Just get over it and admit it's a screamin' deal!!

I talked a little about the "Devil's Advocate" types that will take the opposite side of anything. Don't listen to these naysayers, especially when it comes to buying the car of your dreams. I mentioned that I saw an excellent condition '69 GTO that was done up like a Judge for sale for $16,500 to an acquantance who was looking for a '68-70 GTO.  His "third baseman" buddy as we used to call them in the used car business started in about it not being a "Real" Judge. "Shut up." I said. "Pretend it's a different color without the stripes and spoiler."  $16,500 is a screamin' deal for a great condition GTO regardless of trim."  "If you bought a beater LeMans or a basket-case GTO body for $1,000, even if you were a bodyman and a mechanic and could do all the labor yourself 15 grand wouldn't make it this nice." "There's no way you could duplicate that car for $16,500. "No way." Ditto for the 1979 400, 4-speed, WS6, 4-wheel disc braked, 10th Anniversary Trans-Am I saw with 66,000 original miles that was priced at $14,900!!!  If you bought a rough-but-running '79 T/A for three grand, you couldn't make it that nice for another 12. Impossible. So stop being a naysayer and buy the damn thing if you want it, or let your friend buy it if he or she wants it. I once bought a 1966 Mustang GT with the 225 hp 289, factory air, the Rally-Pac guages, Pony intieror,and the original "California Megaphone" dual exhaust system with date-coded mufflers intact for $2,300!! The only thing wrong with it was the a/c compressor was locked up, so the guy had took the belt off, and the vynil top was peeling off. But the rest of the car was great, and it ran like a champ. I had gone to look at it with a friend who wanted a '65-66 GT350. He snivelled that "It's still not a Shelby."  I'm not even a Ford fan, and I bought the damn thing and sold it for more than double what I paid for it a couple months later, which was still less than it was worth!!  That car could bring 8-10K any day of the week, in the condition it was in, if it was advertised in Hemmings or on the internet. If I'd put a new Vynil top on it and fixed the a/c, it would bring 12-15k easy. Mr.-"It's still not a Shelby" still doesn't have a Mustang 16 years later. ( That was 1996 ). That's because he turned up his nose at a nice Boss 302 for $32,000 ( a steal ) and an excellent "Bullitt" replica, ( That was a 390 / 4-speed car ) for 25K. He won't lower his sights, and he won't admit that you can't touch a pristine original or restored Shelby like he wants for under 100K.  I had a customer that was a Mopar fan that wanted a 68-70 Charger. He turned up his nose at an immaculate, one-owner, little old lady owned '68 model for five grand because it had a bench seat and a two-barrel carb on the 383!!!  He also passed on a decent '69 that had a strong 440 in it, and Cragar mags with new radial T/A's because the 440 wasn't original and it had a little rust in the trunk. What '60's Mopar doesn't? Oh, and the price? $2,500!!  To put in perspective how stupid this guy is, the stunt coordinator of the "Fast and Furious" movies said they paid $16,000 for a basket case Charger that didn't run ( that was the one they going to wreck ) and $30,000 for a nice one for close-ups, because since Hollywood had been wrecking them for 40 years ( Bullitt, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, Dukes of Hazzard ) at least in California, you couldn't find one for sale in any condition at any price. The bottom line is this-yes there's grossly overpriced shit-and I do mean shit out there-i.e. the "Eleanor" Mustang from the Nicholas Cage / Angelina Jolie version of "Gone in 60 seconds" that's a 351W / Automatic CLONE that the owner wants 100 grand for. Hello? You can buy a REAL Numbers-Matching Shelby GT500 with a 428 and a 4-speed for 75K in any state in the union if that's what you want and you have the bankroll. Why would you pay 100K for a fake that's not even a good fake?  A 351 with a slushbox?  If a movie-tie in is a big deal to you, I've seen one of the Torinos from the "Starsky and Hutch" movie, autographed by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson for sale by the stunt coordinator of the movie who built the car for 32K. I've seen a 400, 4-speed, T-top, black&gold SE '77 Trans-Am restored by Year One and autographed by Burt Reynolds for 49K. By those standards I think most people would agree the "Eleanor" clone is an overpriced piece of crap at 100k. That aside, when you run across a great deal be smart enough to snap it up, regardless of what your third-baseman buddy who drives an '83 Tercel thinks. Mastermind