Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/25 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/25 for details.
Options
Comments
Did you drive a little fast last time dad was in your car?
He likely did if it was a drive in the Caddy..... !
Only paid $2,500 for it to start. Didn't even need all that much (other than the what they did to turn it into an AMG clone). Though it was running on 6 cylinders when they got it, and I was not paying close enough attention to remember what the reason was.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6260330/?ref_=ttep_ep11
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The AMG stuff looks very cool, but in the market, it really adds value if applied to the car when new, with supporting documents. The real money is for cars with mechanical work, especially the 6.0 AMG engine.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
the big nasty job was removing the dash to replace the pesky blend doors vacuum pods.
'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
'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
the big nasty job was removing the dash to replace the pesky blend doors vacuum pods.
that coupe needed the dash pulled too? I know they had to do that last season on a 560SL they did.
Fin, yes, this was a current season. I think it was 79 man hours? Plus sending out for a paint job.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Recently I caught an old one where they did a Blue early Miata. Those days Edd rattle canned some body work, which is how many shade tree guys need to do it. Those guys also looked a lot different then.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
The show has come into some criticism lately from longtime fans who do not like the move to a US shop, the reduced amount of DIY stuff shown being done by Edd and the general level of production values and scripting. They no longer celebrate a few hundred in profit, instead shooting for many thousands.
All that said, it is still my favorite show on Velocity.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
79 man hours at a minimum of $75/hour, and a decent paint job around here probably starts at $7500. That ought to buy a nice SEC.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
If you're talking about cars under $50K, it is extremely difficult to make any money on restoration; however, if you are a consignor, and have a showroom, and don't have to dig into the cars very much, you can make a pretty good profit. But you have to hustle, go to the auctions, cold-call on ads, be a great salesperson and an excellent marketer. Even then, overhead is pretty high.
As for show quality restorations, you simply cannot do them in the time frame you see on TV--what you CAN do in that time frame is "down and dirty".
I wonder what the MB Classic Center (Irvine or Germany) would charge for a nut and bolt fintail restoration.
I used to like that show a lot more than I do now, after I've seen most of them. It follows the standard reality show formula of repeating scenes over after every commercial break, and the later shows have more manufactured drama in them than I like - a lot of it is just so obviously staged. They seem to take the route of making certain parts of the job seem much more difficult than they really are in order to create tension, which I don't care for.
OTOH it seems they have more than their fair share of clients who ask for very silly things to be done and money is no object to them. .
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Wasn't there a show about a restoration shop in Canada, maybe ON? I vaguely remember that, and they'd have odd cars there too.
The show about the shop in Canada is Restoration Garage.
Have seen some promos for new episodes lately.
So these are more than "replicas" really, because they will often use an actual Ferrari motor and other parts, and build an exact copy of the frame and body. Or a Maserati or a Cobra or whatever....
Whatever you can pay, that is.... for
'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
That makes me think of the couple of shows where a beloved idle old car is "stolen", then customized and returned to the owner. A friend of mine threatened to do that to the fintail, and I would receive it back in orange with ZZ Top stripes and a blown 454 under the hood. I wouldn't be pleased
A few short videos from inside a fintail:
First, I didn't notice I had it muted. I drove for at least half an hour before I spotted this.
Breakthrough, I un-muted it, just as a song that suits the car was coming on the radio. The sound capture of the phone is also odd - it picks up on the radio much louder than it sounds in the car, and doesn't let much engine noise come through. There's also a faint squeaky rattle from the bobblehead located just below the camera, and you can see it reflected on the windshield. I like driving through this part of town, with often light traffic, and mid-century houses. This is the "affordable" side of town, with houses usually from around 500-800K:
Other half of this video, listening to a local AM station that plays old music (not just the usual oldies):
This method of camming is adequate I suppose, but I'd like better. Maybe try a GoPro next, as prices keep coming down. I want something with internal power, as I don't want it to run off the car.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
You can buy different lenses that attach to your smart phone and that might solve your problem. I have a fisheye and a macro. Pretty neat!
I'll look into lenses, but I think the issue is the size and location of the mount vs the location of the lens, and how it all interacts with the windshield angle. It might take some homework and creativity.
Do you use any special APP to use the phone as a dashcam? Seems to me that just using the phone's video memory is going to fill it up pretty quickly. Or does yours dump right to a chip?
I have two free dashcam apps on my phone, the one I used yesterday is called "CamOnRoad". There are a number of free cam apps. I save to the Micro SD card - my phone has 32GB, I think, so I could store a lot, but external memory is cheap these days. Last year I got a 256GB micro SD that the hardwired dashcam in my modern car doesn't like, I need to move it to the phone.
A couple hours later, cloudy, and it rained within the next hour:
First, they had a couple of early XJ40 Jags, like this (pics from the listing site, not me - the Volvo wasn't there):
These amuse me both as the interiors suddenly seem fall apart and gain a little mildew after a certain age, and because the body hardware was still exceptional on both cars - the doors opened and shut better than some new cars.
Then there was grandma's Grand Prix:
1988, digital dash, a pile of paperwork, spotless interior made out of gobs of hard plastic, sitting on a space saver spare. The rest the wheels had very 80s looking hubcaps that did a good job of simulating an alloy wheel. The car had obviously been cared for, and I suspect was a donation out of an estate. Not many of these around that aren't absolutely worn out and trashed.
And the one that pushed my buttons, kind of the reason I decided to look:
1973 450SE, dark blue on brown. This is a small bumper car wearing OEM Bosch Euro lights that have some value. The interior was fairly pristine, better than I see in many 2 year old cars, and almost none of the stuffing collapse seen in MBs of this era. It still had the likely original Becker Europa Stereo head unit. The outside didn't have a mark, zero rust, and the trim was not oxidized or rusty. It even had a car cover in the trunk. Someone cherished this car for a long time. I don't know if it had mechanical issue, but cosmetically, it would be lovely with just a polish and wax. I hope someone rescues it.
shapely hood and MB hood ornament, it just felt special.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
And the fintail hood and ornament does give kind of a stately view. I'll probably take video again the next time I drive it,
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/cto/5942076632.html
Designed by Brooks Stevens, who also designed 1962-64 Studebaker cars (besides Avanti), and did those Studebaker prototypes we were discussing on that other thread just yesterday.
'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