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

fintail

France?

fintail

These make me think of Al Bundy

hwyhobo

> 80s Rolls, unless perfect and dirt cheap,
> are all parts cars and should be scrapped
> before another poor soul gets ruined

I take it there is no way to take just the body and then put it on a Chevy or Chrysler or Ford platform?

andre1969

I was expecting to click on that link and see a piece of junk, but I actually kinda like that Gold Duster. And while Detroit in general started to suck in 1973, that era was actually a bit of a golden era for the 318. IIRC it got electronic ignition for 1971, which probably did nothing for actual power but let you stretch out the tuneup intervals, and probably helped with cold and wet weather driveability. But then the Lean Burn crap wouldn't get afflicted on the 318 until around 1975.

Mr_Shiftright

I suppose that with enough time and money you could do just about anything, but it seems, to me anyway, a massive project with no upside whatsover. There's not even any prestige, since anyone with money knows that 80s Rolls are low-buck beaters. I think you'd get more fun and attention out of say a jet black Benz 560SEL and be done with it.

lemko

...go to any Buy-Here-Pay-Here lot full of out-of-warranty luxury cars in one of Philly's more marginal neighborhoods. Only the most reckless and self-destructive "fronters" need apply.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a "fronter" is the kind of guy who has nice clothes, flashy jewelry, a fancy ride, and goes to the clubs every night but lives in a shabby apartment with his mother and has a 480 credit score.

qbrozen

Actually, Al drove a Dodge.

I'm not sure what exactly. I just remember him saying "The Mighty Dodge" several times.

qbrozen

Another term for that is a poseur.

andre1969

For a bried moment, Al Bundy actually drove (well,pushed) a Pacer!

IIRC this was an episode where he sold his Dodge for a new Mustang convertible, but then the dealer took the Mustang back and I think had already disposed of the Dodge. So he kept going out looking for cars and pushing these loser-mobiles back into the garage, usually accompanied by an appropriate tune such as "Welcome back baby, to the poor side of town".

I think he also got stuck with a Hornet or a Gremlin. Then finally, at the end of the episode, you hear the radio playing "I'm walkin', yes indeed I'm talkin'" as a '72 or so Duster pokes its nose into the garge. But then as the whole thing comes into view, Al's actually DRIVING this one!

They always referred to Al's car as a Dodge, but on various times that they'd show it, I'd always remember a Duster. Several Dusters, actually. Seemed like they had several they rotated through for the car shots. And I do remember one of them being a Gold Duster.

One of my favorite lines (but probably not Fintails) was when Peggy said something like "When I saw your Dodge, with a book value of fifty bucks, slice through that $100K Mercedes like a hot knife through butter, it made me PROUD to be an American!" :P

lemmer

Has there ever been a salvage titled car that was hit hard?

This 911 only took a light hit in the back. Isn't there some important stuff in the back of a 911?

qbrozen

LOL!
i remember that.

Mr_Shiftright

Just look at those eBay dummies---they could buy a clean 90 Carrera without a salvage title for $20K easy and they're already up to $13,6K for a salvaged car with dings and file marks in the paint---DUH--and the auction's still going. On top of that, it's the worst possible year for a C2, with known engine defects.

I guess no matter how greasy and nasty the meatballs are at the banquet, if they're cheap enough or free, someone will eat all of them.

fintail

Yep, that's what I am talking about. Remember in that episode when he finally gets another "Dodge", it is a really nice old lady car. I think he even remarked that the radio was even preset to the oldies stations he liked. My link reminded me of that. The Gold Duster from craigslist looked very nice, I don't know if they actually go for 4 grand though.

fintail

They prefer older 7ers and W140 S class here, with a few older Lexus LS mixed in. Older Escalades and early W220 S class are mixing in now too. One can often see down on their luck examples of these cars if they look hard enough. One good thing I guess is that MB W126 are now too old for the posers, and they usually keep away.

qbrozen

yup. sure enough, that ad is bogus. Took the guy about 24 hours to reply to my email with the usual "its at a shipping company" (or more like "car crate at shipping place. super fantastic great deal. you buy and love. me ship.").

lemko

I remember a later episode of "Married with Children" where Al was first seen driving in a Mercedes S-Class and, later in the episode, a Lincoln Town Car.

british_rover

Yeah thats what I figured.

lemmer

Versialles - the name says it all.

andre1969

I've heard that the one thing a Versailles is good for is its 9" rear end in the smaller Mustang wheel bolt pattern. Supposedly that rump will bolt right up to a Mustang with little effort, and can take a lot of abuse.

I never cared for them, because they were just a tarted up Granada and it shows, where in contrast a Seville doesn't really scream "Nova". I like the color of that '77 though. And I like the thinner roofline. Later models tried to bulk up the C-pillar in the same fashion that Chrysler did in the 80's with the 5th Avenue.

I guess if you want a pimpy little car that handles worse than most pimpy big cars, and gets comparable fuel economy, the Versailles is your car!

jaserb

I think he even remarked that the radio was even preset to the oldies stations he liked.

I remember that episode - Al had $5k buried in the back yard that he was planning to use for a payment on the Mustang but when he went to go get it Peggy had found it and spent it all.

The punch line was that after the lineup of beaters he ended up buying his same old "Dodge" back - hence the radio presents being the same. When Peggy pointed that out to him his response was something like "Of course not - my old Dodge had 99,980 miles on it, and this one has 12".

Man, it depresses me that I remember stuff like this so well and can't find my car in the parking lot half the time.

-Jason

xwesx

It is all about what is important! After all, what makes a better story for the great-grandchildren? Telling them about how you could find your car every time or about the sagas that ensued every time you lost it? :P

lemmer

Clint Eastwood's Cougar, maybe. He put a picture of clint in all the pictures of the car. He also has a notarized affadavit from the previous owner saying the guy who owned it previous to him thought this might be true. I am thinking this adds somewhere around zero to the car's value.

lemmer

190E 2.3 16 for Fintail - kind of a beater. I wonder how much this one would cost to fix or how much an already decent one goes for.

lemko

My God! That's the prettiest Granada I've ever seen!

qbrozen

I love how the description of the 190 starts out "This car is in excellent shape and runs perfect." And then goes on to talk about a busted sunroof, busted seat switch, and busted AC ... oh yeah, and body damage!

I'll tell ya what, I think the term "excellent" loses a bit more of its meaning every day.

Oh, and I do believe replacing the blower motor (if you're lucky enough to find out that's the only problem) involves removing the dash. Hmmmmmm.... this is what he says is "easily fixed."

Oh, I almost forgot the shot self-leveling shocks!!

When I think that I bought a '92 2.6 for $3500 that didn't need ANY of that, this one just screams DOG to me.

Mr_Shiftright

MB 190 2.3/16: I mean, you CAN'T make something up that's funnier than that ad:

"everything works except the air conditioning, sun-roof and 1 power seat tilt button. The body is in excellent shape except where I backed into the mailbox"

british_rover

It looks like the whole drives side of the car is wrinkled.

What did he do hit it with a baseball bat over and over.

Mr_Shiftright

Could be. I have a photo of an Audi with a half-dozen pick axes buried in it, so anything's possible.

british_rover

Frustrated audi owner?

I got mad at my old pontiac one time and swung a breaker bar into the rear deck lid. I thought I broke my hands afterwards they hurt so bad and the stupid pontiac didn't even get a dent.

lemmer

Police car for Andre.

stickguy

I thought you had to take the lights and markings off to use it on the street? I guess the police badges are already gone.

I think I would at least take the front bash guard off. I can't imagine that thing hanging off the front adds too much to the "Ferrari like handling"!

fintail

You could buy a nice one for much less than that one would cost to correct. Black hole. I've seen pristine (garaged, 60K miles, mint) ones for 7K.

fintail

Nice looking survivor

It's BIG

"Classic"

british_rover

are the front seats cloth and the back seats vinyl?

lemmer

Yes, and I think that is pretty normal.

Perps (as us accountants like to call them) tend to spit, puke, pee, bleed etc. on the rear seats.

The cops in the front are slightly less likely to do these things, so they get nicer seats.

Would work well with parents and kids, too.

ghulet

That 190E is too funny; I always love the 'everything works except...', then they rattle off half the electrical functions of the car or body is great except...the rear end, the rust, the fading paint and the dented door. Everything is always 'easily fixed'. Wonder how much a blower motor is to install. Oh, and it's an automatic, not that most stick shift Benzes are fun to drive anyway.

Here's another dreamer (remove the zero):

http://chicago.craigslist.org/car/179375957.html

I think buyers don't realize that lots of cars have low miles because nobody likes to drive them, as would certainly be the case here. I also don't know what the hell value 'back seat never used' has on a car like this (or even most collector cars).

Mr_Shiftright

Methinks the Topaz seller is not only hallucinating but needs to redefine "fender-bender" in their own vocabulary.

forget $1,650. Try $100.

lemmer

How much for a '98 Disco? More importantly, how much to keep it going?

Don't we have some Alfa lovers out there?

british_rover

Ughh series one disco in this gas price climate Maybe half what he is asking. Really depends how it drives. Series one discos can either be good or be dogs. If it is a dog then not even worth half what he is asking.

lemmer

That is some terrible resale value.

fintail

Decent looking C36

Too bad there are no pics

qbrozen

is that rust i see peaking out of the rocker panels on that "newly painted" alfa?

and, yes, there are some alfa lovers here. i still haven't gotten mine out of the garage even once this year, though.

let's see... still in my box of new parts for installation is new rear springs, an interior panel, and side cables for the top.

reallandyacht

hmm ... since they are willing to put extended warranty on it - it might be a nice enough catch!

Gas mileage should be better than the 40 cents a mile my ol' coup gets! :shades:

Mr_Shiftright

Plenty of Alfa lovers in America, but alas, also plenty of Alfas needing serious work.

I'm hankerin' for another one myself. I'd love to have a type 101 Sprint from the 60s.

qbrozen

I'd love to have a type 101 Sprint from the 60s.

oh yeah. i'm with ya, there.
DEFINITELY tough to find clean examples of those, though.

Mr_Shiftright

Mostly rust buckets at this point. What a great car. The perfect car. A very affordable, classic, clean, simple, nimble, high-revving, easy to drive 5 speed coupe with fewer controls than a toaster and gobs of personality.

Some of you might laugh at this, but I always thought that Chrysler missed a GREAT opportunity with the NEON, to make this car the next Alfa 101 Sprint. They had all the right components in front of them, and they blew it (badly).

The MINI almost pulled it off, but of course they over-styled the hell out of it and it's not a "simple" car or affordable.

fintail

This doesn't look bad, and it's a stick! (I think)

The background view doesn't reassure me

Cool, but probably kinda beat up

british_rover

The spelling on that ad for the GTI really does not reassure me at all.

Mr_Shiftright

Gee, a VW GTI with tinted windows and no seats sitting in a wrecking yard. How seductive! Sign me up!!!!

ghulet

My brother had a '91 GTI 16v (also red), which was a really fun car when it ran (and it was only three or four years old at the time). It would intermittently just become a sputtering mess, it made the car really difficult and dangerous, at times, to drive...naturally, the VW dealer never figured out what was wrong with it despite repeated visits and lots of wasted time and money. It also loved to eat tires (those 3-peice BBS wheels from the factory, which you never see on these cars any more, and low-profile Pirellis are not the most durable combination for Chicago potholes).