54 merc 2 door HT from my uncle for 250 bucks. 65 bird. white with wine leather. Took me too weeks to get it clean inside and 5 cans of ajax to get it clean outside. Paid 150 for it. Washed it and sold it for 500 bucks. Bought a 63 falcon convert for that 5 bills. Later traded the falcon for a 30 A coupe, channeled and Z'd. 283 with torque thursts, canary yellow paint, no fenders, no hood, all at***ude. Sold the coupe later. Don't ask what to buy. OK, 69 Buick LeSabre rag top.
<quote> see falcons and rancheros can be built cool and cheap for hardly any money at all </quote> ha. they sure can. cleaned up a 60' tudor wagon for an old girlfriend. replaced the engine with the one out of my wagon. found a cheap full syncro trans out of the junk yard. did the body work myself, her dad shot the car for free. around $2000 in the car great little daily driver. present girlfriend got a 64 ranchero. probably $3500 in it. new transmission and install made up a lot of that cost. rest went to wheel bearings and suspension parts to make the thing safe. very cool daily driver. and they can cost you money too. when you decide to replace the entire running gear. rebuild a 302 and drop in a cam and other warm er' up parts. rebuild the c4 twice, stupid mistake heh. replace every window seal, felt strips, door rubber etc. probably over $6500 in it and lord one day i would like to drive it. gary.
59 impala driver--400 49 merc custom--900 32 5 window/blown hemi powered---1300 makin **** up on the HAMB--------PRICELESS
Ouch -- hate to see that. I've been lucky so far. My uncle managed to cream a deer and core the radiator a few years back on the way to car show . . . got about 5 miles away and it happened. Luckily he was able to get it patched together.
my old 52 buick riv hrdtp $400 purchase price surprised me it was running and drivin when I went pick it up.. $100 all brakes and recored radiator $400 more for cad wires and real ww $200 primer grey -sanding /hole fillin ... traded off buick trim to a merc guy all other stuff swapped for or free drove it 10 years and sold it for 2 grand still in primer did keep the 500 lbs of stuff from the trunk that was used to keep it low have never seen it again or a 52 riv hrdtp like it ever paperdog
I've had a lot of cheap cars. Several were even cool. Unfortunately, none of them stayed cheap by the time I figured they were road ready. Hell man, I got a box for one car once with only window weatherstripping in it that cost well over $500. That'll blow a budget! My coupe needs vent window rubbers replaced @ $90 / pr, a trunk seal @ $45, and the window channels @ $15 each, and one window gl*** that has cracked because of the bad channels @ $45. The car drives fine without these things, but who wants to listen to the wind whistle past your ears and the trunk lid rattle? I could live with it, but my wife isn't real happy....Gene
Those little items can add up . . . I just blew $70+ for gasket set for a waverunner . . . and that was cheap. Factory gasket for sleeve/head was $20 for base and $20 for head -- FOR EACH CYLINDER (3 in my case). Luckily I got a Made in America (rare!) repop that got me what I needed for pretty cheap.
The Jalopy Journal
