If your going to drive the car at all....Be brutally honest about what you need.....

I talk to so many people that pay big dollars for a musclecar and then are unhappy with it. Often this happens because they spent thousands of dollars on a something some hack in a magazine said was valuable. If your just buying some $50,000 piece of garage jewelry to trailer to shows, then get whatever you want. But if you plan to drive the car at all-even it it's only on sunny summer days-you need to think hard about what is realistically important. For example-yes, a '55-'57 Chevy is cool. But do you really want a car with no power steering, no power brakes, that handles like a UPS truck? I know guys that have built '55 Chevys that handle like ZR1 'Vettes-with custom frames, Wildwood 4-wheel discs etc-but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a vintage car, doesn't it? Anything built before 1960 is going to be pretty primitive. Even Corvettes didn't get disc brakes until 1965. So if you want at least power steering and front disc brakes-that's a reasonable minimum standard for safety and convenience. So don't bother to look at stuff that doesn't have power steering or has 4-wheel drum brakes. If you live somewhere where it gets to be 100+ degrees in the summer, it might behoove you to only consider cars with Factory A/C. If you live in a big city that has a lot of stop and go traffic-an automatic transmission might be a better choice than a manual. And the biggest, baddest option isn't always the best. I know a gentleman who bought a 1968 Solid-lifter, 435 hp Tri-Power 427, 4-speed, 4.11 geared Corvette. It was ungodly fast. But with 11:1 compression it pinged incessantly on premium fuel if he didn't add 2 cans of octane booster per tankful, his wife burned her legs on the sidepipes every time she got into or out of the car, and since they liked to take weekend trips-he wasn't real happy about the engine buzzing at 3,800 rpm at 70 mph on the freeway. I told him to sell it and buy another Stingray with a low-compression big block or small-block with a hydraulic cam and he'd be a lot happier. Luckily-being a numbers-matching 427 L89 car-he got his money back and then some. He didn't lose any money. He then bought a 1971 LS5 365 hp 454 model. It still has that mountain of torque that only a 454 has-it's fast enough that he doesn't have to take crap from little boys in WRX's or Yuppies in 3-series BMWs. With 8.5:1 compression it runs fine on regular gas, and the 3.36:1 gears are a great compromise between jackrabbit starts and easy freeway crusing. 5,700 rpm is something like 138 mph, so it's got some long legs. He loves it, and him and his wife regularly drive it to Lake Tahoe or to the wine country.  Another guy was looking at a Boss 302. It was pristine. But it had no power steering, and it had 3.91:1 gears. It was blisteringly fast-but it had very little torque below 3,000 rpm,you were constantly shifting it in traffic, and parallel parking was a nightmare. We looked at a Mach 1-that had the 351W and an FMX automatic. It also had power steering, and factory a/c.  He liked driving that one much better, and it was fast enough-it could smoke the tires at will and lay 8-10 feet of rubber on the 1-2 shift. He decided to buy the Mach 1-especially since it was not only more pleasant to drive, it was about 30K cheaper to boot. So the biggest baddest, model isn't always the best choice. Do you really NEED an LS6 Chevelle? Or could you live with an SS396?  Do you want to pay 100K for a Super Duty Trans-Am, that you'll be so afraid of blowing up that it will never see the high side of 3,000 rpm, or would you be happier in a 400, 4-speed "Bandit" or 10th Annivesary model for 30K that you can powershift to your heart's content?  Wouldn't a 340 or 383 Challenger be good enough to live out your "Kowalski" fantasies in, or does it have to be a Hemi or 440+6?  Be honest with yourself about what you really want, and you'll be a lot happier. Mastermind         

Factory restored......There's an Idea GM, Ford and Chrysler ought to latch onto.....

I was reading in Autoweek where Porsche-Audi has a program-if you ship your Porsche 356, 912, 911 or 914 to Stuttgart-and can pay the bill of course-factory trained technichians will restore the car for you and certify the restoration as factory correct. You know it will be done right!!  Nissan is offereing the same deal to 240 / 260 / 280Z owners. Nissan is taking a step further-you can add performance enhancements-for example electronic ignition instead of a point-type distributor, Weber carbs instead of SUs or a five-speed trans instead of a 4-speed. Pretty cool. I think GM, Ford and Chrysler should do something similar. How cool would a '66 GTO with Edelbrock heads and Tri-Power on a 467 inch Pontiac V8 backed by a Tremec 5-speed, and Trans-Am front and rear sway bars and 4-wheel disc brakes be? Maybe if enough people express interest they'll start a program. Kudos to Porsche and Nissan for having the guts to do it. Mastermind

I was wrong....Import guys are insane too!!.......

In some previous posts where I've griped about people swapping modern powertrains into vintage Iron, I have said it's odd that you don't see a 1972 240Z with the engine and tranny out of a 2015 370Z or a  1973 Porsche 911T with the powertrain out of a 2012 Carrera 4. I was wrong-I saw in Motor Trend of all places-a guy spent $250,000-that's right a quarter-million-putting the engine, trans, suspension and some interior parts out of a 2017 Lexus ISF into a 1969 Toyota Corolla!!  You butchered a 416 hp, $60,000 sport sedan to put it's guts into a subcompact that's worth what-$3,000 if it's pristine?  I've never heard of people fighting with machetes for late '60's / early '70's Corollas. Andi it cost 250K to do it???  What's next? A Nissan GTR drivetrain in a Sentra??  There are truly people with more money than brains.....Mastermind 

Insanity.....

I saw on a classic car dealer's website Carroll Shelby's personal 1983 Pantera for sale. For $250,000. Because of smog regulations Ford stopped selling Panteras in America after 1974. DeTomaso continued production in Europe until the late '80's. In the early '80's there was talk of bringing the Pantera back to America to compete with the Porsche 928, the new for '84 C4 Corvette, The Nissan 300ZX Turbo, etc. DeTomaso gifted Carroll Shelby this Pantera in the hopes that Shelby-American would market Panteras in North America. The deal never happened, but Carroll kept the car until his death. Now his estate is selling it. Great. Except Panteras sell all day long for $50,000-80,000. They want a quarter million just because Shelby owned it. Some filthy rich guy will buy it, just so he can say he has it, and never drive it. A Stutz Blackhawk bought by Elvis Presley is being auctioned at $600,000. A high-end car dealer in St Louis has a pristine, 60,000 original mile loaded Stutz Blackhawk for sale for $79,000. I saw another Stutz Blackhawk that was owned by Sammy Davis Jr, that needed restoration, for $25,000. That was a deal I thought.  I'm an Elvis fan, but 600K for an $80,000 dollar car that was $40K new?  Like Ditka says-"Come on, man!" I guarantee some fool will pay 600K for that car.  That's the price of 2 houses anywhere but New York or California. I read somewhere that some guy restoring a Boss 351 Mustang paid $4,200 for a "Date Correct" Autolite Carburator. Ugh!!!  First off the Autolite 4300 is the worst carburator ever made, bar none. Brand-new cars were hard to start, got 5-8 mpg, stumbled, ran like shit.  My dad and I worked for Ford back in the '70's and if you had a 351C Mustang, Torino, Cougar, Pantera, or a 460 T-Bird, or Lincoln and you bitched hard enough the factory would replace it with a 600 cfm Holley with an electric choke at no charge, and warranty it. That's how bad those carbs were. But this guy paid $4,200 for a 49 year old used one?  I guarantee if his pristine Boss 351 had an Edelbrock or Holley carb on it-which would make it run properly and start, etc- no one is going to not buy it because the freaking 4300 is missing!!!   There's got to be some reason and sanity. But as long as there's people with more money than brains-it will go on.

Bad decisions based strictly on dollar amount.....or "Equipment"......

There's a show on one of the cable channels like "House Hunters"-except the people are looking for classic muscle cars. Like "House Hunters" they follow as the people look at several cars and then make a decision. I watched a couple episodes and wanted to kick out the TV screen at the bonehead decisions these people made because they were cheap. The first guy wanted a classic '60's musclecar with a big-block V8 and a 4-speed. His budget was $35,000. They don't say if their paying cash or financing it or getting a home equity loan or how their coming by the money-they just say that's the dollar amount.  The first car this guy looks at is a gorgeous 1967 Mustang Fastback with the 390 / 4-speed powertrain. It had Torq-Thrust mags and a beautiful bronze paint job and saddle interior. And it ran like a scalded cat and sounded like the soundtrack from "Bullitt". It was priced at $35,000-a screaming deal in my opinion.  The 2nd car he looks at is a 1979 Trans-Am, with the 403 Olds / TH350 powertrain, that's priced at $29,000-which I think is way overpriced-if it was a WS6, 400, 4-speed model-that would be a different story-but a 403 / automatic?  There the proverbial dime a dozen.  Then he looks at a beautiful 1967 4-speed, SS396 Chevelle. That's priced at $45,000, but the seller said he'd negoriate a little on the price. Which car does he buy?  The '79 Trans-Am!!  Huh?  You want a big-block '60's musclecar with a 4-speed, and you buy a 79 Firebird with the most anemic engine they offered and a slushbox!!  Because it's cheaper than the other two!!  Personally I'd have bought the Mustang, but the Chevelle was a deal too. The other episode had a guy who wanted a classic musclecar-but since he lived in Arizona-it had to have factory A/C.  His budget was $45,000.  The first car he looks at is a pretty blue 1971 Road Runner. It was nicely restored, but it was a 383 / Torqueflite model with bench seats and a column shifter, and no A/C-your base model. It was priced at $40,000.   The 2nd car is a gorgeous 1969 Firebird Convertible that had the 400 / TH400 powertrain, the hood tach, power windows, factory A/C, bucket seats and console, tilt wheel, power driver's seat, everything. It was priced at $45,000.  The third one-I cringed at-it was a 1970 Dodge Coronet Wagon that some clown had done up like a Super Bee. It did have a strong 440 in it. But it was priced at $40,000. If he bought that, I would have kicked out the screen. The guy buys the Road Runner, because it was $5,000 less than the Firebird!! I'd have tried to negotiate with the owner on the price of the Firebird. And even if he wouldn't budge-if you've got 40K, you can get 45. Or if your financing it-the difference on the monthly payment is about $8!!!  So even though he said he liked the Firebird better-and it had Factory Air which was a major factor-he buys the Road Runner which DOESN'T have A/C- because it was priced a little less!!!  You spent $40,000 on a car you didn't really want because it was 5 grand cheaper than the one you did??  Who does that?  I look at a lot of websites and classic dealers and auctions to stay up on things. Here's a perfect example of buyer beware and really interpret the terminology. I saw two gorgeous 1969 Z/28 Camaros for sale. One had the JL8 rear disc brakes and the Cross-Ram intake with dual Holleys. It was priced at $97,000. The other one had front disc/ rear drums, and the standard 780 Holley on an LT-1 intake. It was priced at $69,000. But-and it's a HUGE "But" in my opinion-the one priced at $69,000 was MacNeish certified, and had the numbers-matching 302, an M21 4-speed, and the numbers-matching 12-bolt 3.73:1 posi rear end. And the seller had reciepts for thousands of dollars showing the professional rebuild of the engine and transmission, and restoration. The one with the Cross-ram intake had a "Date Correct" 302-which means it's not the original engine. It had an M20 Muncie 4-speed-which is incorrect-Z/28's only had M21's or M22's. It had a "Correct"-but not original 12-bolt rear with the JL8 4-wheel discs retrofitted.  So cool options nothwitstanding-one guy wants $100K for a car with a non-original engine, the wrong transmission, a non original rear axle-and cool options that aren't on the cars original window sticker or build sheet. The other guy wants $70K for a car with numbers-matching everything, that's certified by the "Camaro" guru-just like a Marti report on a Ford. Which one is the better deal?  Obviously the MacNeish certified one for $30K less than the very well done, but cobbled up one for $100k!!.  Another seller wanted $73,000 for an SS396 / 4-speed RS / SS '69 Camaro. It was beautiful. But again-the terminology-it had a "Date Correct" 396, a "Correct" M20 4-speed, and a "Correct" 12 bolt rear. Which means not number-matching.  A guy selling a nice 1970 Boss 302 Mustang wanted $79,000. Reasonable for a Boss 302. However it's "Service Replacement Block" was rebuilt by Holman-Moody. That means sometime in the past someone blew the original engine all to hell,like rods out the side of the block grenaded-and it was replaced under warranty or even customer pay by a dealer if the car was out of warranty. This happened a lot, and Concours organizations will recognize a service replacement block if you have the paperwork. But I've seen other Bosses-for the same price-with the original numbers-matching motor. You really have to watch terminology. A guy was selling a GTO built to Ram Air IV specs. It wasn't a real RAIV-and it didn't have RAIV / 455HO iron heads-it had aluminum Edelbrock heads, an NPD replica RAIV intake, round port Hooker Headers, and a Crane Blueprint RAIV cam. It was blisteringly fast-and very well done. But he was asking what people get for a "Real" RAIV for  basically a clone. Like Smokey Robinson said-"You better shop around".  Mastermind