I have my 53 Bel Air (4 door) (havent paid for it yet, but my father in law is giving me years). There is a 1948 Buick Special (4 door) For the 53 Chevy I pay 6000 to buy it. Couple more thousand to fix her up the way I want. For the 48 the guy wants 2000 and it has everything including another engine & radiator. Engine turns and all. I don't know how much it would take to bring this to driving capability.Has a complete suspension rebuild (well, the parts i would need to install them) This is where you pro's come in. In the long run, which will cost more to restore to a safe driving condition? I dream to have a 48, and it's such a cheap price I would be stupid to walk away. Then again the Bel Air is nearly complete (minus some rust). Also add in the father in law would get upset and the wife too.. I know, it's what I want, but what would some of you do in this position?
Yes it is. I've put in some work to get her running too, but not much money to abandon ship w/o problem.
The 53 should be a dependable daily driver with nice paint and interior for 6K, or if you added the 2 you would use to fix it, 8K. I would tell the wife that pop in law is ripping you off. And buy the 48. If she sides with pops, then, sorry to say, she isn't on your side.
The whole thing sounds like a trap for bad feelings in the long run. But, here's an idea-- Since your pop in law is giving you years to buy the '53, (6k?!!), and since these kinds of cars are being s****ped everyday, you could go with the approach that the '48 is an investment, and a learning block before you get to buy the '53. Who knows, maybe someday you'll get to have both. The trick is, get it running and legal!!! Then you have a leg to stand on when you have to restate your case. Then you could sweeten the deal by saying that you just want to be "like your father in law". Just don't let your Dad find out! Unless of course he knows what your trying to do. If everything goes to hell, you still have the '48. Make sure it runs, even if it looks like ****. Which '48 Buicks have a hard time trying to do.
I bought a running/driving almost rust-free '53 4 door for $5700 and still feel I paid too much. For 6k, you should be able to find a decent 2dr progect, at the least.
it looks like that '53 isnt worth 6,000 dollars. if you're really set on getting a four door, get the buick. if you'd rather find a 2-door, you should wait and find. -scott noteboom
I sold this 54 earlier in the year for $4250. Running, driving, just over 40,000 miles mostly original.
Years ago I would have said that a 4-door anything was a parts donor for a 2-door project. Now I find myself being paid to build very high $$ 4-doors. Worse yet, 4-doors are catching on with big players. I guess they can afford friends and need the extra doors. Hell if I know. Anyway, for 6K clams I would speculate that you would probably lose your ****ocks if you ever sold it after spending even more to get it running and driving, but then again, you might have a blast which is pretty much why any of us build these things anyway. Heck, none of them are cheap nowadays. Besides, you can always keep it forever and then nobody can say mean things then because you didn't lose a dime that way.
6 Grand is too much, sounds like pop-in-law is holding a grudge or something. 3 grand might be ok to buy it from a stranger.
Did you really mean $6,000 as in a six a comma and three zero's? That really is a $600-$1,000 car around here.
I could have bought a '52 4dr that I could have driven home, last summer, for about $1500, it needed some interior work but came with all kinds of parts in the trunk. The guy had a '53 or '54 4dr out back he wanted $2000 for that wasn't as nice as the ones posted here, but came with everything to make it nice and he'd redone the rockers and floors all in it. Looked miles better than the one in your avatar pic. Guy might even be on the HAMB, he also had a '50 Pontiac coupe with a chopped top in the driveway. Hell, I'd sell my '50 Fleetline 2dr for $2500, and a day's work (and probably another fuel pump) and you could drive it around.
GET THE 48 NOW, since you have years to pay on the chevy and end up with BOTH. Even if you dont, I would still get the 48. Also, can that price on the chevy come down? $6000 is TOO much for a mordoor that you have to restore anyway. I got this 1950 TWO door Dodge Coronet (running and driving) for $2500... Good luck!!
I bought a 55 Ford 4dr here on the HAMB last year for $6000 for my wife to drive. It has a fresh 302, C-4 trans, Front disc brakes, A/c, rack and pinion steering, new wiring, new exhaust with sanderson headers, rebuilt 9 inch rear end, lowered, clean paint and interior. We drove it to Santa Maria this past show, it got 18 MPG with a 4 barrel carb. I had to have the radiator flushed out, and fix a few things after I got it. Nothing serious. You can do better. put the $$ in the 48.
Seriously i would confront your father in law and tell him "cut the ****, the price you want for this car is outragous" and that if he doesnt let you have the car for $1200 you arent interested and you will look for another car.
I can probably talk him down to 3 or 4 eventually but that's what he wanted cause he "put 5g's" into it. I am thinking I will just put my time and effort into it and show him that I am not f@^%in around. The 48 isn't going anywhere (it is a coworkers fathers car) for now. I'm gonna put my elbow grease in it cause I have wanted the car for 2 years now. He gave us our 63 Chevy II Wagon so he might go easy on this too. He's the guy who lets it sit for years & says "I'm gonna fix it here soon".
I have to say-go with the Buick. 6k is way too much for a 4 door car that is not in pristine condition. I bought a 54 ford sedan for a little more than half of that with 85k original miles on it, and I still think that I paid too much. The Buick has a bit more appeal in my book too. Speed parts may be much rarer for the Buford, but a custom does not need them to be cool. A nicely dressed well running straight 8 will do just fine. You should be able to drop any engine into that huge space under the hood anyway.
What did he do for 5 G's? If it is the car in your avatar, I bought 3 like that for $500 each, if it is nicer, show us some pics and share details!!
If its the car in your avatar 3-4k is still WAYYYYYYY too much. a guy i know just bought a really really nice running and driving 54 chevy 2 door for $6000
Man... I think you should really take into consideration what everyone is saying here.. WALK AWAY FROM THE 53'.. Ok.. Now that you've backed away from it. look around for sale sites, including the cl***ifieds here.. and price them out.. craigslist isn't bad either depending where you live. To overpay for a car, is something most of us have done in our past, but to overpay for a 4door car is a really BIG Rookie mistake. Have some balls and tell your father in law he's crazy. Anthony
Of course, be sure that's what he really wants for it... most people know that what they have into a car $$$$ wise and what it actually sells for are two entirely different things - sometimes for the better, but 98% of the time for the worse.
If there ever was a wrong reason to dump time and money into a car, that's it. Take that 53 back to him with whatever lame*** excuse it takes to keep him happy, and thus keep your wife happy. Then move on to a different project. Even if that seller tries to gouge you too, at least it won't ruin christmas 09. If you ask me the 48 is also overpriced, but it's really hard to say without knowing more about what it comes with. But in the buying world, $1000 worth of new parts only adds $400 to the purchase price. Something about the way your post is worded tells me you might want to rethink your approach to old cars. It's great to have determination, but making poor financial choices out of sheer determination is the easiest way to sabotage your own project. Don't be like your father in law. The guy with $5k in a $500 car. Actually if you see it thru you'd be worse, you'd be the guy with $14K in a $4k car. good luck
$6,000!!! Is he still trying to get back at ya cos' you married his daughter? In the long run, and I've learned from my mistakes, save and buy what you really want to drive/build and be done with it. You'll save $$$$ in the long run. Another thing to take into account though is that you can find stuff for chevy's at the grocery store, I never owned a buick so I don't know about them.
yeah that's pretty rough for 6 grand + 2k to getting it running. You could spend a bit more than that and get a restored 4dr car.
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