still get an Impala LTZ. Styling bests the Buick and Cadillac versions of the same car IMHO. They had an LTZ with 20-inch wheels there for $39K--no sunroof, which I prefer, but probably rarely seen in reality that way.

Saw the next-gen LaCrosse--nicer styling than the current car I think.

I was stunned to see two four-door Minis that cost $36K.

Audi and M-B did not have price stickers near their cars, which I found maddening.

Jeep and Ram Trucks each had an obstacle course inside you could drive on, and frankly, both looked fun but unsafe to me--insane inclines and parts where one wheel would leave the ground. I have to believe those vehicles had governors of some kind.

Ford had Mustang converts you could get inside and 'drive' on three big screens tilted towards you. If you went off the track onto the ground--on the screen--the car itself would pitch and rock. Pretty funny to watch.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

Glad to hear you love your ATS. Chevrolet sent me a couple free tickets to the Cleveland Auto Show and I went with my B-I-L yesterday. I hadn't gone in a few years. I wasn't even aware there was an ATS coupe--loved the styling and frameless door glass, but sheesh, they should've just made it a two-seater, it's so small in the back seat! I was pretty impressed with the prototype CT6 they had up on the turntable, and the young eye-candy there confidently answered questions I had about it. Size and power of a 7-series; weight of a 5-series.

Some rambling overall observations: I love the C7 'Vette, but I had a hard time getting out of it. The top-of-the-line new Malibu does not look like a $35K car to me. If I were shopping for a large car, I'd still get an Impala LTZ. Styling bests the Buick and Cadillac versions of the same car IMHO. They had an LTZ with 20-inch wheels there for $39K--no sunroof, which I prefer, but probably rarely seen in reality that way.

The rear compartment of my ATS sedan is almost as useless as that of the coupe. No way can I "sit behind myself" - and I am not sure a 5 year-old could either. A person who is under 6 feet can adjust the front seat forward enough that they are still comfortable and an adult can fit in the back seat, perhaps not quite as comfortably. Even more insane, Cadillac does not make a fold down rear seatback available on some trims.

I have yet to see a new Malibu in the flesh. I have read the various trim lines/equipment lists though, and wonder about the value proposition. There seem to be some very restrictive option package choices that quickly jack the price.

The LTZ Impala with the 20" wheels looks great. There was one in the showroom of my dealer last year in black, which I normally do not like as a paint color, with a terra-cotta leather interior. Combined with the big chrome wheels, it looked wonderful. I am much less of a fan of the base models I see though.

omarman

fintail said:

I'd rather have an aged MB than an aged BMW or Audi, that's for sure.

An aged Audi? I'd rather have a bottle in front of me...

Mr_Shiftright

I've resurrected a few cheap BMWs with ok results but I know enough to stay away from old and needy Audis. At least with a Benz you can find just about any new or used part you need, often at reasonable prices if you shop diligently.

stickguy

I think I am just too old and tired at this point to deal with an older or needy car. Finding it, dealing with the issues, etc. I mentioned to my wife how spoiled we became recently having nothing but new or nearly new cars in the fleet (at a monthly $ cost of course, but at least that is fixed!).

fintail

I wish the speculative market wasn't everywhere these days, as I would love to have something like this, even in these kind of boring colors. I generally would prefer a slightly older one, but you can't be too picky with widebody cars.

The price seems to be a mix of greed, booze, and first amendment rights - inflated prices on every odd old high end car these days. It's worse than a rerun of the 1988 Ferrari market. I wonder how and why it is happening - probably not as much offshore money laundering and hiding as west coast real estate, for example, but I have to suspect something dirty is at least a moderate influence.

explorerx4

I like this:

ab348

Ewww. What a nasty thing to do to a bubbletop.

Mr_Shiftright

Well sometimes these rods are built out of carcasses that would never get restored to stock form.

uplanderguy

My gut feeling is that that thing never started life as a '61 Impala, but is a fiberglass shell meant to resemble one. I could be totally wrong, of course.

hpmctorque

Mr_Shiftright said:

I've resurrected a few cheap BMWs with ok results but I know enough to stay away from old and needy Audis. At least with a Benz you can find just about any new or used part you need, often at reasonable prices if you shop diligently.

At what model year do define Audis as "old"? We've got an '07 A4 2.0 T Quattro automatic with 81K in our fleet. It's been well maintained and sensibly driven, and drives perfectly. We put about 5K/year on it, and love the way it drives. It hasn't been "needy" since the end of the warranty, but I have concerns due to the brand's reputation. Is it time to dump it?