Projects 1960 Cadillac - How much are these things going for, anyway?

Insurance is $500-ish a year for full coverage, if I'm the only driver, only drive it 2-3 days a week to work, and keep it garaged. So I'd pretty much have to build a garage.

This is why I mentioned it would strengthen the argument towards building one. It has a vinyl top - no way I'm parking it outside all the time.

Or, if I rent the house we're in now, I can just not rent the outbuilding, and park it in there. The new house is only 5 minutes away. And I'd kind of like to retain a shop of some kind. I have a ****py old Ranger I'll be driving the rest of the time.

~Jason

 

Uh????

 

...buy the Ram.....

.

 

Did you add up the total of the payments? It's $57,120 plus the $5k down payment so you'll be into it for $62k. Have you looked into getting a loan somewhere else with a lower interest rate than the 5.99% they're offering you?

 

It's $42,900 at their website, and they can come down a few thousand.

I was figuring $10k for paint, but that was an arbitrary figure I came up with, thinking the 10% down would be $5k. Also, at $50k Woodside offers 10-year terms.

It would be like $500 and change a month. So yeah, I'm paying the extra interest, but it's the only way I'll ever be able to afford an Eldorado... AND a nice Sienna Rose paint job.

I've looked elsewhere, and they're all about the same (they have to be compe***ive, right?), but Woodside has the terms I needed to keep the monthly bottom line where it needs to be.

~Jason

 

Ha!

That's what a SMART person would do!

~Jason

 

I've been known to say that a 5 min job can take 2 years if you don't do it.
I'm gonna have to change that up a bit because of you.

If you have 10 mins for the computer you have 2 blocks of 5 mins for the garage.
If you've got 5 mins for the garage you'll have 5 mins to round up some help.
Seems like a no brainier to me

 

I know every ones' situation is unique, and I don't want to be an ***, BUT as we say in the country, "can't never could". Get the car running or sell it for parts or s****, get the Eldo, or get over the Eldo.

 

It IS a no-brainer... if I had 10 minutes for the computer.

I never touch it after I get home, man. It NEVER comes out of my bag... not in 10 years. The only reason I can be on is because I'm 45 minutes away from home and it's part of my job to be in front of a computer.

If it's a weekend and I'm on the HAMB, it's honestly because I'm mul***asking on my phone the toilet. LOL! I'm really not on here much anymore.

But I hear you loud and clear. I get blown off about the help. But if it gets the car sold, I'm all for getting it running. It's not the car I want as long as that Eldo is available, but I can sure as hell sell it and turn it into cash towards that a lot easier with it running.

~Jason

 

That's the plan, stan.

By the way, can I interest in a '60 Cadillac? LOL!

~Jason

 

I honestly know how you feel. I hope the new owner shows up soon.

 

Me, too.

I was talking to an old-school HAMBer (Remember Johnny Ford? He REALLY wants it) the other day about how I don't want it to go to some ***hat punk kid who's gonna just tear it up.

I want it to go to some ***hat punk kid who will build on what I've done, instead of a 350/350 swap.

There's some guy on Craigslist with a Biarritz he did a 350/350 swap on and put it in prime, and has it on a trailer all packed up as a mostly finished project, ready to ship anywhere in the world.

To each their own, but there's far less of the 1285 made nowadays. I'm no purist, but damn...

~Jason

 

There lies the rub, I can tell you it is worth 20K but until I come up with cash my 20K is just words in the wind.

Here is the deal, in order to sell it you are probably going to have to go outside of the area. Stick your neck out and advertise it some-place else. It is work, you have to do the email telephone thing and then the shipper thing but that is probably what it is going to take.

I would offer to take it off your hands but even at a grand we would have to take it out in trade.

 

bigtumtum put it up for sale in Germany. It's getting several questions asked... and these folks are willing to pay the extra $4k - $5k to have it shipped to Europe!

Up until I just had to pay for some stuff for our camping trip out of my line of credit at the bank, I'd have maybe taken you up on that, as I'd have maybe bene able to s****e up the cash for what I need. But like most things with money, it's gone, and won't be pumped back up for another 6 months.

I hate to say it, but I need the cash. But I know you'd have given it a good home.

This is the one that was at Raven61's house for a while. I was going to trade him a 28k mile Cadillac 472 with a matching TH400 (all out of a he****) to go through it for me and get it going, but he had to move.

~Jason

 

$5K doesn't seem bad for a 2dht but at the very least the buyer will want to hear the engine run, even if they can't drive it home.

But borrowing that kind of money, spread out over 10 years to buy an old car? That seems crazy to me, that payment is more than my mortgage. If you're really that strapped for time, especially parked 5 minutes away in a separate outbuilding, when will you ever drive it?

You might consider offering it for trade for some other old car that runs and is roadworthy, even if it's not the exact model you're looking for. Something you can park on the street and not have to make payments on.

I mean, I love old cars, and I know the frustration about not having project time (everyone has that), but I'd rather have a paid-for green 4 door sedan than a perfect 2 door hardtop buried under a 10 year mortgage.

 

Brother if you got the money and no time then buy it. I'm guessing you'd have a big pile saved up if you had the dough. Or maybe been paying to have your caddy worked on. I know plenty of guys who have mega bucks but can't spare 5 seconds straight. I know guys who have nothing but idle time and can't s****e up 2 Nickles to rub together. Neither kind play with cars though Lol

 

Well I still play with cars (got the sweat shirt to prove it) and don't have two nickels to rub together. LOL

I won't travel across town to work on one though, been there done that. And I work at my own speed.

 

I hope you figure out something.

I read your first post as a "someone kick me in the *** and get me moving" plea, so that's what I'm trying to do.

could you turn "getting the Caddy running" into a Scout project?

 

I used to have the time...

I keep trying to acquiesce with myself the whole "time is money" thing.

I sit at work all day, and make money. Not a lot, but enough that now that I have everything paid for but the house and student loans, I could buy a new truck if I wanted. Why not the exact car I've always wanted?

Horsepower is a measure of work. So is the dollar.

I figure if I work all the time, that time is translated to money.

Likewise, if I work in the garage all the time, that time is translated to progress on the car.

Can I take some of that time spent at work and turn it into progress on my car? Yes I can - through money.

My problem is that while yes, I can do this, am I a complete sellout for doing so?

Until "life" happened, I had all kinds of time to work on my car - it was going to be it and me against the world. Hell, I never even went out with a girl until I was 26 (and I married her) because it was all I did.

But nowadays, I'll have to wait until I'm retired to work on it. And I just don't think I'll be around too long after that. I've pumped time and energy into everyone else's dreams thus far. Maybe it's time to get mine, however I can, while I can. I'm told this is an old, retired, rich man's hobby. I'm neither, but at least I'll be able to drive my girls to their wedding receptions, you know?

Besides, if the 'ol lady ever up and splits, chicks dig Cadillacs, you know? And ya gotta have something... LOL!

~Jason

 

I've heard thee are some locals that'll rub your nickels together for ya... but you have to pay 'em, though...

~Jason

 

Actually, you HAVE got me moving... and that Scout project is an awesome idea!

I have an army of 8 - 11-year-old girls that just might be into it. I'll have to see if it's legal, etc (insurance, permission slips, all that stuff), but you might be onto something...

~Jason

 

I've looked at your fabulous website, by the way. The "my ba*****t, a long time ago" pic looks exactly like mine, now (same equipment)! LMAO!

~Jason

 

I had a full time job, working for the gummint, from 1983-1989. Before I quit, I spent two years building a 39 Chevy sedan. I did everything on the car myself. In the middle of it, our first son was born. I also traveled a lot for work.

Something don't add up here.

 

That is along the same lines as takin' it out in trade. LOL

Life has a tendency to get in the way and the best you can do is try to live it. If livin' it is buying another car which is totally understandable, then that is what you probably should do. Sometimes those things like the Eldo is just a carrot. Even if you did get it you probably couldn't chew the damned thing.

I guess what I am trying to say is don't let it disappoint you. if it doesn't happen, you have not lost the car that you got. Take what you would have put into payments and drop that in someone's pocket to work on your car, cop out? not hardly no more then buying a finished car.

 

Did you have twins, and stay home with them for the first three years?

Oh man... talk about a farce. I thought I could get something done, but any time I touched a tool, they'd wake up.

We bought a house just before the pregnancy, and I finally had my own garage. I brought my Cadillac home from my folks', and started to do stuff every once in a while. Little things, like the ignition bezel, or replacing a turn signal cam, etc. I really thought I'd finally make some progress, after having been away at school, then living in an apartment far from the car. But the kids came, and I lost my job, and stayed home with them.

With one baby, maybe I could've done something with a baby strapped to me. But with two - t's like they're programmed to destroy each other. And well, limited income means stagnation.

8 years and a divorce, a bankruptcy, moving in and out of two houses, a refi and one crazy ride later I'm finally financially stable again, but am always doing the Scout stuff. Yeah, I could duck out, but these kids will fly the coop soon enough, and they can't be table dancers AND be president because of daddy issues, you know? And so I'm around as much as I can be. The kids' mom has MS also, so that takes up a lot of time.

Things are leveling out in my life as well. There are times when everybody goes and does their own thing. So the time is close where I can actually get out and work on stuff. I'm close. But I have a few more dues to pay with the family thing first.

I'm just trying to have my cake and eat it, too, I guess. I just don't want to give up the dream.

At this point, it's all up in the air anyway, unless I can sell my old car.

~Jason

 

That was my original plan, until a real Eldorado came along. I mean: ELDORADO, FTW!

And what I'd pay somebody to work on it monthly would be about the same. I figured I'd send it to Jim Tallant in NKC to do the paint and body and get it to where all I had to do was send stuff off to be chromed, and bolt it on. Or send the motor to the machine shop, and stab it in when done. I saw where you can order a complete interior and spend an afternoon with hog ring pliers and get that together. One wiring harness later (and some brake work), I'd be back on the road.

I just want that Eldorado more, and before the prices get sky high again, like they have been.

~Jason

 

heh...the twins were born in 1991, after I had opened up my shop in town! They're 25th birthday was yesterday.

My wife has been working full time as an engineer since 1983, so I have life easy...I closed my shop in 1993, and stayed home and worked on cars part time as I was raising the boys. I'm lucky.

Sounds like you're doing what you can with what you have...hopefully you can divert a little bit of effort somehow into getting your Caddy driving.

 

Hahaha! I hear that loud and clear brother. I can't even sit on the throne for 3 minutes before a kid kicks the door open screaming. God love em. Hang in there, man.

 

gratuitous twin pictures...1994....they were helping me build my extended cab 59 pickup

 

I'm with ya, my twins will be turning 11 next month. I've been working on my 50 Chevy for about 5 years now, and at this rate I've got about another 10 before it's done. Do what you want with what you have. There's no shame in selling a project for a finished car.

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