Car Talk

[Shawnster]

 

Brother Jack said

I’m trying to seal the deal on a 1966 impala off of a private ownerBrother Jack said: 

 

 

 

My best friend's first car was a 66 impala. But this was in 1990.

Edited December 30, 2017 by Shawnster

[Tortuga]

15 minutes ago, Shawnster said:

My best friend's first car was a 66 impala. But this was in 1990.

I use to have a 96 Impala SS.

[Cushi]

1 hour ago, Shawnster said:

My best friend's first car was a 66 impala. But this was in 1990.

I’m more of a 64 impala SS kind of guy, but they are more expensive. I like the 63s too. It’s easier to find a good deal on a 66 because for whatever reason the prices aren’t consistent like they are with earlier year impalas. Plus, I like the 66s too. The prices of unrestored 64s and 63s tend to be around the same price. I would love to have a 1958 or 1959 impala convertible but that’s waaay out my price range. 1958 impala convertibles are among the most expensive classic cars because they are so rare and desirable.

Edited December 30, 2017 by Brother Jack

[Cushi]

1 hour ago, Tortuga said:

I use to have a 96 Impala SS.

Those are nice cars. It’s hard to find one stock that hasn’t had work done to it because they look so good customized. They also hold value pretty well. Oops we are getting off subject. I did start it though 

[Cushi]

Anyone one else into classic cars?

[Tortuga]

9 hours ago, Brother Jack said:

Those are nice cars. It’s hard to find one stock that hasn’t had work done to it because they look so good customized. They also hold value pretty well. Oops we are getting off subject. I did start it though 

 

Shawn created another topic for you...

 

I kept the Impala stock since it was our daily driver. I started having problems with it about 5 years ago and I sold it...

[Qapla]

My first car was a '65 Chevy Biscayne - two door with a straight six 230. It did NOT have A/C (and we live in Florida) and no power windows. It didn't even have a radio.

 

It was a hand-me-down from my Mom when she got a new car and I started Regular Pioneering.

 

She bought a 1970 4 door Impala.

 

The '65 lasted for a couple years before the engine blew.

 

My next car was a 4-door Pontiac Star Chief Executive with a 389. This one had A/C and power windows and door locks. Now that was a nice car! Mine was the same color as the one in the middle.

 

[Musky]

My first car was a 1956 Chevrolet bel air. At the time there were a lot of them around Southern California and being 12 years old, you could pick them up for $500 or less. I paid $300 for my 2-door. After that one got totaled in an accident (not my fault) on PCH, I bought a 4-door from an older woman for $100.

Later I sold it and bought a 1957 bel air for $500. I wish I had any one of them now.

[Tortuga]

PCH is the Pacific Coast Highway for you non-Californians. 

[Qapla]

When my Mom bought the '65 she had given their current car to my brother. That was a 1958 Chevy Bel Air station wagon. If he still had it, it would be a classic - but, alas, his was also totaled.

 

My Dad had bought a 1966 Chevy pickup. We only took what was left of that one to the junkyard a couple years ago.

[Cushi]

My first car was a 1992 Toyota Camry 4 cyl with 123k Miles. It was in excellent condition. It had the coldest AC I ever had in a car. I paid only $1,850 with tax, title and license. It was a good car but being young and dumb, I drove it into the ground. I blew the head gasket when I used my car to push my sisters car a couple of blocks with a spare tire in between the two when her car broke down. The first classic car I bought was a 1976 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, the last year of the real “big body” Cadillacs. I originally bought it to flip it but decided to keep it for a while. They guy I bought it from was country and had horns on the hood. Those horns had to go! The car had a V8 500 under the hood that was a GAS GUZZLER!!! It was the worst gas mileage I had ever had in a car.

 

When I finally put it up for sale, a guy who used to own it years ago called me and gave me some info on the car. He said that the original owner died and his grandkids tried to cover up the rust issues before they sold it by having the vinyl top brought down a little when they had it redone. As time went on the rust creeped back on the body under the vinyl top. The car was so cheap that I had the guy who owned it drive an hour away to sell it to me without having seen it in person first. After I bought it, I pressed the vinyl top and felt the crunch of the rust. This taught me a lesson... NEVER buy a classic car with a vinyl top if you can’t press up against it to see if it has rust underneath it. I tried to post some pictures I found online to show how the vinyl top is supposed to look but every pic I tried to post was too big even after resizing it. Here’s a video.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2017 by Brother Jack

[Cushi]

47 minutes ago, Musky said:

My first car was a 1956 Chevrolet bel air. At the time there were a lot of them around Southern California and being 12 years old, you could pick them up for $500 or less. I paid $300 for my 2-door. After that one got totaled in an accident (not my fault) on PCH, I bought a 4-door from an older woman for $100.

Later I sold it and bought a 1957 bel air for $500. I wish I had any one of them now.

Man I wish I could buy a 57 bel air coupe for $500!

[Cushi]

18 minutes ago, tekmantwo said:

Our house is decorated in a somewhat 'beachy' style. We just have all our guests wear swim suits....

 

 

Don't get much company anymore, I wonder why that is?...

I bought a Jeep Cherokee a few years back, private party, paid cash. 

The seller suggested I/we put a lower price on the paperwork for just that reason.  I couldn't really think of a nice way to object and give a witness without making it seem 'holier than thou' so I just said I was scared to do that.  He concurred,  said he was just trying to help me out.

 

I’ve bought plenty of cars non party and they never signed the title. They would just give it to me. I would have to ask them to do it. I figure they would do that so I could lie when it’s time to get it registered.

[tekmantwo]

10 hours ago, Brother Jack said:

Man I wish I could buy a 57 bel air coupe for $500!

My first truck was a '57 GMC, short bed, step side, big window. $500bux.(There were 2 different style back windows, a small one and then the wrap around big window) It had a big v-8 and I really enjoyed 'lighten em up'...if you catch my drift...lol. It had a really bad experience with a phone pole one night,  kinda terminal for the poor thing.

 

I have always preferred trucks and street bikes. Had a bunch of both. T'aint nuthin quite like a full throttle launch and bangin thru the gears on a KZ1000....it still wants to pull as you watch the speedo go thru 140mph...oh my, I loved that. ..quit before I died, which was kinda likely. ...

 

Had a '78F250 4X4, built and put a 428 Cobrajet engine in it, that thing was fun. Built a inside roll cage, put in a 5 inch body lift and re arched the spring packs. 44 inch Mickey Thompson Monster Mudder tires, I could sit up underneath it to change the broken U-joints, which I needed to do fairly often...lol Called it 'Igor', it would throw some serious roost, playin in the desert.  We used to love hill climbing or crushing things, one of the funniest things we did was find an old VW wreck out in the desert,  we chained it to the bumper (which I built) and drug it around for an hour or two. It was fun watching it rolling around behind us when I would turn real hard at 40mph...lol.

 

I have a lifted '86 Toy 4runner now, it is much more sedate but it will go anywhere I point it...which is a good thing,  if you knew what some of our territory is like...

Edited December 31, 2017 by tekmantwo
Spelling..

[Tortuga]

4 minutes ago, tekmantwo said:

It had a really bad experience with a phone pole one night,  kinda terminal for the poor thing.

Well...that's what happens when you drive on a rainy night with no lights...

 

Tell us about the time you raced Carroll Shelby...

[tekmantwo]

8 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Well...that's what happens when you drive on a rainy night with no lights...

 

Tell us about the time you raced Carroll Shelby...

Yeah,  those little electrical gremlins pop up at the worst of times....

 

That race?...well, I let him win...

[Qapla]

Currently I have a 2007 Titan with a 5.6 and headers

 

I had to put a new motor in at 285,000

[Cushi]

15 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

My first truck was a '57 GMC, short bed, step side, big window. $500bux.(There were 2 different style back windows, a small one and then the wrap around big window) It had a big v-8 and I really enjoyed 'lighten em up'...if you catch my drift...lol. It had a really bad experience with a phone pole one night,  kinda terminal for the poor thing.

 

I have always preferred trucks and street bikes. Had a bunch of both. T'aint nuthin quite like a full throttle launch and bangin thru the gears on a KZ1000....it still wants to pull as you watch the speedo go thru 140mph...oh my, I loved that. ..quit before I died, which was kinda likely. ...

 

Had a '78F250 4X4, built and put a 428 Cobrajet engine in it, that thing was fun. Built a inside roll cage, put in a 5 inch body lift and re arched the spring packs. 44 inch Mickey Thompson Monster Mudder tires, I could sit up underneath it to change the broken U-joints, which I needed to do fairly often...lol Called it 'Igor', it would throw some serious roost, playin in the desert.  We used to love hill climbing or crushing things, one of the funniest things we did was find an old VW wreck out in the desert,  we chained it to the bumper (which I built) and drug it around for an hour or two. It was fun watching it rolling around behind us when I would turn real hard at 40mph...lol.

 

I have a lifted '86 Toy 4runner now, it is much more sedate but it will go anywhere I point it...which is a good thing,  if you knew what some of our territory is like...

 

I’ve only had 1 truck. It was a navy blue 1993 GMC Sierra 1500 extended cab. The guy who had it before me customized it and it had a 350 with a large cam, racing headers, shift kit in the transmission, flow masters, larger custom rims, Escalade front clip, lowered all away around with dark window tint. The guy I bought it from c notched the rear frame because he was going to put air suspension in it. The most impressive thing about it was the engine. It sounded amazing. Anytime I was at a stop light people would look around to see who’s engine was making all the noise. I bought it just so I could enjoy it for a while and then flip it. If I would have kept it, I would have done a stock floor body drop with air suspension.

[Qapla]

I have had two Chevy S10's and I also used to have a 1966 ½ ton Chevy Step Van with a straight 6 250 and a four speed (1st gear was a granny gear). The transmission also had a PTO unit on it that I never got around to using.

 

I have also had 5 Dodge vans - all with 318's. Two were ½ ton and the other three were all ¾ ton with raised roofs.

 

The first ½ ton Dodge van had 12" rear rims with wide tires. It sat low in the front and had a nice visor across the top of the windshield. It had been customized so it had an all carpet interior. It also had headers and glasspacks. It was a really nice ride.

 

I also had an assortment of cars mixed in with these over the years.

 

I used to keep track of my mileage - but lost track after 3 million miles

Edited December 31, 2017 by Qapla

[Tortuga]

14 minutes ago, Qapla said:

I used to keep track of my mileage - but lost track after 3 million miles

 

Wow. If we assume an average speed of 30MPH that is 6 million minutes or 100,000 hours. At 40hrs a week that's 50 years...

Is my math right?

Edited December 31, 2017 by Tortuga

[Cushi]

Finding something like this for a good price would be a dream come true! When I buy classic cars, I prefer to get them in original paint. That way you know it doesn’t have a bunch of bondo and patch work. You just don’t find old cars like this one. I have been following this guy for some time now and he has some of the best classic cars for sale. If your in the market for a classic car, it’s best to stay away from businesses that specialize in selling classic cars. They tend to be overpriced. Fleming’s ultimate garage has some quality classic cars too. It hurts knowing that this guy operates his business in my hometown and this car was minutes away from me. I wonder how much it sold for...

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2017 by Brother Jack

[Qapla]

Dr. Cade, the inventor of GatorAde, was an avid collector of Studebakers. Last I did some work for him he had four garages full of restored cars, trucks and such. These were large buildings with 30 or so cars in each.

 

He had some real classic Studebakers in there, including and early dump truck and a firetruck. He had several that had lantern headlamps that had to be lit with a match.

 

All his cars had been fully restored and painted in original colors. They were worth a small fortune. I have no idea what ever happened to them after his death.

 

When we did some floor work in one of his buildings he let us wander through the buildings and look at all the cars.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Qapla

[Qapla]

40 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

 

Wow. If we assume an average speed of 30MPH that is 6 million minutes or 100,000 hours. At 40hrs a week that's 50 years...

Is my math right?

 

 

Don't know about your math .... just know what the odometers read when I started with a vehicle and what they read when I junked it ... don't think I ever sold a used car.

 

Living in a rural area makes for a lot of driving, especially when you spend 25 or so years working 80 miles away and drive that each day.

 

I did start driving when I was 14, legally driving .... and have been at it ever since.

[tekmantwo]

On 12/29/2017 at 8:21 PM, Tortuga said:

I use to have a 96 Impala SS.

and a Corvair, and a Datsun with a V8 Chevy shoehorned in it...

[Qapla]

2 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

and a Corvair, and a Datsun with a V8 Chevy shoehorned in it...