"So Ya Want a Classic Car, eh?"

This is that sequel" I promised, to the blog "They don't make 'em like they used to."

Those who drive old cars, tend to do so for one of 4 reasons:

1. They can't afford a new one

2. They don't WANT a new one

3. They want to drive something different than everyone else.

4. They want to re-live their "good old days"

Put me on the list under 2 & 4.

You're probably thinking about getting an old classic or you most likely wouldn't be reading this one.

Well, whatever it is you might have in mind, sometimes it's actually a little cheaper to buy one that's already been finished for a few years, than to restore one yourself---especially in these times when people are out of work and need to "sacrifice" a little because they need the money.

Normally though, it's cheaper to buy one that needs work, and restore it the way YOU want it, rather than "undo" what the other guy did first.......IF you can get it cheap enough. Lots of scenarios here.

The FIRST thing to do, is go to Barnes & Noble's, (or some other BIG book store), and pick up a current copy of the Old Cars Price Guide, a magazine put out every two months by Krause Publications. Follow the rules provided and learn how to judge a #1 through #6 rating, and take that book WITH you, when you go to look at a "potential treasure"

If you can or NEED to, take someone with you who is already in the hobby.

Unless you're really intent on a "rare" make, try to stick with the more popular makes (parts are much more plentiful for old Chevies than they are for old Hudson Hornets).

The odds are actually pretty good, that you'll find an easier time finding parts for a 1931 Ford Model "A", than you would for an "80's" car........cars that are POPULAR to restore, have created a lot of specialty shops with good original and after-market stuff.

As I said, take your Price Guide when you look. You might think that 10 grand is a lot of money for a '56 2-seat T-Bird sitting on a trailer needing EVERYTHING...........but considering that same car is worth around SEVENTY grand "restored"............it isn't so much after all. Just an example.

Basically, take a good look at the car, determine what it needs. Look at the man's asking price, then consult your Price Guide to determine what it's worth RESTORED. Say....it's a 69 Camaro Z-28 you want. My current April Price Guide says a restored one right now is worth $69,000.00...........ok.............THIS one is a mess....needs body/paint/interior, engine & tranny rebuild----the works. He needs money and will sell this "project" for $15,000.00. Well, 15 from 69 is 54. Will it take 54,000 to restore it? probably NOT. After 9,000 or so to do the engine & tranny, that still leaves a working margin of about 45,000----------and you aren't going to spend THAT much on body, paint and upholstery!

Ok...that was BIG BUCKS............let's look at more affordable stuff now, but the same principle applies. Let's stay in "Chevrolet", but instead of a Camaro (that everyone and his brother thinks they need to have), let's look at one of the classic old Impalas, that a lot of us grew up with-------say, a '63.

Some guy in Meridian has one for sale. It runs, needs paint and some upholstery. It's pretty much a daily driver, and you'd rate it as about a #4 car. He needs about $4,500 for it. Price Guide says $6,000 for a "#4", and THIRTY grand fully restored.......you offer him 4,000 even, and he takes it. That's great! But even if he had held out for 4,500...... it's still cheaper than what the Guide says, and it's still a good deal.

Now.........same guy, same car.......the Price Guide says six & he wants SEVEN. If you can't haggle him down to the book value, pass it up. This is the BEST Guide of ANY of them, and the idea is to keep the BUYER from being taken advantage of.....(unless for some reason you want that car so bad, money doesn't matter).

I knew a guy in Medford Oregon about 30 years ago, who took an old 55 or 56 Studebaker Scotsman station wagon------bottom of the line------not even a RADIO in it, and dumped over TWELVE GRAND in it (in "1981" dollars). EASILY 3 times more than the car was worth. But his Dad had recently died, and once HAD one of these cars, and this dude had such fond memories as a KID riding in the back of it....he just HAD to restore one of these if he could FIND one......right down to the paint and interior. Money didn't matter. This car reminded him of the one in his childhood, and there was NO PRICE on sentiment!

So sometimes..........how much IS a car worth?.......THIS one was....to HIM!

WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET........

A lot of different things determine what an old car is worth. Example......the Mustang. The old ones are IMMENSELY popular, and we just finished one for Donna, which I'll probably display next Saturday at the Auto Ranch Car Show up on the "hill."

The ladies seem to LOVE Mustangs, Camaros and little "pony-type" cars like that. I'm an old-time Ford guy, and to ME, mechanical things are just as important as the cosmetic things. A Mustang is a FALCON with a sleek-lined body on it. No more, no less. But that BODY accounts for a HUGE difference in the Price Guide between a 66 Falcon and a 66 Mustang......in the Mustang's favor, of course. The Mustang IS a good-running little car, because the FALCON is....and they're the same car "under that skin."

Donna loves her Mustangs and we're getting ready to do ANOTHER one for her.

"Mike" would rather pay a Falcon price for a Falcon.......than a Mustang price for a "Falcon"...........that's just me. I ain't KNOCKIN' the car we just finished. It's pretty, and the price guide SAYS so. It's a good investment, Donna loves it, and that's all that matters to me.

Some of you might remember the Chevy Nomad, a real fancy station wagon introduced in 1955. A beutiful 2-door wagon with sliding side windows and chrome strips down the tailgate! $83,000 today for a restored '55-------it's popular, and it's a CHEVY, man!

That same year, fellow GM playmate PONTIAC brought out a station wagon just like the Nomad.......2-door, sliding side window and chrome strips down the tailgate. They called THEIRS the Safari. $62,000 today for a restored '55

The Chevy Nomad is "worth" $21,000 MORE than the Pontiac Safari, according to the bidding public, and the Price Guide reflects that.

In REALITY though, the Safari is the BETTER CAR. In those days when there truly WAS "class separation" within the GM divisions.........Pontiac built a BETTER car than the lower-end Chevrolets. Our Safari Wagon in this example is a quieter, more confortable and smoother riding car than the Chevy. It's CLEARLY a better machine. Period.

But among the "street cruisers" of the 50's and 60's, anything built by Buick, Pontiac or Olds, was for your PARENTS----"old people"-----if you were "COOL"........you drove a CHEVY! Nobody really knew why, but that's what you drove. But you really got what you paid for back then, and there's a reason your "mom & dad" paid a little more for that "stodgy-looking" old Buick Roadmaster. Mom & Dad dated once, and were probably "Chevy people" in the beginning, because that's what they could afford. Later, as "dad" made more money, he bought a Mercury, a Chrysler or an Olds.............because he KNEW!

So, quite often, in the old car world, you can buy a LOT MORE CAR for a LOT LESS MONEY, if it doesn't HAVE to be a Camaro, Mustang or GTO!

THE UN-APPRECIATED 4-DOOR...........

Over the years, I have found THIS to be one of the "best-kept secrets" in the classic car world.

4-door sedans aren't "cool" at all. Gotta be a TWO-door! The Price Guides ALL reflect THAT! You can often buy a good running 4-door for less money than a same-model TWO-door that has to be trailered home!

In many instances, those old 4-doors are better cars. Because they look like "grandma's car", they don't appeal to the kids. The average 4-door hasn't been "cruised-in" or "drag-raced" with. The average 4-door sedan has usually led a much easier life than its 2-door counterpart, and you can often pick 'em up for a "song", 'cause NOBODY WANTS 'em!

I have a 64 Ford Fairlane sitting out front right now......an old "plain-Jane-lookin'" 4-door sedan, column shift "3-on-the-tree." Nothing special at all. I bought it for 2 thousand, and it really isn't worth the money in the Price Guide that it would take to COMPLETELY put it back into "showroom" condition. No matter how much money spent, or how "perfect" I could get it--------it will never be anything more than a 4-door sedan. Tha's all it can ever be. But it's a great old car and I'd trust it ANYWHERE! And for 2 grand, it's a nice old ride and people comment on it when they see it.

So in many cases, what is a car worth to YOU?

They're a lot easier to work on too. Plenty of room under the hood, working on an engine that isn't loaded down with emissions crap, computer garbage and who knows what else!

Be as "forgiving" of a car, as you are CRITICAL, when you're examining one for sale. Remember that the 61 Plymouth Fury you are looking at, has been on the road for 50 years now...........half a century! It's "entitled" to leak a little oil, need new carpeting and other things. (You probably can't buy a NEW car today at ANY price that will last that long).

The $3,500 the guy wants for a car that "needs work" might not really be all that much---------------if that car was PERFECT, it would probably have another "zero" on that price tag!

All cars depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot. At 25 years, (those that MAKE it that far), they become bonifide "classics, and the value starts coming back up, eventually SURPASSING what it originally cost new.

A brand new '57 two-seater T-Bird, sold for around $3,200 brand new. $65,000 today indicates a pretty good investment, wouldn't ya think?

And there are *footnotes* too.......some cars that had special options like tri-power, L-88, J-2 package, special engine options like "add 60% for 427 engine", etc. That 57 T-Bird I just mentioned at $65,000? That was was for the "plain Jane"......add 25% MORE to that for the "E" Code engine, and 100% if it had the "F" code Supercharged option!

If you're buying a running car......besides listening to it and driving it, take a look at the dipstick, which can often tell you much. If it has a "chalky-tan" look, that usually means a head gasket leaking......and they don't get better on their own, and you'll be pulling the upper half of the motor apart in due time to change them.

If you don't see any service stickers, ask the owner what kind of oil he puts in it. This is really important because all motor oils are NOT alike. The best oils are the mineral-based ones, as opposed to the parafine-based. From my old drag-racing days in California, I have found Valvoline, Quaker State and Castrol to be the best.

I was a "ham & egger", running about one Saturday a month on a limited budget, but some meets would find me pitted fairly close to some of the bigger teams out there on the west coast........and among the guys with the $5,000 to $10,000 race engines, I saw more Valvoline oil and Fram filters used, than anything else. If THEY trusted it, so would I. Here in 2011, I still DO.

I do NOT like Pennzoil, and you can usually SPOT a "Pennzoil motor" when you tear one down, because you're scraping the sludge out of the pan and rocker valleys with a putty knife!

The dipstick in a "Pennzoil motor" usually looks pretty clean, even after a couple of thousand miles. That's because while it DOES lubricate, it does not "suspend" dirt and grime, keeping it OUT of the rod bearings and crank journals.

Whatever brand of oil you are using........it should start getting DARK within the first 500 miles or so...........not black, but "dirty" just the same. If it DOESN'T, it isn't doing what you put it in there to do.

I always ask the owner what kind of oil he's been using, especially if that dipstick looks a little TOO clean.

To ME, even a solid looking car isn't enough. There was a guy here in town back in 1989 or so, who had a little 65 Mercury Comet. It had a great running little "200" inline six (like the one in Donna's Mustang). Needed paint and other things, as you'd expect from a $200.00 car. The guy climbed out of it after he'd warmed it up and told me to go ahead and take it out for a drive. I slid behind the wheel, and just as quickly slid back OUT. The car REEKED of cigarette smoke, and once you get enough nicotine into the upholstery, carpets and headliner...........you NEVER get it out.

This car was just going to be a little commute car, and if I'd bought it, I'd have ended up HAVING to restore it, just to get rid of the STENCH! I was sick about it, because the price was right and it ran GREAT!

But...anyway......the first rule of fixing up a classic car, is to HAVE one. If you can get one at the right price, it's OK for it to sit in the garage, awaiting work........at least you HAVE it there when you're ready to start. 10 years from now, you might not even FIND that car, and if you do, it'll cost a lot more in the same condition, just because it's 10 more years into "classic" status.

I have rarely, if ever, seen a value go DOWN as time went on.

There is one last thing that I think is worth mentioning..........I do not honestly believe you can get a "poor grade" of old car from the 60's.

While the 2-tone paint & chrome of the 50's cars made them the PRETTIEST (my opinion)...........the 60's had a very special hidden flair-------------

The 60's, was the "Musclecar era" Lots of cubes & performance options, gasoline was both cheap AND POTENT in octane. NASCAR and drag racing were in full swing. Detroit was focused on performance. Engine options had grown well into the 400-cubic-inch range, Nobody really knew (or cared) about what "EPA" was.

EVERYBODY was building "performance", even AMC with their 403 cube AMX. The SMALL-blocks were using bigger valves, better carburetion and MULTIPLE carburetion in some cases.

Basically, what that meant.....is that WHATEVER kind of car you bought in the sixtes..........convertible to station wagon......that car was built with the intent of out-performing the competition. If you wanted fuel economy, you bought a Volkswagen. The EMPHASIS in the 60's, was on performance & handling.............and the cars still LOOKED GOOD!

So if you're looking to get INTO this hobby, and you're looking for GO as well as SHOW...........you really can't go wrong with a 60's era car.

And folks......on top of everything else.............they're just FUN to be around. Nostalgia lives!