Nice cars sitting in the weeds

ghulet

about 8-10 years ago (last time I was in Kentucky), near Taylorville I drove by a farm with a derelict 67 Impala SS convertible sitting in the front yard. If my mom weren't driving, I definitely would have stopped. I think it had one of the big engines, it had the bigger V emblems on the front fender (prob 396). Sad.

ndance

In the town I'm from originally I can think of two cars that sat for years in their respective spots (hopefully I haven't mentioned this in some earlier missive). I think both of these cars were eventually bought for very little and then restored (I've since seen both in national magazines years later).

1) 1969 L89 SS-396 Chevelle (ie aluminum head) in that orange color they all seemed to be.
2) 1970 440-6 Challenger R/T convertible (plum crazy/white top and interior). The 6-bbl convertibles are really pretty rare.

Next.....

speedshift

You know I just think low-production cars like that are the only ones worth saving once they've sat in the weeds--or anywhere else--for any length of time.

I used to "rescue" cars from wrecking yards, back yards, towing yards and every other place likely to yield a used-up car.

The problem wasn't just where these cars were, it was the road that took them there. I began to sense that a long history of cluelessness went with each car and that I was writing a new chapter in that history.

Now if I had the space and money for an old car I'd buy one that's been owned by someone who lives in the real world and maintains his cars accordingly. A solid citizen who uses his yard for landscaping, not car storage, and isn't likely to have his car towed away while he's in jail.

leadfoot4

Posts #53 and #54 got me thinking..... There's a fellow who owns a wrecking yard just outside of Rochester, NY. He's rather interesting in that when he's looking at buying something from you, it's a worthless piece of junk. As soon as it's in his posession, however, it's a pricey, rare piece of automotive history.
Sitting in his lot is a 1974 Pontiac T/A, with the SD 455 engine. A rare car ? Most definitely !! This one, however, is a pile of crap ! It's outdoors, sitting on the ground, without wheels, just settling into the ground.
It's been there 3 or 4 years now. Is it for sale ? You bet. The asking price ? $7000. Is it restorable ? I doubt it. $7000 for an engine, tranny and rear end, and a VIN tag that some unscroupulous person could use to build a 455 SD clone.

Mr_Shiftright

man's delirious...that's what the car is worth if it were running and pretty decent looking!

It's rare, quite frankly, because nobody ordered it when it was new. That's the wrong kind of "rare". The SD option helps with about 50% more value, but even then it's not a high dollar car.

andre1969

...wasn't a good year for anything with a large-displacement engine, what with the fuel shortages and everything!

leadfoot4

Regarding the 455SD, I strongly think that it would be worth around $15-$20K in good running and appearing shape.
I would have bought one back in 1974 myself, however I had bought a new car in the summer of 1973, not knowing about the upcoming SD's, and couldn't afford the bite on a 1 year trade.(actually, it would have been closer to 7 months) Promised myself that I would get a 1975, no matter what the cost, but there weren't any to be had.
I'm not so sure that the gas crisis killed the car, but I seem to recall that corporate politics did it in. It seems that Herb Adams and Tom Nell, the two performance stalwarts at Pontiac, somehow or other turned this "back door" project into a production piece. Along the way a few "suits" got their feathers ruffled, and they pulled the plug after only 650 units were built.
Oh well, it was just another rare factory built hot rod that slipped through my fingers, just like the 1969 COPO Camaro I could have had. To be young again, armed with the knowledge of today...........

jace1

The other day I drove by a house with a rather shabby looking Porsche 928 in the front yard with a for sale sign indicating "low miles", and by the appearance, "low standard of maintenance" as well. I'll probably drop by for a closer look. Seemed kind of sad because I don't see too many and I know they were not well appreciated by most Porsche fans. However,a few years back European Car magazine noted the 928 to be a "Super Car" buy, esp. in S4 trim.

Jace

Mr_Shiftright

Sounds like a money pit. You'd best beware, they are horrendously expensive cars to repair. There is a reason they are cheap after all. If the steering rack leaks (it does), figure $2,000 right off for that, and if there is no record of the last timing belt, figure that plus the water pump (might as well, it's right there when you do the belt, and is a weak point), that's another $1,200. And if the clutch is slipping, add another $1,400-1,800, and on the early cars, if the heads need work, you have to pull the engine/trans out alltogether to get the heads off.

ghulet

........an abused European anything. I saw a rusty 80s Jag by my aunt's about 6 weeks ago for sale in someone's yard, still there last Sunday.
Why would anyone attempt to fix one of those, they're worth no money even in nice shape, ditto for 928s (well, not 'no' money, but not much).

Mr_Shiftright

crush 'em and they'll come back as Toyota fenders someday...at least of some use besides geranium planters....or for parts of course, for decent cars that haven't been run into the ground. The problem with some of the 80s Euro cars, is that the same components break time and time again, so finding used parts to replace those weak ones is almost impossible, since all the parts cars had the same problems.

You know, most people aren't fools about "collectible cars" like they used to be a decade ago. There's much more good info available, so if a porsche 928 is in the weeds, it probably belongs there. The only person who would lament its scrapping would be the Porsche repair shop down the road, who was keeping their fingers crossed that someone would try to restore it despite all the warnings.

lokki

Thanks to Edmunds .....

and a tip of the hat to Mr. Shiftright!~

lemko

...Tom Cruise drove in "Risky Business" that Rebecca DeMornay put into Lake Michigan? I remember that the bill to repair the car was $8,000. Would this have been a realistic figure in 1983 for such damage?

jace1

Well the not much lamented 928 was gone when I drove by yesterday. So it was either towed, driven or perhaps pushed to some other fate. It was certainly not a car to buy, just another curiousity along the road. If anyone does buy it, it will be quite a financial handfull. Thanks to Edmunds and Mr. S, we are all a little wiser.

Jace

Mr_Shiftright

Exotic cars like that don't tolerate neglect...the 928, or an old Jaguar, or any once-expensive and still-complex foreign car demands that you "buy the best one possible" within your budget. Hopefully, that old puppy went for parts.

focustech

I must say that I am still in awe reading these posts, and have my own to share. I live in Upstate NY and on a recent drive in the country with my wife, I spotted the un-mistakeable shapes of a late '60s Cougar and next to it, a Sunbeam. My wife hates it when I trespass, so I knocked and an old man answered the door. He said that I could look at the cars and he "had more in the garage" to which he was going to get the key. The Cougar, I discovered was a rare 7-litre, leather, auto 70k miles......last on the road in 1977. It was red and rotted to the core in the swampy field that it sat in. The Sunbeam was a 260 v-8 1965 mkI tiger, also rotted to the core with 55k miles, torn top, rats ate the seats. Now to the garage.......1966 Dodge Charger.....MINT....no motor or trans, 1969 dodge Challenger, also MINT no motor or trans. I pretty much wanted to cry at that point. I would have been 2 yrs. old when the Cougar was taken off the road. The Mopars, he explained, were his son's and he had raced the Charger for some time,1/4 mile at a time. None of the Mopars were for sale, the Cougar and the Tiger would have been nice 20 yrs. ago. He told me stories about the cars when they were road worthy, and that alone made the stop worthwhile. I still drive by time to time....and catch myself making engine sounds as I look at those great muscle cars. Thanks for hearing me babble on.

Mr_Shiftright

The Tiger is probably the greatest loss money wise, as they are pulling around 25K for nice nice ones. The Cougar is a nothing car really.

Too bad about the Mopars...the engines and trans had all the car's value in them, otherwise they are just nice old used cars sittin' in a barn. But you could build a nice clone out of them if you could find an interesting engine.

ghulet

I think early Cougars (pre 71) are pretty cool cars, especially if you compare their prices to Mustangs of the same era. Cougars are almost always better-optioned (the hidden headlights and sequential turn signals are cool, if they work), there are none with 6 cylinders, and you don't see them every day.

Too bad about that 7 litre, those are rare, cars 'in the mud', especially an old Cougar or Mustang which rust badly, aren't worth fixing.

a_l_hubcaps

I was in vacation in Wisconsin this summer, and my brother and I decided to search the junkyards for parts for his 1977 Toyota Celica ST Hardtop. Well, we didn't come up with anything we needed for that car, but we sure got some interesting junkyard experiences. One place we visited was just acres and acres of '60s-80s cars rusting away in the woods. I don't think the guy had ever crushed any cars, so there was some very weird stuff still sitting there. Pintos, Vegas, Corvairs, Coronas, Pacers, Impalas, LTDs, Mustang IIs, Beetles, etc. It was really cool walking through and seeing all these oddball cars. Some of the strangest included a '69 Opel GT, a '73 Ford Capri, a Chevy CorVan, a Fiat 123 and a Simca. Unfortunately most of the cars were rusted out and probably good only for engine parts and stuff. I was particularly inspired by a '76 Chevy Monte Carlo, red with white half-vinyl roof and Polycast wheels. The more I think about that car, the more I want one :-)
-Andrew L

speedshift

It's kind of moving to hear how junkyards still fascinate some of us. When I first became a junkyard regular it was oddball '50s cars that turned me on and I ended up owning a few.

Now the curiosities are cars I remember when they were new. Another reason to feel old ;-).

rea98d

I don't know about 1983, but in 1978 when my grandmother bought a new Mercury, $8,000 would buy a nice full sized car. I figure $8,000 in '78 is about $20,000 or $25,000 today, so figure $15,000 to $20,000 from '83. In other words, you could have bought a new car for what it cost the guy in the movie to fix the Porsche.