Motion Pictures How can Steve Bolander afford a 1958 Impala custom?

Actually, my old man worked on the farm in high school and paid cash for a 64 ford falcon with one summers wages, Granted that was working 10-16 hour days 7 days a week for most of the weeks. Didn't have time to spend the money and was still living at home.

I don't think cars were as expencive then in the ratio of wages to the cost of a automobile as people didn't have to finance cars out 8 years like they do now.

 

She was a $30 cheri???

 

I had a 65 Olds Cutlass F-85 Convertable that had been sitting for 3 years for $100.00 in 1974. Ran like a champ with new points. 1 legged burnouts all day long. 330 V-8 with a 4 speed. If I was smart...............................................

 

More on the American Graffiti cars....

The 58 Impala. A friend of Milner's bought it new and fixed it up with Milner's help. Mild hopped up 283. Chrome wheels. Tijuana tuck and roll. Scallops. An older guy, Milner's age, with a job and a girl friend.

Then his girl friend got pregnant and he had to sell the car to get married, get a decent apartment, furniture etc. A modified car is hard to sell but his buddy Milner gave him a fast $750.

Milner often bought and sold cars at his garage. He was the go to guy in the valley for hot rods, he could sell a car like that where an ordinary car lot couldn't. Steve thought it was great, begged his mom for the money, and bought it for $850.

(By the way... the part about the guy with the cool car who had to sell it to get married.... I saw that happen more than once... ask some of the old timers).

The Edsel. That is her mom's car or the family car. If a 58 Impala was worth $850, and a 58 Chev sedan $750, then a 58 Ford would only be worth $600 and an Edsel $450. Edsel was a sales failure from the word go and quickly lost any resale value they had. Chevs held their value best, but in those days of annual style changes, cars depreciated fast.

So, a guy who was tight with a buck would buy an Edsel knowing it was basically a Ford. His wife and daughter who knew nothing about cars wouldn't care.

Then there is the Citroen. In those days there were dozens of imports that were sold in the US for a short time then disappeared. Hillman, Renault, DKW, Fiat and many more.

Around 1957 some guy decided to get in on the foreign car fad. He couldn't afford a VW dealership but he could afford to rent a gas station for $70 a month and buy a Citroen franchise for $500. Why not? 5 years ago, who ever heard of Volkswagen?

He sold about 10 cars and went broke. When one of his customers went to trade in on a new car, the dealer just laughed at him. So he stuck the Citroen at the end of the driveway with a For Sale sign in the window and sold it to some kid for $35.

Where did I get all this, I dreamed it up, but every bit of it is consistent with what was going on in the late 50s - early 60s.

 

Speaking of buying a cool car cheap because somebody got his girl friend pregnant and needed quick cash.... Don Garlits said that was how he got his first hot rod. A 1940 Ford coupe with a hopped up flathead. He bought it in 1950 from the future father in law of the owner.... he said "in those days they had shotgun weddings.... with real shotguns" ha ha ha ha ha.

 

I never thought to much about it till lately, but I graduated in 1957 and guys in my class drove 55 chevy convert, 55 Pontiac , and 53 & 54 models.
I drove a 48 Ford 2 dr sedan, paid cash for it with my own money and paid for the Insurance . Car was $90.00 !!! This was in 1956.

 

I think this thread should be dumped in a CS file..