"Vintage Lite." Part One.
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| Tastes Great, Less Filling! |
A new approach, or just a return to my regular old ways?
Back in the Good Old Days I never would have thought of buying some used up, thrashed, old car as a "project."
First of all, I was planning on using the car as transportation, so it had to be running well enough to inspire some confidence. I had places to go, like work or school. I had people to see, or hopefully to meet.
Second, I wasn't looking for a rebuilding project. I didn't have the time, the money, the space, or the interest, in restoring anything, but I was willing to fix the car as needed.
Luckily, my parents were always cool with what I was doing.
I directed my attention to "newer" cars, between ten to 15 years old. They were what is known as "used cars." They weren't considered rare or collectible, just old.
I bought my first car in 1975, a couple of years after I had graduated from high school. I was still primarily a motorcycle rider and I was still living at home.
My first car was a '66 Mustang, it was nine years old at the time.
My second car was a '64 Cadillac, it was thirteen years old.
My third car was a '66 Lincoln it was eleven years old. However I did buy this car as a bit of a project, it definitely had some problems that I was aware of going in. In hindsight, buying this car was clearly a mistake.
You get the idea, these were cars that I expected to use as daily transportation, and I expected them to keep on running them for a couple of years.
I was pretty busy at the time. I was going to Community College and I was usually working full time.
It was the best of times, I had my motorcycle, an old car, and I could always count on my Dad to let me borrow one of his cars, if the need arose.
After the Lincoln, I bought a 70 Coupe de Ville which was about eight years old. That was followed by my first almost new car, a two year old '76 Pontiac Astre. The Astre was the Pontiac version of the Chevy Vega. Chevy had a lot of problems with the linerless cylinders of the aluminum engine, and they improved on it by installing iron cylinder liners and GM extended the warranty period. That boosted my confidence, just like when Hyundai went to a ten year warranty.
The little Pontiac looked kind of like a shrunken Firebird, with a split front grille and dual horizontal "slit" tail lights. Mine was silver with a red plaid interior. It had a manual transmission and I thought that it looked pretty snazzy. I had bought it because I was planning on quitting my full time job at General Motors, to concentrate on finishing up my college education. I thought that a car with good gas mileage would be a smart choice.
This idea didn't hold it's appeal for too long. I sold it to a friend of mine, and went out and bought the oldest car that I'd owned up to this point. A 1957 Cadillac Sedan de Ville. Even so, this car was only twenty years old at this time! The '50's style that made it cool to me, also made it look dated to others. The car was in very good condition, remember, I didn't buy junk at this point. Straight body, good chrome and trim, clean intact interior and it ran well for a couple of years.
As I mentioned above, the '66 Lincoln was the first car that I bought that needed substantial engine work, as the valves were clearly burnt when I bought it. That engine ended up shaking like a paint mixer! I had made a little money on the '64 Cadillac, and thought that I could come out ahead by buying a cheap car that needed some work. As long as the body and interior were good. That Lincoln had a perfect black leather interior and an arrow straight body with okay paint. I spent a lot of time with rubbing compound and wax in those days! I pulled the heads, replaced a few burnt valves, lapped the rest and put it back together. Machining? We don't need no stinking machining! The shaking engine had broken the motor mounts so I replaced those also, The ball joints were bad. Instead of replacing them, I bought a used set of lower control arms at a wrecking yard. Why? I can't tell you why, the hard work was in pulling the springs and control arms, the cost of the ball joints themselves was minimal. The exhaust system was toast, typical back then. I popped for a new, four muffler, dual exhaust with glass packs. It looked good with the slash cut chrome tips and it sure sounded good.
After spending all that money, I got into a minor wreck that damaged the left front fender. The Lincoln had welded on and leaded in front fenders, no unbolting dented parts. So I tried to straighten out the damage. Didn't come out too satisfactory and after a bit, the Lincoln was sold.
You would think that after that car I would have learned a lesson, a cheap car doesn't always put you money ahead. I did learn something, and stayed away from cars that obviously needed serious repair. I was making pretty good money working at GM, and could have bought much newer cars, but my main emphasis was on my motorcycle, and I was finally able to buy what I had wanted for years; a Harley Davidson! My first Sportster was like the Lincoln, a bad idea that cost me a lot of money to fix up. I was also saving up money for when I transferred to a four year college full time. I thought that I would quit working and concentrate on school work.
Didn't work out that way.
For the most part I didn't keep these older cars for very long, usually just a year or two.
In fact, I took a hiatus from car ownership for several years and just depended on whatever my Dad had lying around as an extra car. That was usually his '75 Chevy short bed pick up.
It was during this period that I completely rebuilt my first Harley Davidson. A chopped 1970 XLCH. I thought; it already had the hard work done, this should be easy. I had a nice Honda CB750 as my daily rider, so I wasn't in a hurry. Didn't I learn anything? I guess not. This thing had a totally thrashed motor, and terrible wiring, among other problems. It was my first Harley and I was still wearing those rose colored glasses that I should have thrown away years ago. But I had a "can do" attitude, extra money, and I thought that I would make it mine.
An interesting observation. When I was hired at GM there was a girl in my group of new hires. She was driving a little old VW Bug. Several of the other guys in my group had older muscle cars. With their new job they started putting some money into their old Chevelles or GTO's. They finally had the money to make them nice, and they did. That girl just kept on driving that little VW. Then one day we saw a brand new, white Trans Am in the parking lot. Of course it was hers! She had just waited and saved her money until she could afford a nice, brand new car. That seemed to be the pattern among the girls.
We guys were kind of jealous. A short time later, a lot of those muscle cars were either sold or retired, and then the guys bought their own new cars.
I don't know why we were surprised, most people would prefer to have a car that would be reliable and make their lives easier. It's the same thing when you think about getting a hobby or collector car, you can make your job easy or you could pick something that would make the process incredibly more difficult and complicated.
My recommendation is to take the easier route and buy something that is newer and in better condition. Find something that you think is kind of special. Hobby cars are primarily for fun, and it's your opportunity to buy something that suits your fancy. It could be a muscle/Pony car, Luxury car, 4x4, or sports car, There is a huge selection available at agreeable prices. Especially in the ten to fifteen year old bracket.
I'll continue this discussion in a future post.
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