Roger that good buddy. I'm gonna take rocking chair I could never get into that era T-Bird, or the Elite for that matter. But I know Ford sold a boat load of Elites, so I'm out of the mainstream on that one. I know green was still somewhat popular, but I'm thinking the color might cost him a little?
"Plenty of premium earthones" according to the seller's ad. Well it was the 70's and earth tones were the thing. But I don't think that '74 Gran Torino Elite is Saddle Bronze Metallic.
My dad bought a new Mercury in that color off the showroom floor at Heritage Lincoln-Mercury in 1973 and inside or out in the sun it looked more like the color of this Mustang:
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
FRONT END WORK
Upper Control Arm and Ball Joint Assy - R. Side - 223.72
Upper Control Arm and Ball Joint Assy L, Side 216,84
Lower Control Arm Bushing Kit - 261,86
Lower Ball Joints (2) - 123.60
Front Shock Absorbers - 320.32
Rear Shock Absorbers - 283.80
LABOR - Hang onto your socks!
Replace Lower Ball Joints - 449.82
Replace Upper Control Arms - 370.00
Replace Lower Control Arm Bushings - 119.00
Replace Front shocks -185.64
Replace Rear Shocks- 264.18
4 Wheel Alignment - 110.00
Haz Material Disp - 10.00
So. what do your guys think? Personally I think a good tech could knock out that front end work incl the
shocks in a few hours. am I tottally out of touch?
Thanks, your imput is both respected and appreciated. It's not too late for my buddy to find another shop!
It appears to me they are charging full "from scratch" labor on each task and conveniently overlooking the fact they are already in there. For example, you have to pull the wires off the plugs to change the plugs, so why is there an extra labor charge? That is even more pronounced with the front end because you have to take it all apart to remove the upper control arms anyway.
'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
I should send that Elite to a friend of mine. His dad bought a similar one new, was quite proud of it, and kept it until the mid 80s, when my friend was a kid. By then, it was looking pretty rough, and my friend was embarrassed by it. He'd call the color a variant of poop brown (he's told me their car had a brown cloth interior, which he thinks was burlap). The car ended up being something of a joke in the family, as his dad touted it as a "luxury car". It was replaced by a Celebrity which turned out to be less reliable, and the family then moved to Honda. Now his parents have a Camry.
Remarkably plain-jane interior on that '74 Elite. Unfortunate colors too. Up here the Mercury Cougar version of that car was far more popular and to my eye, looked better. Think the Merc had a better interior too. Having had a '74 Maverick I would be wary of any Ford of that era in the salt belt. Their rep was so bad up here that for the next model year Ford made a big deal of advertising that the '75 models came with a clear sprayed-on rockerguard material on the lower exterior portions of the body, over the paint, to prevent rusting caused by stone chips.
The engine compartment of the Elite looks like a vat of Armor-All was dumped over it.
I went down the rabbit hole of browsing the seller's listings. Some optimistic prices and rare cars. 2 (!) 60 Edsel 2 door HTs - but both were tacky restomods. Why?
I always thought the 64 Galaxie was one of the better looking 4 dr HT's that year. Stick in it is pretty unusual. Are those bucket seats in it original? It has been many years, but they look slightly off from the 63/64 Ford buckets to me.
The engine compartment of the Elite looks like a vat of Armor-All was dumped over it.
I went down the rabbit hole of browsing the seller's listings. Some optimistic prices and rare cars. 2 (!) 60 Edsel 2 door HTs - but both were tacky restomods. Why?
My friend's '66 Galaxie, which I stored for a couple of years, had a three on the tree. Sorta fun, but also problematic because the shift linkage was rather iffy. More often than not, once you shifted up from first, there was no shifting back down to it. I would have to pop the hood and wiggle things around before it would engage the gear again.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
Upper Control Arm and Ball Joint Assy - R. Side - 223.72 Upper Control Arm and Ball Joint Assy L, Side 216,84 Lower Control Arm Bushing Kit - 261,86 Lower Ball Joints (2) - 123.60 Front Shock Absorbers - 320.32 Rear Shock Absorbers - 283.80
LABOR - Hang onto your socks!
Replace Lower Ball Joints - 449.82 Replace Upper Control Arms - 370.00 Replace Lower Control Arm Bushings - 119.00 Replace Front shocks -185.64 Replace Rear Shocks- 264.18 4 Wheel Alignment - 110.00 Haz Material Disp - 10.00
So. what do your guys think? Personally I think a good tech could knock out that front end work incl the shocks in a few hours. am I tottally out of touch?
Thanks, your imput is both respected and appreciated. It's not too late for my buddy to find another shop!
It appears to me they are charging full "from scratch" labor on each task and conveniently overlooking the fact they are already in there. For example, you have to pull the wires off the plugs to change the plugs, so why is there an extra labor charge? That is even more pronounced with the front end because you have to take it all apart to remove the upper control arms anyway.
Upper Control Arm and Ball Joint Assy - R. Side - 223.72 Upper Control Arm and Ball Joint Assy L, Side 216,84 Lower Control Arm Bushing Kit - 261,86 Lower Ball Joints (2) - 123.60 Front Shock Absorbers - 320.32 Rear Shock Absorbers - 283.80
LABOR - Hang onto your socks!
Replace Lower Ball Joints - 449.82 Replace Upper Control Arms - 370.00 Replace Lower Control Arm Bushings - 119.00 Replace Front shocks -185.64 Replace Rear Shocks- 264.18 4 Wheel Alignment - 110.00 Haz Material Disp - 10.00
So. what do your guys think? Personally I think a good tech could knock out that front end work incl the shocks in a few hours. am I tottally out of touch?
Thanks, your imput is both respected and appreciated. It's not too late for my buddy to find another shop!
It appears to me they are charging full "from scratch" labor on each task and conveniently overlooking the fact they are already in there. For example, you have to pull the wires off the plugs to change the plugs, so why is there an extra labor charge? That is even more pronounced with the front end because you have to take it all apart to remove the upper control arms anyway.
Thank you because that was exactly what I was thinking. If they are already "in there" the labor should be reduced to reflect that and in these estimates it appears this wasn't done. To me the major turn off was charging for grease when they replaced the wheel bearings!
A 3 on the tree wouldn't be all that uncommon on a lower level base 66 Ford 6 cylinder. But pretty uncommon on a Galaxie or any V8 from that era I think.
The engine compartment of the Elite looks like a vat of Armor-All was dumped over it.
I went down the rabbit hole of browsing the seller's listings. Some optimistic prices and rare cars. 2 (!) 60 Edsel 2 door HTs - but both were tacky restomods. Why?
Price seems fair enough, but of course we can't really see it. Paint looks dull, chrome is marked up. Let's call it a low #3 car. I would hit it at about $15K if it runs out well and doesn't look too bad up front and personal.
Dash pad replacement (if you mean the factory padding under that fuzzy thing) can be tedious.
Hate to say it, but I'm not feeling horrible about those prices. Sky high to me, but for shop rates? Not so much. Jeebus, my local shop charged me something like $450 to adjust the timing and carburetor on my 1969 C20. They said they had to replace and gap the spark plugs before they could adjust the carb and timing, so, basically, they charged me about $250 for spark plugs that would have cost me about $50.
Hey, I would have adjusted your carb and timing for nothing on your old truck! That would be right up my alley!
The timing would be set by ear and by feel and the carb would have been set the same way! That's how we used to do it and it worked! Oh, does it ping a bit? Let me retard the timing a little bit!
The last time I used my timing light I got one hell of a shock somehow. It was never as good as setting it by ear anyway!
I've never been a huge fan of column shift manuals. Maybe as the car I had exposure to it, a 68 Fairlane, also had manual steering and brakes. Of course, my dad loved it. He'd just leave it in 2nd most of the time when in town.
My friend's '66 Galaxie, which I stored for a couple of years, had a three on the tree. Sorta fun, but also problematic because the shift linkage was rather iffy. More often than not, once you shifted up from first, there was no shifting back down to it. I would have to pop the hood and wiggle things around before it would engage the gear again.
Hate to say it, but I'm not feeling horrible about those prices. Sky high to me, but for shop rates? Not so much. Jeebus, my local shop charged me something like $450 to adjust the timing and carburetor on my 1969 C20. They said they had to replace and gap the spark plugs before they could adjust the carb and timing, so, basically, they charged me about $250 for spark plugs that would have cost me about $50.
Hey, I would have adjusted your carb and timing for nothing on your old truck! That would be right up my alley!
The timing would be set by ear and by feel and the carb would have been set the same way! That's how we used to do it and it worked! Oh, does it ping a bit? Let me retard the timing a little bit!
The last time I used my timing light I got one hell of a shock somehow. It was never as good as setting it by ear anyway!
Yeah, that's how I do it too, for the most part. I put the timing at spec, set the carb to 1/2 turn each, and then go from there. But, it has a nasty habit of "dieseling" upon shut off. And, lately, has been really bad about it. So, I figured a professional adjustment couldn't hurt anything, and, after 48 years (at the time), it probably deserved it.
It runs really well, for the most part, now, but still not perfect. I guess I can't expect perfect on mechanicals that are nearly a half-century old.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
@fintail That column shift wasn't my favorite, but I do pride myself a bit on being capable of driving a rather wide variety of vehicles. So, from that standpoint, it was still fun. My grandparents' old 1947 Chevrolet sedan also had a three-on-the-tree like that, except that it was a "by feel only" sort of deal (e.g., the gearing wasn't labeled as far as I recall). I drove that one in a parade when I was just shy of 20, and my left leg was actually a tad sore the next day. From Shifty's descriptions, I imagine that extremely old stuff, like Model T's, would be a bit of a ride!
I suspect that most current drivers would be hard-pressed to drive any of my old rigs, let alone something like a column shift.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
Did you learn to double clutch in that car? In 1953 my mom bought a used 1950 Chevy with 3-speed column shift and kept it around until all of us kids had learned to drive and left the nest by 1977.
During the 2 years that I drove it I learned to live with vacuum wipers and hand signal turns. But I hated that grinding sound on the 2-1 downshift around town. For a little help with my shifting technique I looked it up in an old manual under "double de-clutch."
By the time I graduated there was nobody was left at home who wanted the old beast (including mom and dad) so it was sold off - still running, keeping the old Chevys never die flame alive. Looked pretty rough by that time though.
Still for many years after that I'd catch myself double clutching on a new or modern used car just out of habit.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
Back in the old days often a stick gave you some performance advantages like acceleration, snow weather driving and fuel economy. Today in most respects an auto generally holds the advantages thanks to the computer technology..
These days, being able to drive a stick at all, or ride a motorcycle, or even parallel park, probably puts one in a small and shrinking minority. You probably know Model Ts are an alien experience, you shift with a pedal, planetary transmission. You are right in the fun part based on variety - modern cars are so homogeneous, that there's not much of that fun anymore. Something like a MB column shift is seen as wacky or even a little exotic.
@fintail That column shift wasn't my favorite, but I do pride myself a bit on being capable of driving a rather wide variety of vehicles. So, from that standpoint, it was still fun. My grandparents' old 1947 Chevrolet sedan also had a three-on-the-tree like that, except that it was a "by feel only" sort of deal (e.g., the gearing wasn't labeled as far as I recall). I drove that one in a parade when I was just shy of 20, and my left leg was actually a tad sore the next day. From Shifty's descriptions, I imagine that extremely old stuff, like Model T's, would be a bit of a ride!
I suspect that most current drivers would be hard-pressed to drive any of my old rigs, let alone something like a column shift.
I remember looking at one like this when I was maybe 15 - well maybe it wasn't as nice, but it was nice to my young eyes. They wanted 2K for it, which seemed like a bargain even then, around 1992.
Ha! That Edsel may be "messed up" but it made me laugh at first glance and I like it. It's only an Edsel Ranger, so if it's a pro street project that's been sorted then I'm okay with it. Well, not so okay with the wheels! But that's the first thing which made me laugh.
Yep it's a Lokar automatic shifter but when I read the seller's ad they just briefly mentioned a "stout 3 speed automatic" with no more details. Hmm...
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
There were under 300 60 Edsel 2 door HTs made (all 60 Edsel non-wagons are Rangers). Kind of rare to chop up IMO. I suppose people can do what they want with their money, maybe the car was a gutted shell to start with.
Had the old car out today. Cold morning around freezing, not much warmer in the garage, fired right up. Warmed up to about 50 today under clear skies, car ran fine, only an occasional sputter or stumble, which is the car telling me to give it more gas. Got a thumbs up and a wave from a guy in a Hummer H1 that sounded diesel powered, it was completely decked out too.
I live in a suburb and go to work early. There is an early bus, but the daily RT would take twice as long as driving, and I am still paying insurance whether or not I drive. I live roughly 4 miles from work - bike is too risky, no sidewalks on much of the route hurts for walking. The traffic can be insane even on surface streets, but I am used to it I suppose.
Did you learn to double clutch in that car? In 1953 my mom bought a used 1950 Chevy with 3-speed column shift and kept it around until all of us kids had learned to drive and left the nest by 1977.
During the 2 years that I drove it I learned to live with vacuum wipers and hand signal turns. But I hated that grinding sound on the 2-1 downshift around town. For a little help with my shifting technique I looked it up in an old manual under "double de-clutch."
By the time I graduated there was nobody was left at home who wanted the old beast (including mom and dad) so it was sold off - still running, keeping the old Chevys never die flame alive. Looked pretty rough by that time though.
Still for many years after that I'd catch myself double clutching on a new or modern used car just out of habit.
Did you learn to double clutch in that car? In 1953 my mom bought a used 1950 Chevy with 3-speed column shift and kept it around until all of us kids had learned to drive and left the nest by 1977.
During the 2 years that I drove it I learned to live with vacuum wipers and hand signal turns. But I hated that grinding sound on the 2-1 downshift around town. For a little help with my shifting technique I looked it up in an old manual under "double de-clutch."
By the time I graduated there was nobody was left at home who wanted the old beast (including mom and dad) so it was sold off - still running, keeping the old Chevys never die flame alive. Looked pretty rough by that time though.
Still for many years after that I'd catch myself double clutching on a new or modern used car just out of habit.
Did you learn to double clutch in that car? In 1953 my mom bought a used 1950 Chevy with 3-speed column shift and kept it around until all of us kids had learned to drive and left the nest by 1977.
During the 2 years that I drove it I learned to live with vacuum wipers and hand signal turns. But I hated that grinding sound on the 2-1 downshift around town. For a little help with my shifting technique I looked it up in an old manual under "double de-clutch."
By the time I graduated there was nobody was left at home who wanted the old beast (including mom and dad) so it was sold off - still running, keeping the old Chevys never die flame alive. Looked pretty rough by that time though.
Still for many years after that I'd catch myself double clutching on a new or modern used car just out of habit.
That old Chevy really should have been stopped before putting it into first gear. They didn't have syncros on first. Yes, you can get pretty skilled on double clutching but it can still be hard on it if you miss.
Comments
He's somewhat right in that many of them were destroyed - by 1985, the one in my family was off the road.
My dad bought a new Mercury in that color off the showroom floor at Heritage Lincoln-Mercury in 1973 and inside or out in the sun it looked more like the color of this Mustang:
'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
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I went down the rabbit hole of browsing the seller's listings. Some optimistic prices and rare cars. 2 (!) 60 Edsel 2 door HTs - but both were tacky restomods. Why?
This must also be rare as a 4-speed (if original):
https://www.streetsideclassics.com/vehicles/3969-cha/1964-ford-galaxie-500-xl
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Thank you because that was exactly what I was thinking. If they are already "in there" the labor should be reduced to reflect that and in these estimates it appears this wasn't done. To me the major turn off was charging for grease when they replaced the wheel bearings!
Probably not very pleasant to row a 4-speed around in that big barge.
How good it that price? Unusual combination, what with the 4 speed.
Dash pad replacement (if you mean the factory padding under that fuzzy thing) can be tedious.
The timing would be set by ear and by feel and the carb would have been set the same way! That's how we used to do it and it worked! Oh, does it ping a bit? Let me retard the timing a little bit!
The last time I used my timing light I got one hell of a shock somehow. It was never as good as setting it by ear anyway!
'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
It runs really well, for the most part, now, but still not perfect. I guess I can't expect perfect on mechanicals that are nearly a half-century old.
I suspect that most current drivers would be hard-pressed to drive any of my old rigs, let alone something like a column shift.
During the 2 years that I drove it I learned to live with vacuum wipers and hand signal turns. But I hated that grinding sound on the 2-1 downshift around town. For a little help with my shifting technique I looked it up in an old manual under "double de-clutch."
By the time I graduated there was nobody was left at home who wanted the old beast (including mom and dad) so it was sold off - still running, keeping the old Chevys never die flame alive. Looked pretty rough by that time though.
Still for many years after that I'd catch myself double clutching on a new or modern used car just out of habit.
I remember looking at one like this when I was maybe 15 - well maybe it wasn't as nice, but it was nice to my young eyes. They wanted 2K for it, which seemed like a bargain even then, around 1992.
Messed up Edsel, I want it stock
Another car for uplanderguy
Yep it's a Lokar automatic shifter but when I read the seller's ad they just briefly mentioned a "stout 3 speed automatic" with no more details. Hmm...
I kind of like the 4 door HT more anyway.
No gratuitous pics today!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
"I think he's dead, Jim"
He's kidding on the price, right?
Pretty good shape for 1.6 million miles, I must say
Go Toyota!
Yeah, great "limo" for a junkyard wedding. Still the miles are impressive
Legendary
Good for 200K more
Of course there's one of these
And one of these
And one of these
Original miles, no less
https://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/cto/d/1989-peterbilt/6529009392.html
It's not easy being green
https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/cto/d/2009-ford-escape-hybrid/6529887419.html
Probably well known around Boston. Too many zeros?
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/2005-ford-crown-vic-taxi/6527434371.html
Paint has held up really well
https://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/cto/d/1988-land-rover-defendertdi/6517380071.html
Some of the "sales pitches" are interesting.
Well seems like 400K is just about the "outer limits". I suspect the last 100K are the hardest.
'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
http://www.royaleasing.com/detail-2004-toyota-camry_solara-2dr_convertible_se_v6_automatic-used-17371193.html
That Nissan king cab, I like. I actually had one just like that, in dark red. Might have been a 1990 though.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2001 buick lesabre odometer: 274000
2001 Oldsmobile Alero odometer: 245000
2001 Pontiac odometer: 269000
I added a 'smiley' afterwards, but it didn't show up.