Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Here are five more gems from the CraigsList mine.

2,500/trade. Nice rake.

A '79 Coupe De Ville. At one time I considered the downsized '77 to '80 Cadillacs to be the best Cadillacs  ever built, at least up until that point. They were the right size, smaller than the enormous previous model, but still big enough to look impressive, like a proper Cadillac. They were also pretty good driving machines. It was a balance that wasn't easy to maintain as GM disastrously made them even smaller on the next round of downsizing. They were pretty sad looking at that point. As I've mentioned I owned a three year old, '77 Coupe back in the days right after graduating from college. This car has a strong personal connection to me, I might be trying to relive the past with a car like this. This one? It needs paint, interior and probably some mechanical work.

6.800.00, this one's been babied!

1986 Mark VII "show" car. This is one is very well cared for, and the asking price reflects that. I have always admired the Mark VII, ever since it was announced. Styling wise it's combines the aero look with elements of the traditional Mark cues. It reminds me of the '84 Cougar that I bought new. The engine powering these cars is the good old 5.0 V8. Initially they were pretty weak, but by 1989 the power level was acceptable. They shared the same H.O. motor with the Mustang GT. Obviously they are going to be slower than the Mustang since they weigh more. They are pretty roomy and well built. I actually went to see and test drive one earlier this year. I was surprised by how much smaller they appear in real life.

3,500.00

1993 MBZ SL300. New tires, brakes, 3,800 dollar top, ready to go! I was late to the whole American Gigolo 450 SL craze. I finally succumbed to the desire to have one of my own. I was also looking for an S class Benz but I ended up buying a Cadillac STS. That dried the cash flow to look for extra cars. I remember seeing a beautiful teal SEC coupe at a local higher end Benz resale car lot. These next generation SLs look very trim and timeless. As a contrarian the six cylinder model appeals to me. These are now quite affordable as the earlier models have been increasing in price and desirability. I have had a long running love/ hate relationship with Mercedes Benz. I have long wanted one, but I chose to go with the Jaguar instead.

3,950 bucks 69K

A '97 Cadillac Eldo, three way white, gorgeous! I still think that these cars are beautiful. I originally wanted one of these instead of a Seville, but chose the four door Seville so that my son could have his "own" door. My buddy Rick bought a three way white Eldo like this one. Like my STS, these NorthStar powered examples are great driving cars that are very fast. Unfortunately they did have some mechanical glitches which I have experienced first hand. So why would I want one now?

3,600.00 

'99 SC 400 well maintained, really clean, 248 k?

The Lexus SC400 was a very well received car. Lexus has a legendary reputation for quality, reliability, and durability. Everything I've read has verified and reinforced this reputation. This has kept the prices high for used examples, but if you will settle for an older model, prices have drifted down. Styling is simple, but tasteful. The interior appointments are of high quality but quite plain, at least compared to a Jaguar. This particular example has a documented record of a lot of maintenance and necessary repairs performed. Many of the lower priced examples have truly astronomical mileages, sellers are blithely stating that these cars "run forever" though realistically their "forever" is probably already passed.

I currently have several high mileage old cars. Two of them are well over 200,000! I won't pretend that's not a lot of miles on the odometer, because it is. Modern cars can reliably rack up high mileages especially if they receive adequate maintenance and timely, proper repairs.  Even with well documented service histories, you cannot buy a high mileage car and simply assume that it will provide years of reliable service. You have to carefully inspect any car, but be reasonable. It's old. You might receive several years of usage if you keep an eye on fluid levels, brake pad thickness, hoses, belts and tires. Owning a high mileage machine requires diligence, buying one requires "due diligence." Every machine will eventually wear out during it's use, that length of time is it's service life. Don't be mislead, nothing will last forever. But it can be extended, that's what we're all looking for. Sometimes you stumble across the well loved, well serviced example. That's what keeps me looking!

I won't pretend that trolling through Internet car listings is the best use of my time. But at least it doesn't cost me anything, and I get to rethink all my car related choices. It's fun to re-visit potential choices that I could have made.

Or choices that I actually made.

This picture is from 1980. 

I really don't spend very much of my time reminiscing about the past. My outlook is to focus on the present and consider the future. There's no way to go back in time and of course I'll never be 25 years old again. Once was quite enough! Sometimes I feel like I'm very much like these old cars I find on CraigsList. Sometimes I feel that appearance and condition is pretty good (maybe misleading!) especially considering all those years of wear and tear. Unfortunately human beings can't be rebuilt like the Six Million Dollar Man. 

I don't think that I really want to try and relive the past. I just would like to revisit the times when I made the choices of the cars that I would own. I might have missed out on a car that I would have really enjoyed. Of course I missed many that I couldn't afford then, and even now still can't afford due to rising values. But I keep on searching. Maybe I can find one of those that  got away!