I had a hook at a 56 Century Riviera 4 door hard top. This car is all original with the original blue paint and 322 nailhead. It has power steering, manual brakes, and the 2 speed dynaflow. Problem areas: back lower rockers are fairly rusted out, but the paint is still there rust around the back window, also the window leaks, comes with a new weatherstrip spare tire holder is rusted out the car shakes a lot when picking up, but owner claims its been like that for the 10 years he's owned it speedo goes crazy when driving The cars paint is still in very decent condition. The interior chrome trim has some surface rust on it from the rear window leak. The chrome is still very nice. 35k original miles, and the hardtop is a real plus for me. I'm trying to figure out if this car is worth the purchase. I will at least need to fix the rust on the rear window before replacing the weatherstrip, and I'd have to pay to get this done since I don't have the knowhow. I negotiated the price down to around $2800. I'll post up some pics as soon as I can.
Price seems a bit high for a car that probably needs a significant amount of work. There is almost always more rust than what you see. Also, are there patch panels available for the needed repairs, or will they need to be fabricated? Metal work adds up quick in time and money. Also, the shakes could be bad motor mounts to something way wrong internally with the engine. If it were me, I would keep searching. I would think you could find a decent 4 door driver for the money.
I would pull the rear door sill plates off and see what it looks like underneath, if the rear rocker section is rusty, you may have way more rust underneath the sills. The price doesn't sound bad, the rear window seal can be fixed but I'm wondering how much rust will be underneath it when you cut the old one out. How can the paint be good if there is rust around the rear window? Would you have to repaint that section of it? What about the lower rocker? I would also want to know about what makes it shake so bad. An original paint, 35K mile hardtop with nice chrome and needing minor work seems like a good deal at $2800 if you know what it's going to take to fix the problem spots. But if the rear window and rocker panel rust are going to necessitate a complete repaint, and if the engine problem is a minor fix or a major problem, those are the key sticking points.
Those cars rust out pretty badly . It's all the rot and rust you can't see from that rear window leak . I may be wrong but if you can't do the metal welding , then you better have some deep pockets for the repairs . I say it's too much . When you can't do the metal work it's gonna cost you big time !
This car is slightly better than a #4 condition car. Some would say its close to a #3 condition...Those values run from $5000-$11,000. This is also a fairly rare car. I'd buy it for the $2800.00 clean it up a little and resell the thing if you think its too much work....I think you would stand to make a few bucks on this deal. Murph
Looks like a decent deal. Pretty solid looking. I'd do a little investigating of that vibration but you could easily recoup your money if it was bad.
You're doing alright at that price. There's still a lotta car there & an opportunity to negotiate the price. Good Luck!
That isn't a bad price for the car..I paid 2500 for my 48 Cadillac sedanette, straight body,good glass, frozen engine and Hazmat interior..get the Buick and get to work..
That car looks really clean, nice chrome on it which is very important. The nice thing about the rear window rust is it looks to be mostly confined to the white two-toned portion of the top, so if you cut the rear window out, blast it clean and fix any rust holes, you can just repaint the top and put the window back in instead of trying to blend the paint colors together or repainting the whole car. Figure out what the engine vibration is coming from, if it's fixable I think this car is a steal.
That rust around the window looks more like just surface rust to me. It looks real good for the money. Did you try a Google on Hemmings to determine the market and if there are even others out there?
That's a mighty nice car for the money! Clean it up, fix the rear window so the leak doesn't do any more damage, lower it a foot or two and drive the wheels off it. Very nice find!
A nice-looking four door hardtop, with sweet chrome and what appears to be relatively minor rust. Anything in that year range for less than $3K, in that shape, is a good buy.
Looks good in the pictures, get in the trunk and look up at the underside of the rear shelf for rust, also in the trunk and under the rear seat and carpet. If the rust isn't too bad and it's a car that you want the price sounds pretty good.
Yeah, when you said rusty quarters and had no pictures up, I was thinking worst case. Car looks pretty straight, still look into the shakes though. Could be a nice start for a cool custom. Oh, and ditch that Fram filter on the front tunnel. A lot of guys have had trouble with them.
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