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Comments
Which really ticks me off. I have looked at a lot of these where the original speakers were pulled out and "upgraded". The originals, while marked Delco, were actually done by Bose. When I can find an original, the sound systems really sound good, but they don't have the trim rattling bass that todays youngsters seem to think makes a good sound system.
:mad:
442 Clone -- seems like a decent price. A real one would cost you a lot more.
2004 SMART CAR --- so a 4 year old microcar that gets about the same average mileage as a 2008 Yaris 4-door sedan but for $10,000 more?
Yes, I will hold my breath.
Maybe one reason that the LeSabre/Delta coupes were pretty popular was because the stylists gave them more of an upscale, personal luxury coupe grace to them. They just seem more elegant, somehow, than the Caprice/Impala. And I always thought the big Ford coupes were odd, boxy looking things.
That LeSabre looks really well-equipped, too, with the leather seats and power adjustments on the passenger seat. Our '85 sedan had crushed velour. And while it had a power adjust for the recline, otherwise the passenger seat just had manual fore/aft. Another thing I like about the leather-equipped Buicks back then was that they usually had cloth/velour on the door panels. I thought that gave them a nice, upscale look. Nowadays, when you get a car with leather, usually the door inserts are just a poorly mismatched vinyl. Or worse, plastic.
I've also sworn I'd never get another white car, after having a white Dart going on 16 years now, and a stepdad who almost always bought white cars. I think it looks nice on that LeSabre, though.
james
Maaco skips the hard part....the prep....and either uses a broom or a vacuum cleaner to throw paint at the car.
Some people INSIST a Maaco job looks okay, and it MIGHT (for a short time) because the painter is skilled with his gun....but since they have skimped on both the prep and the paint quality, the job simply will not endure.
I have spent more on MATERIALS for a paint job than Maaco charges for the whole job. That should tell you something.
Here's my opinion: Maaco is better than bare metal on a disposable car. They serve a market, to their credit, just like Wal Mart or Safeway does. You want a block of cheese made out of petroleum by products, fine.
I've heard that Maaco paintjobs are actually decent, IF you have someone else prep the car. If you can hold out until April, maybe we could find you a nice replacement beater at Spring Carlisle.
I've thought about it with some of my cars too, but none of them are bad enough (in my opinion, at least) to really justify the cost of a new paintjob. I have thought about getting some work done on my truck, though. It has some rust in the lower parts of the doors, and where the rocker panel joins the back part of the cab. I figure if I could get the rust taken care of, and maybe just have the white parts of the truck re-done, and leave the red alone, it wouldn't look too bad.
If you do the prep yourself, AND bring Maaco the paint, well then maybe.
I am sure you have seen it too, it's really hard to get MB paint right, on an old or newer car. They have always used pretty high quality paint, and most non-serious people are not willing to spend the money...and you can spot it.
The work claimed in the ad would cost double the asking price...I don't buy it
The $3,216 price WAS just for the top surfaces. These guys will do a good job. Shoot, their work looks better than the original factory finishes on cars and a lot of new car dealers send cars that were damaged in transport to them.
If the car was in an accident, I'd just keep driving it until I could find me a nice replacement beater. The car pukes a transmission or something, it's off to Buick City in the sky.
Yeah, but if it pukes the transmission AFTER it gets a $3200 paint job, you might want to reconsider! I don't think that style transmission is terribly expensive. Maybe $1000? That's cheap these days for a transmission.
Heck, give the girlfriend a couple cans of blue spraypaint, send her outside, and tell her to have fun. :P
Springing for an expensive paint job infers that you're prepared to keep this car in top condition, and doing that is too expensive, over time. I'd consider a Maaco paint job, lemko, but only if the result would be acceptable to you, and if the purpose was to extend the useful life of the vehicle for economic reasons. I sense you wouldn't be satisfied with a basic Maaco repaint, however.
It occurred to me that the '92 Roadmaster is what one buys after the '90 Park Avenue dies. It also occurred to me that a '92 Roadmaster is the polar opposite of a Shiftymobile.
Now that I think about it, there was also a nice 1977 or 78 Olds 98 coupe for sale at that particular swap meet. The seller only wanted $1400 for it. The only glaring fault was that the landau top vinyl was tearing, but he had replacement vinyl in the trunk. I dunno how much it would've cost to have that put on. It also wasn't the most attractive color, brown with a beige vinyl top. And it was fairly basic, with just a 350 V-8 and a 2-way power bench seat. It went forward and back, but that was it. No up/down or fore/aft tilt. I guess a 350 would be adequate in one of these cars, but I'd rather have a 403.
I just like the pic
This guy has been trying to sell for a few weeks
My grandparents had an '82 Malibu wagon with the Chevy 229 V-6. Roughly the same hp, 110, but I think the 229 actually had less torque than the 231! They had gone from a '72 Impala with a 350, so they were definitely going through V-8 withdrawal when they had that car.
http://fortwayne.craigslist.org/car/551100744.html
I never liked that style. The sedans and coupes were OK for the period, but that wagon rear end with the lights in the bumper has always irked me.
In 7th and 8th grade I went to a private school, where you had to pay extra for the bus, so a group of parents in our neighborhood formed a carpool. There were 4 other families. One of 'em had a '77 Aspen wagon, another a '78 or so Volare, an '82 or so Electra Estate wagon Diesel, and another that alternated between an early 80's Electra coupe and an early 80's Riv. My mom & stepdad both worked, and Grandmom was still working, so my Granddad drove us. Usually he just drove us all in his '76 GMC crew cab, but a few times he'd drive the Malibu. Believe it or not, those housewives went ga-ga over that Malibu! Especially the one with the '77 Aspen, which even by '83-84 was really starting to show its age. I think Granddad ended up telling her what a POS this Malibu was, though. He always hated the gutless V-6 engine, and by that time I think it had fried its first ECU. Still, I thought it was a pretty car, in midnight blue metallic, with its chrome roof rack and its contact-paper ploodgrain accents.
I wonder, if Grandmom & Granddad had bought a V-8 instead, if they would have kept it longer? The main reason they got rid of it was because the ECU fried itself a second time...but I guess that could've happened on a V-8 car just as easily as a V-6. The '85 LeSabre that replaced that car ended up being probably the most reliable, long-lived car they ever had, but I guess that Malibu was just a victim of the times. 1981-82 was an especially bad timeframe for GM cars because those ECUs were in their infancy. And models with the 4-speed automatic overdrive were prone to failure as well in those early years.
It must have been shock for your grandparents going from a V8 to a gutless emissions -choked 6. I have to imagine it was somewhat easier for my mother, who ca. 1984 (I've forgotten the year again) went from a big ca. 1975 T-Bird she bought new, to a Ciera. The T-Bird was looking pretty tired by then too, cars do age better today. A little later, my grandma went from a big ca. 1978 Olds 88 to a 1986 Olds 98 - and she loved that new car as it was smaller and easier for her to see out of and park. I recall it also shared a lot of switchgear with the Ciera.
I could think of other reasons it's nose is in the air, but my best guess would be no motor.
Except for having its nose up in the air, it doesn't look like a bad car. GM's big coupes were much more smoothly styled IMO, but there's a certain quirkiness about these Ford coupes that I kinda like.
Also, I don't know how Ford managed to do this, but I swear those 1979-91 style Panther bodies were more comfy and felt more roomy than the 1992 and newer ones! They also seemed a lot more plush back then, too. Nowadays they just seem like copcars and taxi cabs inside. Perhaps because that's been their main clientele for years now?
I also had a 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS which really was a nice car with the alloy "turbine" wheels and blue leather interior. It was essentially a Lincoln Town Car with the Mercury nameplate on it. Around the time I bought my 2002 Cadillac Seville STS, I considered a new Mercury Grand Marquis LS Ultimate and felt it was hardly as nice as the 1989 model. The '89 just seemed screwed together tighter, the leather felt better, and the materials seemed more upscale.
I think we should have a $500 contest sometime. Everybody gets to submit one $500 or less car that they found on the Internet, that they think could drive coast to coast AS IS, and then we get to vote on how likely that is to happen.
We must have faith that the $500 car is not dead in America. If anyone likes the idea, maybe we should do this in a separate topic, or do it here? Suggestions?
'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
ran when parked
won't shift out of 1st
needs water pump
needs battery
needs tires/tabs/engine/transmission
and 27 cases of "blown head gasket" (what's up with THAT?)
I didn't find anything that I would trust to drive across town, much less across country! :sick:
It's a challenge!!! "I'm on a mission from Shifty!" :shades:
(my apologies to The Blues Brothers and God)
james
I found this in Denver cl:
Mostly cosmetic issues, so the owner claims.
Or perhaps this:
OK, maybe the transmission issue may prevent it from going all the way, but still ....
I dunno if I'd trust it cross-country, but this beast made the ~115 mile trip from Middletown, PA back to my place with no issues, and I only paid $500 for it. Now once I finally get it tuned up, new belts, hoses, maybe a new battery, and a coolant flush and tranny service, I'd probably trust it cross-country. But I'd have a lot more than $500 in it then!
These seem to last a while
Could be a gamble
Who knows...I sense transmission problems on these
This might make it
Risky
Maybe
Probably not
Funny
Possibly
Could be
This could work
And there are hundreds more in the 500-700 range...asking price...I have to believe 5 Franklins waved in the sellers face would own many of these